This morning, we attended the local celebration of the Ordinariate Mass, just begun on a regular , weekly basis.
The location is the tiny, historic Holy Rosary Church. We spent many Monday afternoons there during J’s freshman and sophomore years, volunteering at the parish-sponsored “reading room.” More here about that.
(We had to stop because Mondays was the only day J could do it – early school dismissal – and another school activity popped that took over the Monday afternoon slot.)
Here’s a history of the parish:
The president of Gate City Land Company, Maclin Ross, bought the original property of Holy Rosary for one dollar in 1889 for “Church purposes”. He then deeded the land to Bishop Jeremiah O’Sullivan. This simple church with its hand carved altar was built 125 years ago to accommodate the 80 or so parishioners of that time. The first parishioners were Belgian and Irish, and as the Mark’s Village community continued to evolve Holy Rosary became one of the first truly integrated parishes in the area.
The pastor is now Fr. Jon Chalmers, a priest of the Ordinariate who also serves as the president of Holy Family Cristo Rey High School.
We had been to Mass there once before – on the infamous Immaculate Conception Snow Day of 2017 when we couldn’t get out of the house until the evening – and Holy Rosary had, I believe, the last Mass of the day, anywhere. But that was Roman Rite/Ordinary Form.
When I saw that Holy Rosary was going to start offering the Ordinariate Form liturgy on a regular basis, I made a mental note to try to work it in – between people’s work schedules and the serving schedule at Casa Maria.
As it happens, the 10:30 time is really perfect – late enough for the sleepers to get their rest, and not so late that the day feels spent by the time you’re finished. And we don’t live far from the parish – on a Sunday, it takes us 10 minutes to get there.
And so we went – there weren’t a lot of us, but there were enough! An organist accompanied on hymns and it was a lovely liturgy – elevated language, raising the heart and mind to worship, but not stiff or wooden.
What is interesting to me – and would be striking to anyone, I think, on first exposure to this liturgy – is a greater penitential emphasis and tone than one finds in the contemporary Ordinary Form. It’s not at the level of Eastern Catholic liturgies, where you’re saying Lord Have Mercy more or less constantly throughout, but it’s definitely noticeable. Which means – if you’re noticing it, you’re noticing your need to repent and open yourself to God’s mercy – always a good thing.
And, of course, we have our ad orientem celebration, inexplicably terrifies and enrages some, but you know – which actually makes so much sense. As the celebrant prays to God, he faces in the same direction as the rest of us, and then in dialogue, he turns to the congregation.
Not a big deal.
Note: you might have expected the vestments to be purple, since it’s Sexagesima Sunday. But the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter was on 2/22 – and that’s the Ordinariate’s patronal feast – so it’s celebrated on the closest Sunday. So, white.
“A greater penitential emphasis and tone than one finds in the contemporary Ordinary Form.”
This is one of the main reasons I’m glad to be in the Ordinariate.
As a former Anglican, I have been happier as a plain old Latin Rite/Ordinary Form Catholic than I ever thought would be possible — at least partly because we have a good parish with good liturgy. I have honestly not missed being Anglican. The Ordinariate didn’t exist when we entered the Church, and I thought converting was going to feel like the end of the world, but twelve years on, it really hasn’t. I’m nothing but grateful for my parish experience and all the many, many graces that have come to me through it.
But I spoke at the Ordinariate Cathedral in Houston two weeks ago, and went to their solemn high Mass, and . . . well, those prayers are just really in my bones. The two things I do specifically miss, out of the whole liturgy, are the prayer of confession (general confession? you’d think I’d remember what it was called . . .) and the Prayer of Humble Access. They are just. so. good.
Our Ordinariate pew booklet calls the confession the Penitential Rite. I’m not sure whether that’s official but I think it is. May not be what it was called in the BCP.
Ad orientam “inexplicably terrifies and enrages”–yes, as does everything connected with the old liturgy. I’ve been Catholic since 1981 and remain puzzled by the psychology of that. Personally I was surprised, at my first Ordinariate Mass, at the difference a.o. made to me. I still haven’t really tried to articulate it but it’s pretty strong. I had never given it much thought–I was just in it for the prose.
I’m glad to see an Ordinariate Mass happening regularly in B’ham. Our group in Mobile keeps hanging on, barely. “Maclin Ross” is intriguing, as Maclin is not all that common a name, and there are some Rosses in another branch of my family. I’m not aware of any Catholic ancestors post-Reformation. Probably no connection, and distant if there were…but intriguing.
(I’m leaving a fake email address because my real one is attached to an account that isn’t mine. Long story.)
I did not know this was happening! In the words of Liz Lemon, “I want to go to there….”
The 1928 Book of Common Prayer was my introduction to the liturgical worship and the prayers are “in my bones” as well.