Holy Ground Prayer Service

Read about the Holy Ground Prayer Service in this coverage from The Catholic Key.  It was powerful!  http://www.catholickey.org/index.php3?gif=news.gif&mode=view&issue=20090417&article_id=5649

Bruce Prince-Joseph new Music Director/Artist in Residence

I can finally say officially that Bruce Prince-Joseph has accepted the position of Music Director and Artist in Residence for our 11:15 Anglican Use Mass!  He has an amazingly creative spirit.  He has already brought our Kilgen pipe organ out of the shadows and back into use, has been rehearsing cantors, and is helping shape our liturgy based on his many years of experience with Catholic and Anglo-Catholic liturgy.  He has been inspired by our parish's dedication to serving out neighbors and is already planning to establish a new Kansas City Boys Choir with neighborhood kids and students from parochial, private, public and home schools who want to learn to sing classical music.  Do you know any third-grade nerds who aren't intimidated by Bach?

Catholic priests at Episcopal Cathedral

"How did it feel to be back at Grace and Holy Trinity?" one priest asked.  Another asked, "Did you and (Fr. John) Jay (Hughes) feel uncomfortable when Dean White asked Jay to autograph his book (Absolutely Null and Utterly Void)?"  "Was it hard to make these arrangements?" another asked.  "These are the best arrangements we have ever had.  Can you set this up so that we can be back here next year?"  Several senior priests shared memories of the close ecumenical, personal and theological relationships they used to have with Episcopalians.

Yesterday the Catholic priests of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph met for our annual Chrism Day of Reflection at Founders Hall at Grace and Holy Trinity (Episcopal) Cathedral.  Fr. John Jay Hughes, a Catholic priest, son and grandson of Episcopal priests and former Episcopal priest himself, author of Absolutely Null and Utter Void and his recent autobiography No Ordinary Fool, gave three talks.  The Cathedral was open as a space for quiet reflection, and the view north from Founders Hall gave us a clear view of Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception where we celebrated the Chrism Mass later yesterday evening.  Dean Terry White and his staff including Maryann Mansfield whom I have known since my days in the Episcopal Diocese were very hospitable.  Culinary Cornerstones, the catering arm of the Kansas City Community Kitchen supported largely by Episcopal Social Services provided an excellent meal.

Fr. Hughes reflected at one time, "Becoming Catholic was the best decision I ever made."  I couldn't say it better.  

I am glad that former parishioners and seminary classmates have rarely expressed animosity over my similar decision to seek the fullness of Catholicity in the only Church where it may be found.  I was glad to receive the occasional invitation by former Dean Cavanaugh to represent a Catholic presence at Episcopalian weddings at Grace and Holy Trinity.  I look forward to sharing social events, social services, and prayer services with Catholics.  I enjoy sharing with Catholics some of the beauty and hospitality that Episcopalians enjoy.  I am glad that we can share some seeming humor at having a Catholic priest sign his study of Apostolicae Curae for an Episcopalian.

Catholics and Episcopalians at one time shared a hope for true unity, that in the not too distant future we would not only share dinner tables but also the Altar and the Sacred Ministry.  In those days Catholics and Episcopalians shared a common conviction that innocent human life is sacred and inviolable, that the human family is founded on a relationship between husband and wife that is established by God, and that a common foundation in Apostolicity would build future unity.  Sadly, those days are gone and those illusions are shattered.  What we shared yesterday is more realistic.  And it is much easier to live in reality.

  

 

Holy Ground Prayer Service April 8 at 7:00

The pastors of churches in the 64130 zip code have just finished planning our Holy Ground Prayer Service next Wednesday at St. Therese.  Some of the church staff commented on all the laughter coming from the Rectory living room.  I have to say that I am very impressed with my colleagues' lively faith, their commitment to their neighbors as well as their parishes, and their hopes that we can continue to work together.  Some have commented that this zip code can't be Holy Ground because of our troubles.  Our troubles are certainly out in plain view for all to see.  Troubles are also hidden behind manicured lawns and electric garage doors, too.  But if the quality of these pastors is any indication of the liveliness of their congregations, there are plenty of places where Christ is present with those who gather in his name, just as He is present with all who walk the Way of the Cross in any city, suburb, small town or countryside.  I'm happy to have these men and women walking the Way of the Cross with me.

Hiking Ozarks Highlands Trail with Simple House, Chet and Charlie

Lent is a difficult time to find time to be away from the parish, but some disciplined calendaring preserved the week of the Feast of the Annunciation free of appointments. Rather than complete another section of the AT, my son Chet and his dog Charlie and I planned sixty mile hike on the Ozarks Highland Trail. Jim, Kelley, Heather, and Sylvia from Simple House in Kansas City joined us.

The Ozarks are amazingly beautiful this time of year, a transition from the open spaces and distant views made possible by “leaf-off” to the earliest bits of green on the tips of trees, trillium and wild iris combined with pinks of redbuds, whites of serviceberries and earliest dogwoods and reds of maples. Life seemed to be gasping for light like a swimmer gasping for air.

The folks from Simple House were great company and great hikers. It was good to get to know them better. They are tough graduates of great Catholic colleges – University of Dallas, Franciscan University, and Ave Maria, giving a year or more of time to building friendships and evangelization among the poor in Kansas City. We were able to celebrate Mass together – perched on a rock beside a stream the first night after a hard slog through a path obscured by limbs from winter ice storms, the second evening at sunset on a rock outcrop after the welcome sun had helped warm us after a thunderstorm. For the Feast of the Annuciation we said the Angelus at a double waterfall about noon and then celebrated Mass back the Lodge at White Rock Mountain. Our final Mass was under a tarp as we hiked down to meet Chet at his final campsite.

The Ozarks Highland Trail is even more challenging and in some ways more beautiful than the AT. Chet and I had surmised that because the Ozarks are not true mountains, it would be an easier hike. Not so. The ascents and descents are just as steep and are more numerous. The OHT does not have the benefit of so many trail volunteers, and some sections were not cleared of last winter’s debris from the ice storm. Stream crossings are more of a challenge, too. We had to wade through knee deep streams, and the trail crossed several that were impassible at the trail the crossing, requiring substantial detours. But the beauty of the trail more than made up for its challenges. I have never seen so many waterfalls. Jim was great at spotting wildlife – a bear, turkeys, and deer. I identified what I believe was an elk hoof print.

We didn’t make the miles we intended, but getting picked up early meant an unplanned stop at the General Store in Oark – an opportunity you should not miss if you ever pass through there deliberately or by chance. We had fresh baked pie with ice cream! The town pig wandering outside was no extra charge.

Organ update

After being tuned for the first time in decades our Kilgen is ready to go.  A number of parishioners have never heard it played and will get a chance to hear it for the first time tomorrow.  After the 9:15 Mass tomorrow our organist will play a couple of short pieces to demonstrate what it is capable of.  At the 11:15 Anglican Use Mass we will get a chance to hear the organ during a Prelude and Postlude as well as the Mass.  Laetare Sunday comes at a great time to let us get a taste before we revert to Lenten simplicity for the next few weeks.  While not a concert instrument, our forebears got the best organ they could afford, and sixty years later it is ready to go back to work.  St. Therese is blessed with great acoustics, and our organ is able to use them to its advantage.  In addition to putting the organ back into full use, Laetare is an appropriate day to receive Professions of Faith and convalidate a Marriage.

Gregorian Chant for Cantors

Look for an official announcement about our new Music Director for the Anglican Use Mass at St. Therese.  He is beginning to train our first home-grown cantor in Gregorian chant.  Will you join him?  Come visit any Sunday at 11:15.