Church of the Holy Spirit
Charismatic Episcopal Church
Stephens City, VA
Our church service began with a procession down the road outside our front door, led by a processional cross (as a small mission church – congregation of 20 people or so – we don’t have a monstrance yet). One of the subdeacons led singing as we marched, and my kids thought every service should begin this way!
Lots of fun, and a great sermon on how Christ is really present at the altar, not just a memorial.

Bishop Finn, of the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, led a Eucharistic Procession yesterday in St. Joseph, MO. Numerous photos and some story at http://www.kansascitycatholic.blogspot.com

Oddly disjointed. No extras compared to any other Sunday.
Solid homily (if mostly a repeat) on how people with real problems need the real presence of Jesus, not just some symbol that makes us feel good. Also emphasized the Great Commission and how we lack the ability to begin carrying it out without Jesus’ Real Presence.
The music director, though, wanted a completely different message.
Gathering Song – “I Myself am the Bread of Life”;
Presentation Song – “We are the Body of Christ”.
That combo prompted some odd thoughts in re the Recessional “Taste and See” – just which parishioner(s) am I invited/required to taste?

St. Edward’s Parish, Bowie MD
We went to mass in a different parish to participate in their procession, which covered almost a mile in pretty hot weather. I guess about 100 people were in the procession. There were two stations in people’s yards (parishoners, I presume!), and the third station was back in the church; in between stations we prayed the rosary. By the end of it one of my kids had a completely red face and I was worried about heat exhaustion, but after a few drinks he was OK. At the end, back in Church for the Tantum Ergo (in Latin!), the priest looked hot but happy. Only complaint: “We have come to share our story / etc.”

Our Lady of the Lake
Pocono Pines, PA
Sadly we were a bit late so there MAY have been a procession, but I doubt it. There was no sequence. A full lively “band”; when we walked in they were all finger-snapping to “Glory, glory to God, glory to God in the highest”…modern round church, couldn’t see the tabernacle to genuflect, turns out it is in a side chapel way off to the side (thought it was a crying room). Fairly decent homily from a Fr.Groeschel look alike. The EM’s were sharp and on the job: my son who has autism was a bit confused because the Host was bigger and browner than we are used to. He began to walk away and the EM was right on him. I reinforced this strongly in the parking lot later!
They prayed for the Pope but not for a bishop, by name. Is the diocese of Scranton vacant now?
I did miss being at home to hear the Sequence but it was a nice mass, what I heard of it (mostly in vestibule with active toddler).

Well, in my Diocese, Corpus Christi is moved from Thusday to Sunday.
But in my parish, Father’s Day trumps Corpus Christi.
We started with David Haas’ “Song of the Body of Christ” (you know, the traditional Hawaiian melody).
I think the MC introduced the Mass as:
This is Father’s Day (and also the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ).
I didn’t know that Father’s Day was on the Roman Calendar, but I guess it is.
The “homily” was by a guest speaker, a thirty-something Dad, businesmann, and father of four young children, who spoke about his “peronsal mission statement” and how gradituted, prayer, fellowship and service made him the best dad he could be, the best husband he could be, the best businessman he could be, and the best Catholic Christian he could be.
No noticeable references to the readings.
Everyone applauded.
(Hey, at least it was a good Christian sermon for young dad businessmen types.)
Communion song was Bob Hurd’s “Peacador de Hombres,” if I remember correctly.
As I said, Father’s Day trumps Corpus Christi around here.

Small student university chapel in summer, no procession, but conversely one of the best explanations of what a Eucharistic procession is and why we would have one if we had more than 30 people present. Excellent catechesis.

St. Theresa’s, Sugar Land, TX.
Latin sequence chanted.
Homily on the significance of the feast, and why the Church added this celebration of the Eucharist; explication of the liturgical texts of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Procession (with traditional accoutrements) half way around the block, to the adoration chapel.

My parish had a wonderful Corpus Christi procession yesterday, although it had to be inside due to weather. I wrote about it on my blog.
http://catholicgop.blogspot.com/2006/06/corpus-christi-part-deux.html

I attended an ordination Mass.
The Archbishop spoke of the Eucharist as covenant and also about the role of the priest as persona christi particularly in relation to the sacrifice of the Mass. He also encouraged everyone present to go to receive Christ in the Eucharist daily if possible.

Assumption Grotto, Detroit
Lovely procession. Numerous photos here http://te-deum.blogspot.com/
Sorry I don’t remember the homily. Grotto has no A/C, but I strategically sat where I could get the gusting wind blowing in from one of the windows.
Oh yes, Orchestral Mass, Schubert Mass in G.

Cathedral of the Holy Rosary
Vadodara (Baroda), India
I’m getting used to the liturgies here, I guess (Amy linked to my distress post a couple of weeks back. Last week was better). Nothing out of the ordinary (other than the Mass itself, of course!) — no processions, no Sequence. The homily was on the history of the Feast.
So, yeah, Deo gratia, I’ll make the most of the time here.

Umm sorry to double post but that’s Dei gratia. [sheepish look]

It was the monthly celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Great Chaos, or the bilingual Mass.
I’m sorry but I really was disengaged there. Can’t recall much about the homily. Wife was not feeling well so I went alone (we hadn’t been at the home parish in the previous 2 wks because of travel).
Things I did notice:
How to make “I Am the Bread of Life” even worse? Add a Spanish text for some of the verses! All contemporary music, mostly awful. How awful? “One Bread, One Body” in 2 languages was the artistic high point.
A truly bilingual Mass wouldn’t have, as we do, one reading in English, one in Spanish, and then the gospel in English. It’d be done in an interlinear manner, the way you hear rabbis translate the Hebrew as they go along, like this:
“Baruch at’ah Adonai el-ahany melech ha-alaum; Blessed are you, Lord, ruler of the universe!”

St. Thomas of Canterbury
Chicago, IL
On a normal Sunday, this parish in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood has Mass in three languages (English, Spanish, and Vietnamese) and occasionally will also have Sunday Masses in Eritrean and Lao.
On the feast of Corpus Christi, however, there is only one Mass, and parishioners are encouraged to dress in traditional ethnic garb, if they so choose.
At yesteday’s Mass, most of the proper parts of the Mass were sung/chanted in Greek or Latin.
During the Kyrie, I was nearly moved to tears. Many in the congregation normally attend Mass in another language, and many don’t speak much English at all.
But everybody, regardless of native language, knew the words to the Kyrie, the Sanctus, and the Pater Noster.
Whoever said Catholics can’t sing?
During the neighborhood procession that followed, some of the faithful carried the Vatican flag, the American flag, as well as numerous countries’ flags representing parishioners’ various countries of origin.
The neighborhood itself is undergoing gentrification. Its population is a mixed bag of yuppies, halfway house residents, and working-class southeast Asians (mostly from Cambodia).
A lot of people stopped and stared at us quizzically, and one lady even asked one of the ushers, “What’s the parade for?” (He did his best to explain what we were doing.)
All in all, a beautiful experience.

Imm. Heart of Mary
Brooklyn, NY
Corpus Christi procession in blazing 90+ degree sun (I envied Father shaded by the canopy), immediately following the 11:45 am Mass, along a six-block loop in the streets of the Windsor Terrace neighborhood adjacent to the church, w/readings outside various parishioners’ homes, followed by benediction in the church. About 100 participants, plus the choir who sang hymns in the traditional (Pange Lingua) & modern (I Am The Bread Of Life) vein. The kids and I rewarded ourselves with ice cream afterward.

Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Parish Church
Fairly ho-hum.
Plus: Homily that used the word “transubstantiation.”
Minus: “Table Song” as the the Communion hymn.

Here in Dissidentville, I attended the vigil at one of the few, if not only orthodox Novus Ordo, Mass with sequence sung by organist. Father’s Day was mentioned prior to the homily which started with the news of the new translation, with a few jabs (understandable as he is so greatly in the minority in this diocese) at the current translation and bishops who also transferred Corpus Christi to Sunday, the rest of the homily was fairly standard and orthodox.
Sunday I went to my territorial parish (probably for the last time) that had no sequence. Homily by the deacon had social justice theme, illustrated by scripture other than the day’s readings.

St. John Neumann
Farragut, TN
One and a half mile procession with pastor carrying Blessed Sacrament in monstrance under a canopy carried by the KOC. About sixty men, women, and children participated in 93 degree temperatures (thank you God, for the breeze), praying the rosary and Divine Mercy with walkie-talkies for those in the back to keep up with the leader in the front. Toward the end we sang Holy God, We Praise Thy Name. Benediction back in the church, followed by refreshments in the great room.
We went to the 6 p.m. Mass that evening and suffered through the teen Mass with awful music and a sequence during communion. Our music director took her master’s degree in liturgical music and left for further studies elsewhere. You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone. Miss her terribly. But the homily was worth it. Our pastor had just celerated his 23rd year as a priest and treated us to a recap of his first Mass. Hilarious. And then he got serious. Very moving.

Immaculate Conception, Waukegan
Barely any acknowledgement of Corpus Christi (mentioned in passing–”Today is also the feast of Corpus Christi..”); Father’s Day was the focus of the homily. Music included Panis Angelicus.

St. Catherine of Siena Chapel at St. Malo Retreat Center, Estes Park, CO (where JPII stayed during Denver WYD 93)
A truly sublime Sunday early evening Mass. Some 40 people, mostly us locals with a few tourists.
We had an organist and cantor this week (usually just acapella) and sang “Alleluia, Sing to Jesus,” “Immaculate Mary,” and “I am the Bread of Life.” The Sequence was sung, as well as the Lamb of God in Latin. And plenty of incense.
No procession though, but following the final blessing we had a short period of exposition, singing “Salutatis Hostia” and all the verses to “Sing My Tongue, the Savior’s Glory.”

I attended the 10:00 Corpus Christi Mass and Procession at St Agnes with Cathy_of_Alex a regular blog poster who probably will have her own soon.
It also happened to be the final Mass as Pastor for Father George Welzbacher who will be moving to St John’s, a smaller parish on St Paul’s East Side. Father John Ubel, the new pastor, was in attendance, vested splendidly as a concelebrant as the two parish deacons assisted Father Welzbacher. Father Ubel, whom all are excited about, is much younger and will be a change for the parish.
This is a real changing of the guard at St Agnes because Monsignor Richard Schuler, who began the symphonic Masses in the parish, has quite recently been moved to a nearby rehabilitation center. He is alert and can receive visitors, but he is beginning to need a lot of care.
The Twin Cities Catholic Chorale and Orchestra were present for their final appearance before their Summer break. They performed Shubert’s Mass in G beautifully. They may have shortened it to make sure the Mass and procession would finish in time for the last Mass at 12:30 (a half hour later than usual).
Father Welzbacher delivered a valedictory “sermon” recapping his five years here, the rocky and the good, and thanking the parishioners for their help to him and for their committment to their children, to their faith, and to the parish and school.
The Procession with perhaps 400 or more parishioners and visitors was done in style. Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus were in attendance and led followed by a dozen very young flower girls, several young boys, a company or two of altar boys, many with candles, then Father Ubel and some other older men, then Father Welzbacher with the Monstrance flanked by the Deacons under the canopy carried by four suited “gentlemen.” They were flanked by four what I assume to be “papal squires” or the like with more more ornamental candle lamps.
I have seen Papal Knights. These were late teen/young adults wearing a long black vest-like garment with a white crest of some sort over the left breast.
The procession left the church, circled slowly around the church campus, spilling into the street and Benediction was held in front of the convent and again in front of the school. They all returned to the church, a final Benediction was held, the Blessed Sacrament was reposed in the tabernacle and the procession ceremony ended.
Wonderful!

St. John the Evangelist
Stamford, CT
At the noon Latin NO mass, we had a procession through the streets with police blocking traffic just for us! I’d guess there were about 200 of us and as usual, they did it right: 25 altar boys, umbrellino, candles, incense, canopy, etc. and we were all handed the words to sing together: O Lord, I Am Not Worthy and Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All. We processed to a small park, all kneeled, did a litany and processed back to the church to end the mass.
After mass, there was a reception to say good-bye to Fr. Paul Check, who is being moved to Our Lady of Fatima in Wilton. He is going to be sorely missed. However, his “spiritual son”, Fr. Terry Walsh, is to be his replacement, so St. John’s will still be a beacon of beauty and orthodoxy in the Northeast.
-Karen

Right before the final blessing a parishioner read a beautiful thank you to our priest (because it was Father’s Day.)
and we applauded and applauded and applauded. ( It seemed long heartfelt.)
He said a few words in humble appreciation for the support of the parish.

Right before the final blessing a parishioner read a beautiful thank you to our priest (because it was Father’s Day.)
and we applauded and applauded and applauded. ( It seemed long heartfelt.)
He said a few words in humble appreciation for the support of the parish.

Due to our assistant pastor having left for his new parish, our pastor leaving for his next weekend, and our new pastor not being here yet, we had no Corpus Christi procession this year.
I went to the 8:00 — good solid sermon from the old priest (as always) and the people sang (as always). The hymns for this Sunday were mostly contemporary, but I think that was pressure from the liturgy committee. Our music director played the contemporary communion song like it was a fugue or something, which was pretty effective.
Next year, I hope we will have more in the way of processions. They are neat, and holy, too. Also, I think it gives the more energetic folks (and the kids) a non-lame way to pray through movement, which isn’t to be despised. (If we had more processions, maybe people wouldn’t be so driven to advocate liturgical dance. Heck, if we had more devotional occasions _outside Mass_, people might not be so driven to hijack the Mass for their own liturgical innovations. They could try them, or work them off, without distracting people from Mass.)

St. Patrick Cathedral, Fort Worth, Texas, 12:30 Mass. Bishop Kevin Vann presided at Mass, then immediately afterward lead a eucharistic procession around the cathedral, after which we went back inside the cathedral for benediction. It was amazingly beautiful!

St. Joseph’s, Downingtown, PA
The Mass itself was very good. Strong homily by visiting (auxiliary) bishop on the history of biblical covenant, and the meaning of the real presence. Sequence was sung very nicely. We started to process to a local park, but the sweltering heat was causing our 8-mo old to melt, so we turned around after the first pit-stop at the convent. The musical selection was odd, though, based on the booklet we got for the procession. The juxtaposition of processing on Corpus Christi to “We are the light of the world…” was jarring. So close…

St. Josaphat in Detroit, 9:30 a.m. Tridentine Mass. The sequence was chanted. The sermon was good, focusing on the Real Presence and how blessed it is to have the knowledge that Jesus is here – is in every tabernacle – anytime we need him; he is the one friend who never abandons us. The procession was nice, though it was just around the interior of the church and was a bit constrained by the scaffolding up in the rear of the church. Singing was enthusiastic and I believe Our Lord was greatly honored!

Thanks, John, for the report on St. Thomas. Oddly, it’s the closest parish to me, but I attend infrequently because I’ve been a longtime parishioner of St. Mary of the Lake in Uptown.
Of course, I didn’t attend Mass there, either, this Sunday.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Chicago, IL
Not much that I remember other than a very good homily on the reality of the Eucharist. The pastor told us a great story of a little boy whom he had given first communion to. Some time later, the boy came up to him and told him that that day was going to be his 23rd time receiving the Eucharist. When the priest said you will probably lose count when you get older, the boy told him he definitely wasn’t going to. And the priest thought, I hope you don’t lose count. If only we remember each time we approach just what a unique gift of Himself the Lord has given us, the pastor told us.

Okay, no parish name here. But here’s my basic recollection of Corpus Christi.
This past Sunday, we started Mass with “Come, Now is the Time to Worship” as a prelude, then our entrance was “Gather Us In.” Not one traditional Eucharistic hymn. I would have been thrilled to hear “Gift of Finest Wheat” (from my own First Communion) or even (though it will NEVER happen) Panis Angelicus.
We also went straight from greeting to Gloria, with no sprinkling involved. If we have the penitential rite, it’s only with the Kyrie (but only in English). I can’t remember the last time we did the Mea Culpa prayer with our pastor there.
Our deacon proclaimed the Gospel and gave the homily, in which he tried to tie in the Eucharist with Father’s Day (as per the pastor’s request). I remember little of it (sorry) save that St. John of the Cross was mentioned and his being devoted to the Eucharist and to reforming his order even when they locked him up. The deacon mentioned that at one point, in honor of a feast day for Our Lady, I think, St. John was asked what he’d like special that day. He asked for bread and wine so that he would be able to celebrate Mass. He was denied. (It was very sad!) The homilies from this particular deacon are always really wonderful, and he seems to vibrate with love for Christ.
No procession or adoration or benediction. I didn’t expect it, to be honest. I’d take part in it if we did have it, though. (Maybe I should have looked about town to see if anyone else was having one this weekend.)

Holy Family Cathedral- Tulsa, OK
Bishop Edward Slattery presided at the 5pm Mass. Mass concluded with a Corpus Christi procession on the streets around the cathedral concluding with prayers for families and the sick. Good crowd. Beautiful music (as usual) by the cathedral choir.

Diocese of Richmond, VA
Priest wore red. No procession. Choir sang Ave Verum Corpus (spelling?) as communion meditation. Homily worked in Father’s Day. Priest said someone sent him an article about how men can feel disengaged from church because it seems more like a chick flick (all about love) than a guy movie (blood). So (here’s the Father’s Day connection) the Feast of Corpus Christi reminds us of the blood shed, including all the bloody references in the bible. Our faith isn’t just about love, but sacrifice and struggle and real blood shed.

St. Mary’s Church (Greenville, SC)
I and my wife visited this church which George Wiegel in his Letters to a Young Catholic called “as good a place as there is in North America to experience what Catholic worship is and ought to be”. Overestimating our driving time, we arrived over a half hour early at 10:20 am, but a number of people were already seated. A veiled chalice was set up on the altar, topped with matching burse (always a good sign). By 10:30, when the altar boys began to filter out of the sacristy in their cassocks and surplices to kneel before the altar for their individual prayers of preparation for Mass, the church was beginning to fill rapidly.
Shortly before Mass time, an organ prelude soared in palpable anticipation. Otherwise, the silence in the church was unbroken by any sound of human voice (other than an occasional baby that was shushed quickly) during the 40 minutes preceding the start of Mass, which was signaled by the ring of a sanctuary bell alerting everyone to stand for the processional, “At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing”. Mercifully, there had been no trite welcome for visitors, no redundant announcement of the hymn number, and (best of all) there was no USL up front. The people simply stood at the bell as one and immediately joined with the organ choir (accompanied by organ and supporting instruments) to sing as one with a beauty and power that could have made one wonder whether he’d inadvertently strayed into an Anglican Church.
The 12 altar boys — including thurifer, crucifer, and torch bearers — preceding the deacon (properly vested in a dalmatic matching the celebrant’s chasuble) and finally the priest, processed down the aisle with such a stately pace that most of 4 verses were required for them to reach the altar. After the processional, the organ alone continued through an additional verse or two while the altar was thoroughly incensed. With such thick clouds of incense, repeated later at the usual points (gospel, offertory, and consecration) in the Mass, as to suggest that in a parish where the Real Presence of Christ, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Sacrifice of the Mass is preached vigorously — as Fr. Jay Scott Newman (pastor of St. Mary’s) did this Sunday in his homily — perhaps there are fewer of the usual asthma complaints. (Seriously, they have other Masses without incense, of course.)
The whole Mass (apart from readings and homily) was sung or chanted in the vernacular — except for the Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei of the Missa de Angelis sung in Latin not only by the choir but (seemingly) by the entire congregation of about six hundred. The Gloria was sung by all present in a beautiful and moving English setting with soaring voices and trumpets, and the Credo was proclaimed by all in English with a slow measured cadence and deliberate emphases that made it actually sound like a conscious statement of shared faith. Fr. Newman chanted in English the propers and dialogue parts of the Mass as well as the Preface and much of the Roman Canon, with an especially solemn chant for the Consecration. The choir chanted antiphonally the full 24 verses of the Lauda, Sion sequence before the Gospel in a stately Elizabethan English setting (Thee/Thou, shalt, learneth, etc.)
With only two priests distributing hosts up front in the center aisle and many communicants kneeling or genuflecting, communion lasted long enough for the choir to sing most the great Eucharistic hymns that St. Thomas Aquinas composed for the Corpus Christi office, including O Sacrum Convivium, Adoro te Devote, and Panis Angelicus. The people remained kneeling until the door on the Tabernacle was closed. Only then did the congregational communion hymn “God With Hidden Majesty” begin. Mass ended with a towering organ postlude (probably Bach) rather than a closing hymn.
Leaving, it occurred to us that perhaps we had just experienced the true “Mass of Vatican II”. We were unable to stay for the Solemn Vespers, Procession, and Benediction later in the afternoon.

St. Joseph Latin Mass Community
Austin, TX
Tridentine High Mass
Chanted propers in Latin, arranged by Fr. Rossini. Mass Ordinary was the “Missa de Angelis.” The 24 verses of the “Lauda Sion Salvatorem” sequence were chanted by two wonderful cantors, in alternation with our fledgling men’s schola, concluding with a bit of haunting organum at the “Amen, Alleluia.” The singing was heartfelt and many in the congregation afterwards commented on its prayerfulness.
At the Communion was the organ meditation on “Adoro Te Devote” by David Lasky, a sweet setting of “Ecce panis angelorum” for three tenors (from the St. Gregory Hymnal?), the “Pange Lingua” chant, and the familiar “Tantum Ergo” hymn. Following the recessional hymn (“Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All”) was a frothy, celebratory statement from the Italian Baroque, the “Festival Postlude” by Domenico Zipoli.
A lovely Mass.

The pastor at a small Denver suburban parish, a man who had just celebrated the fortieth aniversary of his ordination, was sick and barely finished the 11:00 mass before finally admitting he couldn’t continue. I showed up at the 12:30 mass, where there was only a communion service. Very odd twist for the feast of Corpus Christi.

Rural Missouri
We had a full complement of servers (cross, candles, incense) sang eucharistic hymns (traditional and a couple contemporary)
I also tried to tie Fathers day in with Corpus Christi. I will spare you the entire homily (one of the longer ones I have ever given) but to give you the flow of it.
On Fathers day we should clearly express our gratitude and appreciation for our Fathers – for thier sacrifices, for their example, etc.
Of all the gifts my own earthly father gave to me, the one I am most grateful for is our Catholic Faith – each Sunday, come hell or high water, we went to Mass.
Having gone, on occassion, with my mom to various protestant churches, I began to recognize and appreciate some things we had that made us distinctly Catholic – look around, what will you not find in the baptist church – statues, images of saints, (kneelers) and this – this red candle which burns as a perpetual indicator of that great and mysterious Divine presence in the tabernacle.
From there I launched into a catechesis on the presence of our Lord in the Eucharist, which included citation of two eucharistic miracles -L’Anciano and the story told of the adoring mule in Rimini – giving homage to our Blessed Lord in the hands of St. Anthony. Finally, I extolled the virtues of Eucharistic Adoration with a brief story, related by Peter Kreeft on “What I learned about Eucharistic Adoration from a Muslim.” This was printed several years ago in Crisis. The kicker was the following exchange:
Catholic: “I know, I know, you don’t believe that you could get down on your knees and worsh-”
Muslim: “NO! that’s not it, I don’t believe I could ever get up again, if I truly believed that was Allah!”
At that moment – silence – instant and visible recognition registered on the faces of several parishioners – including one who is a Methodist who regularly attends Mass (every Sunday) with his wife and children. At Communion time, he came up with them to receive a blessing (this is not his normal practice). When this man becomes Catholic, it will be the Eucharist that draws him in.

Oh, I forgot, we didn’t have a procession in order to encourage the faithful to attend the Diocesan Corpus Christi procession – you can read about that on Amy’s blog above.

San Francisco Bay Area, went to the crack of dawn Mass. No musicians, the priest announced (and picked, as far as I could tell) the songs. One soloist did his best to lead. I walked in during the processional which was “let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent” (a favorite since I learned it in high school chorus) – I was thrilled, and joined in immediately, and was probably the only person other than the soloist who knew the melody. I remember thinking the homily was good and on sacrifice and the Body of Christ, but don’t recall specifics now. No parades or anything. No Haas or Haugen songs, one Farrell, One Bread, One Body?

Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, Portland, OR.
Dominican Missa Cantata, with propers from William Byrd’s Gradualia, plainchant ordinary, chanted Latin sequence (mode VII).
After, procession with all the trimmings (incense, canopy, candle bearers, etc.) and triple Benediction.
First, after exposition, the Priests and Altar boys processed around the church and back into the sanctuary for the first Benediction.
Then we all–maybe 150-200 of us–processed outside, down the street, past the loud drunk homeless people on the other side (but when one of them saw us, he quickly told the others to shhhhh! God Bless him), with planes doing flybys overhead, as if in honor of the Blessed Sacrament (I don’t know why they were really flying, some kind of airshow I guess), then into the parking lot to a station set up there for the second benediction.
After seeing people not kneeling for the consecration in some parishes without kneelers, it was pretty impressive to see every single person, including the old and infirm, kneeling on the hard pavement in the parking lot.
Then back into the Church for the third benediction.
All this to the sweet singing of Pange Lingua Gloriosi/Tantum Ergo, each time fololowed by the chanted versicle/response “V. Panem de caelo praestitisti eis R. Omne delectamentum in se habentem” followed by the collect, then the Divine Praises.
We finished with Byrd’s Ave Verum Corpus.
The website is in flux now that our parochial vicar, who handled the site, has been transferred to another Church, so unfortunately there are no pictures. I didn’t even see anyone taking any pics (our parochial vicar did that, too).
In the past two weeks there have been celebrated at Holy Rosary the normal English and English/Latin Novus ordos, a Solemn High Tridentine rite (celebrated by former parishioner Joseph Lee, recently ordained an FSSP priest), a Melkite liturgy, and the old Domincan rite (which is celebrated once a month and on special occasions).
And they say “conservative” parishes aren’t diverse!

I was in St. Vitus, St.Wenceslas and St.Adalbert Cathedral in Prague, presided by Miloslav cardinal Vlk.
Some of music:
Thomaso Ludovico de Victoria: moteto Jesu dulcis memoria
Gioacchino Rossini: Salutaris hostia
Claudio Casciolini: Panis angelicus
Here pics:
http://www.arcs.cuni.cz/_galerie/05_bozi_telo/index.htm

Our Lady of Walsingham (Anglican Use), Houston, TX, 10:30am.
The music included traditional Anglican settings of the psalms and Ave Verum Corpus.
The pastor delivered an excellent sermon on the Eucharist as the continuation of the Incarnation and Christ’s presence with the Church (as promised at the Ascension).
There was a short procession to the shrine on the property followed by Benediction and a procession back into the Church. All this was well-organized and wasn’t all that much longer than the usual Sunday Mass.

9:00 am Mass at my southern California parish:
Processional hymn was “Table of Plenty.”
NO Sequence, alas.
The deacon who preached dismissed the little ones for their Children’s Liturgy of the Word, telling them that we’re all the body of Christ; we’re one body and “one blood” (Yikes!)
The deacon, in his homily, pretty much ignored those pesky Readings from Exodus, Hebrews & Mark, & did a riff on 1 Cor. 12 (We’re all one body…). He did say something about our being nourished by the blood of Jesus, though.
Offertory hymn: “Bread of Life” (B. Farrell –I was thankful it wasn’t the other one with the line “You and I are the bread of life” which we DID have at the Easter Vigil Mass.)
Communion hymn was “Precious Body, Precious Blood, here in bread & wine” (Ugh!) The choir then sang something which contained these words: “you are all I am…all I am not…break down these walls…help me forgive myself…” If only they had sung the SEQUENCE instead. I’m sure the 10:30 Mass was less problematic, but this one was a real low.

At my parish in suburban Northern Virginia, Corpus Christi trumped Father’s Day.
Hymns:
At that First Eucharist
Let all Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Panis Angelicus
Alleluia, Sing to Jesus
Sequence (short version) sung by the cantor in Latin
The homilist discussed God’s increasing intimacy with humans in salvation history. In creation, God was above us, in the Incarnation, God was beside us, after Pentecost, God is within us. The priest also talked about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost), which was further amplified by a corporal indwelling through the Holy Eucharist. The corporal and spiritual indwelling relate to human nature, being composed of both body and soul.
Not completely ignoring Father’s Day, the priest offered congratulations to ‘all of us fathers’ and talked about how ‘we’ need to take care of ‘our children.’ He really thinks of himself as a father.

David, those are beautiful hymns you folks got to sing. Your homilist sounds like a treasure. You are blessed.

Pt Pleasant NJ
No procession, no sequence, no Corpus Christi.
The homily was about Fathers Day period. The homily (if you could call it that) was just sections of letters from the new book by Tim Russert. That’s it. Father read some of the letters found in that book. The letters, were at time moving, yet didn’t belong there. Everyone applauded and comments were very positive after mass. That shows you the state of things here. Father also used this same sermon last week(granted he did say he was in a bike mishap and since he has pretty much finished the Fathers Day one he would use that)
He is a retired pastor and is somewhat known for his story homilies and his more unorthodox beliefs. Usually his homilies are good and thought provoking. Guess it was just a bad week. I just hope the other four masses had something to do with Corpus Christi.

Sunday was our usual twice a month rotation at a local prison chapel. Mass was well attended with the celebrant preaching on the nature of the Eucharist and we sang the entire sequence.

Newman Center University Parish
9 AM Mass
Accapella
Adoro Te Devote (I was surprised and pleased at the numbers of parishioners–in a small summer congregation–who sang along with the Latin.)
Song of the Body of Christ
The Supper of the Lord (Precious Body, Precious Blood)
Alleluia, Sing to Jesus
Visiting priest focused on mystery of transubstantiation and holiness of the Blessed Sacrament. Told story of early Roman martyr (whose name escapes me) who died rather than allowing the Sacrament to be desecrated by street thugs. Encouraged us to return to our pews after receiving Communion and contemplate the mystery of God physically present with us. Prayed for Fathers, including himself.

This was one of the rare occasions when I offered Mass mostly in Latin.
No hymns; instead, I read the antiphons from the sacramentary; chanted the prayers (in English), the preface (in English) and the Sanctus (in Latin); spoke the Eucharistic prayer (Roman Canon) all in Latin, including the memorial acclamation. Amazingly, we had 100% participation!
Oh, I forgot to mention: the reader chanted the psalm, and the sequence (in English)!
I preached no homily; some of the dialogues were omitted, and communion was extremely brief…
Oh–I forgot to tell you…I’m on vacation, and this is how I celebrated the Mass privately.
Ite, Missa est/Deo gratias!

Solemn Mass, St. Gabriel’s, Colorado Springs.
The first thing I have to commend is the excellent homily by one of our newly minted deacons. He talked about the Jewish roots of the Eucharist through the Passover and brought up an interesting bit about the origin of “scapegoat”.
He then went on to talk about the Real Presence and reverence for that Presence includes staying until the end of Mass as well as preparing yourself before hand and genuflecting, bowing, etc. during Mass.
I could have given him a standing ovation.
Everything else was equally nice from the polyphonic Panis Angelicus to O Salutaris. The only thing missing was a procession.

We went to the Tridentine Mass on Thursday at St. Mary’s in DC. It was incredible. The scola sang like angels and the priest gave a rousing grab ‘em by the scruff of the neck and get their attention homily. Afterward there was a procession.
On Sunday we went to our regular parish in the Virginia suburbs. After what we had on Thursday it seemed somewhat bland except for two things : the cantor sang much better than usual and the pastor gave a solid if rather dull homily. No procession which was just as well because of the usual stampede for the door as soon as Fr. passed by.

Rosary Church
Kowloon, Hong Kong
English language 7 pm Mass
Though this was the English-language Mass, there were really few Anglos there. I would say the Church was mostly full of Filipina women, with other ethnicities you would expect in Hong Kong represented. Opening hymn was “One Bread, One Body,” which many there could sing by heart in English, something that suprised me. We sang an abbreviated Sequence. Homily was about Father’s Day and that the red light signals the True Presence.
Eucharistic prayer was—interesting. We didn’t kneeel until the Sanctus Bell, which was actually the Church bell. And then we stood after the elevation of the Host and kneeled and stood again at the corresponding times for the Chalice, too. I may have imagined it, but I really think that we sang two memorial acclamations (is this possible?). I was trying to figure out which Eucharistic prayer he was using, because it didn’t sound made-up (like I’ve heard once in the states), and he was clearly using a book, but it was hard to navigate through their booklet of ten Eucharistic prayers. I need to have a discussion with my Liturgy professor; I was under the impression there were four. Orans posture everywhere for the Our Father. Sign of Peace was a communal bow, followed by some general nods to your neighbors, though everyone around us was oddly excited that Myles offered his hands to shake. Communion was offered under both species and was noted as such, so maybe that isn’t usual at this church, though if you wanted to take from the Chalice you had to perform intinction yourself. Just like at Hong Kong Disney, no orderly lines. Every person for themselves. Some older Filipina women in the pew ahead of us were suprised we stopped the line to let them out.
After Mass the Indians there lined up near the Corpus and took turns in very physical veneration. That was cool.
I’ll have pictures ‘n’at up if you are interested at my blog later, but right now I have to convince a little boy it is 10 o’clock at night and NOT 10 am

Cathedral of the Good Shepherd
Singapore
Someone had the bravado to organise a Vespers service before the celebration of Mass in the evening. I thought it went fairly well, despite some odd posturing (like standing for the Gloria Patri while sitting for the rest of the psalms and canticles, including the Magnificat). Unfortunately, the Divine Office isn’t very well known among Catholics in Singapore, so the crowd only built up towards the end of Vespers in time for Holy Mass.
The choir was very good, and we even had someone use the Pipe Organ (you probably wouldn’t hear a real pipe organ anyway else in Singapore). Hymns were a mix of English and Latin, contemporary and traditional. For example, the Gloria was predominantly in English with a Latin refrain: “Gloria in excelsis… bonae voluntatis”. What raised by eyebrows was the text of the English Gloria… it wasn’t taken from the 1970 ICEL translation, but the 2006 ICEL rendition that is still awaiting Roman confirmation!
The shorter sequence was sung by the Choir entirely in Latin, with the people joining in a short refrain, also in Latin. Homily was excellent, being preached by a wise elderly priest. He tied together the history of the feast, the (traditional) hymns that we have sung and will be singing later in the service, the doctrines about the Eucharist, emphasising how our practices of genuflection, Eucharistic fast and the conditions for receiving Holy Communion stipulated by the Church help us foster worship of Christ in the Eucharist.
Somehow, “One Bread, One Body” must have become an international staple, since we used it for the offertory. It was a bit unfortunate that the Choir used altered forms of the Sanctus (using the Sanctus version from Lourdes which excised “Saboth” and “Hosanna in excelsis” from the Latin text) and an unknown Lamb of God version.
After Mass, we have a beautiful procession with the Sacred Host around the Cathedral compounds. (In Singapore, we need a police permit to process in the streets, which mightn’t be to viable.) We prayed the Luminous mysteries of the Holy Rosary while the procession, interspersing hymns in Tagalog and Korean at the end of each decade. Flower girls dressed in ethnic Korean costumes strewn the path before the priest with sweet-smelling petals.
At the end of the procession, the Pange Lingua was sung in English, followed by the Tantum Ergo in Latin. Then we have the Benediction, final hymn of thanksgiving and the Salve Regina to close the celebration.
The Choir sang many traditional pieces in Latin, such as the O Salutaris Hostia, Ave Verum Corpus and Panis Angelicus during Communion and during the Exposition of the Sacred Host. It was a pity that the text was not printed for the assembly, so we couldn’t follow if we wanted to!

In The Hinterlands of the Diocese of Joliet
Decided to attend a mid-morning mass, rather than the earlier one we usually go to. The priest, a good and holy man, gave a rather
bizarre sermon on how we need to think like Christ ( yeah, okay ), act like Christ ( yeah,
especially important ), and look like Christ ( NO, I DON’T THINK SO ! ).

St. Thomas Aquinas, Charlottesville VA, 9:00 A.M. Solemnity of Corpus Christi.
Gregorian Ordinary for solemnities: Mass VIII and Credo III. Lots of congregational singing this week; Mass of the Angels is a crowd-pleaser. Communion Antiphon: “Comedite Pinguia”; The Sequence “Lauda Sion” was sung at the Offertory. Hymns included: “Immortal, Invisible” at entrance and “You Satisfy the Hungry Heart” at Communion. Byrd’s Ave Verum Corpus was the communion meditation. A special blessing was given to fathers after the Prayer of the Faithful.
The pastor’s sermon focused on the relationship between living as a true member of Christ’s Mystical Body and being able to recognize his true presence in the Eucharist. One requires the other. So, the much spoken of drop in the percentage of Catholics who believe in the Real Presence may reflect the large numbers who act according to the morms of secular culture instead of following Christ’s teachings. They “cannot discern the body” and so risk eating to their condemnation, as Paul said in the reading. But there is good news: throughout the country Catholics are starting perpetual adoration and holy hours–this development could not happen unless they were living in accord with Christ’s teaching in their daily lives. If we want the strength to live as real members of his body, we need to make a new dedication to fervent and worthy reception of the Eucharist.
Mass was immediately followed by the Procession around the church property with the Blessed Sacrament, which was carried under the new parish canopy. That slowed some passing cars down! Father stopped at three stational altars for Benediction before returning to the church. “Pange Lingua” in Latin and English, “Alleluia Sing to Jesus,” and “At the Name of Jesus” were sung during the procession, with the “Tantum Ergo” at each of the four Benedictions of the Blessed Sacrament. Great work by all the servers.
Next week the Gregorian Schola returns to the 7:30 A.M. Mass, in reduced numbers, as some members will be away at the Chant Conference at Catholic U. in D.C.

Ambrose:
There are 13 Eucharistic Prayers approved for use in the Roman Rite:
Three of the four best known can be used at any time; Eucharistic Prayer IV can only be used during Ordinary Time, as can the four “Swiss” Eucharistic Prayers.
There are two “Reconciliation” prayers that, as far as I can tell, are only appropriate during Lent. Finally, there are three texts for use only with Mass primarily attended by children.

Fr. Fox:
Thank you. I don’t think any in the book specified use (like the ones for Children) and one (#10) indicated it was only an interim translation approved by the Australian Bishops.

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