Worship

Saint Cecilia Catholic Community is unapologetically a High Church!

Sunday

Sung Mass at 10:30 AM is a joyful community celebration to make you feel uplifted when you leave, except in Advent and Lent when it is more subdued, introspective, and reflective to prepare for Christmas and Easter respectively. This Mass is our main event of the week and lasts about an hour, sometimes more on important days.  We offer incense on feast days and other times when appropriate. This Mass features a homily.

Visiting Clergy

Any clergy ordained in the Apostolic Succession are invited to concelebrate vested in alb and stole matching the color of the day.

Altar Servers

This ministry is vital to all worship services. Servers prepare the Altar for worship, assist the clergy with the sacred vessels, carry candles, crosses, and incense, ring bells, bring the offering to the altar, and clean up after the service. Please speak to Deacon Sharon to participate in this ministry. Visiting acolytes will be accommodated if at all possible.

Gift Bearers

They bring forward the bread, wine, and money offerings to the server for presentation at the Altar. Please contact the Parish Deacon regarding this ministry.

Saturday Vigil Mass

We currently DO NOT celebrate a Saturday Evening Vigil Mass, but we are open to doing so if enough people are interested and are willing to do the work to promote it and give financial contributions to support it.

Weekday Mass

We celebrate a Low Mass (spoken, without music) at 12:15 PM on Wednesdays, and on important feast days.

House Mass

If you would like Mass celebrated in your home, please contact the Pastor to make arrangements.

Preaching

Our custom is a different preacher for each service. Therefore, we have a preaching Rota. Rev. David Justin Lynch and Rev. Dcn, Sharon Kay Talley, and preach in rotation. Our guest preachers have included Fr. Manny Edgar-Beltran, Mo. Donna Owen, Fr. Richard Sinacola, and Rt. Rev. Paul Breton. Anyone wanting to preach is encouraged to contact the Pastor. We welcome lay preachers as well as clergy.

Lectionary

We use the Roman Catholic Lectionary, with occasional variations.  The Second Reading is ordinarily in Spanish. Except for the Gospel, laypersons sing/read all scripture selections. On Sundays, the readings are chanted. Readers are vested in albs. Please speak to the Parish Deacon to participate in this ministry.

Eucharistic Liturgy

We use the current Roman Catholic Order of Mass with the following variations: 1. We use the wording from the Roman Missal Second edition for the Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. 2. We administer communion first to the congregation, then acolytes, then assisting clergy, and last, the Presider. 3. After the Post Communion Prayer, we offer special blessings and prayers for infirmities, anniversaries, memorials, travellers, and other needs.

We have the following schedule of Eucharistic Prayers: In Advent, we sing Prayer C from the 1979 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. For Christmas, the two Sundays following, and Epiphany, we sing Prayer II from the Third Edition Roman Missal. During Winter Ordinary Time, we sing an English translation of German Old Catholic Prayer V. During Lent, we sing Reconciliation Prayer II from the Second Edition Roman Missal. During from Eastertide, from Easter Vigil through Ascension, we sing Prayer B from Church of England Common Worship. On Pentecost, we sing Prayer D from the 1979 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer From Trinity Sunday and throughout summer and fall Ordinary Time, we sing a hybrid Eucharistic Prayer that conflates Prayer B from the 1979 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer with Roman Catholic Prayer II. The Eucharistic Prayer is normally sung in its entirety at the Sunday Sung Mass.

Music

In addition to compositions by the pastor, David Justin Lynch, most of our music comes from either OCP Breaking Bread or Episcopal Hymnal 1982, with occasional music from Lift Every Voice And Sing 2, the Gather Comprehensive Hymnal, and other sources. We aim for a wide variety of periods and styles and are constantly adding to our repertoire.

The Gloria is not sung during Lent or Advent. The Agnus Dei is ordinarily sung in Spanish, “Cordero de Dios” from the Guadalupe Mass, and occasionally in English, “Lamb of God”, using the Saint Cecilia Mass setting on all Sundays except Lent and Advent, when we use that from Misa Melodica in Flor y Canto Second Edition. The “Holy Holy Holy” from the Saint Cecilia Mass setting is used on all Sundays except Lent and Advent when settings from the Hymnal 1982 are used.

Four professional singers and a professional accompanist lead a volunteer choir from November through Corpus Christi. A cantor and accompanist lead the Mass during the Summer. Other musicians, be they singers or instrumentalists, are invited to assist. We welcome all singers, instrumentalists, composers, and listeners.

If you wish to present a prepared vocal or instrumental solo,  please speak to the Music Director, Ms. Natalya Koren. And to those of you who compose music for the liturgy: please submit your offerings to the pastor for scheduling.

Creed

We sing the Nicene Creed every Sunday and Feast Days and recite it at a Spoken Mass. In Advent and Lent, we sing the Creed to the tone in Missa Penitentialis. On all other occasions when the Nicene Creed is sung, we sing the Creed from the Saint Cecilia Mass composed by the pastor. On all green Sundays, the Creed is recited.

Vestments

In keeping with the solemnity and dignity to which the liturgy is entitled in a house of worship, all liturgical personnel are vested in albs. The Presider always wears a stole and chasuble for Mass. The Deacon of the Mass on Sunday wears stole and dalmatic, and for weekday low Masses, a stole only over the alb. Musicians wear a black academic gown.

Hospitality

These ministers greet people as they arrive, hand out worship booklets, point out the location of the restroom, assist with those who need help being seated, and prepare for and clean-up our Coffee Hour after Mass. Please contact the Parish Deacon to participate in this ministry.

Media Ministry

This ministry requires the ability and knowledge sufficient to operate video and still digital cameras to assist us in recording and photographing our services for publicity and website purposes. Speak to the Pastor if you have skills in this area.

X
X