4:00 Saturday afternoon mass, St. Saviour. My apologies for the glare in the photo. From my angle, there was no avoiding it, but truthfully, given the cold and snow over the past week, the warmth and beauty of sunshine was more of a positive than a negative. Sooo. "Saint Saviour." I don't get it, the name, that is. Was there someone with the actual name of "Saviour" who became a saint? Why the extra "u"? Time to hit the internet. "Saint," taken from the Latin "sanctus," means "holy." So apparently, "Saint Saviour" translates to "Our Holy Savior." Whatever. The etymological scenic route was lovely, but wouldn't it have been easier to just say "Holy Savior"?
St. Savior might be located in Rossmoyne (as if anyone in Cincinnati even knows where Rossmoyne is); it might be located in Blue Ash; it might even be located in Dillonvale. Guess it depends on who you ask. No matter, I found the church without any problems. Kudos for a nice, big parking lot. First impression? Ah. Another member of the "We-Needed-To-Expand-The-Church-So-We-Rotated-It-Ninety-Degrees" Club. Yes, it was that obvious. I was surprised at the size of the church though - it's big, and apparently, at one time, the parish was just as big. According to the parish history, in 1963, a whopping 1500 children were enrolled in the parish school. However, in 2002, the school was forced to close due to low enrollment. I wonder where the parish census stands now. The bulletin indicated a meager weekly collection, but still, there was definitely no shortage of people at this mass. Hmmm.
Not an unattractive church, St. Saviour's church is, nonetheless, (as my son put it) an arena, and an arena with quite a hodge-podge of seating options. Cue the Dr. Seuss: Pews here, pews there, pews, pews everywhere. Oh, look! There's chairs and a set of stairs and a balcony up in the air! Seats up high, seats down low, so many seats I don't know where to go!
Anyways . . .
Padded seats? Yes. An absence of kneelers? Blasphemy. My Husband the Heathen should have been there. He would have loved it. I heard a water fountain but never did see one. The female vocalist? Amazing. Possibly the best I've heard in quite a while. The bells striking on the hour were nice until the recording of said bells hit a glitch more than once. That's embarrassing.
This weekend included World Marriage Day, celebrated appropriately enough on Valentine's Day. After the presiding priest blessed two and a half couples celebrating milestone wedding anniversaries (one husband had fallen, hurting his back, and was unable to attend; hence, the "two and a half" couples), I thought we had been spared a homily, but alas, the resident deacon stepped up and proceeded to read an incredibly boring sermon of unnecessarily long duration. I spent most of that time trying to decipher the seven stained glass windows behind the altar . . . and failing miserably. I was finally able to make out a single white lily in one, but as for the rest? I put them into a category I like to call, "sacramental amoeba."
Saint Saviour strikes me as one of those "touchy-feely" parishes. Before mass began, everyone was at ease, talking and laughing with each other. Not a bad thing, but this mass was clearly a very relaxed, social gathering. There was an introductory instruction by the lector to "take a moment to greet those around you." I introduced myself to my son. I have to give the parish of St. Saviour credit though. The people at this mass seemed genuinely happy to be there, families, individuals, and seniors alike. They must be doing something right out there in Rossmoyne. Maybe it was the bulletin. St. Saviour takes the award for longest weekly bulletin which even went so far as to include an arts and crafts project. Yeah, that was probably it.
ATTENDANCE: Comfortably full
DURATION: 55 minutes
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