Posted on 12/25/2005 10:21:10 PM PST by Coleus
POMPTON LAKES - Some say the Christmas spirit is lost in all the buying and holiday frenzy. But at St. Mary's parish on Christmas Eve, it jingles loud and clear.
"It's about sharing," said Sarah Boughton, 10. Not just presents wrapped with paper and topped with bows, she said, but her own gifts: "Like singing."
Boughton was among about 450 people - at least half of them kids - attending the 2 p.m. standing-room-only, children's liturgy at St. Mary's Catholic Church on Saturday.
St. Mary's on Pompton Avenue is one of the largest parishes in the Paterson Diocese, which includes Passaic, Morris and Sussex counties. Located in Pompton Lakes - a town with a population of 11,000 - the church draws more than 5,000 families.
Parishioners travel from Ringwood, Wayne, Pompton Lakes, Pompton Plains, Pequannock and other surrounding towns. "We drive through three parishes to get here," said Lou Diorio, 40, of Wayne. Why?
The Franciscans. That's the order of priests who celebrate Masses at the parish. Three presided over the 10 Masses scheduled for Christmas Eve and five more for Christmas Day. "They're light on the fire and brimstone," Diorio said. "They give you twice the religion and half the guilt."
Judy Deak, who has helped direct the popular children's liturgy at St. Mary's since it began more than 30 years ago, said the Franciscans are down to earth and accepting of kids and families - even when they're noisy.
As a result, the children's liturgy has outgrown the church and is held in the gymnasium of the Lenox School across the street. There are not one, but two children's Masses at the gym on Christmas Eve to accommodate everyone.
They gear the liturgy toward children, Deak said.
They keep it brief (about 40 minutes). The piano, guitar and drum set sound out peppy songs. The kids read from the Bible and recite prayers - "for all our servicemen and women serving in Iraq" and "for all the homeless and needy children in our own country."
There's a pageant and even a big man in a red suit makes an appearance.
"We bring Santa in so they see the connection between Santa and the Christmas story," said Alma Banta, a religious education director for the parish.
When St. Nick arrived with a jingling of bells and "Ho, ho, ho," there was a spontaneous burst of clapping. A young girl dressed in velvet and black patent leather shoes rushed up to hug him.
Then Santa kneeled before a crib on the gymnasium stage and prayed to Jesus.
"It kind of puts the day in perspective for me," he told the group of little ones sitting Indian style on the floor in front of him.
They all sang "Happy Birthday" before the Mass ended and families rushed off to prepare for dinner and Santa's arrival down the chimney.
"It's a big production but in a good way," said Paul Serzan, 44, of Pompton Lakes of the Christmas liturgies. "You're just not going there and listening to someone preach for hours."
As the 2 p.m. children's liturgy ended, people were lining up for the next round of Masses at 4 p.m. and parking attendants with walkie-talkies were directing the stream of traffic in and out.
"I just want a seat," said Joan Woodruff, 58, of Pompton Plains, who joyfully arrived with her 24-year-old daughter, Beth, an hour and a half early for the 4 p.m. Mass.
Scott Santers, 40, of Pompton Lakes didn't mind waiting either. For him, St. Mary's is all about community and the waiting provides more of a chance to appreciate it.
"It gives you more time to socialize with everybody," Santers said.
they give you everything except the truth.
We had about 400 at our Vigil Mass last Night -- Family Mass. Extra chairs in the church everywhere! And they got the real message!
It's the liberal parishes that are written about in the newspapers. This parish tells the parishioners just what they want to hear except the truth and that's one of the reasons why it's the largest parish in that diocese. And they don't kneel during the consecration.
I've been wondering about this practice since I was stuck in Santa Cruz one Sunday and had to attend mass at a church between there and my home town. Before the gathering hymn a sort of MC explained to visitors that the reason they had no kneelers was because in the original church the people stood during prayer, so this was the more traditional way of worship. I was skeptical, because some other things about the service gave me the impression that they were not otherwise that concerned about tradition.
Is standing during prayer a common practice in the U.S.? In my parish we kneel during the Communion prayer. According to our bishop (Sylvester Ryan) we should then stand after we have taken communion. Over half the parishoners disobey this instruction and kneel after communion. It is a source of consternation for me, because I feel like kneeling myself, but I believe one should follow the teaching of obedience to the bishop.
I have never seen it in practice in Catholic churches in Southern Maryland. We kneel during the consecration. After we receive communion, we return to our seats and kneel until everyone has received communion. Some people sit, but I've never seen anyone stand.
Oh, they'll give plenty of guilt, if you own two cars while there are poor people in the world. I notice they have no pro-life ministry.
I was shocked when I saw this in the Stockton diocese last year. About 80% of the people stood (and I joined the very small number that kneeled.) They stood after Communion too. What's up with that? It's almost like an intentional statement of some kind.
Standing is common practice in the Byzantine Catholic parishes, which are in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. It's all just a matter of perspective and tradition.
The Vatican has repreatedly stated in writing that the faithful wirld-wide - including the USA - have a duty to kneel during consecration, that they have a right to kneel while recieving communion, and that there is no oligation to stand after communion because tradition is to kneel.
There is nothing else to know.
These professional "liturgists" are wrong - as they so often are.
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