Our First Mass

We - Blessed John Henry Newman Catholic Church of the Ordinarite of the Chair of St Peter - had our first Mass as a parish last Sunday. It was our first Mass as a united community, our priest's first Mass, the first Anglican Use Mass in southern California, and just generally the first time any of us had done exactly this. We were sort of feeling our way.

But it was a beautiful liturgy: traditional Anglo-Catholic, ad orientem, Tudor English, smells-and-bells (yes, I did locate some bells in time), Holy Communion kneeling, a touch of Anglican chant, and no Marty Haugen at all.


We even had quite a nice turn out, especially considering how small a community we are.

You can find more pictures here and Father's sermon here. And you can click on the picture above to enlarge it considerably.