HENEVER MY FAMILY MEMBERS find ourselves on vacation and that “first of days”—Sunday—rolls around and we must needs present ourselves at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, I have learned to expect the worst—and have usually gotten it. There have been a few notable exceptions here and there, but I can count them on one hand. I have been subjected to Happy Birthday sung at Mass for those celebrating their annual trip ’round the sun, lay people angrily confronting the priest during his homily, terrible taste in music and even worse execution of the ceremonies of the Sacred Liturgy. I have had my fair share of aging hippy bands whose pitch sags worse than their lead-singer’s skin, and my children are instructed ahead of time that if Father asks if there are any visitors in the crowd, for heaven’s sake they are to keep their hands down.
Thankfully our younger clergy are putting the breaks on the trend of universally banal liturgies and the dying parishes that house them, and the lay Catholics at “Reverent Mass Locator” are only too happy to share the locations of a growing number of reverent Masses across the nation. If the reader already finds himself in such a parish, fantastic! But if not, don’t hesitate to seek out a better spiritual home. Or for those, like me, who dread what they might find on vacation, use the website to plan your Sunday morning ahead of time. Vacation should be a time of rejuvenation, spiritually as well as physically, and the celebration of the Holy Mass and prayer should be the axes upon which our travel revolves.
A couple of summers ago my family traveled to the Black Hills and we made it a point to go to Sunday Mass at the Fraternity apostolate in Rapid City, SD. That morning the church was filled with hoards of boys taking part in one of the Fraternity’s summer camps, alongside all the other families teaming with life, young and old, who chose to put God first that morning. A small schola of seminarians even chanted the Mass. It wasn’t anything grand, in the sense of what one might experience at Westminster Cathedral, but it was evident that God was at the center and head of that community. Attending Mass there that day gave real meaning to all of the beauty we experience during the rest of our trip through the Black Hills.
Let this website help you:
* Website • “Reverent Catholic Mass Finder”
—“Let Us Help You Find a Reverent Catholic Church Near You!”
…and have a blessed summer!
