st. sabaninas mass / 8 feb.

Went to St. Sabinas for mass Sunday. Each Feb. Cornell West is there to, as the lit. states, "to minister and worship with us". This is the second time. So, get to hear him speak, in a completely cool environment, for free, and it's also mass. it's a good deal, and as we think, i should do it soon again... as we think.

St. Sabinas is an South side Roman Catholic church with mainly African American parishioners. Growing up black catholics were a very exotic thing - of course I didn't know any - but this parish is a big deal. It used to be an Irish parish (I lived in St. Kilians, one mile south of Sabinas on 87th, before moving to Marquette Park) but @ the same time my family left St. Kilians all the other white families also left St. Sabinas. The church survived this mass exodus, however, and its current pastor (since 81) Fr. Pfleger has built it into a great parish. The parish is very active and its services are packed. It has lots of outreach programs that seem to do good in the parish. Father Pfleger is a good priest who does what he can to keep pushing.

And the parish is as rich as fuck. The parish and the church itself may @ some point not have been in perfect condition - but all are stunning now. It collected $34k in its Sunday collection the week before - more than twice what my parish normally takes each Sunday. It has a lot of stuff to fund, so it needs the cash infusion. i'm glad people believe enough in it to give it that $$. The church is gorgeous inside - lots of wood and banners and intricate stained glass windows. A great setting.

The mass itself is a mix of Minimum open Catholicism and Maximum African Americanism. The catholic mass can be radically changed to fit whatever celebratory context it's in, but it always has certain elements: the three readings, a sermon (usually a sermon - not on, say Palm Sunday, Good Friday, etc...but usually a sermon or its substitute), the Lords Prayer, and communion. And an Alleluia or two. I always thought that stuff like the Nicene Creed and other stuff were also included, but I guess not, since i didn't witness it Sunday.

But the structure of the mass -v- what i'm used to - now that was radical. It opens w/ 20m of announcements. In St. Christina, there's 30s of hurried announcements rite before the last song and procession out. And those 20m were real engaging speakers - they had shit they wanted to say and get people interested in. And then mass started.

Wait- did i say mass? And remember when I said the parish was rich as hell? It wasn't mass (yeah yeah I know it was) and it wasn't a church - we were, for forty five minutes, treated to... well, I guess we took in a gospel concert. Really. The acoustics of the place, the fact that the band was tite as hell and ready to rock, and .... the spirit of the place added up to quite the experience for me. And since we weren't in a concert hall -we were in a black church - there were people up and down, yelling and shouting, swaying and clapping, singing along (I didn't know a song), all that shit. It was for me a unique meld of rock show and catholic church and black culture.

It was a little different for me - new circumstances generally are hard. I'd been to Sabinas maybe five years before to see Dr. West's sermon- but just the once. I was a little nervous about fitting in, especially since I knew I'd be there for the next 3 1/2h. However, I got into the swing of things. I wasn't jumping around or anything, but the music was so good and everybody was ready to perform; it was hard not to move and clap along. In all reality, although we were there to praise Jesus, I found we were also there to rock out big time.

And I just liked that you could act loud when you wanted to. During the one hour sermon by Dr. West, time after time people were yelling and agreeing, laughing and clapping, jumping up and offering mini ovations. There was a wonderful sense of chaos. I was early empowered and stood frequently during the sermon - imagine that at St. Christina - and hooted as loud as I wanted whenever. Very freeing. My favourite part - there were so many - but my favourite part- was the second reading (((1 Corinthians (16-19,22-23) ))) It wasn't so much the reading itself- instead it was the people, all hunched over, intent on listening, and the reader, enjoying the Word - and then -when the reader indicated the reading was over and Amen - people -not a lot, but people - started spontaneously cheering and clapping. It blew me away - they were cheering for a gospel reading!!! Giant too much!! I was way too nervous to do so that reading - but I did clap a bit after the Gospel reading.

The church was packed. The ushers were like the white gloved guys on the Tokyo subway jamming people into the pews. I stand most masses, but I left myself be pew'd this one. I sat in the 'back section' of the church - the 'front section' near the altar and the band are (I assume)taken up by the regular parishioners. Someday I should arrive very early so I can get a clear view of the band - and choir - and dance troupe - all of massive proportion - spread all over the place up there. From where I sat ..... well, the cheap seats.

Lotsa whites - you'd be surprised - but also Hispanics, Indians, etc etc etc... It was a pretty multicultural - but mainly black. I have a feeling that this mass was a bit different simply because Dr. West was giving the sermon, and people came to see him. I sorta did come to see him that first time - but it was more of 'ok this is he time to visit'

But - like in 2002 or when ever, Cornell West was the sermonizer. And again, he was great. Wanna hear what I heard? The sermon itself is on this page. Go ahead, y won't be tainted. It's Dr. West. go ahead. Lasts an hour, but give it a minute or so. It was titled "African American History Celebration", but it touched on a lot of subjects. He told the congregation that the Cross was mightier than the government - scandalous stuff - but he said it was to "inform" the choices of those who govern. I liked that. He said we have to still watch President Obama - his gift is in governance, a different thing than the "prophetic gift". It's out job to push him on that account. And that this is not a 'post racial' society - it's just less racist, evidenced by many non blacks voting for BHObama /superior qualifications, and not voting for a 'white guy'. gain, just listen to it. I know many will be deeply scandalized and would feel dirty or thought of as crazy for listening to something catholic - but again, what do you have against Dr. West and progressive politics? Why do you hate America???

And then the collection and the end of mass. I suspected this was true when I first went to Sabinas years ago, but now I'm sure. Again, the structure of the mass is vastly different than the regular masses I've been to, although they have the necessary "Catholic" stuff that makes it a mass and not, say, an Episcopalian service. The readings @ the beginning. An alleluia. and then they have the sermon - Dr. West today.

But there comes a time when it really takes on heavily the Catholic features that make it a Mass. What could reasonably -I assume - be expected in a non catholic African American mass comes to a more or less end, and the Roman catholic stuff takes over. It's a funny process to watch.

My guess is that this system came in over time. After the sermon, more songs and such. Then there is an extended, long collection system. @ St. Christina's for example, they have people to 'pass the basket'. They have a basket @ the end of a pole, and the collectors go to each row and run the basket/pole up in front of the people. If they give cash, they just drop it into the basket put in front of them. I really like passing the basket, too. I have in my head that each time i go to my local church that I'm a 'rambler' looking type and people look @ me funny - but that's contradicted by the number of times the ushers have picked me to 'pass the basket'.. i like being picked. (And, of course, I have to be different. Each time a person drops in some $$ or an envelope, I whisper "Thank You" to them. I especially try to make sure the little kids get a good reaction out of it).

However, @ Sabinas, it's done totally different. Each and every pew is emptied and people walk up to the altar to drop off their alms into a basket. Then, people wandered back and sat down - in their own time - to their seats. Takes about 20-25 m. I'd wondered last time if I was rite in guessing their strange to me collection system - but now i'm sure. By getting everybody outta their seats and walking around, it's easier for the non Catholics - who'd been praising Jesus along w/ the rest of us - to leave th church and mass. For what came next - Consecration and Communion - was totally the same as it's done @ Christiana's. Same words, basic cadence, basic order - and then the long lines to recieve communion.

Good mass. Long mass. Inspires me to: go again to Sabinas when Father Pfleger gives the sermon - and go to a different black Catholic church - a less famous one - to see how it's done there. Well, I'd mentioned that i'd been a few years in St. Killians Parish @ the beginning of my life - seems that's a good start.

collection of $ takes forever - people get up and put $$ into basket @ front.
ths allows for people to get up and leave - forces them - so that the holy celebration of catholicism can then take place - the host, the lines to communition, etc...