[maryz]

The church is open from 6AM to past 5PM every day, and there is almost always someone at all times who has stopped by to say-and-pray a word to Jesus.

Where do you live? I haven't seen an open neighborhood church around Boston in years (the downtown Arch Street Chapel doesn't count here -- it is open, but the candles to be lit by tapers are now electric, and you push a button).

[american colleen]

The Mission Church - open all day, every day!

[VermiciousKnid]

The electric "candle" situation is one of the most awful things that has happened to our traditions.

The author is spot-on in this article, and though I try mightily to teach my children the richness of their Catholic heritage, it is very difficult to do when your church looks like the Brady's TV room, when the nuns not only don't wear habits, but openly chastise you for wearing a chapel veil (doilie-type) to church (one sister asked me if I was trying to be Jackie Kennedy -- not on your life, sister...), where we have one priest who flatly refuses to recite the Credo AS WRITTEN (he has made it "gender neutral" among other things), and where week after week, with rare but very much appreciated exception you are subjected to Elvis gyrating on the altar while singing the odious "Christ Be Our Light".

If we want our children to be inspired by their heritage, then by golly...we have to give them something worth the inspiration,

Even the most inpiring of all -- the Holy Eucharist -- is hidden away where no one can see Him.

It's all so very sad. I pray that we will be able to reverse this trend.

Regards,

[Thorondir]

Yes. The churches are mostly closed. As I work (driving around) at night, my daily visits to the Blessed Sacrament are usually done kneeling at the locked door of the church in the darkness and praying. It used to bother me to be locked out, but now it seems sort of romantic--symbolizing our separation from Him in our pilgrim journey through this world of darkness.

To a starving man, even a crust of bread is a feast.