Our Lady of Walsingham

Bill notes that the new church building of Houston's only Roman Catholic parish of the Anglican Use, Our Lady of Walsingham, is complete. A couple of pictures have been posted on their website. I already love it. I wish it were out here in Santa Barbara. :)

Fr. James Moore, the pastor, issued a corresponding pastoral letter to the parish:

I know that you agree with me when I say how truly blessed we are to have the new church. We heartily welcome all who come to offer Holy Mass with us both now and in the future in this holy place which we offer to the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord and God, and to the honor of His Blessed Mother, Mary of Walsingham.

As we begin to worship in the new church we of course want to remember that the main purpose of a Catholic church building is to enshrine God's holy altar and the tabernacle which contains his Divine Presence under the form of the Bread which is His Body. Therefore, we will always want to keep the new church a reverent, quiet, and prayerful place.

Of course it is also the place where the faithful come together to worship at God's holy altar. I only wish that the pastor of the university parish I attended for seven years, St. Mark's, had said similar things when the renovation of the church building was completed! But of course, these two communites are noticeably worlds apart from each other. I respect that St. Mark's offers something to people, primarily students and young adults, that is, for many of them, their first, real experience of a cohesive community of faith. I appreciated it myself immediately after I entered the church because, let's face it, the Roman Catholic Church is large, and when you're away from home, it's easy to feel lost. But I noticed that as my spiritual life developed, I began to see a lot of things lacking - things that St. Mark's could not provide. Now, I feel a lot more confident approaching the larger church in its global context than I used to before.

But I love what little I have learned about the Anglican Use. Such parishes would not exist were it not for the Second Vatican Council.