ROAMIN'
CATHOLIC
By Charles A. Coulombe
ARTICLES
LETTERS
NEWS
Contents © 1998
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
At Mass with Thomas Jefferson
St. Robert Bellarmine church at North 5th Street and East Orange Grove Avenue in Burbank is a most unusual building. While its white columns suggest the Federal style so common in Washington, D.C. the remainder of the building is modeled, inside and out, after the cold New England meeting houses. This combination of two styles of Americana, while rare in Catholic churches, nevertheless reflects the enthusiasms of its builder, Monsignor Keating, who also named the neighboring high school "Bellarmine-Jefferson," after the saint and Thomas Jefferson. The juxtaposition of Jefferson and Bellarmine is further enshrined in a beautifully executed stained-glass window centering on the figure of St. Robert Bellarmine surrounded by children and others. Above him are (I think) Father Isaac Hecker and Archbishops Gibbons of Baltimore and Ireland of St. Paul, Minnesota. Above them is the spire of Independence Hall. Beneath this scene is a gray medallion of Jefferson in profile, apparently based upon the nickel.This was of course part of the original furnishing of the church. Church renovators, about seven years ago, discarded a life-size seated statue of St. Robert Bellarmine, which now resides in a friend's living room in Oxnard. Whether at that time or in the post earth-quake repairs, the renovation of the sanctuary placed the Blessed Sacrament in a wooden tabernacle atop a small wooden table, approximately where it would have been before the high altar was destroyed; but a paneled screen hides it from the congregation, and forms the rear of the current worship-space. On the screen to the right is a crucifix; at the left is the presider's throne. The square wooden holy table is flanked by the wooden ambo, with a large imitation-marble tank doing duty as the baptismal font off to the left.
On Saturday, March 7, I attended the 5 P.M. vigil Mass for the Second Sunday in Lent. The church was crowded with a primarily Anglo congregation of all ages. The cantoress, a lovely young woman with a beautiful voice, with the help of the organist, coached us in the music we were to sing. An altar-boy came out and sat in his chair. Then the organ struck up the entrance hymn, and a procession made up of crucifetrix, altar girl, lectoress, and the celebrant, Father John Vogel, came up the aisle and arranged themselves in the worship-space.
Father Vogel, an earnest younger priest, explained in great detail the need for penance in Lent. He then led us in the confiteor (confession of sins). After this, the Kyrie ("Lord Have Mercy") was sung in Greek; this prompted Father Vogel to address the use of foreign languages at Mass, pointing out that Greek had been used in the liturgy for two hundred years, and that the Latin we would hear at the Sanctus ("Holy, Holy, Holy") and Agnus Dei ("Lamb of God") had been used for "many years--many centuries!" The lectoress, a somewhat severe-looking woman in a floral dress, deftly read the first two readings. Then followed the Gospel, which described the Transfiguration.
Father Vogel mounted the ambo afterwards, and introduced a younger couple who were parishioners in charge of the parish's share of the nine million dollar "Together in Mission" drive. They assured us that this appeal, directed toward raising money for poorer parishes and schools in the archdiocese, was extremely important.
The Liturgy of the Word concluded with the recitation of the Creed. After the collection was taken up, Father Vogel continued with the offertory. While the Eucharistic Prayer was unfamiliar to me (it was not one of the four in the missalette, but one of the new ones that talks about Our Lord "stretching out His arms between Heaven and Earth"), Father consecrated the elements with (it seemed to me), deep devotion. As promised, both the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei were sung in Latin, in their most familiar plainsong setting.
At communion time, another priest and two eucharistic ministers appeared, one of the latter joining Father Vogel at the front, and the other team heading toward the center of the church. Most of those I could see received in the hand, but a few did not. Although these latter represented a wide range of ages, it seemed to me that most were near or in their twenties.
Communion distributed, the Mass came swiftly to an end. Father Vogel and the sanctuary party, this time joined by the altar boy, recessed. As with all the other hymns, the recessional was neither memorable nor offensive. At its conclusion, cantoress and organist received a round of applause from the congregants. At the conclusion of the clapping, many left, but others formed groups and carried on conversations in fairly loud tones.