Sunday, March 20, 2022

One of the major themes of Vatican Council II was “we are a pilgrim people.” Here at St. Austin we are engaged in our own pilgrimage as we go through a major re-development of our property and facilities. On the way to our new “promised land” of new parish offices, school, gym, rectory, courtyard, and ministry spaces, we are – to carry the analogy even further - now wandering in our “desert” of demolished old buildings and facilities, and living (rather comfortably in some situations) in temporary offices, ministry spaces, school, and rectory. 

It is actually somewhat salutary and beneficial, I believe, for us to have this experience. It reminds us visibly and viscerally that the church is not the building but the congregation united in prayer: priests, parishioners, students, visitors, and guests. In this sense we do not need to be in the building to be church, we only need to be together and open to the Holy Spirit among us.

We will have a concrete example of this next week. Because of the demolition of the rectory, which shares a wall with the church, we will not be able to celebrate weekday Mass this Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (March 21-23) in our church building. The work next door to the church will be too loud, too dusty, for us to celebrate comfortably, and there is always a slight risk of an accident causing an unsafe condition. Because of this the church will be closed those three days, and the morning Mass will be celebrated in the ministry space on the first floor of the garage. 

Much like when we were out of the church due to the installation of the new lighting about two years ago, and we celebrated weekday Mass in the Our Lady of Guadalupe Room, we will gather for Mass in the Antioch Room on the first floor of the garage. This is the area that was the Subway, if you remember that far back. 

Weekend Masses will continue to be celebrated in the church proper, as always. In any case, whether it is in the Our Lady of Guadalupe Room, or the first floor of the garage, or out in a field, or in the church, it is our gathering together in prayer and sacrament that makes us St. Austin Parish. 

God bless!