I have been involved with OLOS for a while and made an account just to raise a few points. Although I do not attend a Resistence mass site, due to constant travel with work and unavailability of resistence priests where I live/work, I empathize and agree with multiple points that you all and Bishop Williamson raise.
Now, there are some legitimate issues being raised in this thread but a big chunk is based on unfactual rumors. Many of them stem from something that many "Sunday"parishioners do not understand: (1) Building and maintaining a church is very, very expensive.
- Yes the sound system was an issue. Adjustments are made on a weekly basis,to my understanding.
- The infamous bookstore. Gosh I never knew moving the bookstore to the Hall was such a contested issue. The manager is the same person and the books areexactly the same at the exact same prices. They still do special orders and do not charge parishioners the extra shipping charges. The size is smaller but they carry the exact same materials. The new location will be larger and more digitized to ensure faster processing of special orders. They are also planning on expanding the Spanish books section.
- Lack of Statuary. During the design phase, the priests emphasized the need for additional side alters for easier scheduling of private priest masses. We had two options. One was to use one of the priest offices and stick 4 wooden altars there for use or to build the main parish with multiple side chapels. We agreed on building spaces for the priests to say their private masses. Honestly, none of the priests or the directors or donors regret this. There are about 3 one-week long retreats for priests during the year and these spaces have proven very useful and have allowed the priests to celebrate their morning masses without disturbance.
- The stained glass: These will be installed, AT THE EARLIEST, one year from now. There were only 2 firms in the entire country (TWO!) that make custom stained glass that fit our needs and budget. You can't make stained glass on a home printer. They take months to make and are increadibly expensive. We are luckey to even be getting them. It was very contested because of the price.
Some more important points:
- Fr. R. Yes, he left and, from what people are saying, he will probably not be back. Priests get moved all the time and get re-assigned. Fr. R was seriously overworked to the bone. Anyone that actually knows him knows that he woke up at 6 in the morning and worked until sundown with few breaks. After his morning prayers and mass, he was with the schoolchildren unless he was assigned to say the 8AM public mass. He was involved with the school until 5PM, disciplining children and speaking with parents and teaching religion. He was also in charge of the grounds. Often times he was also responsible for scheduling the other priest's mass times, the retreat schedules, and preaching the retreat meditations. He deserves a break. Because of this, the duties are now evenly split between the priests and brothers. He would always ask for more help from the parishoners would, with fathers working full days and mothers doing the work of the home and school, it was an increadibly difficult task. Please pray for him and all the priests.
- OLOS is growing and this brings large challenges for the community. Yes, there are more people not wearing their SUnday best and the chapel is looking a little sluggish. It is raising important questions about who we are as a faithful of Tradition and our relationships with "newcomers." The older generation and the younger generation have different answers and this is causing controversy and problems. Sometimes I see some parishioners speak to newcomers with a serious lack of prudence. One interaction I will never forget was how, while sipping on coffee, someone was asking a young-adult about how his confirmation was "probably invalid" and pushing him to talk to Fr. R. about being conditionally confirmed. Prudence my friends! Not all at once!
- OLOS has an attached school. Mass and confession times for the parish have to allign well with the school's schedule to minimize parking and other inconveniences. The priests have, however, all stated, multiple times, that there is a priory next door and, as long as you call in advance, one of the fathers is always willing to sit in the confessional for you at a selected time.
- There are also issues of the maintanence costs for the parish, the increase in mission parishes, and other issues that I'll discuss in detail in another post in the future.
Please pray for our priests!
Topic: Phoenix sspx chapel update (Read 117778 times)