For the Feast of the Assumption, the Bishop of Vermont, His Excellency, Salvatore Matano, said the Latin Mass at the Co-Cathedral, St. Joseph's Church, in Burlington, Vermont
I was there with my children and am still overwhelmed at the beauty of the Mass said for the first time in decades at the parish my husband and I used to attend when we were first married. We used to walk to Mass in the evening after we finished with work. Our oldest daughter, Anastasia was baptized there and we miss it.
WCAX has video and a story here.
Here's more video and another story by Channel 5 WPTZ.
I'm just going to keep adding to this list- Free Republic had a post from a dear priest who I had the privelege to meet after Mass. And then my old friend Mike Fieschko cited my blog. It's here.
If you are curious, the handsome (indulge me here) dark skinned altar servers are my sons, Andrew who is 14 and Nathaniel who is 12. Fr. McDermott said to me, "may one or both of them become priests". From Fr. McDermott's mouth to God's ear.
There is also a shot of a pensive young lady, wearing a white eyelet blouse, round white veil, and heart shaped necklace (on the back of which is an image of Our Lady) and that is my 16 year old daughter Veronica Rose.
The Co-Cathedral holds 1100 people and it was "standing room only". And in Vermont 1100 is like a million.
The Bishop's homily was phenomenal. The most riveting for me was when His Excellency declared:
"As the Shepherd of this Diocese, I will do whatever it takes, in union with the Holy Father, Pope Benedict, to fill the Churches of this diocese. This is your home. This is your home. THIS is your home!"
The Mass was said beautifully. The choir was amazing. The sermon was proclaimed with conviction.
But at the end of the day it is not the beauty of the liturgy, the transcendant nature of the worship, or the reverence shown by the Faithful but how all these elements combined bring about the salavation of souls. May God will it thus.
5 comments:
Wow, Mary. This is incredible. You are a Catholic with a bishop, a real bishop. Get behind him, write him letters, gather the troops! What an event that must have been. Thanks for posting this. I'll watch the video tomorrow from my office computer ...
Thanks Jeff. I don't live in Vermont but in northern Massachusetts. I travelled up to Burlington to attend the Latin Mass, especially since it was at our former parish (of 18 years ago). I received permission for my sons to serve and what an honor it was for them and for me.
Mary
Ah, yes, you're in Massachusetts. I think I must've known that at one point. In any case it was certainly a great honor for you and your family. Your boys will never forget it.
Ah...they were YOUR sons! That explains a lot ;-) I know someone who lives in Burlington and attended the Mass as well. She was impressed at how well the altar servers did. Since she's used to ones that know what they are doing, that's really a compliment.
We had thought about going as well, but ended up going in NH since that's where we were (I live about 2 hours away...maybe 2 1/2 ). The person I was speaking of above is from NH...she's the daughter of a very good friend there, and since I was staying at their house, we got the scoop as soon as she walked in her door. It sounded glorious! Thanks for posting about it as well, Mary. I really do hope that this will entice other bishops who might not be too confident in having one themselves to just go ahead and do it.
Heather
I just found online that NEW HAMPSHIRE will have an extraordinary form of the mass according to the missal of Bl. John XXIII at Immaculate Conception Church(Corpus Christi Parish)in Portsmouth NH at 11am on September 23rd 2007
This will be the priests first mass in this form- please pass the word and the Lord will provide at least one extraordinary form in each New England city where we need it to push back the culture of death- the more sanctifying grace the better-check it out***
www.corpuschristiparish.org
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