This is a very distinctive church, for the obvious reason that they use a front-facing altar and a communion rail for their liturgies, and the priest celebrates the Liturgy of the Eucharist with his back to the congregation. I know I'm wading into dangerous territory here, but I did enjoy my experience here a lot. I don't think that this is the only "correct" way to do the Mass or anything like that, but I do think that there's something beautiful and reverent about having everyone facing forward towards the tabernacle, instead of facing each other.
There was nobody in the main church when I visited. It's modern, peaceful and beautiful, with a handful of enormous stained glass windows. They have a relatively rare Padro Pio statue in the sanctuary, and a Lighthouse Media stand in the entryway.
The Mass I went to was on a Saturday morning, on the feast of Sts. Cosmos and Damian. It was my first experience using a communion rail, and seeing a consecration with the priest's back turned. The congregation said the St. Michael prayer at the end. The Mass also featured my favorite altar server tandem ever: two brothers, one of them roughly twice the height of the other, and both about as reverent as I've ever seen.
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| The parish center with the daily Mass chapel |
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| The chapel |
Wish I would have met you on your visit. Come some day to our 10:30 am Sunday Mass for a real experience of Holy Ghost.
ReplyDeleteMay I suggest a correction. The priest doesn't have his "back" to the people, but the priest faces God, together with the congregation. As Pope Benedict put it: "We go to the Lord, who comes to us."
PS: Great blog!
ReplyDelete