While this is a "merged" parish, these two churches are completely different from each other. In addition to being about 15 minutes away from each other, they have totally different looks and feels.
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| St. Mary's Church |
St. Mary (which is the "home base" of the parish, in terms of the offices and rectory) is a typical-looking church; small but thoroughly pleasant inside. It's in the north part of Charlestown, which is rural and heavily wooded. I was delighted to find that the door was open and I could take pictures, even though nobody was around.
St. James Chapel is a lot newer, and it's right down by the ocean at the southern edge of the state. It seems to be where most of the action in the parish (including daily Mass) happens, though that could mostly be because it's summer and this is where all the tourists are. The chapel is a simple, round room with chairs instead of pews. It almost feels like a temporary building to me, though I'm sure that's mostly my taste in churches talking. It has a little adoration chapel off of the main church which is open all day.
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| St. James Chapel |
The Mass at St. James was highlighted by the preaching of one of the parish's deacons, who has a phenomenal and deep speaking voice, to the point that I was wondering if I'd actually heard him on the radio before. The parish is very active and vibrant - it had plans on display for a new parish center it's going to build, and it has lots of ministries and devotions happening every week. When I was there the parish was about to embark on a tent revival, with different activities every night of the weekend. I hope it went well, and I wish I could have been there for some of it.
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| The tent |
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