4:30 Saturday afternoon mass, St. John. The last time I was in St. John's church was for a wedding a good 25 years ago, if not more. At that time, it was a very small, "country" church, nothing fancy, so as I set out for St. John's this weekend, I naturally expected the same. Doh! What a difference 25 years makes! I immediately realized that things were looking somewhat different, but the cornerstone on the front of the church engraved with "1997" should have really tipped me off. Entering the expansive - and beautiful - gathering place, I almost had to stop and ask someone, "Am I in the right place?" This is no country bumpkin church anymore. Clearly, the explosion of new subdivisions in and around the Dry Ridge area had an impact on St. John's parish, making expansion, not only a possibility, but a necessity - the church itself is by far one of the bigger churches I've visited so far. This is a big place. Obviously new and fairly simple in design, the church itself has still managed to maintain some of its "country" atmosphere courtesy of numerous dark wooden beams and accents. Not too shabby. As far as the more "modern" churches go, I liked it.The physical church wasn't the only thing that surprised me at St. John's. Things there work a little differently. Several minutes before mass began, the priest (who kept reminding me of the actor, Brian Dennehy) parked himself in his chair on the altar and stayed there, gathering his thoughts, I suppose, preparing to celebrate mass. There was no entrance procession. Things started off with the priest stepping forward and asking those celebrating a birthday or anniversary in the upcoming week to stand for a blessing. I thought it was awkward, but a few individuals quickly and casually rose to their feet like it was no big deal - apparently this happens every week. Whatever. The priest then stepped to the side of the altar where he put on his vestments which he had laid out earlier. It was an act that I found somewhat odd - shouldn't this be a private, reflective moment for the celebrant? - but also somewhat meaningful - how cool that this moment is shared with the entire congregation. A vague opening song seemed to signal the start of the actual mass, a mass primarily sung by the priest, complete with musical accompaniment. Yes, almost all of the prayers, all of the responses, the complete eucharistic prayer, sung.
Father Brian Dennehy had a nice voice and didn't hit any wrong notes, so it was all good. Although borderline tedious at times, this was a refreshing change. A short homily (delivered from the center aisle - nice) balanced out any increase in duration as a result of the large amount of singing. Is this the way all of St. John's masses are? I'm curious.
I'd like to say that all was well and good in my time at St. John's, but no such luck. A few late arrivals bustled into the pew behind me. There was a considerable amount of commotion, lots of shifting and shuffling, but that was nothing compared to their constant - and I do mean, constant - chatter. This wasn't a rowdy bunch of teen-agers behind me. It was a family, complete with children, teens, and adults, adults who should have known better. It was hard not to ignore their discussions of coupons, purses, and "Katie". Even better, the Obnoxious Family wasn't just chatty, they were sick! A virtual symphony of coughing, hacking, sniffling, nose blowing, and requests for Kleenex easily convinced me early on that there was no way I was going to exchange the Sign of Peace with anyone in the row behind me. There was no peace there now, and there would be none later. This was war, and I wasn't about to lose to the Obnoxious Family and their common cold. Sigh.
St. John's gets two thumbs up from me for their Saturday afternoon mass. Their parishioners, however, need to learn to exercise a little common sense.
ATTENDANCE: Slightly more than half (a significant number of people given the size of the church)
DURATION: 50 minutes
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