So I am a Roman Catholic. Nothing wrong with that and I consider myself to be a pretty good one. I go to church regularly and I believe in a lot of the teachings that I have learned. The Roman Catholic Church has a lot of problems, but I believe that we are going to make a comeback with the new pope.
With all of that said I was gipped this weekend at mass. I used to be a parishioner at St. Michael Church in Lowell, MA. It was one of the most welcoming places I have ever been. I enjoyed going even when it was extremely hot or I was dogged tired. I enjoyed the sermons by Father Mario and Father Capone (His first name is Al). They were usually poignant and made an impact on how I was living my life.
Now that I am in the WMass/Northern CT area I am going back to my childhood church St. Francis of Assisi in South Windsor. I received first communion and was confirmed here. Father Sherer was the first priest that I can remember and he will always have a strong influence on my life. Father Rohan was my second priest and made life somewhat miserable. He was an alcoholic who lapsed a couple of times while at St. Francis. Overall I enjoyed my experience until I was able to compare it with St. Michael.
The priest at St. Francis is relatively young and has been dealing with a major renovation project to double the size of the church. Over $2.4 million has been raised to get the project off the ground. It seems that just about each week we get some sort of an update. The problem is that this update comes during the homily portion of the mass. We then get a shortened or even no reflection on the gospel reading. This makes me very disappointed.
Imagine going to see U2. Bono came out on stage and told you he would be playing bass today, Edge would be playing drums, Adam would be playing guitar and Larry would be singing. It just isn't fulfilling. It would be like going to see Curt Schilling pitch and finding out that he was going to hit and be the third base coach instead. You would be kind of upset.
Today's reading was from John Chapter 10. I won't bore you with the details but it is a very powerful message. Unfortunately that message was glossed over with a one minute sidenote to 10 minutes of Church renovation talk. Am I wrong to be disappointed about this? I know that you need to make the most of your religious experiences and it is not up to the priest to interpret everything for you, but come on. I miss St. Michael's I guess. Well Bless you all and have a great Sunday and Patriots Day. (Holiday for Boston folk.)
1 comment:
Ahhh, St. Michaels and Father Mario, that man should not be a priest!! He is by far THE MOST HANDSOME man of the clergy I have ever met. I used to be a great catholic, I sent to church every wednesday and sunday until the age of 18, even when I first came out to college. Then I got in an accident in front of St. Michaels and Ft. Mario came to my aid and it was like a sign from God, "Go to church Pascha, you need it". So the point is I usally go to church when I get those signs or when I just need some serious spiritual me time and if went to church for some spiritual me time and the priest talked about cement and steps I would be far from amused!
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