Reading Cardinal Sean's blog has been interesting and I was especially struck by his description of participating in the dedication Mass for the Baltimore Basilica after it's two year renovation:
The Cardinal wrote:
"When we first arrived in Baltimore for the Bishop's Conference, we were invited to take part in the dedication Mass on Sunday for the renovated Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption, the Baltimore Basilica. It was a wonderful occasion to showcase this very historic church, were so much of the history of the Catholic Church in the United States took place."
Here is a picture of the Basilica:
After investing $32 million dollars and divesting the Church of its stained glass windows the final results can be seen here:
In all honesty it looks more like a courthouse than a Church to me.
Cardinal Keeler stated at the dedication that:
"We realize that we're only temporary guardians of it. It belongs to the community that gives it life and to the many future generations that will call this church their spiritual home."
This statement made me think of another historic Church and the future generations that are to be deprived of it. And I wonder if Cardinal Sean can see the irony in my mentioning it?
The latest proposal for the Latin Mass community (though I abhor the use of the word community)is to be re-assigned, and their allegiances realigned to Mary Immaculate in Newton, Massachusetts.
Here is picture of Mary Immaculate of Lourdes Church:
Another very strange coincidence. This would certainly give the conspiracy theorists who see in every action of some administrators the drive to make the Catholic Church in America the American Catholic Church ample ammunition.
Once this is gone, we will never get it back.
6 comments:
It does look like a courthouse, but probably only because American judicial architecture has always gone very heavily in for 18th century neo-classicism.
St. Vinnie's has that colonnade thing in the front and it looks pretty good. And of course, quite a lot of the very oldest churches in Christendom were converted Roman temples which, to an American eye, would also look like courthouses, but of course, it's the other way around.
Never mind. Just let your imagination play over the possibilities. In what ways can we imagine that it could be worse?
Quite a few, I imagine.
I love courthouses. I think this means we can rise and object at the appropriate times, make peremptory challenges, and demand a mistrial, or retrial, uh, I mean, re-Mass, or overdue...mulligan... OBJECTION!!
PGR in DE
Pictures of the new digs in Newton don't look too bad to me (from the inside.) There's some Tridentine potential in there.
I hope to attend the first Mass in Newton as a show of support. My home parish is St. Luke's in Belmont/Watertown which is about 4 miles away.
I'm kinda glad the Mass is in Newton now, this'll be very convienient for all of Metro Boston (and for me) ... maybe someday the Cardinal will comply with Ecclesia Dei and generously allow the Mass in a few more churches.
In the meantime, let's support this this parish to the hilt and pray for the best ... things could be far worse.
You're faced with changing churches, apparently without giving any input to the Archbishop. May I suggest that you make your desires clear to him.
Be a child--a child who cries when he wants something. God doesn't complain about crying children, so simply sob and wail that you need some stability in a traditional Catholic church.
Dust-I-Am said:
God doesn't complain about crying children, so simply sob and wail that you need some stability in a traditional Catholic church.
Well,GOD may not complain, but will the Cardinal? IMO the days of whining, wailling and sobbing are gone, and it is the time for armoring oneself with the armor of God and going into fierce battle - with prayer, and 'swords' if necessary. Personally, I think that the location of the Holy Trinity Church in the environs of the HC Cathedral was too un-nerving for Crd Sean. Relocating the TLM to Jewish suburbia gets rid of the 'problem'.
St. Lukes in Belmont was once my parish as well, TS.
Many a four part High Latin Mass was sung there when I was in the choir there. I suppose that Church has gone to the dogs as well by now.
Well, of course it looks like a courthouse, that's what a basillica was in ancient Rome!
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