Funny, I expected St. Thomas More to be a small church, not just because of its location but probably because I had never heard of it before. I was wrong. Although the parish was established in 1950, the current church, lovingly dubbed the "Cathedral in the Cornfield" at the time of its construction, was built in 1961. Although I wouldn't call it a cathedral, St. Thomas More is a much larger church than I expected, one clearly built for a growing congregation, but the early 60's? Oh no ...
I've seen this church - or various elements of it - in other churches built around the same time. A wooden ceiling rises to a point above the center aisle, a certain "mustard-toned" hue dominates everything, and there is brick, lots and lots of brick. Unfortunately, the heating registers that line the walls had given off enough exhaust over the years to leave those brick walls with quite a bit of dirt and grime. The stations of the cross are small and inconspicuous and oddly reminded me of the stations of the cross in St. Ann's Church in Groesbeck where I grew up. There are a lot of crosses at St. Thomas More - crosses built into the brick walls, crosses in the linoleum tiles, crosses on the lights, crosses here, crosses there, crosses crosses everywhere. From a distance, the altar looked dated, but I have to admit, that I was more impressed with it as I approached to receive communion. It was much prettier up close. So there is that.
Today, St. Thomas More is a parish of over 1500 families, and quite a few of them were at this mass. It was a mixed crowd - families, singles, older couples, including an older couple in front of us. They seemed nice and, just to clarify, they were very nice, but the woman had a notable steely-eyed glare that she used on quite a few occasions. When her husband did the classic "sit-kneel," she pulled it out, and I had to smile as he quietly assumed a full kneeling position. She took my hand in a death grip at the sign of peace.
A few other members of the congregation had my husband and I talking on the way home. We couldn't help but notice the pick-up truck parked in front of us with the large Nascar sticker on the back window. The Nascar sticker really wasn't the issue - the fairly obscene . . . no, the definitely obscene bumper sticker was. Not sure about the Christian values on that one. As we exited the church to return to our car after mass, another older gentleman was sitting in his car working a wad of tobacco out of a pouch (or would that be a "chaw of tobackey"?). Do people really still do that? I didn't see any cornfields close by, but I can't deny that the stereotypes were running rampant. It's out there, that's for sure.
ATTENDANCE: Comfortably full
DURATION: One hour
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