5:00 Saturday afternoon mass at Annunciation. I had never been to Annunciation before, and I'm happy to report that I liked it - the mass, that is. What I didn't like was the way the actual church looked, inside or out. The exterior wasn't bad, I suppose, just rather gray and boring, even with some rather large imposing columns at the entrance. I can't say it really looked like a church - more like a library. Inside, I felt like the architect had really been striving for something grand and ornate but, unfortunately, never quite got there. Large columns, lots of them, too many of them, line either side of the church - they're big on columns here - and there's a lot of . . . well . . . yellow, which just didn't work for me. The church itself was too rectangular, too narrow, and too tall, think "cathedral-in-a-box." With a 100-year anniversary for the church coming up next year, it seemed to lack a certain 100-year old atmosphere. I'm wondering if some misguided renovations at the mid-century mark took away whatever sense of grandeur Annunciation might have once had.I did enjoy looking at the paintings on the ceiling surrounding the altar. A beautifully detailed and gilded painting of the annunciation of Mary along with similar paintings of the twelve apostles and various other saints were impressive. They give the congregation a lot to look at and think about: How many of the apostles can I name? Is that the angel Gabriel? Why is St. Matthew holding an ax? Why is Saint Agnes holding a lamb? Why is Saint Thaddeus holding a turkey leg? Oh, sorry. My mistake - it's a club. (?) I particularly liked the painting of a band of angels, and I do mean A BAND of angels. Two angels playing trumpets, one playing a flute, one playing a harp, one - a violin, another - a cello, and one - a lyre. It was definitely a lyre and most definitely not a guitar. The ultimate gig - heaven.
I liked the priest. He seemed kind and intelligent. He had a great "priestly" voice, too. I was actually looking forward to his homily, so I was disappointed when a guest speaker from the Sisters of Charity made an appeal for the archdiocese's retirement fund. Yawn. Music was supplied by two women, one of whom also played an upright piano. They were both very good but an excess of sung responses really slowed things down. Sung petitions? Unnecessary. Singing way too many of the responses to the tune of "O Come O Come Emmanuel"? Hokey. And it was all I could do to keep a straight face when the gospel acclamation turned "Hallelujah" into "Ha-ha-llelujah". Ha-ha. Can you hear it? I think it was a liturgical test of my powers of composure. I passed, but of course, there was no way I would have been able to look at my daughter at that point.
I expected a good-sized crowd of eclectic, intellectual Cliftonites at Annunciation, so I was beyond surprise to be able to literally count the number of individuals in the congregation and come up with a number of less than fifty. I had the whole pew to myself as well as the four or five in front of me, the three behind me, and a significant number across from me. On a personal level, I can't complain - I like a personal worshipping space all to myself without the distractions presented by a large crowd, but really - how do these churches do it? Unless I'm just going to the "wrong" masses, my little church-going project has definitely opened my eyes to what appears to be the most pressing problem of the church - dwindling congregations. This is troubling - and sad.
ATTENDANCE: Empty
DURATION: One hour
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