Church Shopping, part IV

This past Sunday brought us to St. Ann's Parish up in Marietta for their 10:30am liturgy, followed by brunch, and then a return visit to IHM. St. Ann's is a vibrant community with a beautiful "state of the art" church and some truly amazing people and music to fill it. This is one of those churches that "gets it". Incredibly welcoming, their hospitality is made evident immediately by the ministers who greet you and have a special hand out for visitors. Their liturgy is deliberate, yet creative (if not a bit theatrical); their music is well thought out and inspiring; their ministers of the Word, Eucharist, and general liturgical functions clearly understand the importance of their roles.

Let's get on to the typical observations! This is the first church that I've seen use the lighting as part of the liturgy. When the service starts, beginning with an enthusiastic "Welcome!", the lights come to life from their dimmed state, indicating that the show is on. I liked this. They dimmed them again after the Holy, Holy is sung and then bring them back up during the Amen. Hence the theatrical reference above.

Their audio was clear, at a good volume, and well balanced. Much of this is due to the way they actively manage their output. In an environment with dynamic music, wireless mics, and different speaking styles, "presets" don't work (warning: I may have a personal bias here). Anyway, their sound and video was actively, yet unobtrusively, attended to by two A/V guys. Yes video. Two screens hang tastefully on either side of the sanctuary. They have prayers, imagery, and texts for the music -- because of this, there was no need for a music aid and one's attention could be focused on the altar.

Now, by many accounts, their music is fantastic. I'm not 100% sure it was for me. It was done well but many of the selections are closer to what you'd hear on a Christian radio station and with no music, it was very difficult to sing along. Sure, go 10 more times and it's in your head but but for a first time visitor, I need music. At least to read the contours and rough timing of the music. It was all guesswork. Mostly bad too. Most of our trip was courtesy of Carl N. who is related to our friends Monica and Kevin from OSP. He and his family were so welcoming, it was really a joy to spend that time with him and his two little boys. We'll be back, if nothing else than to hang out with them.

Brunch was at J. Christopher's (recommended by Carl -- thanks!). Back at Immaculate Heart of Mary, Aimee sang with the choir, and I played the piano for 3 of the pieces. I still can't believe they let me accompany their choir, untested. I am now tested. We'll be back!

This coming Sunday we will be going back to the Cathedral of Christ the King (amusingly referred to as XRex recently). Hoping to meet Elyn there and be part of their group as well!

Church Shopping, part III

This week we visited Immaculate Heart of Mary parish and had a really great experience. They are a 51 year old Catholic community in the North Druid Hills area with a Vision Statement that reads:

"A community dedicated to knowing, loving, and serving God"

Perhaps not the most ambitious of visions, but in it's simplicity, presents a challenge indeed.

The assembly was a nice mix of families, individuals, couples, and young adults -- all with an average degree of diversity. The music was very spirited, due in part to a 9' Baldwin, a lively pianist, and good choral singing. One of the first things we noticed is that their repertoire is not unlike what we're accustomed to at Old St. Pat's.

One of the last things we noticed (as it didn't occur until the end of mass) is how unabashedly welcoming they were. The woman sitting in the pew in front of us turned to Aimee after mass and commented on her voice (just hers, not mine) and promptly introduced us to the music leader. He proceeded to welcome us with open arms and invited us to participate, no audition required, in their group the following Sunday. Also the young adult ministry seems to be inviting and purposeful and we hope to give that a try soon.

We're looking forward to next Sunday for St. Ann's in Marietta in the morning and then back to IHM in the evening. Two masses you say? Two masses.

Atlanta Living - Aimee's first post.

There's been a lot to get used to living in Atlanta. The weather, the winding streets, the funny accents, the large prevalence of grits...

Seriously though, Crowley's definitely been having some issues. For some reason, she thinks that the dining room table is very tasty, probably a little like grits. Although, I do think it really adds to the uniqueness of the table.

She had her first grooming today at Kelsey's Dog House. She looks super cute and she got to play with the other dogs all afternoon, so she's a happy doggie today!

All seriousness aside - the oddest thing about living in Atlanta these last 2 weeks has been that we have had the strangest urge to go out and do some skeet shooting! Then I happen to look out my bedroom window and it all makes sense...

That's right... Skeet Shooting.

Who knows - maybe we'll take it up as a new hobby. The music thing isn't really that fulfilling... Pull!

Church Shopping, part II

This past Sunday we visited St. Thomas More in Decatur. Aimee was skeptical from the beginning because it shares its name with the parish she grew up with (St. Thomas More, Munster, IN)! All in all, it was a nice place.

Here is the Parish Mission Statement:

Saint Thomas More Parish is a welcoming Catholic community rich in diversity and culture. United by our love of God and one another, we come together to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, foster mutual love and spiritual growth, and provide outreach to the community by sharing our time, talent and treasure. We strive to grow in faith through our celebration of the Eucharist and sacraments of our Roman Catholic tradition.

I liked that their website showed the planned music for the upcoming Sunday. Their selections were nice, though I find it tough when a less common mass setting is done without music to read as an aid.

The other people in the assembly were very nice and welcoming and the liturgy seemed to be well thought out. The lectors were clear and well understood which kept us engaged -- at least up until the homily.

We found two key things off-putting in the bulletin. The first was a section in the beginning about being an "active Catholic" and how there are several requirements that must be met before they would verify one's status. It mentioned: "Your envelope will let us know that you are attending mass regularly." Just didn't feel very welcoming.

The second was a large, bold section with a "quote" from the National Right to Life News. It was a little inflammatory and dangerously close to being mis-quoted (they left out the fact that the article at that point was referring to non-US health care programs). That was important because it implied that our programs, that our president, was in fact euthanizing the elderly. When, in fact, there are a lot of factors in determining end of life care including our faith, our own notions of humanitarianism, our insurance, and how those actually involved are economically situated. It's not that I necessarily disagree with this but since we picked up a bulletin on the way in, these were essentially our first impressions and those can be tough to overturn.

Finally Settling In

We've been here for nearly two weeks and finally feeling settled in. "Settling in" is more than just unpacking. It's unpacking and choosing how to decorate our new home. Choosing what, of the many articles and items we brought from Chicago, will go up first -- or not at all. For us especially, it's finding a few brunch spots and finding ways to make Crowley's adjustment smooth (the latter topic will warrant its own post). Also it's preparing a nice blueberry cobbler to help us remember exactly where we unpacked everything in the kitchen.

Along with the settling in means that Mark gets to finally take pictures of our new apartment. All of our Atlanta pictures can be found on our picasa site:

picasaweb.google.com/mscozz/OurYearInAtlanta

I'll try to keep this site updated along the way but here are just a couple pictures of the new place:

View of our building from Monroe

Our bedroom

Our kitchen

Nice and big bathroom

And our den.

Church Shopping, part I

It's right up there with finding a good dry cleaner. Well, actually more important than that. We have to find a good church. Since we're taking a year hiatus from Old St. Pat's, our objective really isn't to find a replacement; it's to find a place where we feel welcome, can experience good liturgy, find some friends, and have an opportunity to do some music. And Catholic. Though, I can't promise we won't make our way to a Baptist church once or twice.

First stop was the Cathedral of Christ the King. We went to the Sunday 5:30pm liturgy on July 4th so we weren't expecting a big crowd, nor were we disappointed in that regard. The music was a schola from the cathedral choir and they sounded pretty good. Not sure where we'll head next but we haven't written this one off completely yet!

Our move to Atlanta

Well -- we're getting moved in here in Atlanta. Pretty slowly but we are getting there. After a "last mass" on Sunday we had dinner at the Parthenon and then got started loading up the truck on Monday morning at 5:30am.

Turns out we have a lot more stuff than either of us anticipated. That, combined with a dead battery in the Budget truck when we were preparing to leave meant we didn't leave until after noon Eastern (our new timezone!). Here's a picture of Dad helping with the loading.

Also I found a nice photo op with the fire escape outside the loading dock.

We had great weather right up until around Nashville. As we came to the end of Day 1 of Travel, we ran into a thunderstorm, horrible visibility and fog, sleepiness, and steep hills. We arrived into Chattanooga and I was never more happy to get to a hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton Read House downtown and made our way to Atlanta the following morning.

Aimee had orientation on the 30th (no rest for her!) and then started today on the first. She'll be working at the Emory Eye Center for the next year. Thankfully she has a long weekend to look forward to soon. More to come soon -- until then we'll be making frequent visits to Home Depot. Maybe Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I don't know if we'll have time.

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