(I forgot to do this yesterday.)
I arrived at the grounds of St Matthew church in Schaumburg right at the start time of the Mass and saw a large group of people gathered around a cross outside along with a pair of priests, an altar boy or two and a bunch of men in Knights of Columbus uniforms. It turns out that St Matthew was going to make a big to-do of their patron’s feast (and also the fiftieth anniversary of the parish, although the actual founding date wasn’t the feast of their patron). The outdoor event, it turned out, was the blessing of a new memorial garden, after which everyone processed to the church building which was a few hundred feet away where the choir was already singing the entrance hymn when we arrived in a packed church.
The presiding priest was apparently a guest—I missed his introduction, but the pastor mentioned that he had asked four bishops if they might be able to be present and none of them were. I think the presiding priest may have been connected to the archdiocesan seminary, and it was only towards the end of the Mass that it occurred to me that his name—Matthew—might have been a factor in his invitation. Or not. Pure speculation.
The parish itself felt like a typical suburban middle of the road parish, neither liberal nor conservative in its liturgy and preaching. The church building itself was interesting because of its elliptical shape (something I’ve not encountered previously) and the fact that the back wall featured glass windows onto the forested land behind the church.
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