The Philadel­phia Inquirer “wrote an article”:http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20070710_Reviving_a_Latin_past.html on Julie’s “tra­di­tion­al­ist Catholic church”:http://www.materecclesiae.org/home.php this week and “even pro­duced a video”:http://www.philly.com/inquirer/multimedia/8395712.html that gives you a feel of the wor­ship. Because of the two lit­tle ones we try to alter­nate between her church and Friends meet­ing on First Day morn­ings (though my crazy work sched­ule over the past few months have pre­cluded even this). I’m in no dan­ger of becom­ing the “Catholic Ranter” any­time soon (sorry Julie!) but I do appre­ci­ate the rev­er­ence and sense of pur­pose which Mater Ecclessians bring to wor­ship and even I have cul­ture shock when I go to a _norvus ordo_ mass these days. “Com­men­tary on the Inquirer piece”:http://wdtprs.com/blog/2007/07/philadelphia-inquirer-on-mater-ecclesiae-in-camden-nj/ cour­tesy Father Zuhls­dorf. That blog and the “Closed Cafeteria”:http://closedcafeteria.blogspot.com/ are favorites around here. Here’s a “few pictures”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/martin_kelley/tags/materecclesiae/ of us at the church fol­low­ing bap­tisms.
PS: I wish the Catholic Church as a whole were more open-minded when it comes to LGBT issues. That said, the ser­mons on the issue I’ve heard at Mater Eccle­siae have gone out of their way to empha­size char­ity. That said, I’ve occa­sion­ally heard some under the breath com­ments by parish­ioners that weren’t so char­i­ta­ble. Yet another rea­son to stay the Quaker Ranter.
PPS: And please, no com­ments on why the Catholic church is wrong, why Julie left Friends, why the Tri­den­tine Mass is a step back­wards, yada yada yada. I’m post­ing these links to share some­thing of our lives. Thanks.