Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Regina Pacis, a Minor Basilica

Regina Pacis church in Bensonhurst has received the title of Minor Basilica.  The Tablet has printed two excellent articles about this dedication and the church.  The photos are magnificent.
I have linked the articles here and here.
Please also read my post below from 2010.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

St. Jerome, Flatbush


Any photo may be enlarged by clicking on it.


St. Jerome's church stands at the busy intersection of Newkirk and Nostrand Avenues, Flatbush,  The parish mailing address is 2900 Newkirk Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11226, telephone 718-462-0223.  In the first photo, please note the entrance to the Lower Church near the stairway from the #2 and #5 subway trains. Through that door yesterday I chanced upon a 1 p.m. Saturday Mass, with the congregation vigorously singing the liturgical responses and hymns. 
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The parish website, which includes the Mass schedule and Bulletin, is linked here.  There are six Sunday Masses: one in Spanish, one in Creole, one Creole/French, and three in English.
Edit in January, 2015: The weekly bulletin is available here or through the parish website.  The bulletin is more current than the website.



As the neighborhood is largely Caribbean, French, KreyĆ²l, and Spanish are heard at Mass, together with English  and Church Latin.  The celebrants above used much incense over the gifts, the altar, each celebrant, and the congregation.  Some Preface responses were in French, but the Sanctus was a joyful, strong, moving song in (I believe) Creole.  The "Per ipsum" was in French, the reply the moving Amen which I might describe imprecisely as "from Lilies of the Field." English was the language of the recited Our Father, and Latin that of the awesome Agnus Dei.
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