The Pain of Changing Parishes

For Catholics it can be hard to move away and have to leave a parish that you may have called home for the majority of your life.  I’m currently going through what I consider an even harder experience.  I’m thinking of leaving the parish that I have called home for all 26 years of my life.  This is the parish that I grew up in, have friends in, served countless masses, went to eleven years of school in (pre-school – 8th grade).  Although not baptized there I received my had my first confession in the confessional I still go to today, I had my first communion there.  In a funny instance Bishop (now Archbishop) Wilton Gregory, before confirming me, asked me what was my chosen patron.  I responded “Peter”. He then asked me “Which Peter”.  My response was “The First Pope”.  He then asked me who was the current pope; after my answer of John Paul II he then said that my test question was to name all of the popes between Peter and JPII.  I would loved to have seen the smile on my sponsors face and the look of fear on my own.

Needless to say I love my home parish.  I love the pastor, the people, and staff.  This is the reason that I have been having a such a problem leaving.  It would be easier to leave if I were moving, but this change of parish is by choice.

I’ve already made a post about the spiritual journey that I have been on for the past year and a half.  A big part of that journey was based on a chance.  On a Sunday I had to pick my aunt up in south St. Louis after her rehab for a knee injury was over.  On a fleeting decision I decided that I would checkout the Latin mass at The Oratory of St. Francis de Sales.  I had never been to a Latin mass.  That day I was confused and didn’t think a lot of the rite.

Once I returned to my school in the evening I relayed the experience to my Catholic roommate.  He told me that he had been attending the Latin mass for years, Starting at St. Francis de Sales and then moving to the newer Oratory of Sts. Gregory and Augustine.  He invited me to his parish.  I found the experience of a ‘dialog mass’ much easier to understand for a TLM newbie.  I’ve been attending mass at Gregory and Augustine a couple times a month for a year now (over an hour drive).  I admire the parish.  The members of the laity are so reverent toward the mass and the Eucharist.  There is also a great community atmosphere that lacks at my home parish.

Inside St. Francis de Sales

Changing to a parish that celibates the Extraordinary Form  has been on my mind for about six months now.  I believe that I am finally ready to make the jump.  I don’t yet know which of the two oratories in St. Louis I will choose, I love the people of Gregory and Augustine but St. Francis de Sales is 35 minutes closer to where I reside.  Either way I believe that my spiritual life will be better for the move.

I will no longer be able to worship every Sunday with my mother, I will miss my amazing pastor, most of all I will be leaving friends and memories.

Please pray for me during this difficult time.