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Contents © 2002
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

The Men's Church

I was a bit apprehensive about attending Mass at Most Holy Redeemer Church in the Castro district of San Francisco. En route to the Church, I encountered local establishments with names like "Hot n' Hunky Donuts," "Moby Dick Bar n' Grill" and "The Men's Room," that confirmed my fears. Many of these establishments tried to lure customers with lewd photos of men. What would Mass be like in a church set in this neighborhood?

The Most Holy Redeemer website (which describes the church as "a Christian Community in the Roman Catholic tradition") boasts a number of services, such as: outreach to those with HIV/AIDS, the Justice and Peace Committee for the purpose of consciousness raising, a social committee, a Legion of Mary and an Our Lady's Sodality (a social group for women). Scanning the almost entirely male congregation, I found it surprising that the parish had enough women to justify their own social group. Only an occasional woman could be seen.

It was a full house. Arriving during the processional, I found a seat at the front of the church, not facing the sanctuary, but looking across the church at other people facing back at me. The altar table was about 45 degrees to my left and the sanctuary about 45 degrees to my right. The altar space was on a banjo-shaped raised platform with its neck extending from the sanctuary and the round part jutting out into the congregation. If there was a tabernacle, it was not in view from my seat.

New to the parish, the celebrant, Father Phelan, in his sermon informed us about his background as a priest. He was ordained in the early 60s, then came to America from Ireland. He said that when in the seminary, he and other seminarians characterized themselves as "St. John the Baptist priests." He was taught under the old rules, which, he was then warned, might soon be obsolete. Father Phelan compared his new flock to that of his first parish in Alabama, because they too drove many miles to attend mass.

The Gospel was the passage where Jesus says, "my yoke is sweet, my burden light." Father explained that he related well to the verse because of his agricultural background. The ox accomplishes much when he works in tandem with the driver and his fellow oxen -- God being the driver, the oxen our neighbor. God does not take away our burden, said Father, but with God, we accomplish more than we think we do.

The most striking thing about the Mass was the singing, which was reminiscent of a monastery. The pure sound of mostly male voices was cluttered only by the sound of a solitary female voice. The accompaniment was mostly organ, but the piano was used for the psalms sung by a male soloist in the choir loft. Music sheets were provided. The entrance song was "Rejoice, the Lord is King" (words by Charles Wesley). The offertory was an African-American spiritual called "There is a Balm in Gilead." The communion was "Blest Are They" (David Haas) and the recessional was "Holy God." The congregation sang the first two lines of the Gloria as a chorus, with the verses sung by the soloist. All sang the Holy Holy and Lamb of God with organ accompaniment.

For many, it seemed the kiss of peace was the high point of the Mass. Many went well out of their way (for what seemed an eternity) to show very warm signs of affection to their friends. One man sitting to my left stretched past me to kiss the man to my right on the lips.

During the consecration, I was facing the celebrant's back. Nobody knelt during the consecration, though a few kneeled after communion. All held hands as they recited the Our Father. There were five lay eucharistic ministers (two women) wearing common clothing. At the end of Mass Father Phelan gave thanks for not falling off the platform.

All things considered, I skipped coffee and donuts.

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