Over the weekend, we did something which usually creates heart palpitations--attended Sunday Mass out of town. We were advised that for our purposes, St. Pius X parish in Appleton would be just fine and dandy.
AND IT WAS!!!!
The Mass was celebrated exactly as written in the IG, and the priest/celebrant even tossed in a Chant-esque Kyrie Eleison. It was Chant-esque because it was apparently based on the Kyrie from the Litany of the Saints--it was not one of the usual Ordinary melodies.
Nonetheless, this was an unexpected pleasure.
After Mass, we made it a point to greet the celebrant and confirmed our suspicions: he had been in the Parish for only 6 months. It was clear that there were some dissonances between his understanding of the Liturgy and that held by others surrounding him--the 'hold-hands-Kumbaya' routine at the Our Father bespoke a past age of flower children, for example; and the outlandish hat worn by the "Yout' Minister" was a sign...
Ironically, the Gospel story was about profaning the Temple. Evidently the Yout' person had forgotten about that story.
We learned that the good Father-celebrant had attended the Old Rite Mass in Green Bay for several years prior to his Ordination. Evidently something rubbed off.
Best wishes to you, Father. And thanks!
It's quite sad to think that a Catholic was surprised to find an "appropriate" mass. One would think it's the opposite - being dissappointed when the mass was unacceptable. It took me weeks to find a mass that I deemed acceptable here and it's still borderline.
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