7:00 Sunday evening mass, St. John's, Harrison. Another nice summer night provided the perfect opportunity to attend Sunday evening mass. This week, it was time to roll up the sleeves, hitch up the wagon and head west. Yeeee-hawwww! We're going to Harrison! And not just any Harrison, but "historic downtown Harrison" - and St. John's Church. My son and I arrived a few minutes earlier than we anticipated so we circled the block a few times - a small block of small, well-kept houses with small, well-kept lawns - and still were able to snag street parking directly across from the front doors of the church.
St. John's Church was immediately a study in contrasts. It was evident that a major investment had been made in the set of nice, new doors at the entrance to the church that welcomed us. I was surprised by this and began to think that my preconceptions about St. John's were wrong. Nope. The doors were a fluke - the interior of the church still needed quite a bit of work. Like the neighborhood homes, things here were small and simple. Plain yellow walls (yellow? really?) surrounded a small altar, a small crucifix, a small lectern, and two candles. The wooden pews had definitely taken a beating over the years, and I was embarrassed to see several dropped papers on the floor, loose items in the pews, previously repaired hymnals upended and newly dog-earred. Looks like that Corpus Christi celebration got a little out of hand. Eight large stained glass windows looked fairly ancient in a way that I wasn't sure I liked. A glass-fronted balcony was another paradox, and regrettably, one that looked completely out of place.
The mass itself was a drag, so much so that I found myself apologizing to my son who had accompanied me only at my urging. Music was provided by two older woman, one older gentleman, and a young teen boy. It was . . . what you might expect. The woman playing the keyboard was clearly on a very determined mission to make the most of her time in God's weekly spotlight. She couldn't have been more serious about her role, bless her heart, playing every verse of every song. That's fine when it's fine, but tonight it was just . . . trying, but they were trying which is something quite admirable in the long run, I suppose.
I found the celebrating priest oddly engaging. His homily was interesting and held my attention - something not easily accomplished. Perhaps his "17 years teaching at the seminary" helped, or maybe it was his strong, sincere voice. From a distance he looked like the actor, Edward Hermann. Up close, he did not. Go figure.
I had always thought of St. John's as a "small, country church," but it's definitely not. The parish website lists a current parish enrollment of over 1700 families with six masses offered each weekend. That puts St. John's on a scale very similar to St. Ignatius, but something is different, and with only 350 students enrolled in the parish school and a current deficit for the year as listed in the bulletin of over $36,000, I suspect the difference is economic. A strong increase in residential and commercial development has clearly changed the demographics of Harrison, but it seems those changes have yet to filter down to the collection basket. If St. John's can hang on long enough to wait for some of that money streaming into the city of Harrison to reach them, with the right renovations, their physical church could be incredibly charming. Of course, the physical building is only part of the parish. Given the numbers, the parish community must be already be a strong one. I guess the building can wait.
Meanwhile, on a different note, I need to start chapel veil shopping . . . but that's another story for another time . . .
ATTENDANCE: Mostly full
DURATION: 65 minutes
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