ARTICLES

Liturgical Beauty

TENTH ANNIVERSARY IN OAKLAND

by Karen Walker

Imagine kneeling in a mini-Gothic-style cathedral. Soft blues, reds and purples seep through stained glass windows. People are filing in, but you're absorbed in prayer. Quiet. Peaceful. Meditative. As Mass time approaches, strains of J.S. Bach's "Prelude and Fugue in G Minor" break into your silence. Then the full congregation stands and joins in an impassioned rendition of "Come, Holy Ghost," drawing your attention to the bishop and procession coming down the center aisle. Is this a dream?

Not at all. It is a taste of the tenth anniversary celebration of the indult traditional Mass said each week at St. Margaret Mary's parish in Oakland. In 1989 Father Vladimir Kozina, pastor of St. Margaret Mary parish at the time, secured permission from Bishop John Cummins of the diocese of Oakland to celebrate the indult Mass.

The celebration of the Indult Mass at St. Margaret Mary's commenced on the heels of Pope John Paul II's 1988 Apostolic letter "Ecclesia Dei," which was written in response to Archbishop Lefebvre's independent ordination of three bishops without Papal approval. In this letter, the Holy Father underscored the need for a "wide and generous" application of the 1984 directives.

At St. Margaret Mary's, parishioners were grateful to Bishop John Cummins, who, in spite of hip surgery, celebrated the anniversary Mass on Sunday, September 19. The bishop recounted fond memories of his residency at the parish, praised former pastor Vladimar Kozina who was unable to attend, and acknowledged the appreciation parishioners have shown for the traditional Mass. Afterwards, Bishop Cummins greeted more than 300 attendees and met with parochial administrator Father Paul Schmidt and Father William Marshall.

"The bishop thanked me personally for the music," beamed parish choir director David Sundahl. "He said he enjoyed the music very much, especially 'Tollite Hostias,' one of his favorite hymns.'" Everyone I ran into had wonderful comments to say about everything," Sundahl added. "Many people, especially visitors for the first time, told me that they had not heard church music like this for 30 years. Other visitors were delighted to learn that we play the same type of music every week -- at our 10:30 a.m. Latin Novus Ordo Mass three times a month, and at our 12:30 p.m. indult Mass once a month."

The 12:30 p.m. Sunday Mass at St. Margaret Mary's is the only indult Mass celebrated in the Oakland Diocese, a diocese which serves 500,000 Catholics. Within the Archdiocese of San Francisco, however, no Indult Mass is offered on a regular basis. According to archdiocesan administrators, the Archdiocese of San Francisco offers Masses in Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese (in the dialects of Mandarin and Cantonese), Korean, Croatian, Slovenian, Arabic and Russian, but no regular indult Mass in Latin.

That's not to say that San Franciscan laity haven't tried to obtain Archbishop Levada's approval for one. Ann Gervasi, who has lived in the city all her life, says that she helped collect signatures to petition an indult Mass. "We sent in 85 signatures," recounts Gervasi, "and I received a reply from Archbishop Levada that they would think about it, discuss it, and get back to me -- that was in July 1998." Gervasi has been attending the Mass in Oakland for the past five years, bringing several friends with her each week. "I got fed up with irreverent Masses in other parishes in San Francisco. I like that St. Margaret Mary's is so reverent. It enhances my ability to pray."

Other regular attendees drive from San Francisco, Napa, San Jose, Monterey, Hayward, El Cerrito, Castro Valley, Santa Clara, Walnut Creek, Concord, and Lafayette. "Finding the traditional Mass was like coming home for us," wrote one young Fremont couple in a recent letter to Sundahl. "It's beauty and depth cannot be surpassed...."

"I find such peace here; it's very beautiful," agrees Mary Walker, who has been attending the parish for more than 25 years. Walker recounted that one lady who had recently begun attending the parish told her she is now attending the parish R.C.I.A. program because she wants to convert, after having been a Mormon for 20 years. "I never knew quite how I fit in," the lady explained, "but when I came here I felt like I found my home."

Fred and Mary Richard, parents of five children ages nine and younger, concur. "We go to this Mass because we find it peaceful, prayerful, reverent and rich in symbolism; it helps us raise our minds and hearts to God," says Fred. "It's kind of like going on a retreat.... There's a great attempt to make the Mass relevant to children, but my experience is that in this Mass all the children are attentive and quiet during the Mass, even if they're pretty wild outside. When we ask our children what they think about it, they tell us they prefer the Mass at St.Margaret Mary's to others we've attended because it's beautiful and they like the Latin." Fred was someone who didn't grow up with the Tridentine Mass, as is the case for many of the young adults who attend the parish. "At first it was totally foreign to me and somewhat uncomfortable," he says. "But my attachment to it was somewhat intellectual. I looked at the prayers of the two Masses and thought it was a fuller expression of the richness of our Faith, penance, the transcendence of God, the communion with the angels and the saints. "In college I went to the University of San Francisco and have attended some rather bizarre liturgical celebrations." One sponsored by the campus ministry, he says, in the informal lounge of the Hayes Healy women's dorm at 9 p.m., included a slide show at the Offertory depicting wheat fields, grapes, and boys and girls holding hands. The Epistle reading consisted of one of the girls reading a personal letter, since after all, "epistle" means "letter," and the bread used for Consecration was a cake-like bread. The longest segment of that Mass, he recalled, was the Kiss of Peace. At the Oakland parish, Fred likes the altar rail. "I can make these acts of reverence for Our Lord in Holy Communion without feeling out of place or drawing attention to myself," he says.

"The dimensions of the liturgy of the Mass are infinite; it cannot be said in just one way," observes Father Schmidt, who points out that beautiful music and the Novus Ordo Latin Mass had been going on for years at St. Margaret Mary's before the addition of the indult Mass. Father Schmidt notes that Catholics have been poorly served by the English translation of the Novus Ordo Mass. "Since I've been doing the new Mass in Latin," he says, "I've realized what we've missed. If we had been given a better translation, we might not have had so many [problems]. We wound up with a rather vulgar translation. In the old Mass there is a sense of something wonderful going on in front of you and everyone is looking on from afar. In the new Mass, there's more a sense of family, of a community, but the sense of sacred may be forgotten. There's something to be said for a recovery of the sacred." For more information about St. Margaret Mary's, check out the website at www.geocities.com/athens/olympus/5008