Praying Before Mass, and Stuff From the Shed

The parish church is the sanctuary where we celebrate Mass. It's also the hall downstairs where we meet. There's the rectory, too. And, in the case of Our Lady of the Angels church, there's a parking lot across the street with a shed in the northeast corner.

Here's what the sanctuary looked like before Mass today. Folks were praying the Rosary when I took that photo. It's a group thing that quite a few of us do: one of those 'options' Catholics have.


Our Lady of the Angels church sanctuary, before Mass. September 5, 2010.

After Mass, Father Statz had a few announcements. Including one about the shed across the street. Stuff, he explained, had been getting put in there for - years. Lots of years. This year we got to the point where more stuff wouldn't fit inside.

The Knights of Columbus in town got a work crew together, and unstuffed the shed. We now had an empty shed, and stuff lying around it.

This was progress, no kidding.

Father Statz said that whatever was in the shed was there to be picked up by whoever wanted to take it away. Also that what was left by this morning was a picked-over lot of stuff.

I took a look at the shed after Mass: Father Statz was right.


Our Lady of the Angels church parking lot, stuff from the shed. September 5, 2010.

Still, someone may have a use for the bits and pieces left. Or decide to haul it to the dump for the church. Either way, it's out of the shed now. Now we can start putting more stuff inside.

The point of this post, if there is one, is that there's more to being Catholic than candles and prayers, meditation and Mass. Sometimes the shed needs emptying.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Religious Art in the Home: We Like It"
  (August 31, 2010)
• "Photos and Faith in Sauk Centre"
  (August 22, 2010)