Edited by author 05-15-2009 03:24 PM
Bea,

I have not moved and I am a girl. That’s ok; I do have a boy’s name – my parents wanted a boy, and when I came, the name stuck!

Also, I am the nursing home/homebound coordinator for St. Mark. If you and an elderly parent would like to receive Communion at home once a week, let me know. I can make arrangements for someone to come. My contact information is in the bulletin.

Jaye Griswold

We were in Houston this past weekend and went to Sunday Mass at the new cathedral, Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. If you're in Houston near downtown, stop in for a visit. It is a truly beautiful worship space, very traditional and modern, and very serene. It is a very inspiring and peaceful space. It's comforting to know that craftspeople still exist to create such beauty.

Does the Church forbid having two tabernacles - one in the church in view of all, and one in the chapel?

To the best of my knowledge, the Church does forbid more than one place of reservation, even though the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in two places at St. Peter's in Rome. There it is reserved at a small side altar and in the main chapel of reservation. What they do doesn't really make sense, since the main chapel is open all the time and is a place of quiet and prayer. Why reserve it at another altar? If it is important there, why not at 2 or 3 more?

The Blessed Sacrament is reserved for two purposes: first, to take communion to the sick and secondly, for adoration. It was the preferred position to reserve it in a space other than the main worship area so that the act of adoration and the act of celebrating the Eucharist are not confused (that may not be the best word.) Yes, Mass involves worship but it is not the same dynamic, it seems to me, as the act of adoration.

In any case, it can be reserved in only one place.

Thank you Father for explaining this.

Does St. Mark participate in the CHRP (Christ Renews his Parish) program?

Fr. Thompson,
Is this church a traditional Roman Catholic Church? By traditional I mean are traditional songs sung and things like that.
Thanks, Meaghann Foley

Edited by author 08-04-2009 11:38 AM
I understand Fr. Tim had a bicycle accident and is having surgery at a hospital in Fort Worth. Does anyone have any details? Unfortunately we are out of town (Phoenix) so we don't have a lot of information. In the meantime, we are keeping Father in our prayers.

When we started attending Mass at St. Mark in January of this year I was impressed that there was no announcement at the beginning of Mass asking people to turn off cell phones, and amazingly, phones did not ring during Mass. But in the last 5-6 weeks I've noticed that 11:30 Mass is regularly disrupted by a ringing cell phone. Today it was twice by the same person! She just kept letting it ring, when she should have turned it off. Is it time to start making an announcement in the bulletin or at the beginning of Mass? It would be nice to be free of electronic intrusions in church.

Our parish forum site has gone silent. So, in hopes of reviving it, here is a post, well, mainly a link. Here is a link to this sunday's readinghttp://www.usccb.org/nab/100409.shtmls:

(i can't do capitol letters right now.) we had a good discussion about marriage and about loneliiness at our faith sharing this morning. "it is not good for man to be alone..." why not? i sometimes like to be alone. i really appreciate some time to pray alone and to walk alone. but too much alone leads to loneliness which is not good. read the texts and offer your insight.