St. James Church, Salem, Massachusetts

March 11, 2012 (Sunday 11)
St. James Church
Pastor: Rev. John Sheridan
156 Federal Street
Salem, MA 01970
978.745.9060

Church History: The original St. James Church was built on Federal Street in 1850 to accommodate the growing influx of Irish immigrants to Salem. Construction on the current Church began in 1891, Declared unsafe in 1896 due to sinking and a collapsed wall, caused by an insufficient foundation and also because that end of the church had been constructed on reclaimed marshland, the church was rebuilt. The church is constructed of Danvers pressed brick, with stone trim, and is 178 feet long. In 1971 the decision was made to reduce the church’s 200-foot steeple to the ridgepole level, in order to eliminate the expense of maintaining the steeple.

Affiliation: Roman Catholic Church (1.147 billion members)

Sunday’s Service: Prior to the appearance of the Priest, the lector read some announcements, and then it was time for the service to begin. The Introductory Rite was performed, which consisted of the entry procession, the greeting,  the Penitential Rite, and an opening prayer.

The second part of the Catholic Mass, Liturgy of the Word, began with the lector reading a pair of passages from the Bible; the first from Exodus (the ten commandments) and the second from 1st Corinthians.  After the second reading, the Gospel Acclimation, specific for the season of Lent, was read. The priest, who was visiting from New Hampshire and representing an organization called Food for the Poor, presented a reading from the Gospel, which was from the Gospel of John, Chapter 2, verses 13-22.

Next he delivered the homily, which was quite brief. He spoke about being in his seventies and having experienced many Lents, and that this year his focus was a bit different than in most other years. Rather than focusing on what he has done, he is focusing this year more on what God has done, everything he has given us, including new life through his son, Jesus Christ.

He said that as a child, he thought God was out to catch us in our sins, but that this was wrong. Instead, God is trying to save us.

Then he spoke at length about the organization he represents, Food for the Poor, which provides food and other necessities for the poor in many countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. He pointed out that Food for the Poor feeds over a million people a day, and discussed the specifics of some of the people on the ground and the good work that they do.

Following the homily, everyone recited the Nicene Creed, and then came the Intercession/Prayer of the Faithful, where for each petition recited by the lector, the parishoners respond with “Lord Hear Our Prayer”. Once completed, the collection took place, and then it was time for the next section of Catholic Mass, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, which has several specific parts:

• Presentation of gifts
• Preparation of the altar
• Prayer over the gifts
• Eucharistic prayer (preface dialog, Holy Holy, Memorial Acclimation, Doxology
• Communion rite (Lord’s Prayer, sign of peace, breaking of bread)
• Prayer after communion

Then everyone stood for the concluding rite, consisting of a blessing and the dismissal of the congregation, and the recessional.

My Thoughts: The Catholic Church has, in English speaking countries, switched to a new version of the Missal. this means that the standard spoken texts, both for the Priest and for the parishoners, has, for the first time since Vatican II, changed significantly. It was clear that the parishoners are still adjusting to the new version.

Proponents of the change point out that it is a closer translation to the Latin Mass; an often heard criticism of the new Missal is that it doesn’t flow, it uses rather obscure language, and it has lost much of the beauty of the Missal it replaced. I am a little bit familiar with the Vatican II Missal because both of my sons attended Catholic School, and I married into a Catholic family.

I attended the 7:30 am Mass, and St. James, the largest Church I’ve visited so far, looked pretty empty, despite having well over 100 parishoners attending the early Mass. I arrived early to pick up a packet containing an article about the history of the Parish that had been prepared for me by the Church secretary.

The purpose of the visiting priest was to make the parishoners aware of the charity he represented, Food for the Poor. Because most of the Priest’s homily was taken up talking about the worthiness of the charity,  there just wasn’t much meat in the homily. But the Catholic Church is known for its ceremony, and the interior of St. James is beautiful. If I had to make an analogy, I would say that this Mass was like sitting down to a table with a very beautiful place setting, but with no real meal to follow. I don’t believe that is a fair criticism of the Catholic faith, but merely my take on this particular Mass, which as I said, was focused to a great degree on fundraising for a particular charity.