Sunday, October 21, 2018

Tridentine Community News - Old St. Mary’s to Host the Three Masses of All Souls Day; Catholic Faith Network Signs on to Air Extraordinary Faith; Choir Loft Artistic Embellishment at Our Lady of the Scapular; Tridentine Masses This Coming Week


"I will go in unto the Altar of God
To God, Who giveth joy to my youth"

Tridentine Community News by Alex Begin (October 21, 2018):
October 21, 2018 – Twenty-second Sunday After Pentecost

Old St. Mary’s to Host the Three Masses of All Souls Day

Our annual metro Detroit tradition of offering the Three Masses of All Souls Day will take place on Friday, November 2, this year at Old St. Mary’s Church in Detroit.

Holy Mother Church offers three sets of Mass Propers for the Feast of All Souls, and they will all be celebrated:

At 6:00 PM two simultaneous Low Masses for the Second and Third Masses of All Souls will be offered on the two Side Altars of the church, by Fr. Athanasius Fornwalt, FHS and Fr. Joe Tuskiewicz.


At 7:00 PM, per the rubrics, a Solemn High Mass for the First Mass of All Souls will be offered at the High Altar. The celebrant will be Fr. Athanasius, the deacon will be Deacon Peter Teresa McConnell, FHS, and the subdeacon will be Fr. Tuskiewicz. The choir will sing Messe des Morts by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Brothers of the Franciscans of the Holy Spirit will serve the Masses.

This will be the first time in over four decades that the left Side Altar will have been used for Holy Mass, and the first time ever that the rebuilt right Side Altar will have had Mass celebrated on it. The right altar was reconstructed from scratch after a fire destroyed the original altar several years ago.


Special thanks to Perspectives Cabinetry of Troy, Michigan, who donated a newly-built catafalque to Old St. Mary’s. A catafalque is the coffin-like structure that stands in for the faithful departed for the ceremony of Absolution, held at the end of a Requiem Mass.

Catholic Faith Network Signs on to Air Extraordinary Faith

A second Catholic television network has picked up Extraordinary Faith: Catholic Faith Network, formerly known as Telecare, of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York. The show has begun to air weekly. Air times (U.S. Eastern) are: Sunday 5:00 AM, Monday 2:00 PM, Wednesday 7:00 AM, and Friday 2:00 PM.

Choir Loft Artistic Embellishment at Our Lady of the Scapular

Much is often shown and said, and justifiably so, about un-wreckovations, restorations, and beautifications of old churches. Most photos focus on the sanctuaries, where High Altars are restored, freestanding altars are removed or made portable, murals are freshened up or newly painted, and Communion Rails are installed. That sort of work has been accomplished over the past year by Fr. Mark Borkowski at Our Lady of the Scapular Church in Wyandotte, Michigan and has been previously featured in this column.

More recently completed there, and rarely mentioned in traditional Catholic media, was a restoration of the back section of the church. Statues were added, gold leaf gilding was applied to pillars and walls, and “portholes” and religious imagery were affixed to the front of the choir loft, resulting in a uniquely inspiring vista.

Such decoration unquestionably bolsters the faith. Artistic beauty is indeed possible when there is vision, funding, and consensus by key stakeholders. We have the technology and resources to help us do such work better than our ancestors did; there is no reason to accept bland churches any more if we truly believe in evangelization.

Tridentine Masses This Coming Week
  • Tue. 10/23 7:00 PM: Low Mass at Holy Name of Mary, Windsor (St. Anthony Mary Claret, Bishop & Confessor)
  • Sat. 10/27 8:30 AM: Low Mass at Miles Christi (Saturday of Our Lady)
[Comments? Please e-mail tridnews@detroitlatinmass.org. Previous columns are available at http://www.detroitlatinmass.org. This edition of Tridentine Community News, with minor editions, is from the St. Albertus (Detroit), Academy of the Sacred Heart (Bloomfield Hills), and St. Alphonsus and Holy Name of Mary Churches (Windsor) bulletin inserts for October 21, 2018. Hat tip to Alex Begin, author of the column.]

No comments: