A Roman Catholic Parish
By
Anthony Gonzales
It may seem
difficult to believe but in the United
States, specifically in California, there is a Roman Catholic Parish which
feeds its parishioners with everything necessary to nourish their Roman
Catholic Faith. Let's
look at a brief list of
things that take place in this
parish on an ongoing basis.
#1. Perpetual Adoration
of the Blessed Sacrament. Unlike
other parishes throughout the world,
including in Rome, Our Lady of Peace has Eucharistic Adoration around the clock; 24 hours a day;
7 days a week; 365 days
out of the year, for over
25 years. This means that the parishioners have always given their time for at least one
hour each day from
midnight to midnight.
#2. The Holy Rosary is prayed publicly
before the Blessed
Sacrament every hour, 24
hours a day by both priests and laity.
#3. There are 6
Masses every Sunday and 2 vigil Masses every Saturday. Each
of these Masses are usually filled to overflowing. Every
First Saturday there are devotions to Our Lady and a Traditional Latin Mass, the only Traditional Latin Mass officially
allowed in the diocese per month. On the other Saturdays of the month there is a Latin Novus Ordo Vigil Mass allowed.
#4. There is a
Shrine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; a 35 foot metal statue that is
situated in such a way that it can be seen from the nearby freeway.
#5. There are 3-4
every day Masses Monday-Friday.
They have from 100-300 people at every weekday Mass.
#6. There are priests in the
confessionals during every Mass. Sometimes
the lines for confession are so long that not everyone
makes it to confession before Communion and this occurs during the week days.
The 12 noon daily Mass is usually packed.
#7. There are no
extraordinary ministers of the
Eucharist. Communion is always distributed by priests and on occasion by a deacon or
seminarian. Communion is given to
people as they KNEEL at the Altar rail.
#8. The are no
female altar servers but more than enough male acolytes for each Mass.
#9. Only male Lectors read at all the Masses.
#10. The bishop
has assigned only two priests to Our
Lady of Peace but a contingent of retired
priests and dedicated
Jesuits help out for all the
Masses. And are always welcomed. At Our
Lady of Peace there is never a shortage of good orthodox priests to serve the faithful.
#11. There are
beautiful statues around the sanctuary and in the back of the Church. (The
only criticism is that they use
electric "candles" which are
tacky at best but it is for safety
reasons).
#12 From
May-October on the 13th of every month
Our Lady of Peace conducts the "Fatima Pilgrimage" which is in honor
of Our Lady's appearances in Fatima, Portugal. This devotion has
been the backbone of Our Lady of Peace
Church since the current Pastor took over the parish in June of 1969.
The
pilgrimage from May-October is attended by 2000- 3000 people on the
13th of each month. It consists
of Mass, an outdoor candlelight Rosary procession, procession of the Blessed
Sacrament within the church itself, blessing of the sick with the Blessed
Sacrament along with a Eucharistic meditation and finally Benediction of the
Blessed Sacrament with all Latin hymns.
#13. Other devotions
include well attended novenas, Santa
Nino on Monday nights,
St. Anthony of Padua on Tuesday
nights, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help on
Wednesday nights; First Friday
devotions which begin at 9:00 PM Thursday and go all night until Mass at 6:00 AM
Friday morning. There are usually about 200-300 people that
commit themselves to the all night vigil every month.
Every New
Years Eve there is an all night vigil to pray for peace in the new year and to make reparation for the sins of the year that is
ending.
Lent
and Holy Week services are especially edifying.
And every
Friday the Pastor leads an evening
Rosary of all fifteen decades in reparation for the crime of abortion
throughout the United States and the world.
Father John Sweeney
By the grace of God Fr. Sweeney was made Pastor of Our
Lady of Peace in 1969 and through his faith and devotion has transformed a
parish that is in the very heart of silicon valley's industrial/business area
to be an oasis for Roman Catholics dissatisfied with the Modernist Church and
who have sought a Parish that holds firm and fast to the Ancient Roman Catholic
Faith of our fathers.
Ever obedient
and faithful to the local bishop Fr. Sweeney
has nonetheless been able to
develop a parish that overflows with Catholic faith and devotion. The
point is that if he can do this here in liberal California
then any priest who possesses the Faith can do the same. Fr. Sweeney is not an extraordinary man he is
simply an ordinary man doing an extraordinary job. It is
his own love and devotion to the
Blessed Sacrament , to Our Lady and to the Magisterium of the Church that has
given Fr. Sweeney the ability to do what he has done. For example when he wanted to build the Shrine to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary he didn't ask
for money he asked for rosary pledges.
When he received his millionth
pledge that is when he began to
ask for the money needed to build the shrine.
Please pray for
Fr. Sweeney as he enters
his 75th year.
Community Life
If I were to
attempt to write about the rich,
community life at our Lady of Peace it
would take up the whole Newsletter. But I will give you a brief list.
Our Lady has a very orthodox catechetical
program. They have about 20 different lay societies that
are very active in the Parish including the Knights of Columbus, the Legion of
Mary, the Altar Society, the Third Order
Carmelites, The Sacred Heart
Men's Society, just to name a few.
There are a vast number of home
schooling families that congregate at
Our Lady of Peace and whose efforts are
supported both spiritually and morally by Fr. Sweeney and the other
priests.
There is a
Book Store and gift shop that
provides only the
best in Roman Catholic literature and religious articles.
To support the Shrine, the new parish hall and educational complex and the
parish itself send your donation to:
Our Lady of Peace
2800
Mission College Blvd.
Santa
Clara, CA 95054
(408)988-4585
If ever there
was a parish that has earned and deserves our support it is Our Lady of Peace. Whatever you send will be used to support the spiritual lives of
thousands.
It is our
duty to tithe a certain portion of our
income to the Catholic Church. The dilemma comes when one cannot in conscience support his/her local pseudo-Catholic parish because it has
failed miserably to feed or
enrich Catholic spiritual life.
If your parish is not feeding you at least you
now know of one that
is. I encourage you to
support orthodox Roman Catholic parishes and organizations and
to withhold your support from
Modernist/pseudo-Catholic parishes and organizations. By so
doing you will be
instrumental in helping to bring about the failure of Modernism and the
triumph of the Roman Catholic Church.