We have a dream...

That one day, Notre Dame students, and SMC students, can get together, and celebrate.. the Solemn Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

So we were having a discussion after Mass tonight -- a somewhat recurring discussion. Freshmen year, the discussion was usually a bit starry-eyed: fun ideas, but a fair ways from being realized, and we knew it. Last year, the discussion seemed a bit more plausable. And then Saturday, Rich gave the discussion new life: "We should really start saying the responses in Latin. It's what Vatican II wanted."

Hmm... We should... We plan the entire Mass; it's the only Mass anywhere on a Saturday morning. For a long time, the "tradition" has been the use the Roman Canon. But Latin seemed like a good idea. But.. why stop there?

Your Whapsters have a dream. This liturgical dream involves (Adoremus?) hymnals. It involves incense, and server cassocks with surplices. It involves communion chin-patens and sanctus bells... chants and, where possible, sequences.

Can you see the possibilities?

Of course, we've got a college-dorm sacristry to work with. We have the funds, fortunately, for hymnals. Probably even a single (certainly not a triple) sanctus bell. But the thought did occur to us, maybe a random reader has a couple of these items on hand? They would go to our student club, and be at the service of the ND community, owned by the club, indefinitely. Perhaps optimistically, we've even set up a Paypal account (see the side bar) to this end. We're not about to restrict the ways the Holy Spirit might work. If you're interested or want to know more, contact Dan (his email is on the sidebar!).

For those of you on campus, our revamped Saturday Mass, to be dubbed the "Solemn Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary," will make its inagural appearence the first Saturday Mass after Easter. This is the sort of thing that many students and younger priests are open to, but have neither the opportunity nor the supplies to experience. We hope to change all that :)

Next up: the annual Mary Procession. But this year, we're thinking.. habited seminarians, processional crosses, incense, and, of course, a life-sized statue of Mary, hoisted up on 4 pairs of shoulders. Cross your fingers. But, one thing at a time...