Long time parishioner and volunteer, Nellie Roets, was featured this week in the latest edition of the Catholic Advance. See Volunteer Hopes She’ll Be Cleaning St. Anthony Church on Her 90th Birthday by Christopher M. Riggs @ http://www.cdowk.org/catholic_advance/parishnews.html.
Mr. Riggs wrote a short but warm article on Nellie who we all know from St. Anthony. Nellie can always be spotted around the church, early in the morning and throughout the day whenever anything needs to be done…from unlocking the doors, to errands for Fr. Pham, to stocking the restrooms or securing mass offerings.
My first encounter with Nellie was when I was a newbie to the traditional Latin Mass (EFLR) and I acquired my very first missal. I had been coming to mass for about 8 months when the church went under reconstruction/renovation and mass was being held across the street in the school gymnasium.
One morning before mass I was in the hallway trying to figure out how to use my shiny new missal. I must have looked totally and completely lost because Nellie, whom I had never met, walked straight up to me and without a word of introduction or formality said “what’s the matter…you lost?” and promptly snatched the missal from my hands, proceeded to find the correct propers for me and then just as abruptly, shoved it into my hands with a curt “there!” and walked off!
Charmed indeed…
After the initial shock of being accosted by this gruff lady I was to later learn that she was in fact a charming and dedicated soul to her church and faith…and I am grateful to have met her.
Please take the time to mention that you read the Catholic Advance article about her and give her a pat on the back and a thank you for her continued service to the parish.
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Random Thoughts:
The Mass Used to Be Said in Latin at St. Anthony
Men go mad in crowds, but come to their senses slowly, and one by one.
Christopher M. Riggs article in the Catholic Advance covering Nellie Roets had an interesting and very telling Freudian slip. In his article Mr. Riggs states “Nellie has been volunteering at St. Anthony since the mass was in Latin."
Indeed! Nellie has been volunteering for a whole week it seems.
I find this slip of the keyboard as a telling sign of the general attitude of the Ordinary rite community; the Catholic Advance and the prevailing authority of this diocese in regard to the Traditional Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite)…an attitude of disregard if not barely concealed disdain…a view I may note which is not held by the Bishop of Rome, the Vicar of Christ, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.
I am sure we who love and adore the traditional Mass (EFLR) have, at one time or another, been faced with this kind of contempt and condescension when it comes to the old liturgy. The tired old chestnuts of “Latin is a dead language, it’s too early in the morning, I can’t understand the priest, he faces away from the people….we don’t HAVE to do that (insert personal preference here) anymore, we should move forward with the “reforms” of the 60’s……”
Ok, all well and good…but why must there be open disparagement on what some Catholics refer to as “the most beautiful thing this side of heaven” the holy sacrifice of the Mass!
A friend of mine when faced with such naked indifference toward the EFLR, in his extreme sadness and frustration said “If they hate the Latin Mass, then they don't understand their faith. I'm not saying that they have to make it their preference, but to hate it shows so much ignorance.” My friend is prone to passion in what he so adores.
While contemplating what it is we can do to share our beautiful mass with others I was consoled in these thoughts sent to me by my friend L.
"Men go mad in crowds, but come to their senses slowly, and one by one."
And I came to realize that I guess what we can do, in a positive way, is to continue what we already do in our own small way…chip by chip we can sculpt what we desire....person by person...email by email...blog post by blog post...invitation by invitation.
So I personally invited Mr. Riggs of the Catholic Advance to come to St. Anthony for the traditional Mass…and tempted him with coffee and donuts.
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Requiescat in Pace
St. Anthony parishioner Mrs. Jim Kelley, Margaret, passed recently. Mrs. Kelley was a WW II Veteran and retired Stearman Elementary teacher. She passed Sunday, July 27, 2008, at the Kansas Veteran's Home, Winfield. She is survived by her husband, James P. Jr.; son, Jim III; 3 grandchildren; and brother, Thomas. (Source the
The Roman Missal (1962), Baronius Press
We beseech Thee, O Lord, of thy goodness to have mercy upon the soul of Thine handmaiden Margaret, do thou, who hast freed her from the perils of this mortal life, vouchsafe to number her for evermore among the saved. Though our Lord Jesus Christ who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.
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Have you heard? Above the quiet whispered prayers of Father Lies and the sweet ringing of the Sanctus bells comes the solemn deep ring of the bell in the tower during the consecration at holy mass.
No, it is not Quasimodo, the character from French author Victor Hugo's 1831 novel Notre Dame de Paris. It is St. Anthony’s own Larry Bethel pulling on the bell rope during mass!
Larry quietly and discreetly pardons himself from his pew to run up the balcony stairs to ring the bell. This had previously been done by Mr. Bob Wells, but Bob can get so busy with all his other duties that Larry stepped into, and up, to the task.
Larry tells me that the rope is situated behind the choir and the organ in a sort of closet area. He cannot see the altar so he relies on timing to ring the bell at the correct moment. He also says that he cannot hear the bell ring, so that must make it especially challenging.
I find the ringing of the bell to be humbling….as if the great presence of God in Christ on the altar is being announced to all within earshot.
Thank you Larry for your service.
The bell Larry B rings during the Consecration is the "Toll Bell" which is different from the big bell which sometimes is rung 5 minutes prior to Mass.
I'm sure this was rung in the past so parishioners who lived in the neighborhood would know they had little time to get to Mass.
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS.
Thanks Bob....I love that we have the generation before us to teach us about these things. I have only been back to the church for about 7 or 8 years now and there is so much to learn, re-learn and discover.
m.l.
ADDENDUM II
Luke Headley informs me that there is a single bell in the tower but showed me the two ropes that extend downward. One rope operates a hammer, the other actually swings the bell ...both sounding a different tone. The full swing is the "toll bell".
Fantastic info!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Small Duties
St. Thérèse of Lisieux the "Little" Saint"
All this volunteering stuff is wearing me out. Larry Bethel on bells, Nellie Roets in house…phew!
It reminds me of St. Thérèse of Lisieux the "little" saint of simplicity and abandonment in God's service and of the perfect accomplishment of small duties.
From New Advent (online)
http://home.newadvent.org/cathen/17721a.htm
She was the ninth child of saintly parents, Louis and Zélie Martin, both of whom had wished to consecrate their lives to God in the cloister. The vocation denied them was given to their children, five of whom became religious, one to the Visitation Order and four in the Carmelite Convent of Lisieux. Brought up in an atmosphere of faith where every virtue and aspiration were carefully nurtured and developed, her vocation manifested itself when she was still only a child. Educated by the Benedictines, when she was fifteen she applied for permission to enter the Carmelite Convent
, and being refused by the superior, went to Rome with her father, as eager to give her to God as she was to give herself, to seek the consent of the Holy Father, Leo XIII, then celebrating his jubilee. He preferred to leave the decision in the hands of the superior, who finally consented and on 9 April, 1888, at the unusual age of fifteen, Thérèse Martin entered the convent of Lisieux where two of her sisters had preceded her.
The account of the eleven years of her religious life, marked by signal graces and constant growth in holiness, is given by Soeur Thérèse in her autobiography, written in obedience to her superior and published two years after her death. In 1901 it was translated into English, and in 1912 another translation, the first complete edition of the life of the Servant of God, containing the autobiography, "Letters and Spiritual Counsels", was published. Its success was immediate and it has passed into many editions, spreading far and wide the devotion to this "little" saint of simplicity, and abandonment in God's service, of the perfect accomplishment of small duties.
The fame of her sanctity and the many miracles performed through her intercession caused the introduction of her cause of canonization only seventeen years after her death, 10 Jun, 1914.
[Editor's Note: After the publication of this article, St. Thérèse was canonized and later declared a Doctor of the Church.]
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