Mass in Granite Falls

Camping once again, my family and I attended church at St. Andrews parish in Granite falls, which is also in our diocese. The church itself sort of reminded me of a ski chalet. The walls were off white and dark wood beams trimmed the ceiling windows, and doors.

This was a Saturday evening Mass and the church was packed. This parish shares a priest with three other towns so this was their only Mass for the weekend.

We arrived about five or ten minutes before Mass and were greeted by the priest with a hand shake. The church was already near full so we found seats in the last pew and waited for Mass to start.

The priest wore no chausable, just a white alb and a white stole with gold designs. There were no guitars in this Mass. Three women served as cantors and did a wonderful job singing. The priest's homily was about racism. After the homily we recited the Creed. I looked up form my bow during the incarnation part of the Creed. No one appeared to be bowing, not even the priest.

The priest began the Liturgy of the Eucharist with "Let us pray..." rather than "Pray brethren...", or "Pray brothers and sisters..."...and at the consecration there was no elevation of their the Body or Blood of Christ. He just held it in front of him. He also bowed instead of genuflecting. I can only assume that he had some physical issues that were troubling him.
We were nearly the last people to receive Holy Communion. When my wife got to the EMHC she bowed and the look on the EMHC's face was one of stunned shock. She clearly was not expecting her to bow. By the time is way my turn she was not longer surprised by the bow. Did I mention that not many (if any) people bowed before receiving.

Another thing of note was that this parish also used glass for the chalice. It must be a theme in our diocese. The last three churches that I have visited used glass as does my own parish.I have asked my Pastor why he uses glass and his reply is that people can see the blood of Christ that way.

The Mass concluded with a blessing and the closing hymn. After the recessional the priest did something that I have never seen before. When he got to the back of the church he stripped off his Alb and stole and set them in a pew. He then went outside to get ready to shake hands. Maybe I've just never seen it before because I do not usually sit in the back. It was also very hot outside....really hot.