Mass in Onamia, MN

Today my family and I attended Mass at Holy Cross Church in Onamia, MN. This is a priory church of the Crosier Fathers and Brothers. Also located in this church is the National Shrine of St. Odilia.



As we entered the church we were greeted with a bowl of unconsecrated bread and a sign which read "If you will be receiving Communion today please place a host in the bowl. After we selected out share of the Communion bread we then went and visited the Shrine of St. Odelia before taking our seats in the small church.



The church was small, but had beautiful stain glass windows depicting the important moments of St. Odilia. The altar was a simple table made of wood. There was an ambo to the right of the altar. The tabernacle was not in the sanctuary itself, but was in a small adoration chapel off the the right of the sanctuary. The crucifix on the wall was one depicting our risen Lord rather than that of Christ crucified. On either side of the altar were chairs. This is where the Fathers & Brother of the Order were. They were dressed in their habits. Those who were priests wore a green stole over their habit.

Music for Mass came from the infamous "Gather" hymnal. The people gathered for Mass sang the hymns very strongly. Most everyone sang. There was a member of the Crosiers seated in the pew in front of us who had an incredible singing voice. It was just nice to stop and listen to him sing. After Mass I learned that this was their Prior, Fr. Kermit Holl, osc.

Mass began as it normally would. The priest used the penitential rite that does not include the Confiteor. That seems to be very common. I'm not sure I remember the last time I have heard it in Mass. The Gloria was skipped which surprised me because the people sang so well here. The priest read the opening prayer from a white binder. I am not sure if it is the prayer proper for today's Mass, but I'll assume that it was.

After the readings were done the Alleluia was sung and the priest proclaimed the Gospel. This was done a but differently than normal. The priest announced the Gospel with the words "A proclamation of the Gospel according too...". After the Gospel the priests held up the open Book of Gospels and chanted "The Gospel of the Lord" and everyone sang the Alleluia again.

Father gave a brief but good homily on St. Peter.

During the Eucharist I suspect that Father substituted his own words for several parts of the prayer. He did not, however, change the words of consecration. One of the parts that he did change that was confusing to me was after the Lord's Prayer. The part where the priest normally says, "...and protect us from all anxieties." He said, "...and protect us fro destructive anxieties." It confuses me because I do not see any need to add the word destructive in there. Most of the word substitutions that I caught were really minor wording changes as if he were putting things into his own mode of speech.

He also consecrated the Blood of Christ in a small glass bottle and later pured it into a larger more appropriate chalice. I suspect this was done because their altar was very small and their chalices were large.

After Communion Father ready a prayer while sitting and then shared parish announcements before giving us a final blessing. He dismissed us with his own version of the normal dismissal.

This was my first experience with a priory church. I learned a great deal about the Crosiers and about St. Odilia their patron saint. I am working on another post about them so keep an eye out for more later.

The Crosier Fathers & Brothers recently had a fire at their missionary in Indonesia. No brothers were injured, but their homes was destroyed and they lost their personal items. I am sure they would appreciate any prayers you could make for them.