11:30 Sunday morning mass, Our Lady of the Rosary. That's right. Stop the presses. I was up early on a Sunday morning and headed to mass, this week at Our Lady of the Rosary in Greenhills. It wasn't exactly "over the river and through the woods." It was more like, "over the lake and through the woods." Winton Woods, that is. I tend to have certain churches that I'm not particularly looking forward to visiting. Usually, I imagine those churches being of a certain baby-boomer model with few, if any, updates. I envision the stereotypical Catholics, middle-aged suburbanites, slowly filing in for mass with minimal interest or enthusiasm for being there, catatonic if you will. They've done this same thing for the past 50 years - why change now. My image of Our Lady of the Rosary definitely fell into that category, but hey, "it was on the list," and now was as good a time as any to "get it over with" and cross it off the list. Well, this humble reporter is happily surprised to tell you that her preconceptions about Our Lady of the Rosary were wrong, very wrong. In fact, as I lick the crow off my fingers, I have to admit that I liked it enough that, yes, I would even go back.
On the outside, the smallish OLR was well-kept. I would even call it attractive, cute. Of course, inside, it still really wasn't anything to write home about - cinder block never is, but it was better than what I had expected. It reminded me of Little Flower Church on a smaller (and less Mayan) scale. I was troubled by my inability to find any statues, including statues of Mary and Joseph. A sacred snub. Can they do that? It was a quiet church what with wall-to-wall carpeting, padded kneelers, padded pews (seats and backs), padded hymnal racks. If they can rally the financial troops, I would definitely recommend new windows; the current ones were clearly showing their age.
Most notably and without a doubt, however, Our Lady of the Rosary takes the prize for friendliest parish. Not only friendly, but the people actually seemed excited about being there. As I sat in my pew, waiting for mass to start, a voice greeted me from behind and a hand was extended in my direction. It was the pastor, going up and down the aisles, shaking hands and saying hello to everyone in the church. Normally, I would have found this kind of thing unnecessary, if not annoying, but he seemed genuinely welcoming . . . and he had a kind face . . . or maybe I was just in a tolerant mood. Whatever. An introductory a capella song performed by three young girls was met with applause when they finished. Not sure about the applause, but it was a nice gesture, albeit a little out of place. When a young boy, only about 12 years old or so, sang the responsorial psalm solo while standing at the lectern, I held my breath waiting for another round of applause. Thankfully, it didn't come although I wouldn't have minded if it had - that kid had guts.
I was literally startled by the lector when he began the mass with a rousing "WEL-come to Our LAAAA-dy of the RO-sary Church!!!" I'm not sure how to translate to print the actual manner in which he said those words, but think "major league baseball announcer." Put the emphasis on certain syllables, drag them out in the appropriate places, vary your pitch, and add a lot of volume. You get the idea. It was almost comical, but like I said, these folks were excited to be there, this guy most of all apparently. "Take a moment to greet those around you." Oh no, not the Meet n' Greet. I'm not kidding - it went on for a good three or four minutes. This was a virtual liturgical happy hour. People were greeting people five or six rows away. They were greeting people on the other side of the church. I was greeted by people just passing by in the aisle as they took their seats. "Our celebrant this morning is our pastor! FA-ther HELM-lingerrrrrrrr." Play ball.
Don't even get me started on the love fest that took place at the Our Father. Suffice it to say that these were happy people, definitely happy people, and that made Our Lady of the Rosary a happy place. My Sunday morning efforts were well-rewarded. Plaudits, OLR. Plaudits.
ATTENDANCE: Half full
DURATION: 55 minutes
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