Fr. Richard Bradford, pastor of St. Athanasius, and two altar servers
On Sunday, I had the privilege of visiting St. Athanasius, the Anglican Use parish in the Archdiocese of Boston.
Though the congregation is small, it is warm and friendly and certainly a place I would be happy to make my church home if I moved back to the Boston area where I grew up and my mother and brother and his family still live.
I got a nice shot of Fr. Bradford in the sacristy before Mass. I got the names of the other two, but since I did not write them down I am sorry I can't put them on the caption. Maybe someone can add their names in the comments section.
As I arrived at the beautiful St. Lawrence Church in Chestnut Hill where St. Athanasius now finds its home, some parishioners were loading up cars with gaily-wrapped boxes with all the fixings for a turkey Thanksgiving dinner to deliver to those who might otherwise not be able to afford one.
Delivering the makings of Thanksgiving dinner
St. Lawrence Church in Chestnut Hill, Mass, the home of St. Athanasius
Interior of St. Lawrence Church
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Did Fr. Bradford celebrate ad orientem at the high altar, or versus populum at the freestanding altar?
Fr. Bradford celebrated the sung Anglican Use liturgy at the high altar, ad orientem. The Scripture passages and Gospel (there were three rather than two as we do under the old lectionary in Ottawa) were chanted, even though they were not in King James English, which I missed. I hope we can at least use the Douay-Rhiems Bible in the ordinariates.
The homily was excellent–breaking open the Scriptural texts with great insight.
There was no altar rail so people received Communion standing in one species as anyone might in a Roman Catholic parish.
It was good to be there. I went forward to receive a blessing.
Then afterward, there was coffee and goodies in the basement parish hall and lots of good conversation.
The congregation is small, even smaller than our congregation in Ottawa. But the building is about five times the size and really beautiful and seemingly in very good condition! The acoustics are great.
A couple of people I spoke with during coffee were cradle Catholics who were attracted by the beauty and solemnity of the Anglican liturgy. I also spoke with a woman who had been part of the original group that formed the parish. She spoke of the RCIA process and how enjoyable it turned out to be.
There were several young people—possibly members of one family—teenagers—who seemed to be quite engaged in parish life.
That afternoon they had Evensong and a Solemn Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. I was told they would also have special music for the occasion. I would have loved to have returned for that, but I had some family-related commitments.
Deborah
Many thanks for this account. May I also ask if there were BDWs in the pews, or ready-made orders of service? Did Fr. Bradford use the BDW at the altar, and can any Anglican Use veterans tell me if one was made with red rubrics?
Brian, Fr. Bradford doesn't use the Book of Divine Worship at the altar (I'm pretty sure there is no red inked rubric version), but a Missal that David Burt compiled from the materials in the BDW. The Missal only has the texts for Rite I of the BDW; it also has a few other texts, such as the missing collect for the Immaculate Conception, and section with verses, responses and collects for processions; on most major feasts we do a procession at the beginning of Mass. I know that David made this Missal available to at least a few of the other AU pastors; but it is not readily available, and with the Ordinariates about to be launched, we'll have to see what happens with the Anglican use liturgy.
I used a ready-made order of service. I did not notice anything in the pews. They did not seem to have racks for carrying anything. One picked up one's hymnal and order of service and bulletin in a little book case near the entrance from the parking lot.
I'm sorry I missed you Deborah; I was at another parish in the morning, but I was at the Evensong and Benediction that night and heard you had visited. We actually had more people at Evensong I think; we managed to pull together 4 people for the schola.
The gentleman to the right of Fr. Bradford is Allen Sloane, the other regular chorister (me being the other) in our congregation; Allen came into the Church after a lifetime as an Episcopalian about 3 years ago. The gent at the far right is Bruce Rand, who was part of the Episcopal Church of All Saints, which was the parish Fr. Bradford was pastor of when he and about 35 others left to enter the Church and form St. Athanasius.
We don't have the Book of Divine Worship in the pews, but make available a small booklet with the Rite I Mass text, along with the Hymnal 1940 and a small leaflet that has the psalm for the day (in Anglican Chant) along with, occasionally, hymns not found in the 1940.
At the altar, Fr. Bradford uses a Missal that another of our parishioners, David Burt put together from the texts in the BDW. This does have red rubrics, along with a few extras, such as verses and responses and collects for processions. (I don't believe there is an altar edition of the BDW.) Mr. Burt also compiled the Anglican Use Gradual, which we use to chant the minor propers at Mass.
If any of you are in the Boston area in the coming weeks, we will have Lessons and Carols for Advent on 11/28/2010 at 5 pm and Lessons and Carols for Christmas on 12/26/2010 at 5 pm. There's always a reception afterward as well, and we'd be happy to have you visit and get a chance to greet you.
Because we share St. Lawrence Church with a Roman Rite congregation, we can't leave things in the pews, or it would just confuse everyone about which books to use. We actually have to do a fair bit of set up ahead of Mass to get things ready. The table altar can't be readily moved, as it is quite heavy (it is made from the old altar rails, which are still present in front of the two side altars), so we remove the candles during the AU Mass, and then put things back when we're finished.
Steve,
I'm sorry I missed you! I asked for you but they told me you wouldn't be there until Evensong. I hope I get to meet you next time.
Can you supply me with the names of the other people in the pictures?
Thanks
Deborah
I did type a lengthy comment earlier, Deborah, but it is still awaiting moderation, I guess. I must have gone over a word limit or used a flagged phrase
Since yesterday's lengthier comment seems to have gone into the ether, here's the comments I made more or less.
The gent to Fr. Bradford's right is Allen Sloane. Allen is the second of the two regular choristers (I being the other); he came into the Catholic Church about 3 years ago, after a lifetime in the Episcopal Church. The gent on the far right is Bruce Rand, who is our treasurer and is also our principal server. He's very knowledgeable about the principal liturgies of the church, having been both a server and Lay Reader for many years. He was part of the original group from All Saints, Ashmont, who left the Episcopal Church to form St. Athanasius 13+ years ago.
In the photo showing Bruce and Fr. Bradford heading toward the middle of the sanctuary, they are without surplice or other vestment because that was taken after Mass; they come out after the end of the recessional hymn to the side altar dedicated to Our Lady for the Angelus following Mass, after which our organist Jim Reedy plays his postlude.
Allen is in the small quire area we have on the Epistle side of the sanctuary; in addition to leading hymns, we use the Anglican Use Gradual (compiled by another parishioner, David Burt), to chant the minor propers during Mass.
Why would the Holy Mysteries only be served in 'one kind'? I thought the AU Parishes used intinction. Are you sure you observed correctly Deborah?
Hi Matthew,
We formerly received under both species, when we were in a smaller chapel; in that case Fr. Bradford could easily communicate people with the Sacred Host and then take up the chalice and communicate with the Precious Blood (the laity lining up, standing or kneeling as able, at the edge of the sanctuary), that is when he was alone. We also had a parishioner (a former Episcopal/Continuing priest) who served to administer the chalice regularly. However, that parishioner is only able to join us rarely because of having moved further away, and the layout of the sanctuary makes the formerly mentioned method of adminstration difficult. While we do have a wonderful deacon who often serves at evening services (whether Mass or Evensong), he serves during the day at the Armenian Catholic Cathedral, and so we can't avail ourselves of his services.
As for intinction, I don't know that I've ever seen that at an Anglican Use Mass; in Scranton, where I've been a few times, here in Boston, and at the various AUS Conferences, the chalice has always been administered. Our current practice is not one of preference but expedience due to the small number of regular worshippers; for assistants we usually have only one server and two choristers.
Thanks Steve for the info.
Re: intinction- I thought I read that somewhere also on the video of Father Phillips celebrating the Latin Novus Ordo at the Academy, he communed everyone, students and adults, via intinction. Beautiful N.O. Holly Mass by the way. The way it should have been done from the beginning. It's on You Tube in 6 parts.
Hope Saint Athanasius grows so you can take over one of those closed parishes that TEC is selling off! They won't sell them to Continuing Anglican groups or ACNA.
Matthew the Penitent, Good question.
At Our Lady of the Atonement I have only seen it on the main video and other videos at OLA done be intinction. Of course as a former Anglo Catholic we either received only the host and the chalice, by intinction and some received only the host.
The Catholic theology is that Christ is wholly present in either the host or the blood. I like the way Fr. Phillips parish does it. Also he has a large parish and it saves time by intinction.
My parish only gives the host and when I attend other parishes where there are lay people distributing the Holy Communion, I only receive from the priest. I am not comfortable receiving from anyone else.
Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, along with us in San Antonio, administer Holy Communion by intinction. I'm not certain about the method at St. Mary the Virgin in Arlington. There's certainly no theological reason; it's simply the way we have done it for the past 27+ years, from the time of our foundation.
St. Oswald's of Northumbria Oratory at Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Priory in Raymond, Maine (ACA) administers Communion via intinction. We have a special reservoir that fits in the ciborium to hold the Precious Blood. It is removable and easily purified during the ablutions following Communion. You can have them made for your parish ciborium at an affordable price. A reverent and safe way to administer both elements. We also use at the communion rail a houseling cloth, "just in case". Hope this is helpful. Pax!
Thank you Fr. Kevin,
I have seen those types of sets before. I'll mention this to Fr. Bradford.
Fr. Prior,
OOPS!, shouldn't hit return do quickly. Pardon the indelicasy but are you chaps going to be joining the ordinariate? Couldn't find any information one way or the other.
I notice that Fr Bradford is down as SSC on the parish's website. Could someone explain briefly how membership of the Society of the Holy Cross works in the Anglican Use (or whatever's the best way of putting it)?
You don't need a communion rail to kneel
http://www.sw-zygmunt.pl/ui/1208958994.jpg
When I have been at the Anglican Use rite in Scranton they communicated in both kinds by intinction. Fr. Bergman has a set with a small chalice sitting on ? do you still call it a paten? and he intincts each host and puts it on the communicant's tongue.
When they had an altar rail they kneeled, but without it they stood. It is not impossible to kneel without one, but people my age and older have a difficult time getting up again.
Susan Peterson