• About Amy Welborn
  • Homeschooling
  • Travel
  • Sex & Gender
  • Lent

Charlotte was Both

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Sexagesima
The Comedians »

Ordinariate

February 24, 2019 by Amy Welborn

img_20190224_105905
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. 

"amy welborn"

(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. 

IMG_20190224_102541
img_20190224_105902

 

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.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Alabama, Amy Welborn, Amy Welborn's Books, art, Birmingham, Catholic, Christian, Faith, history, Jesus, Joseph Dubruiel, Lent, Loyola Kids Book of Bible Stories, Loyola Press, Michael Dubruiel, prayer | Tagged Alabama, Amy Welborn, Amy Welborn's Books, Birmingham, Catholic, Catholicism, Christianity, liturgy, Michael Dubruiel |

  • Header Image

    Rome, 2016

  • Coming March 2023




  • Books on Saints
  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 9,691 other subscribers
  • It is what it is


    stories
    opinions
    observations
    photos.
    reviews

    Seeker Friendly.

  • Check out the new Substack
  • Fiction

    A short story about mothers, daughters, and why we believe what we say we believe…or not. 

    "amy welborn"

    Finalist for the J.F.Powers Short Story Award. Read on  Wattpad. 

    A novel

  • My son's novel
  • Hola.

    Amy Welborn
  • Follow Charlotte Was Both on Facebook. Get new posts in your newsfeed. Save wear and tear on the Internets.

    Follow Charlotte Was Both on Facebook. Get new posts in your newsfeed. Save wear and tear on the Internets.
  • In the past

  • Follow Charlotte was Both on WordPress.com
  • Copyright Notice

    © Amy Welborn and Charlotte Was Both, 2007-2022 Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

  • amywelborn.net

    amywelborn.org

  • INSTAGRAM

  • Today's the memorial of St. Angela Merici, founder of the Ursulines.  Today is the feast the Conversion of Paul. Some related images from my books. The Loyola Kids Book of Bible Stories, the Loyola Kids Book of Heroes, and the Loyola Kids Book of Catholic Signs and Symbols. More:. https://amywelborn.wordpress.com/2023/01/25/the-conversion-of-saul-in-poetry/ St. Francis de Sales, whose feast is today, invites us to focus first, on the reality of the present moment. How is God calling me to love here, now? From St. Francis de Sales, whose feastday is today: It's coming! For more: Pages from an English-language, but Belgian-originating Mass book for children from the 50's.  More at All right, here's another one. I'm trying to get better and more efficient at video for this app, so I'm practicing by doing reels and such related to this year's travel. Last time - my trip to Mexico in October. This time, our trip to England and Scotland from this past June:  Oxford, York, the Hadrian's Wall area, Lindesfarne, Edinburgh and London. Phew! In late October, I spent a week in the gorgeous, wonderful city of Guanajuato, Mexico. I'm currently preparing for another trip and am working on my editing skills (hah) so I'll be more efficient. As practice, here's a short survey of that Guanajuato trip. It was great - as I hope you can tell. 

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • Charlotte was Both
    • Join 450 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Charlotte was Both
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: