The Aliens Have Landed

Week Forty-Four - Saint Susanna

7:00 Sunday evening mass, St. Susanna. With high hopes for a tasty treat after mass, the whole family piled into the mighty Odyssey this week and headed out to St. Susanna's in Mason. A bit of a haul, yes, but I'm trying to take advantage of the nice summer nights to make the rounds to the Sunday evening masses. Plus, I wanted to see this Saint Susanna that I'd been hearing so much about. I had actually been to a funeral at the parish's previous church a few years ago, but I had yet to see their new digs. After an almost 40 minute drive, we arrived at what is surely THE church to belong to if you're one of the hundreds of thousands "privileged" enough to live in the area.

Like everything else in Mason/West Chester, St. Susanna's is big, it's new, it's clean, and it's modern. Who designs churches anyway? Oh, it's attractive, I suppose, if you like this sort of thing - a semicircle surrounding a simple, uncomplicated altar. Lots of open air and lots of room to breathe. I like that myself. The rows of pews gradually slope upward so everyone has a clear view of what's going on. Padded pews and overly-padded kneelers were comfy. The ceiling design vividly reminded me of the underside of the spaceship hovering over Johannesburg in the movie, "District 9." I'm not kidding.

Clearly, a lot of thought and planning had gone into this church and into meeting the needs of the community, the most pressing need being size. Yes, this is a big church designed to meet a big and undoubtedly still-growing parish. According to the bulletin (a whopping eight pages of text plus three full pages of advertisements), last week's collection was approximately $31,000. That's no small change, sister. I was unable to locate a recent count for parish population, but in 1999, the number was 2,500 families. I would expect it to be much higher now. The church was nearly full for this mass, a casual crowd of suburbanites, rolling in in mostly shorts and flip-flops. It was an attractive group, most of whom I suspect have a golf course in the backyard of their subdivision home.

I was at a bit of a disadvantage this week as my right ear decided to stop working last week. HUH? WHADYASAY? I went to the doctor today - diagnosis: ear infection, so as soon as I pick up my prescription at Walgreens, I'll hopefully be on my way to full power again. Anyhoo, in the meantime, without both receivers, I really only heard a fraction of the goings-on at St. Sue's, including the music. It seemed adequately good and, naturally, was quite contemporary in nature. Of course, with a parish this size, I would certainly hope that there would be no shortage of talent in the music department. I couldn't tell if the congregation was actively participating or not. I'll blame the ear on that, but I also believe it was due to the size of the church - it's gotta take some serious volume to make a noticeable difference in that large of a space.

All things considered, if you're part of the "next generation," St. Susanna's certainly seems to have a lot to offer. It's nice - in a perfect, sterile, Stepford sort of way. As for the tasty treat after mass? Didn't happen. Contrary to the information on their website, their "new summer hours" closed the shop at 8. It was a long ride home.

ATTENDANCE: Three-fourths full

DURATION: One hour and ten minutes