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by Jim Holman.
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ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
July/August 2004

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ST. ANTHONY'S, OXNARD

A Standard Liturgy

St. Anthony's parish in Oxnard, at 2511 C Street, serves a mixed congregation of Spanish and English-speakers. On April 18, 2004, the Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday), I attended the 10:30 a.m. Mass.

The church is a very large building, erected in the "Collegeville" style so prevalent in the '50s, when church architects were already striving for simplicity. Although the high altar and the communion rail have been removed, the side altar to the right has been retained and transformed into the Blessed Sacrament altar. Some traditional pictures, such as the Infant Jesus of Prague, back the tabernacle. Suspended on invisible strings over the middle of the nave is a brown cross of some light material, and, that Sunday, white scarves festooned the stations of the cross and other spots, in token of the Resurrection. The church was about half-filled, with an ethnic and generational mix. Our musical accompaniment consisted of a guitar and keyboard on the left side.

Father George Sullivan, the pastor, processed up the aisle with a small group of altar boys and girls. The music was unremarkable and typical of the 1970s. Father Sullivan followed the missal closely, and a suited lector and lectoress each delivered the readings. The first of these was from the Acts of the Apostles, in which the Apostles perform miracles, and many are converted thereby. A reading from the Revelation followed this, wherein, being caught up in the Holy Spirit, St. John has a vision of Christ in glory.

Father Sullivan succeeded the readers in the pulpit, and read from St. John' s Gospel. In this passage, we were told of Christ's visiting His disciples and St. Thomas' doubts. The priest then dismounted the pulpit, picked up a large portrait that he held behind him, and proceeded to the center of the worship space.

Father declared that, like St. John, we all have visions of Jesus; indeed, we all have to have our own images of Him. Father Sullivan revealed the picture behind his back -- it was a traditional portrait of the Sacred Heart. He then admitted that this was in fact the picture of Christ that had hung in his parents' living room since the early '50s; he had asked them to bring it to Mass, and they had done so. This, Father said, was his own image of Christ and had been so since his childhood. But, Father said, we might see Him in different ways. Perhaps a good way to see Christ, particularly fitted for our modern day, he said, was as "wounded healer."

The offertory procession was standard, as was the collection. Father sang the preface to a tune reminiscent of the traditional chant for that prayer, but whether it was a pre-existing tune or one composed on the spot, I could not tell. After the jazzy Sanctus (in English), Father used the preface melody in singing Eucharistic Prayer III. This is the first time that I have heard the Eucharistic prayer sung in this fashion, though doubtless it will not be the last.

The Our Father was said to the accompaniment of held hands stretching across the nave. An army of eucharistic ministers emerged, and communion was given primarily on the hand. Father Sullivan led the applause for the musicians before the recessional. The departure of the congregants was swift but explained by the efficient distribution of coffee and doughnuts outside.

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