Why a pink church? It’s for the same reason priests wear pink vestments! I do think the color does have to be admired in its cultural context. I did discover that the ornate and traditional main altar was commissioned from Italy.
I was joking as to painting it as the Saigon Church. They (in Vietnam) likely find it beautiful, while my Western eyes do not, expecting to see an altar rail made of plastic flamingos today (but not 100yrs ago). Their colors MEAN something, such as red is a lucky/good fortune color, black is evil such as NEVER wear black. They obviously see pink far differently than me.
As always, I would love to have the majority of churches written about here as my local church, many of the "ugly" ones beat anything nearby.
jdj from what Father said during last Sunday Mass during his "goodbye", they were some people in MHT that were making his life really miserable... Such a shame. That was time of true liturgical revival for the parish (remember Corpus Christi?).
Sorry to hear of problems at MHT, sorry also (if accurately reported) that it was aired in public. I was always taught to choose my fights carefully, as they all cost, so make sure there is even a chance before engaging, and save it for something truly worthwhile.
Did I take that lesson to heart and practice it? Oh, HECK no, and boy, did it cost me!
We are losing a good and holy priest at MHT. It looked like he was turning things around. Twelve years ago there were around 1,200 families in the parish, when Father arrived in 2019 there were about 600 families left. In the last two years I have seen more new faces and plenty of young families with lots of young children. He was quite a blessing during the Wuhan China virus pandemic, as he provided streaming videos of all Masses and liturgical activities during the church lockout. He had the courage to invite the FSSP to say the TLM at MHT and to attend the FSSP’s TLM training. His homilies were superb and very faithful to the Mass readings and the Church’s teaching. Other examples of his great work at MHT were the return of many Catholic devotionals like this year’s Corpus Christi procession. I believe that I can speak for the majority of MHT parishioners in that he was a real blessing to us and has helped lead us to a closer relationship to Christ and His Church and hopefully eventually to heaven.
Chip a very good point and holy priests in a transition from one parish to the next and put into transition by their bishop should not stir up the laity further to exacerbate bitter divisions where the full truth is not told and should not be told in a public way. There are ways to promote reconciliation once a priest has departed not to settle scores. Sad.
Father, having a minority of backbiters with the Bishop's ear is likely sonething you or any priest well knows. It seems their pastor was seriously wronged, but if he could not resist crying about it in public, it was not to his credit and damaged his own reputation by complaining of the cross he was given to carry.
And if he did so, his friends are doing him no favors by noising it about publically, as they are only increasing the chances of him getting in further hot water, as there are no doubt schemers and backbiters who read this blog and will scurry quickly to the bishop with such tidings.
FRAJM and Chip, unless you are parishioners here, you should not be making these statements in a public forum at the risk of spreading falsehoods. I am in the laity at MHT and I knew and heard nothing to “stir up bitterness” or even approach “crying about it in public”. You have actually said more about it here than we’ve heard locally. I don’t know where you are getting your information, but it’s just not true. Most of us know nothing about why this good priest is leaving. We do wonder, of course, but have to move on. I am a daily Mass-goer, and attended this priest’s last Mass today at 12:15. It was a beautiful Liturgy (they always are), a wonderful homily about St. John the Baptist, and we were encouraged to always be the ones to point the way to Jesus. This priest is a good, faithful man who has served us well.
jdj...I said IF, and please read the comment by Joey Augustan above as for IF true, then crying about it in public was unseemly. That comment was what I was addressing.
And, jdj....it is apparently parishoners from there who brought it up, and invited we outsiders into any conflict. WE did not bring up the situation and mostly were blissfully ignorant.
Chip, if you want to know the rest of the story, please come to Mass at MHT some Sunday and hang out after Mass in front of the church building under the magnolia tree. You should get a different perspective there. We’re located at 720 Telfair Street in beautiful downtown Augusta, GA. You can’t miss the church, it’s located on the southeast corner of 8th Sfreet and Telfair Street sandwiched between the Bell Auditorium and the James Brown Arena. BTW our former pastor handled himself with class, dignity, and filial love for all members of the parish in his farewell address. He expressed his love for all who had supported him during his time as pastor and publicly forgave all those who made his life miserable these past two years. You can see for yourself on Facebook, since the 11am Mass was live-streamed. Pax vobiscum!
OK....I DID fast fwd to his swan song to make sure I got his comments unadulterated. I found it far worse than stated here. He essentially said those who made his time there miserable really needed to get right with God. He was welcome to say such in private to them, but by doing so in public he detracted from himself and all his quite commendable accomplishments in his ministry.
It is obvious the parish is divided, and my being invited to hang with one group to find out "the real story" at what sounds a usual meeting place for them, only reinforces that feeling...when this is an internal and local problem where it would likely take a year or three of attendance to find out who is who and for what, and living in the Plains, this is well outside my caring competence.
Chip, did you miss the I forgive you part in Father’s “swan song”? He has told many in the parish, myself included, to get right with God. As far as “the group” and their “usual meeting place”, this is not where those who made Father’s life miserable or those who cannot see the big picture “hang out”. This is where the young families with small children usually congregate. They could give you an unadulterated view of MHT and its pluses and minuses.
MHT is a beautiful parish. The church building was mostly spared wreckovation by the iconoclasts on multiple occasions. The Novus Ordo liturgies are solemn, dignified, and faithful to the rubrics. I can only count on one hand attending this type of Catholic parish in the USA since 1969. But like everything in this life other than Jesus and Mary, nothing is perfect. To lose half the parish since 2009 and to have seven different pastors in the last seventeen years must mean that there is something rotten in Denmark.
Our latest former pastor was a decent man and a holy priest. Please note I didn’t say perfect. He was a blessing to the parish despite his detractors. I guess he was in good company as my Catholic faith formation included many examples of our Lord being rejected despite doing no wrong.
Please don’t make a judgement of MHT and our former pastor based on your perceptions gleaned on a blog or by solely on your interpretation of a video. The genesis of the issues at MHT concerning her pastors and her faithful had its origin many years ago. Only by prayer, fasting, and heroic action by the clergy and the faithful will the problems at MHT be solved.
Pierre, you are correct. The complainers seemed to be old and new liberals, Karen types, people with petty grievances, e.g. how Father used lighting around the altar and the location and size of the altar candles, and people manipulated by others at the parish. Please pray for MHT that all lies and falsehoods will be trapped and exposed and that the Lord’s will will be done in the parish.
18 comments:
It is "ok", but could likely use a lot, LOT more pink?
LOVE that pic of MHT—HATE that we are losing our beloved Pastor after only two years! Incomprehensible...
Why a pink church? It’s for the same reason priests wear pink vestments! I do think the color does have to be admired in its cultural context. I did discover that the ornate and traditional main altar was commissioned from Italy.
I was joking as to painting it as the Saigon Church. They (in Vietnam) likely find it beautiful, while my Western eyes do not, expecting to see an altar rail made of plastic flamingos today (but not 100yrs ago). Their colors MEAN something, such as red is a lucky/good fortune color, black is evil such as NEVER wear black. They obviously see pink far differently than me.
As always, I would love to have the majority of churches written about here as my local church, many of the "ugly" ones beat anything nearby.
jdj from what Father said during last Sunday Mass during his "goodbye", they were some people in MHT that were making his life really miserable... Such a shame. That was time of true liturgical revival for the parish (remember Corpus Christi?).
Sorry to hear of problems at MHT, sorry also (if accurately reported) that it was aired in public. I was always taught to choose my fights carefully, as they all cost, so make sure there is even a chance before engaging, and save it for something truly worthwhile.
Did I take that lesson to heart and practice it? Oh, HECK no, and boy, did it cost me!
We are losing a good and holy priest at MHT. It looked like he was turning things around. Twelve years ago there were around 1,200 families in the parish, when Father arrived in 2019 there were about 600 families left. In the last two years I have seen more new faces and plenty of young families with lots of young children. He was quite a blessing during the Wuhan China virus pandemic, as he provided streaming videos of all Masses and liturgical activities during the church lockout. He had the courage to invite the FSSP to say the TLM at MHT and to attend the FSSP’s TLM training. His homilies were superb and very faithful to the Mass readings and the Church’s teaching. Other examples of his great work at MHT were the return of many Catholic devotionals like this year’s Corpus Christi procession. I believe that I can speak for the majority of MHT parishioners in that he was a real blessing to us and has helped lead us to a closer relationship to Christ and His Church and hopefully eventually to heaven.
Chip a very good point and holy priests in a transition from one parish to the next and put into transition by their bishop should not stir up the laity further to exacerbate bitter divisions where the full truth is not told and should not be told in a public way. There are ways to promote reconciliation once a priest has departed not to settle scores. Sad.
Father, having a minority of backbiters with the Bishop's ear is likely sonething you or any priest well knows. It seems their pastor was seriously wronged, but if he could not resist crying about it in public, it was not to his credit and damaged his own reputation by complaining of the cross he was given to carry.
And if he did so, his friends are doing him no favors by noising it about publically, as they are only increasing the chances of him getting in further hot water, as there are no doubt schemers and backbiters who read this blog and will scurry quickly to the bishop with such tidings.
FRAJM and Chip, unless you are parishioners here, you should not be making these statements in a public forum at the risk of spreading falsehoods. I am in the laity at MHT and I knew and heard nothing to “stir up bitterness” or even approach “crying about it in public”. You have actually said more about it here than we’ve heard locally. I don’t know where you are getting your information, but it’s just not true. Most of us know nothing about why this good priest is leaving. We do wonder, of course, but have to move on. I am a daily Mass-goer, and attended this priest’s last Mass today at 12:15. It was a beautiful Liturgy (they always are), a wonderful homily about St. John the Baptist, and we were encouraged to always be the ones to point the way to Jesus.
This priest is a good, faithful man who has served us well.
jdj...I said IF, and please read the comment by Joey Augustan above as for IF true, then crying about it in public was unseemly. That comment was what I was addressing.
And, jdj....it is apparently parishoners from there who brought it up, and invited we outsiders into any conflict. WE did not bring up the situation and mostly were blissfully ignorant.
Chip, if you want to know the rest of the story, please come to Mass at MHT some Sunday and hang out after Mass in front of the church building under the magnolia tree. You should get a different perspective there. We’re located at 720 Telfair Street in beautiful downtown Augusta, GA. You can’t miss the church, it’s located on the southeast corner of 8th Sfreet and Telfair Street sandwiched between the Bell Auditorium and the James Brown Arena. BTW our former pastor handled himself with class, dignity, and filial love for all members of the parish in his farewell address. He expressed his love for all who had supported him during his time as pastor and publicly forgave all those who made his life miserable these past two years. You can see for yourself on Facebook, since the 11am Mass was live-streamed. Pax vobiscum!
MHT dissenter,
I assume the complainers were old “liberals” or Karen types
OK....I DID fast fwd to his swan song to make sure I got his comments unadulterated. I found it far worse than stated here. He essentially said those who made his time there miserable really needed to get right with God. He was welcome to say such in private to them, but by doing so in public he detracted from himself and all his quite commendable accomplishments in his ministry.
It is obvious the parish is divided, and my being invited to hang with one group to find out "the real story" at what sounds a usual meeting place for them, only reinforces that feeling...when this is an internal and local problem where it would likely take a year or three of attendance to find out who is who and for what, and living in the Plains, this is well outside my caring competence.
Chip, did you miss the I forgive you part in Father’s “swan song”? He has told many in the parish, myself included, to get right with God. As far as “the group” and their “usual meeting place”, this is not where those who made Father’s life miserable or those who cannot see the big picture “hang out”. This is where the young families with small children usually congregate. They could give you an unadulterated view of MHT and its pluses and minuses.
MHT is a beautiful parish. The church building was mostly spared wreckovation by the iconoclasts on multiple occasions. The Novus Ordo liturgies are solemn, dignified, and faithful to the rubrics. I can only count on one hand attending this type of Catholic parish in the USA since 1969. But like everything in this life other than Jesus and Mary, nothing is perfect. To lose half the parish since 2009 and to have seven different pastors in the last seventeen years must mean that there is something rotten in Denmark.
Our latest former pastor was a decent man and a holy priest. Please note I didn’t say perfect. He was a blessing to the parish despite his detractors. I guess he was in good company as my Catholic faith formation included many examples of our Lord being rejected despite doing no wrong.
Please don’t make a judgement of MHT and our former pastor based on your perceptions gleaned on a blog or by solely on your interpretation of a video. The genesis of the issues at MHT concerning her pastors and her faithful had its origin many years ago. Only by prayer, fasting, and heroic action by the clergy and the faithful will the problems at MHT be solved.
Pierre, you are correct. The complainers seemed to be old and new liberals, Karen types, people with petty grievances, e.g. how Father used lighting around the altar and the location and size of the altar candles, and people manipulated by others at the parish. Please pray for MHT that all lies and falsehoods will be trapped and exposed and that the Lord’s will will be done in the parish.
The pink church photo should be in your deleted photos folder for 1 month after being deleted so you should be able to “restore” it.
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