St. Mark's News & Events for February 17, 2008

Greetings as we begin another week!

As you can see from our new seating arrangement in Church, we are experimenting with the various seating designs for our new Church and I wanted you to experience some first hand. So the question can be asked, “Why this arrangement?” Well back at the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960’s, the Council Fathers came out with a document on the Liturgy and one of the sentences in that document called for what they called “full, conscious, and active participation of the faithful at Mass.” As you may realize, that statement can take on many meanings, but the Council wanted to emphasize to the people of God that they needed to be more connected and be more a part of what this sacred mystery was all about at Mass. In that way, the faithful may experience and understand the connection of just what Jesus did for us by including us in this significant event. That is why the altars were turned around with the Priest facing the people, some of the music and hymns were changed, (unfortunately some of it was replaced by awful sounds), and of course the Mass was said in the language of the people. The Mass now had two equal parts to it: The Liturgy of the Word, and The Liturgy of the Eucharist. Emphasis is now not only on the Eucharist, but also on the Word (Scripture). Of course, many people were not real thrilled with all this and many left the Church, including some priests and sisters. However, the “New Mass” has changed the way the faithful experience God and I have to say for the better! Now we are trying to see how we can get people even more involved in the Mass and continue to perfect what Vatican II had started. Now you can see with the naked eye the separation of the Word and Eucharist as they both are held in high esteem. The Ambo is now near the Baptismal Font, the Altar now closer to the congregation. Now of course, our Church was not made with this seating arrangement in mind so there will be some challenges. However, I simply want you to experience this and AFTER Easter, let me know what you think. I do realize some will not like the arrangement since change can be difficult, but I simply ask to open your mind and heart and see how the experience changes you. If it doesn’t, that’s
ok too!

Thank you for your patience in this experiment and I pray that this Lent will be a memorable one for you!

Peace, Fr. David