I’ve decided to look around for a somewhat more satisfying faith community, so as one step in that direction, my wife and I went to mass at St Catherine of Sienna/St Lucy parish. The parish community is certainly more diverse than St Edmund’s, which is 95% white (at least). The St Catherine/St Lucy community is roughly 50-50 white/African-American.
The music was piano/cantor at the 10.30a mass, which was a bit of a disappointment, but it might be the case that the choir had the week off (as I recall, when I was in the Holy Name Cathedral choir, we never sang the Sunday after Easter).
The sound system was a bit poor and I had a hard time understanding the priest.
One of the coolest things about the parish was that the first reading was given by a young woman with Down Syndrome. I loved the radical inclusivity of this, although I do confess that I couldn’t understand her at all. But then, I couldn’t understand the priest.
The other unusual feature of the mass was that there was an anointing of the sick during the mass. I’ve never seen this happen—ever, anywhere—before.
This is a strong contender, although I think I need to come to a mass where the music ministry is in full force.
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