Going to visit St. Rita

Rocky and I went to the St. Rita Shrine in Philadelphia. It's very beautiful and they have the most awe inspiring adoration chapel I've ever seen. We prayed before her relics and admired the magnificent murals depicting her life. They have confession every day and we met two wonderful Augustinian priests and a charming lady in the gift shop.

The next day we went to the parish around the corner from our bed and breakfast, St. Paul's.
It was amazing. We had cheesesteak (delicious) , cannoli from Isgro's . I've never had finer cannoli in my life. We also at the oldest Italian restaurant in the city, Dante & Luigis. It was a good trip.

Good Friday

Rocky and I took Good Friday off. We went to the Paschal Lamb bookstore in Fairfax and then we went to the Franciscan Monastery in DC for the Burial of Christ. It's a beautiful service and you can see the face of the Church there. Faithful from every continent were there. I saw nuns from the Sister Servants of the Lord, the Missionaries of Charity, Dominican Sisters, Franciscan nuns and other orders. Besides the Franciscan brothers, Dominican Brothers from the Dominican House of Studies came to the service and I was very moved to see the devout awestruck face of a Orthodox monk who came to visit. He looked exactly like this painting of St. Francis.

After the statue of Jesus is carried around the church it is placed on the a perfect replica of the Stone of Annointing that is in the Holy Seplechure and the homily is given. After the homily the statue is placed in the tomb, which is also a faithful replica of the one at the Holy Sepluchre. When the service is over the Faithful may kiss the stone and the cross which is laid against the door to the tomb. I can't even begin to tell you how bittersweet it is to kneel on the cool marble floor and lay my head on the stone. For a few seconds I am there in Jerusalem with Mary and St. John and brave Joseph of Aramathea and I adore and mourn. It's too powerful for mortal flesh to put into words.

If you're in DC for Good Friday to this service. You'll never forget it.

St. Ambrose and St. Michael

Rocky and I have a hobby of visiting parishes in our diocese. We stopped by St. Ambrose in Annandale, Virginia. It's a round church and I couldn't figure out where the front was. The priest sits on one side of the circle and the Blessed Sacrament is on the other side. The altar is in the middle. It's a beautifully decorated church with a painting of St. Ambrose stopping the emperor from entering church and a powerful statue of the saint that hints at what a vital man he must have been. I wish we had an Ambrosian bishop today. We prayed the rosary, admired the stained glass and left for the next church on our trip, St. Michael.

St. Michael was built in the early 60s and looks it. The building just seems worn out and tired. It's round and doesn't look like a church at all until you step inside. Once you cross the threshold it becomes a familiar sight. They have library and bookstore and an Adoration chapel. There were several adorers present kneeling or sitting with Jesus. The carpet was disturbingly dirty but I decided to focus on what was happening in that little room.

A greater miracle than the parting of the Red Sea was taking place. Right there in that little room with the dingy carpet Jesus had deemed to be physically present for our sakes. The Word who came down from heaven and was crucified, died and who rose again was right there. The One who gave His life to cure me of my wicked inclinations was right there. We were all as close to Christ as His disciples were on any given day walking from village to village. Adoration is a powerful thing and a profound gift of love from God.

St. Mary's of Hagerstown and the Sacred Made Real

This weekend Rocky took me for a weekend getaway to Hagerstown, Maryland. It's very close to the Pennsylvania state line and and Antitem battlefield. For Mass we went to St. Mary's. It's not the prettiest church but the minute we walked in I knew it was a good one. There was long line at the confessional and most of the people in it were young. They have rosaries in the pews for people who want to pray. The church was packed and communion was recieved kneeling at the communion rail. We met nice people and it looks like they take the worship of God seriously.

On Sunday we went to DC and saw the Sacred Made Real exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. It's a collection of the most magnificent Spanish religious sculpture and painting I've ever seen. It was very hard not to take out my rosary and pray. The above painting is the Immaculate Conception by Diego Valasquez and we got to study it up close. The photograph does not do it justice.

Rocky and I decided to take a drive in the country and went down Route 5 through Southern Maryland. We visited St. John Regis. The parish has been which has been around since 1640. The current building went up in 1898.

It's one of the prettiest little Southern Maryland churches I've ever seen. They haven't wreckovated and the Blesed Sacrament is right in front. They have two very handsome Marian shrines in the cemetary. Afterwards we drove to Leonardtown and ate at a superb French restaurant, After that we drove to Piney Point to see the lighthouse and park and then to St. George Island to watched birds.

St. George is a beautiful little spot and I've never had the experience of being on land but below the water before.

You can't always judge a parish by the church's looks

Blessed Sacrament in Alexandria, VA is one of the ugliest churches I've ever seen. It has cinder block walls, glass brick, miles of dirty beige carpet and you have to walk all over the building in order to find the surly ladies in the office. It looks like a 1970s minimum security prison BUT it has a serenely beautiful Sacred Heart chapel, an adoration chapel that always has a least one or two people praying no matter what time I drop by and it has sterling priests, Fr. Cregan says a straight Mass by the rubrics and adds no nonsense, plus he's a good confessor. And they have night masses and confession all during Advent.


St. John the Beloved in MacLean is odd looking. It's a round church so you can see your fellow parishoners and they can see you-- don't scratch or pick your nose. The floor slopes like a movie theater. It's pretty painful on Rocky's arthritic knee because the floor is always pressing him foreward and I even experienced a bout of nausea/vertigo while walking to my pew BUT it's a loved church. Someone tried very hard to bring beauty to that odd design and it worked. The Blessed Sacrament, not the priest is right in the middle and visible to all. The tabernacle is gorgeous. Fr. Aragorn is the pastor there now and he's a dynamic speaker and confessor. He will not tell you what you want to hear but only what you need to hear. His counsel may sting a bit but so does alcohol when you put it on a wound. Until you get that sting, the wound won't begin to heal. AND they have the Tridentine Mass.

Mass with Fr. Marchado

Fr. Clement Marchado, SOLT celebrated a healing Mass last night at St. Anthony's in DC. The church is between the Basilica and the Franciscan monastery. It has plenty of parking, lovely, happy priests and the Blessed Sacrament is right in the middle of the santuary. Because of Rocky's arthritis we decided to go. Fr. Marchado belongs to the same order as Fr. Corapi so we knew he could preach and preach he did. Before Mass he blessed everyone's rosaries, medals, crucifixes, statutes, oil and salt. I got to confession and after Mass everyone who wanted it, got an individual blessing. The Knights of Columbia and the ushers provided crowd control and were there to catch anyone who was overcome during the blessing. Father must have read my soul and thought that I really needed a blessing because he annointed me with so much oil that I looked like a small greased pig when we left the church.

A Padre Pio evening

Yesterday we went to St. Mary's in Alexandria, Virginia to hear Fr. Ermelindo DeCapua give a talk on Padre Pio. Fr. DiCapua lived with Padre Pio for the last three years of the saint's life. He brought a precious relic, one of the gloves that covered Padre Pio's stigmata and blessed us all with it. Rocky estimated that there must've been about 600 people in attendence. Fr. DiCapua is touring America and raising funds for a home for sick old priests to retire to.

Jezu ufam Tobie!

That's Polish for Jesus, I trust in You! Rocky and I went to the Divine Mercy Shrine in Baltimore. It's stunning and a very special place becuase the former pastor Fr. Pytel was blessed with the miracle needed for St. Faustina's cannonization. We also stopped by the Seton House and St. Alphonsus.

St. Stephen, Martyr in Middleburg

Rocky had a rare Saturday off so we made the most of it. We visited the incredibly beautiful Long Branch in Millwood and trooped around the Virginia State Arboretum. I'm a bird watcher and was delighted to see one of the these little guys: a White breasted Nuthatch.

We checked Masstimes.org for the closest church and decided to go to St. Stephen's. I expected it to be a bit of an adventure. Middleburg is a special place. It's quiet old money and horses and skinny women who stay that way because they ride hard after the hounds. It's a place where you better not fake it because everyone knows if you belong or not. It's a place where flashy bad taste is not tolerated and new money means nothing. Sean Combs and Paris Hilton would be miserable.

The old woman in faded jeans and an ancient barn coat walking by is heiress to one of the biggest fortunes in America, the red faced "farmer" in the car full of dogs gave the money for most of the art exhibits you went to last year. The fresh faced little cherub on a pony is the son of a business titan. The daintly little cupcake of a girl at the ice cream stand spends her days training powerful, nervous thoroughbreds. It's that kind of place.

So when we rolled into St. Stephens I was delighted to find that nobody gave us the stinkeye. In fact, people were nice. No-one appeared to be disturbed or even surprised by our presence. Father had a gentle but clever sense of humor and gave an impressive homily.

The church decor is interesting. It's so carefully inoffensive that I think it must have built with the desire that it blend in with the rest of town. The paint is colonial white and blue gray. The statues are small and pale. The painting of St. Stephen is frankly, bad but the altar is large and tall and the Blessed Sacrament is right in front. You will not have to wander around this small church trying to figure out where Our Lord is. Mass was gentle and blessedly free of any weirdness. The music was okay. The cantor's voice was lovely. The lector did not show off. The decently dressed parishioners were prayerful before Mass and there was not a mad rush to leave after Communion. I was impressed by the very well behaved children. Since the Aboretum is open 365 days a year and is free, Rocky and I plan to get back there so we'll probably be praying at St. Stephen's again sometime.

The First Catholics in Virginia Monument

This crucifix was erected in 1930 by the Catholic Woman's Club of Richmond, in honor of the first Catholic settlement in Virginia in 1650.
Rocky and I try to stop and say a prayer there everytime we go through Aquia, Virginia.

St. Vincent DePaul, Baltimore

Rocky and I spent a day in Baltimore and visited St. Leo's in Little Italy and thanks to the kind church housekeeper we took a quick tour of St. Vincent DePaul. St. Vincent is the oldest continuously used parish in the Baltimore diocese.

It is surrounded by hard core beggars, but don't let that frighten you. Nobody bothered us and two of them politely told us to go to the side door to gain entrance. They did not ask us for money. The church is beautiful. It's Federal style, all white wash, marble and light coming in from delicately colored stained glass. They are the only church in the diocese that has a 12:15 AM Mass. Boy would I have loved that back when I was single. My date and I could've gone out, had dinner, done our hour of fasting and still made Mass and slept in the next day.