ROAMIN'
CATHOLIC

2003 ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
December
September
July/August
May
March
January

ARTICLES

LETTERS

NEWS

FOLLOW ME






Contents © 2003
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

ST. ANGELA'S, PACIFIC GROVE

So Boring

On the Sixth Sunday of Easter (May 25), I attended the 5:30 evening Mass at St. Angela's parish in Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula -- a parish that does its best to attract youth with lively liturgies. As Carol Kuzdenyi, the parish's directress of music, told the April 20 Monterey Herald, "a lot of people" have "left the church because it was so boring. But the church is trying to draw [them] back." Kuzdenyi said she chooses jazzy, percussive music for Masses because it is "more accessible to kids." At the Mass I attended on May 25, however, there was only a moderate turn out of parishioners, who seemed mostly of the forty and older age bracket.

The music team for the Mass was composed of a cantoress, a pianist, and a percussionist. The procession waltzed up the aisle to "Bring Flowers of the Rarest"(found in our "worship aid" titled "Mary Day"), in honor of the Blessed Mother. Drum taps brought out the oom-pah-pah rhythm of the piece, making it sound like a carnival tune. The crucifetrix led the way, then four lay ministers, a poster-bearer (advertising a June 8 interfaith meeting), and a lectoress, all in lay clothing, followed by the pastor, Father Jerry McCormick, wearing a white chasuble with a blue stole. Father broke the ice with a "good evening" and pointed out that we were preparing our hearts for the Ascension and Pentecost. After his blessing, a piano intro segued us into a highly syncopated song, which I assume was called, "Lead us to the Water." The soft beat of bongo drums pattered on as a sleeveless woman carrying the holy water trailed the priest down the aisle as he blessed us with the asperges, alternating right and left.

The Gloria's simple piano arrangement and harmonies pulsated with fiesta-like maracas at the refrain. The carefree verses, sung solo, would perhaps have been appropriate to a cute scene in a Broadway musical. The last chorus, sung twice, slowed for a dramatic ending, capped by a triumphant maraca shake. The psalm response, "This is the Day," also sounded like a Broadway tune -- this time, evocative of springtime and sunlight. Its percussion was a single solid knock of wood against wood on the strong beats.

A lectoress read the second reading, from 1 John 4, with emotion. The reading begins, "beloved, let us love one another." The schmaltz factor was turned up a few notches during the blues-style alleluia -- especially at the verse, which the cantoress attempted to sing in heartrending blues idioms, bending her voice in ways that sounded both forced and corny.

Father McCormick declared in his homily that our concept of the Gospel is what all world religions are all about -- peace. If you go to the heart of the Hindus, Buddhists, and the People of the Book (Jews, Christians and Muslims), he said, we are all saying the same thing. Jesus, he said somewhat confusingly, comes from some entity whose name means "mama" -- since, for the Japanese, God is always female. God comes to us and empties Himself -- he's a little baby. How fortunate, continued McCormick, for us to know that Jesus said to his Apostles after the Resurrection, "I did what I came to do. I emptied myself. Then I finally said, I forgive them." Then McCormick said something along these lines: we empty ourselves so we can build that spirit of acting indirectly as Jesus. That is a gift -- not to make us better, but to be sharing. And how do we share along with Jesus? It has everything to do with mercy, compassion, reconciliation, justice, honesty, caring, and, ultimately, love.

Father went on to explain that the processional poster contains everything that reflects where we are in our parish family. For four years, he said, the parish has been preparing for an inter-faith meeting that is going to happen on June 8, the Feast of Pentecost, addressing problems such as homelessness, affordable housing, health care, and public safety. The priest concluded his sermon by asking, "could you all do me a favor? Could you all give yourselves a hand?" -- which we did.

In place of the creed, we renewed our baptismal vows. The seemingly truncated vows, devoid of all negativity, consisted of declarations of our faith in God, the Father Creator of heaven and earth; in Jesus Christ, who lived, died, and rose from the dead; in the realization that "Jesus is truly with us in prayer, Scripture, Sacraments and the community"; and in the truth "that human life is precious." Father then proclaimed, "well, then, this is our faith. Be proud to profess it in Christ Jesus our Lord." We responded, "Amen," to which the priest responded, "that's what they said!" -- without specifying who "they" were, but presumably referring to a baptism earlier in the day. The liturgy was littered with such insertions from Father.

The offertory song, the usually meditative "Hail Mary, Gentle Mother," highlighted the lack of synergy between the piano and bongos. After the offertory prayer, the priest turned to the choir and said, "that was a really beautiful song. Now let's greet each other as Christians." The Holy Holy Holy began with a 1950s rock-style piano rhythm. The second syllable of the word "Holy" was sung with a sharp staccato.

We knelt for the Eucharistic prayer. During the consecration of the wine, Father slowly enunciated, the sacred formula, after which we rocked out to the mystery of faith, "Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again." McCormick's affected speech lasted the duration of the prayer. The reverently chanted minor elevation contrasted with the party tune for the Amen. After we chanted the Our Father, holding hands, the priest prayed, "Lord Jesus, you said to your Apostles, to us, I give you peace."

At the Agnus Dei, we were afflicted by a reprise of the Sanctus melody, which now awkwardly accommodated the three syllables in "Lamb of God." Also, the word "sins" was translated "sin." The communion song's heavily syncopated refrain, "my soul, my soul rejoices, rejoices in my heart," was punctuated by accented staccato notes. The sanctuary party recessed to another waltz tune, and we then gave ourselves another round of applause.

Afterwards, I spoke to the poster-bearer, who proceeded to recruit me to be an honorary member of St. Angela's parish so I could join them at the June 8 interfaith meeting. I asked if it was O.K., considering I was already a registered member at another parish. She said a group of Quakers were unknowingly attending as honorary members, so she guessed that meant it was all right. She said secretly, "we won't tell them that they're attending under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church."

TOP