Since today was the feast day of St Edna, I trekked up to Arlington Heights for a vigil Mass at St Edna parish.
The Mass was reasonably well attended for a vigil Mass and had music provided by a cantor, pianist and bass guitarist. A covered drum kit behind them gave evidence that this is a parish that does a lot of contemporary styled music.
They had the list of hymn numbers posted at the front of the church on an old-style number board and I, foolishly, failed to check what was planned, not realizing that the closing hymn was to be “America the Beautiful.” I have a strong objection to patriotic music at Mass (I feel it’s even worse than having an American flag in the sanctuary which is another common sin I encounter) and normally I would discretely leave early when this sort of thing is done, but since I only realized it when communion was over and I was boxed in in the middle of my pew, there was no escape.
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