5:00 mass, Sunday afternoon, Christ the King. A relatively uneventful mass that left me feeling uncomfortably perplexed in more ways than one. First, the basics, aka, parking. Is there a parking lot to go with Christ the King? If so, I missed it and ended up parking on the street - which, it appeared, most of the parishioners also did. It wasn't really a problem. Having arrived early, I secured possibly the closest possible spot to the front doors from the street, but the narrow side street and a snowy night would have made anything else less than pleasant.
The interior of the church presents a few notable issues. I attended a funeral at Christ the King several years ago. I remember it being fairly large, but this particular evening, it struck me as not so large, although maybe, after visiting so many different churches, I'm losing my perspective. It's a tall church, definitely tall, but not very spacious. An altar full of poinsettias and lit Christmas trees, although beautiful, appeared starved for space. But it was an imposing second-story wall (facade?) on the left side of the church that confused - and bothered - me the most. Hovering over half the width of the pews on the left, I wasn't sure why it was there the way it was. A few - very few - awkwardly placed stained glass windows at the front of The Wall further perplexed me. Why just a few? The right side was completely dominated by stained glass windows, complete with donors' names displayed, so what happened on the left? Did funds fall short to complete the installation of stained glass on this side? It was definitely weird and aesthetically unpleasant; sitting on the right side of the church, The Wall created something of an optical illusion, making it seem like there was just a single row of pews down the right half of the church. Weird.
The theme of "Christ the King" is carried out ad nauseum. Crown-shaped lighting fixtures. Crowns on the wall behind the altar. A large gold "crown-like" fixture above the altar. Okay, people, we get it. Meanwhile, other features struck me as a little bizarre. A phone booth containing the lectern. Oh, of course it's not a phone booth. It's a ticket booth. No, no, it's not a ticket booth either. Maybe it's a giant crown. I don't know. A huge mosaic of Christ (the King . . . with crown) behind the altar. Interesting, but all I kept seeing was Jesus wearing Dearfoam slippers while flashing some sort of gang symbol.
The congregation was a mixed gathering. Several families with young children as well as others with older teens. There were single individuals and older couples. I didn't like the fact that so many of those in attendance came in after the mass had started. I didn't like the cell phones going off, and I didn't like the fact that there was a considerable amount of milling around, both before and during the mass. I couldn't help but notice that when the collection was taken up, very few people made a donation. This too confused me. Clearly, this Mount Lookout crowd was a well-educated and financially secure bunch, so why weren't they dropping anything at all into the basket? I was further intrigued that no mention was made in the bulletin of the traditional "Last Week's Collection." Is it a secret . . . or an embarrassment? Participation was minimal - little singing and garbled prayer. Assuming these people were registered parishioners with Christ the King, they showed no attachment to their church. They were, in a word, disconnected. Word on the street is that the parishioners of Christ the King feel their church is privileged to have them as members of their worship community. Riiiiiight, and that explains it all.
ATTENDANCE: Half-full
DURATION: 55 minutes
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