This is the fifth church the parish has built (the other four burned down).[/caption]
Name of Church St. Patrick
Address 102 Church Street, Weaverville CA 96093
Phone number 530-623-4383
Webpage https://trinitycountycatholic.com/
Mass times Sunday, 9 am. Monday, Wednesday & Friday, 9 am. Tuesday, 5:35 pm.
Confessions Sunday, 8:15 – 8:45 am, Friday, 9:30 – 10:20 am and by appointment.
Names of priests Father Steven Wood, parochial administrator. He is a graduate of Seton Home Study School and Christendom College. He is an orthodox young priest, and a dedicated evangelist.
School No.
Special features Adoration Fridays, 9:30 – 10:20 am.
Fellow parishioners Weaverville is a historic Gold Rush era town. It is a small town of less than 4,000 and an English-speaking community. The area was once known for mining and logging; today, it draws tourists and is known for its hiking trails.
Parking There is a lot by the church.
Additional observations St. Patrick is a parish of the Diocese of Sacramento. It is a historic parish, founded in 1853; the nearest city is Redding. Its first church was built in 1855. The current church was built in 1923; it is the fifth church the parish has built (the other four burned down!). The parochial administrator also oversees churches in Hayfork and Lewiston.
Looks like the priest, Fr. Steven Wood, was homeschooled, and attended a faithful Catholic college, Christendom, in Front Royal, VA. Many vocations to the priesthood and religious life today, have come from faithful Catholic families that have homeschooled their children, and sent them to faithful Catholic colleges and seminaries. If you click on the church’s website, above, you will find some helpful “extras,” including a little booklet that you can download, free, that helps parishioners to establish a Rule of Life, a good, authentic spiritual life, to practice our Catholic Faith more deeply, and become more truly Christ-like.
Cute little church and the church was built for the TLM, sadly they have the table altar in front of the original high altar which of course makes no sense in the least. Let’s hope in time the TLM will be offered at this cute and historic church.
The Church has grown up. I do not support the TLM: I’ll put that in writing. Roman Catholic liturgy was long due for an overhaul, though I disagree with what actually happened after Vatican II in the implementation: it was too fast, too loose, and too ideologically driven. Some of that was due to the times, but some of that was due to the incompetence of the prelates involved. As much as I respect St. Paul VI, he made a lot of mistakes during his time.
Bless you, Romulus Augustus! The two altars are needed in all of the Catholc churches of today, because the priest is supposed to face the people (versus populum)— not God (ad orientem) — when he offers the Novus Ordo Mass. Even churches that have one Tridentine Latin Mass have to have the two altars, so that both forms of the Mass can be offered. Often, the priest today, who offers a Latin Tridentine Mass, will simply set the Novus Ordo altar up the old way, and turn around to face God. That makes it easier for him, and prevents stumbling around behind the new altar, offering Mass on the traditional altar. In some cases, if the new altar is easily movable and not too heavy, it can be moved— but usually, that is too difficult. In a church of one of the Vatican-approved religious groups dedicated to the old Latin Mass, such as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, the traditional altar is the only one, and there is usually an altar rail— or else a prie-dieu set up, for parishioners to kneel to receive Holy Communion.
Romulus, in many Catholic churches, the “table” altars were set up much earlier, with the priest facing the people (versus populum) — some as early as around late 1964, with some new, gradually-introduced liturgical changes. The priests and altar boys, in those churches, began to march in, with the organist playing.a Catholic processional hymn, Protestant-style, instead of the priest and altar boys quietly entering the sanctuary from the side. But usually, nobody sang much, except the choir. The clergy could not understand that this was not our tradition, our tradition was very much inclined to a great deal of piety, reverence, silence, prayerful kneeling, and holiness before God, in church. Not a bunch of rousing congregational hymn-singing. Unlike Protestant churches, Christ is Truly Present in the Blessed Sacrament. In these churches, the congregants now lined up before the priest, and stood to receive Communion, instead of kneeling at the altar rail. However, in my particular church, we didn’t do all of that, only a few changes were implemented. We had an interim Mass text mostly in the vernacular English (or Spanish vernacular language, etc.) but still retained much of the traditional style. The priest and altar boys still entered from the side, quietly, for Mass– with the priest still facing God. We, at our church, never got the new Protestant-style “table” altar until the first day of the New Mass, in April, 1969. It was a horrible shock! With the priest suddenly turning to face us, silently, with the text of the New Mass, clad in strange new, long vestments. No altar boys, no sung Introit and no holy Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, etc. etc. We suddenly had no music at all, that day— the organ and choir were totally silent. No liturgical music, no singing. Only the text and rubrics, etc. etc. of the New Mass. We were unsure of the whole thing. Interestingly, in some traditional churches, like St. Patrick’s Church in San Francisco, kneeling at the altar rail to receive Holy Communion was still a common practice up until about the year 2000. And it is still the common practice at the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace, in Santa Clara. Laymen have no say in Church matters, and by Canon Law, only top clerical leaders and the Pope, especially, have the power to do or to change things. And even they have restrictions. The Catholic Church issues its demands, and you and your parish priests just follow along. You can write to the Pope and his closest prelates, to express your concerns– but unfortunately, it won’t make any difference. That’s about all. Best to make your peace with that.
At my home church, we started the interim, post-Conciliar, vernacular Masses in 1966, but it was very similar to the old Latin Mass. The priest and altar boys faced God– no “table” altar, only the beautiful high altar. These Masses were very holy and reverent. This was an extraordinarily beautiful, English Gothic-style, old church, designated as a historical landmark, with particularly breathtakingly beautiful stained glass windows. A beautiful place for Mass and prayer. It had a beautiful, traditional high altar, and also had many traditional, beautiful statues of beloved saints with votive candles. I used to love to read Latin inscriptions on various religious art works. One of my favorites was a lovely circular stained glass window on the stairs to the Choir Loft, with the Latin inscription, “Amor omnia vincit”– (or, “Omnia vincit amor” — “Love conquers all”– attributed to the Roman poet, Virgil). It is also found in literary works such as Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales,” and in Catholic devotional works. I always used to stop and think of the meaning of the Latin inscription– deeply inspiring, to me. The large Choir Loft had a huge stained glass window, featuring Our Blessed Mother. Everywhere in this beautiful old church, were religious works of art, to help inspire, uplift and aid parishioners on their pathway to Heaven. From the first day of the New Mass in April, 1969, I have daily said a little prayer, for the eventual return of the beautiful old Latin Tridentine Mass to my old church– even if it would occur beyond my lifetime. In San Francisco, at Star of the Sea church, you are given the option to receive Holy Communion kneeling, on the tongue, at any form of the Mass. At other churches without altar rails, prie-dieus are set up for parishioners to receive Holy Communion on the tongue, when a priest offers the beautiful, old Tridentine Latin Mass. At the Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, in North Beach, the Capuchin Franciscan friars love the beautiful old Tridentine Latin Mass, but it is rarely offered there. Still, they sing the Ordinary of the Mass (Kyrie, Glorria, Credo, etc.) in Latin, led by a lovely Cantor and organist in the Choir Loft– and the Cantor often sings other traditional material. The altar rail is long gone, but a prie-dieu is set up on the right side of the Communion line, for anyone wishing to kneel to receive Holy Communion on the tongue. The Capuchin Franciscans have many young men studying for the priesthood, and they sing the Franciscan version of the Divine Office and recite the Franciscan version of the Rosary. On Sat. Jsn. 25th, the Capuchin Franciscans will have a Tridentine Latin Mass at 5pm, after the Walk for Life West Coast. At any church in our Archdiocese, a parishioner may decide to suddenly, spontaneously kneel on the floor, in the Communion line, to receive Holy Communion on the tongue. Our dear Archbishop prepares the extremely modernistic altar in his extremely weird, modern cathedral, for times when he offers the holy Latin Tridentine Mass, and he also sets up prie-dieus, for parishioners, for Communion, for that Mass.
This notion of the priest turning to face God is preposterous. God isn’t in only one direction. He’s not even in any direction. If you want to get cute about it, after the consecration, God is on the altar so as long as you face the altar you are facing God in sacramental form.
Yes, best to make peace with Vatican II and the novus ordo Mass. It’s the new way and the better way.
No, the New Mass is more of a very recent, 1960s experimental concept. And it, too, will someday be replaced. Modernity is not “better” at anything. Modernity is noticeably irreligious, emphasizing shallow and unrealistic notions of discarding God and placing ridiculous, Me Generation-initiated, humanistic ideals of “Almighty Man” in His place. Best to learn all you can about the ancient Catholic Faith. It is very ancient, not “modern” and Godless. The Catholic Faith– Christianity– has nothing to do with modern, secular worldly ideas. It is holy, very pure, unworldly, and belongs to God, Who dwells.in Eternity, in Heaven. The first prophecy of the coming of Christ, in Genesis 3:15, occured over 4,000 years ago. And 2,000 years after that first prophecy, Christ, the Jewish Messiah, and Savior of mankind, was finally born on earth. He was born into a deeply religious Jewish people, the Chosen People of God, deeply faithful to God and to their religious teachings from God. His holy mother was a pure Virgin, chosen by God, and her pregnancy was a miracle of God. Christ’s foster-father, St. Joseph, was also chaste, holy and saintly. The Holy Family dwelt in a beautiful, perpetual, pure and holy union with God. Both of the Christ-child’s earthly parents were descendants of the great King David, as was long prophesied. The original Catholic, Christian religion was very, very holy, filled with Saints, deeply faithful to Our Lord. They all were used to devoutly facing God, correctly, in prayer and worship. They were given an important and very special prophecy that the Second Coming of Christ would occur “from the East.” They eagerly looked forward to His Second Coming. It was very important for the priest to face East, towards God, “ad orientem,” when offering the Holy Mass, because Christ would someday return to earth, “from the East,” and we must all get ready for that great time. At that time, at Christ’s Secomd Coming, the purpose of the Mass, our Catholic Faith, and all that He left for us on earth, as a preparation for Divine Union with Him in the next world, Heaven– will be fulfilled. And the faithful will go to dwell with Christ, Our Blessed Lord, eternally, in a very special manner.