Monday+Mass

Lucas Poles English 101 Kingsley MASS HOLINESS

St. Brendan's was organized under Rev. William F. Twohig, the first pastor. Plans were first cemented on September 25, 1929 for the Cedar Grove section with territory derived partly from St. Gregory's and partly from S. Ann's, Neponset. Twohig held services for a time in the Granite Avenue Garage, but he moved quickly in erecting a brick Romanesque church on Gallivan Boulevard, which was blessed on November 5, 1933. Daniel Hay, who is studying the Roman Catholic Churches of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, found that the architect of St. Brendan's was Raymond Gorrani of Worcester, MA. He built a few other churches in Massachusetts including buildings in Worcester and Marlboro. He vanished mysteriously in 1940. Father Geoghan, the man responsible for starting off the massive Catholic Church sex scandal investigation was dispatched to St. Brendan's in Dorchester in 1981. Apparently the head priest there was never warned of his history of sexual abuse. The room is quiet and a lot smaller than I imagined. The air is stale and I cannot tell if it is the room itself or the amount of elderly seventeen in all, all above sixty five. There are four men including myself compared to the fourteen women there. The room is very silent and is set up in a very orderly way. There are two sections of chairs set up in the center of the room. Each section has four rows and each row has five chairs in it. In the back there is one long pew that has a partition in the middle of it to support the middle. That is where I sit. Directly in front of us are three pieces of furniture a podium, as table and a column from left to right in that order. The podium and table are both made out of hard wood while the column has the look of granite stone staring at it closely leads me to find its is actually fine grained cement. The table is in the direct center of the room, it is covered with a white table clothe that is an eight of and inch thick and has traditional designs sewn in it. On top of it is a large book but I cannot examine it so I assume it is the Bible. About three feet behind it on the wall is a large bronze crucified Jesus about four feet by three feet, still on the cross and still in pain. Above the crucifix is a florescent light covered by a wooden rectangular shade. It covers the light in such a way that the light is directly shined upon crucified Jesus giving me the sense that The Church was trying to make it look holy and very pious. The stone column has a small gold metallic house on it. It looks like a tiny gazebo with a cross on the top of it. On the right side of the room there are two stained glass windows. Directly below them is a modest miniature statue of the Virgin Mary, she has a halo above her head and her arms are spread of in a welcoming way. Her face has an unusual expression that if seen on a real person face would cause them to be confused about what exactly she was trying to express. I know it to be a holy look from past circumstances. At one point a woman comes in with a black veil on her head and I assume that she is a widow, I cannot make out whether she was recently widowed or she has been suffering in that state for many years now. Out of all the people there she is kneeling and praying and she looks sad. Is it real emotion? It looks that way but it is hard to believe as I am seeing a widow whom is choosing to identify herself that way for the first time in my life. It is very fascinating. A woman comes in with a smile on her face. She enters through a door on the far right and moves swiftly and gracefully, there is a comfort in her face. She is an expert in this task. As she enters the room we all stand waiting for her to do something. She walks to the podium and reads from the Book of Wisdom, one of the books that only appear in the Catholic Bible. Her reading is nice and even, soft and kind; she never once stumbles on a word. At the end of the reading she puts up her hand in a peace sign manner but I realize that when she does it again it is not the peace sign, the middle and pointer finger are slightly bent like rabbit ears, I think it is a mistake but she does it a second time in the same distinct manner. The woman smiles, and then sits down and the priest comes through the door same door the woman entered. He is wearing a white robe that is split into three even sections with a green middle section. Underneath he has on black shoes, and black pants, I think it is funny that one is allowed to see those things as they deeply contrast with his over garments. When I think of a priest I think of black clothing with a white collar, I have never seen a man dressed like this. His walk is light, calm and quiet. There seems to be peacefulness about him. He kneels at the cement column and afterwards begins a prayer about the forgiveness of sins by asking for the prayers of the Holy Virgin Mary, Peter, the apostles and the Pope. There is a lot of chant like repetition with saying repeated like “father hear ours prayers”, “I will bless the Lord at all times” and “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”. He reads from the Bible and then afterwards picks it up and gives it a light kiss. Today is Pope Leo V day and so the priest shares how the Pope changed the world through his actions and saved Rome by convincing Attila the Hun not to attack it. He strikes me when he tells audience that when one receives the Eucharist, that is a wafer that is believed to have God inside it, the more a person becomes more God-like. Everyone is attentive at this point and I think I have never heard of such a thing in my life, but everyone there takes his words very seriously. There is a moment for prayer and then he starts to perform the Eucharist. He walks over to the stone column with the small cross topped mini-gazebo on top of it and pulls out a gold looking bowl from it. He walks back to the table and places it there. At that same time a woman on the left side of the room took too small glass bottles with stoppers on the top of them along with a small white cloth and walks to the table in the center of the room. They look almost identical to the vinegar and olive oil glass bottles at any restaurant except these have wine and water in one and the other. When the priest came back he faces the woman with a goblet. The woman takes the wine and water and mixes them together in the goblet. The priest says a Bible verse from one from one of the Apostles and places the goblet to the sky, says some words that we cannot hear and then drinks it. He again says some verses and takes a massive wafer and places it in the sky, breaking it in two. Then the people after the priest has taken the bread all file in line to receive God is wafer form, some are more pious than others saying Amen after receiving God than other who say thank you and others bow to God before eating Him. I pick up on this and try to imitate the holiest course of action so I use the right hands movements and step, I bow before wafer God and say Amen when I eat the thin, stale and fibrous paper like wafer. God tastes funny. The priests say some words and people repeat things that feel blander than actually having feeling in them as if they do not know what they are saying they have said it so many times. When its over no one says “Hi” most do not even make eye contact with me. I am very surprised. The service was solemn and very ritualistic, something that I never connected with God. I grew up with God being loud, alive and a live presence felt. There were no spontaneous “Amen’s”, no “Thank you Jesus!” or even singing the entire service. No one seemed like they wanted to be there but had to because they were very concerned about getting into heaven. There was no emotion and that really stuck out to me. Is this the way people want to know God? Is this what God is? Then the never ending two part question: “How do we experience God and worship Him in ways that are pleasing to Him? How do we know?” Church is a funny place that leads my mind to ask lots of questions. That’s good right?