Passiontide Photopost 2017 (Part 1)

Our request for pictures of your churches with veils for Passiontide received an overwhelming response, more than twice as big as it was last year; we will therefore have at least two posts of them, more likely three, just out of those received in the last three days. For this we are very grateful indeed! If you have photos you would like to contribute, we will still very glad to receive them. (Send to photopost@newliturgicalmovement.org.)

What an encouraging sign this is of the ever-growing interest in and love for the richness and variety of our Catholic liturgical tradition! Veiling the crosses and statues was never prohibited, but as many of us know, “optional” has too often been treated as liturgical parlance for “discouraged” or “prohibited.” The fact that so many churches are choosing to revive the practice shows that this harmful attitude is fading; slowly, perhaps too slowly for the patience of many, but be assured, the day will come when no one will think to speak of such customs as “pre-Conciliar”, and therefore useless. (A very dear friend of mine likes to remind his congregation, “Jesus is also pre-Conciliar!”) Our headliner, the church of St Anne in Berlin, New Hampshire, put up the veils for the first time in decades, thanks to the initiative of the parishioners. Multa renascentur quae jam cecidere.

Church of St Anne - Berlin, New Hampshire

St Stephen’s Church - Kearney, New Jersey

St Peter Catholic Student Center - Waco, Texas

The reader who sent this in writes to say “Several years ago, the Extraordinary Form began here and has slowly increased in popularity. More recently, we have had more sung Masses (from no more than 1 a month to usually 3 a month now.) Furthermore, our community has also had the chance to celebrate other important liturgical days in the EF such as Ash Wednesday or the Annunciation. In fact, Ash Wednesday had not been celebrated in the EF in Waco for 50 years before we did it this year. Also, just within the last weeks we have had renovations to our chapel that include moving the tabernacle to the center, creating the large frame that is in the photo and painting the blue backdrop with stars. Most of this has been done under the initiative of the laity that attend the Latin Mass in an attempt to make the worship of Our Lord more beautiful.”