Christmas Mass.

[SanFranciscan]

I understand the anger over church support for Proposition 8, which I also voted against myself. However, I wondered how many here who grew up going to Christmas Mass have kept up the tradition. I have noticed that people who don't normally attend church often do go to Christmas Mass so obviously the emotional tug of it is incredible. Do you attend?

[OrlandoMike]

Not Catholic here....but I've been to a few Midnight Masses in my day.

It's very nice, very spiritual....They put on a good show.

But untill they get out of politics.......

[L&Lfan]

I went to Midnight Mass last night. The church was packed, the music was terrific, the homily inspiring and very relevant and practical for today's Christian. I will attend 10:30 AM Christmas Mass today with my boyfriend.

Having said that, I always think of the old Tallulah Bankhead story (probably apocryphal) of when Tallulah was attending Midnight Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral in NYC and the bishop was walking around the altar swinging the incense. Tallulah turned to the friend next to her who'd brought her there and whispered to him, "Darling, I love the dress, but does he know his purse is on fire???"

[C&G'sMama]

We go to a Break Away Catholic Church. On of the co-priests was excommunicated for marrying gays and ordaining women (the horror). The other priest is one of the ordained women. It's a lot of FARCs (Fallen Away Roman Catholics) such as myself and others. It was neat to be at mass last night where my son was in the pageant along with the children of other gay, straight, single parents etc. It was the family mass and there was a lot of "family" there.

So yeah, it's emotionally soothing and I'm glad we're able to go. But even at that while the kids go to Sunday School there and I'm more than happy to be a greeter for Sunday School, bake cookies etc, Christmas Mass is just about the only one I go to anymore.

[SanFranciscan]

C&G, is this breakaway Catholicism by any chance Dignity? I went to Dignity with a friend for a while because her girlfriend got ovarian cancer and left her after the girlfriend's family scared the girlfriend by saying that her illness was punishment for her "proclivities" and that she had better repent. She went home to Quebec and died there, and I had to keep explaining to people over and over and over that I looked healthy for someone with cancer because I was not the girlfriend but had a husband and did not have cancer. I just did not want Fran to be alone with her grief after she took responsibility for her girlfriend's cancer bills before the family scared the girlfriend away.

I am not Catholic so I don't really know how to behave when I get in the church. I just know that Dignity is for gay Catholics. The owner of a school, which I attended until it closed, told me that he was raised Episcopalian and that his church was full of ex-Catholics so that might be a good option for Catholics here who don't have anything like Dignity in their areas.

[C&G'sMama]

Originally Posted by SanFranciscan

C&G, is this breakaway Catholicism by any chance Dignity?

There is a Dignity "Branch" here but this church is actually called Spiritus Christi and Broke from a Diocesan Church named Corpus Christi. Here is the beginning of the history of Spritus. It's pretty long.

History of Spiritus Christi Church
Thirteen hundred people gathered at Salem United Church of
Christ on December 24, 1998 to celebrate the birth of Jesus
Christ---and the birth of Spiritus Christi Church. All were
members of Corpus Christi Church on E. Main Street and had
experienced extraordinary events in the past four months.
On August 13, 1998, Bishop Matthew Clark, under pressure
from Rome, removed Fr. Jim Callan as administrator after 22
years at Corpus Christi Church. The Vatican had trouble with
three practices dear to the heart of Corpus Christi parishioners:
the prominent role of women on the altar, the blessing of gay
unions, and the offering of communion to those who were not
Catholic. The Democrat and Chronicle carried the news on the
front page the following Sunday, which brought an extra large
crowd to Mass that day. Over 1200 people came back to church
that Sunday night to organize a protest against the bishop’s
action. Night after night, the parishioners gathered in church to
hear speeches from the staff and other leaders and to strategize
about standing firm on the issues. The movement to keep the
inclusive spirit of Corpus Christi alive was quickly termed the
“Spring Committee.” (The name came from a Salvadoran
proverb: “You can cut back some of the flowers, but you can’t
hold back the spring.”)
The parishioners held weekly, police-escorted, candlelight
marches from the church to Dimitri House, Corpus Christi
Center, and Rogers House Restaurant. The youth group printed
t-shirts and protested in front of the bishop’s office at the
pastoral center. They requested a dialogue with diocesan
officials. On October 15, Mary Ramerman was fired from her
position as associate pastor. The diocese demanded that she
remove her alb and stole and not go near the altar during any
church services. She refused. She did not want to send a message
that women were not holy enough to approach the altar or
deserving of equal participation in the church. In protest of
Mary’s firing, several women in the parish put on purple stoles, a
symbol of women’s ordination, and continued to stand at the
altar week after week. On October 22, Fr. Enrique Cadena, the
other associate pastor, was granted a leave of absence by the
bishop for “rest and reflection.”
The week after Mary’s firing, members of the Spring Committee
organized a Tuesday night communion service for Corpus
Christi parishioners who wanted to keep the inclusive vision
alive. It was the first of many held weekly at the Downtown
United Presbyterian Church, a congregation that soon became
an important part of the new community’s future. Mary led the
services and invited staff and parishioners to share their
reflections.


For my DP it's too big as she grew up in a small Lutheran Community in Northern New York and spend time in smaller pentecostal churches. But the children go to religious Ed there and we like the emphasis on Community Service, Social Activism and including all.

[TagsMissy]

Hubby and I usually go to midnight mass but we did not make it this year. he's been working crazy schedules at work the past month or so and had ended up working a near 10 hour day Friday by the time it got to 11pm he was nodding off and simply exhausted from not really having weekends off for so long.

we aren't church goers, but we do our best to go to the main days in the year of celebration. I too find Christmas Mass to be rather spiritual; moreso than other times in the year.

[pandora174]

Sorry posted in the wrong forum