This is not the parish I went to on Sunday. It\u2019s just a picture from the internet. Don\u2019t write me about how this is your church and you don\u2019t have sound system issues and your parish is beautiful. It is. I just needed a picture of a modern church interior.<\/span><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\nThis Sunday, I went to Mass at the \u201cother\u201d parish in town. It\u2019s smaller, and less pretty than our usual church, the priest is not a great speaker, and the music\u00a0can often be described as painful. So, of course\u2026I like it better.<\/p>\n
With a sick 4-year-old recuperating and an 11-year-old daredevil on the mend, my husband and I split up for Mass. He took the boys to the gorgeous church we usual attend, and I went to the unfortunate looking one down the street. It lived up to its imperfect reputation.<\/p>\n
This time, it was the sound system. The speakers and microphones crackled. It was a persistent static punctuated by an occasional snap that sounded like lightning and make the congregation jump. The lectors, choir director, and priest worked feverishly at it until right before Mass began, but were unsuccessful in fixing it. As the bells tolled their five-minute warning, the priest said with a laugh, \u201cWhen we renovated, we tied the speakers in with the lights. We can turn off the sound system, but we have to sit in the dark. I can see now, that that was a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a smile plea for understanding, he left the altar and made his way to the back of the church.<\/p>\n
As Mass began, the electrical cracking became more persistent. The choir tried bravely to sing above and beyond the distraction, and the congregation winced along with the opening hymn. We followed along determinedly in the Missals, and limped along\u00a0for the Responsorial Psalm. By the time we got to the homily, the people in the pews were attempting to lip read and piece together what the priest was saying.<\/p>\n
As he reached the Consecration, the look on his face announced that\u00a0his nerves were as frayed as the sound system. He raised and then set down the Cup several times as he tried to wait out the worst of the popping. He stepped back from the altar and whispered into a suddenly cleared mic, \u201cPatience and perseverance here, please, God.\u201d We could see he was completely over it, but trying to be calm. Then he repeated \u201cPatience and perseverance,\u201d and finished the Mass.<\/p>\n
There was no discernible homily, and the Gospel could hardly be heard, and the noise was offensive to everyone\u2019s ears\u2026and yet it was one of the most moving Masses I\u2019ve ever attended. The sheer determination of everyone involved to honor and worship our Creator in spite of everything, their unwillingness to be distracted from the Focus of the Mass. They took their cues from the\u00a0presider, and accepted the difficulties with the same unruffled calm that he did. He was neither amused nor visibly frustrated, but carried on with an amazing peace and resolve.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know who or what was trying to interrupt Sunday Evening\u2019s Mass, electrical failure or the devil himself. Whatever it was was unsuccessful in the face of the faith of a priest and his congregation whose focus wasn\u2019t on anything other than God, and standing on that rock, they were unshakable.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Photo credit:\u00a0By Nheyob (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n
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This is not the parish I went to on Sunday. It\u2019s just a picture from the internet. Don\u2019t write me about how this is your church and you don\u2019t have sound system issues and your parish is beautiful. It is. I just needed a picture of a modern church interior. This Sunday, I went to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Immortal Un-Interrupt-able Catholic Mass<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is not the parish I went to on Sunday. It's just a picture from the internet. Don't write me about how this is your church and you don't have sound\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2016\/02\/the-immortal-un-interrupt-able-catholic-mass.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Immortal Un-Interrupt-able Catholic Mass\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is not the parish I went to on Sunday. It's just a picture from the internet. Don't write me about how this is your church and you don't have sound\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2016\/02\/the-immortal-un-interrupt-able-catholic-mass.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shoved to Them\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-02T18:16:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/3\/38\/Sacred_Heart_Catholic_Church_%28Fairfield%2C_Ohio%29_-_interior.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rebecca Frech\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rebecca Frech\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2016\/02\/the-immortal-un-interrupt-able-catholic-mass.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2016\/02\/the-immortal-un-interrupt-able-catholic-mass.html\",\"name\":\"The Immortal Un-Interrupt-able Catholic Mass\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-02T18:16:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-02T18:16:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/#\/schema\/person\/a480038559bb99863ca3ba86f368775d\"},\"description\":\"This is not the parish I went to on Sunday. 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