ROAMIN'
CATHOLIC
By Stanford Espedal2006 ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
November/December
September/October
July/August
June
May
April
March
February
January
ARTICLES
Little Notes
Letters
Confessions
Talk About Movies
Follow Me
Contents © 2006
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
March 2006
SAINT CATHERINE LABOURE, CLAIREMONT
Saint Catherine Laboure parish church, located at 4124 Mount Abraham Avenue in Clairemont Mesa, is named for the 19th century Sister of Charity to whom the Blessed Virgin revealed the Miraculous Medal in 1830, and whose body remains incorrupt in the chapel of the Motherhouse on the Rue du Bac in Paris. Founded in 1964, the parish draws its approximately 1,000 member households from Clairemont and Linda Vista.
The church building, completed in 1986, displays a secular style with a red brick façade and sloping steel roof. A small stained glass panel set in a modernistic pediment over the front doors, and a cross on the wall to their left, signal that this is a church.
The pentagonal interior has a maximum seating capacity of 814. Five outer sections of long pews and ten inner sections of short pews surround the altar on three sides. Mosaic Stations of the Cross line the outer wall. In the left rear of the nave, the Blessed Sacrament resides in a bronze wall-safe tabernacle featuring a bas-relief shining sun. Next to it stands the baptismal font: a giant clamshell on a wooden pedestal.
On the rear wall to the left of the altar hangs a wood-carved image of Saint Catherine Laboure holding a rosary. On the right hangs a Holy Family image, superimposed on a star of David. Behind the altar a carved risen Jesus raises his arms against the background of a stained glass cross.
I attended the 11:00 a.m. Mass on February 12, the sixth Sunday in ordinary time. Father Joseph Brady, the parish pastor celebrated, assisted by two altar boys. A group of six provided contemporary music with piano and guitar accompaniment. At the distribution of Communion, Father was joined by six extraordinary ministers: four women and two men.
When I arrived at 10:40 there were about two dozen souls present. When Father Brady gave the musicians the high sign to begin, the church was just over full.
While Father Brady, preceded by his acolytes processed to the altar the group struck up O Bless the Lord, a 1984 song by John Michaels based on Psalm 148: "O bless the Lord, the God of our salvation, Rock of strength and a refuge sure / O bless the Lord, the God of every nation, over all the earth." The upbeat melody in 2/4 time with its moderate syncopation was evidently too difficult for most of the people; the group belted it out while the congregation mumbled, lip-synced, or listened.
Father Brady offered a straight liturgy -- no idiosyncratic additions. He spoke the most familiar trope Kyrie; "Lord Jesus, You were sent to heal the contrite," et cetera; after which the musicians performed an up-tempo Gloria.
A woman in dark slacks and peasant blouse took the readings. The first, from Leviticus, set forth the law regarding lepers, including the stipulation that as long as he is unclean, the leper must live alone outside the camp. The appointed response was from Psalm 31, dealing with sin and forgiveness. Instead, verses of Psalm 91 were sung, dealing with God's protection of his own, with the refrain, "Be with me Lord, when I am in trouble; be with me Lord, I pray." This they sang to a pretty, but maudlin setting by Marty Haugen. The second reading continued a Year B series from I Corinthians, in which Saint Paul exhorts us, "Imitate me as I imitate Christ." After the Alleluia, Father proclaimed the Gospel, Mark 1: 40-45, in which Jesus healed a leper, then sent him to the priests to have the miracle confirmed according to the law.
Father Brady began his sermon by noting, "Sunday after Sunday we hear the accounts of Jesus' miracles; the works of power prove his divinity, while the healings remind us of his compassion." After retelling the healing of the leper, he said: "When Jesus ascended to heaven he did not withdraw his healing power but continued to manifest it through the sacraments."
He gave a brief object lesson on anointing, using the three vials of holy oil which were on the altar. This led into a history lesson on the use of the Sacrament of Anointing the Sick. Reading from James 5:13-15, he stressed that this sacrament, with confession, was originally administered as often as an individual had need. A gradual change came about between the 7th and 11th centuries in which this sacrament was reserved to the end of life's journey and became known as "Extreme Unction." Father then referred to the reforms of Vatican II and the restoration of the use of the Anointing of the Sick as often as sickness makes it needed. But people still talk of "Extreme Unction." He recalled a time when someone called him to the bedside of a dying man, but then said, "Don't go now Father; he'll be scared if he sees you. Wait till he's unconscious." "What am I, the Grim Reaper?" said Father. We all laughed. "My main point" he said, "is that 'Extreme Unction' is out; the Anointing of the Sick is here." Its benefits are both spiritual and bodily. He concluded with an appeal to use this sacrament in faith and hope.