7:00 Sunday evening mass, St. Dominic. Ah, summer. Now that the days are longer, the weather is nicer, and school-year responsibilities are finally starting to ease up, I can start hitting the Sunday night masses that I've always been rather fond of. First stop - St. Dominic in Delhi.
Okay. What is it with these west-siders - why is it so hard to get to church on time? Seriously, people. Put down the coney and start the car - it's time to go to church. Actually, compared to a few other masses I've been to, there really weren't that many late arrivals at St. Dominic, but there certainly wasn't an excess of early arrivals either. When my daughter and I arrived at 6:45 for the 7:00 mass, we found an empty parking lot and entered an empy church. We were quite literally the only ones there. I have to say it was a bit unnerving, enough so that I convinced my daughter to track down a bulletin to double-check the mass times. Sure enough, 7:00 was on there, but it was still several additional minutes before any one else joined us.
After that, the crowd size still never really picked up for this Sunday evening mass. Maybe I'm spoiled. As a former fairly regular regular at St. Ignatius' 7:30 Sunday evening mass, I was used to standing-room only crowds, people coming from miles around for their last chance at a weekend mass (and a good one at that). Not so at St. Dominic. Maybe it's due to location - St. Ignatius being more centrally located on the west side versus St. Dominic being more on the periphery. Maybe it's due to a lack of advertising. After all, I didn't know St. Dominic had a Sunday evening mass until I started doing my research. In truth though, the smaller crowd was nice, especially on this particularly warm evening.
I was also surprised by the demographics of the crowd. Again, I had only St. I's mass to compare to, but theirs is a mass clearly designed for the youth (although still drawing all ages). The music, the lectors, the distributors - all teens. I believe St. Jude used to have (and might still occasionally have?) a similar Sunday evening mass. I like these "youth" masses - I like the music and I like seeing the kids. I assumed St. Dominic would follow what has proven to be a successful formula in bringing teens to mass, but again I was mistaken. I was somewhat disappointed with what turned out to be a rather vanilla mass - one that was pleasant enough, but nothing spectacular. The music was an excellent single female soloist, playing standard fare at an unfortunately rather rinky-tinky piano. Nothing happened here to specifically appeal to a younger crowd. I suppose then, in retrospect, it was no surprise that the congregation was a mixed bunch - some teens, yes, but also older couples, families, etc. in equal proportions. Not a bad thing, of course. It just wasn't what I was expecting. Sidenote: I felt really bad for a frail, older woman who was slowly and carefully helped by her son to a seat on the center aisle, second row. Within minutes, two men came in after her and took a seat in the first row, directly in front of her, completely blocking her view. As if it would have killed them to scoot over a few feet to the right.
I suppose it comes as no surprise that this was a casual affair. I haven't seen that many athletic shorts and t-shirts since my last Reds game. I was a bit worried when one of the servers lit the altar candles before mass in basketball shorts and a t-shirt. All was well though when he and a partner later emerged in classic server-wear. Even the priest seemed to be revelling in the laid-back atmosphere, however. As he made his way through the aisles sprinkling water on the flock in a Pentecostal celebration, I commented to my daughter that, given the big white socks and gym shoes peeking out from under his vestment, he seemed like a nice man. It was then, however, that we realized that there was more than big white socks peeking out - his bare legs were peeking out too! Either his pants had gone flood-water, he was wearing shorts, or . . . well, never mind. Hey, those vestments are probably hot, right? And, if his rather animated and impassioned homily (and a good one at that) was the norm, I won't blame him for his choice of attire . . . or lack thereof.
Given all the casualness of the mass, things at the altar actually seemed pretty strict. The servers never wavered in their hands-folded posture (the kind with the fingers pointing straight up), and I was happy to see that the lectors, ushers, and eucharistic ministers all seemed to follow a definite dress code - skirts, dress pants, no jeans. It looked nice, but it was an odd oxymoron to what was going on around them.
My daughter ran into one of her friends at this mass, a young man who is not a parishioner at St. Dominic's church either. His presence confirmed one of the trickier aspects of visiting churches in the summer - "beware the summer festival." Our Lady of Victory's festival this weekend had forced him elsewhere, i.e., St. Dominic's. As luck would have it, we timed our visit to St. Dominic just right as their own festival is next weekend. Mental note: always check an online bulletin for weekend activities before venturing out over the next few months.
ATTENDANCE: About one-third full
DURATION: 50 minutes
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