Another disappointing mass at St. Jude

These past couple of weeks have been super busy for me. Last weekend and this weekend I've been spending way too much time and money on what I've dubbed "Xtreme! Loft Makeover" of my home. We've gotten a new couch, new shelves, new lighting, a new piece of art, etc. It looks great, but I've been busy.

Since we shopped all day on Saturday, I knew I'd be super busy doing projects all day Sunday. Not the best way to keep the Sabbath Day holy, but I figured I'd do some resting later in the day. I got up early and went to 9:30a Mass at St. Jude Chapel so I would have plenty of time to work on my home later in the day.

That place has gone downhill, for lack of a better word, since Fr. C left. It makes me really sad, because I *really* wanted to go to church there, but I just don't like it. Here are some of the changes that have happened to the Sunday Mass since Fr. C left:

• No "ringing of the bells" to start Mass (there's no big church bells there, but there's a little set of bells by the door of the sacristy that they would ring to start Mass)
  
• No incense
  
• No Cantor for either Sunday Mass
  
• No receiving of both species of communion, only the host
  
• People reading the Scriptures from books other than the big fancy Red one (i.e. from papers or from the Missal)
  
• Things left on altar after serving of communion (BIG pet peeve of mine - I'll always remember when Fr. C said to me "The Altar is a place to bring in the son of God, not a bookshelf")

On top of what I consider to be minor liturgical abuses and just loss of the "smells and bells", the priest's homilies are ... well, I just don't like them. He brings up pieces of paper, so I know he's prepared it to some extent, but he just rambles and goes on tangents about "current events" without telling enough about them for those of us who don't know all about them, and things like that.

I'm so sad as to what's happened to St. Jude. I don't necessarily need Fr. C there to be happy there, but when he was there, it was reverent and the homilies were very spiritual, and Fr. C always did the best he could to make sure that the service was the best that it could be. Now the Sunday service isn't even as complete as the weekday Mass I attend at Holy Family. I really wanted that to be my "home church" but I can't handle going there and not being spiritually nurtured. I need a good homily, I need good music, and I really like receiving both species, at least on Sunday.

I think next Sunday I'll go to St. Peter's again. I really liked going there. Great music, great people, nice and small ... it was very nice.