I was actually a little bit late for the 12:00 PM Mass, but it didn’t appear to matter. As I walked in, I found the entire church empty, except for myself, the woman setting up the Mass, and another parishioner who walked in the same time I did. They told me that the 9:15 AM Mass was more well-attended than the 12:00 PM one was (I made a note to come back and see the 9:15 Mass). They ended up starting the Mass around 12:15, and there were about six people present for the Mass, including the priest. The small crowd made for a very intimate service. My favorite moment came when everyone gathered in the aisle of the church building and held hands when praying the Our Father.
The church itself was reasonably sized, with a brick exterior, and a pentagonal shaped façade with a circular window at the center. The inside of the church wasn’t overly decorated, with patterned white walls and a tabernacle of a variety of different types of stone and marble. They had stained glass panels along the sides of the church, but only a few at the front were really carved out. It appeared that they were a work in progress.
Father Bava gave what I thought was a fairly long homily for such a small audience, but he had some interesting things to say nonetheless. In this week’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells his disciples to build their faith upon rock, not upon sand. Father Bava told us, too, that we should base our actions on our faith in God, and not our desire for money or attention.
Links:
Holy Redeemer Church
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Churches I've Been To So Far:
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wow! i feel special!! i was mentioned in your blog! =)
ReplyDeleteyour posts do inspire me..
p.s. i'm from houston, tx not michigan.. hehe
Changed Michigan to Texas...sorry about that :)
ReplyDelete=) all good!!
ReplyDeleteInteresting blog, you see I grew up in Holy Redeemer. It use to be a thriving Parish and had a great school for African American and Chinese kids because it was in the middle of an African American Community and China Town. Out of seven children from my family; four graduated from that school. I left DC after graduating from college and currently live in New Mexico after living over 9 years in Japan. Holy Redeemer for me is a place of Christenings, First Communions, Confirmations, weddings, and funerals. It had a loyal following, but after the school closed, it lost out on educating those kids that grew up in the community who went to Mass there. I went to Gonzaga High School and graduated from Howard University. However, Holy Redeemer will alway be my home. I even worked in the rectory and the church, so I know every crevice of that church and school. Hopefully with the gentrification of the area, people will find Holy Redeemer home and reopen the school. It was a great place to grow.
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