However, I put this in the context of an Episcopal bishop's visit to Our Lady of Walsingham, which I noted here in 2018. Bp Daniel Martins of the conservative TEC Diocese of Springfield, IL was invited to give the homily at an ecumenical evensong at OLW. His reaction to a mass there, which I quoted at the time, was
I told a friend that it sounded like Westminster Abbey and looked like All Saints Margaret Street (an Anglo-Catholic shrine church in London),Well, as I've noted here before, the rector who celebrates the Easter mass below is Fr Ian Davies, a Welshman, who was recruited by the parish from his post as an associate at that same All Saints Margaret Street. So St Thomas Hollywood's current liturgy is inspired in some measure directly from All Saints Margaret Street. My wife and I remember Fr Ian and many of the other familiar faces at the mass very fondly.
So here, for the purpose of Anglo-Catholic comparison, is the Easter 2014 mass at St Thomas Episcopal Hollywood:
Below is the Maundy Thursday 2019 mass at Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston
For starters, we're comparing Maundy Thursday to Easter, so among other things, you've got to ignore the floral decoration and Mozart setting of the mass at St Thomas. But other similarities are there, for instance, the procession in which the choir enters and then diverts down the side aisles. The liturgy at St Thomas is basically 1979 Rite One with little bits that Fr Davies inserts here and there as the spirit moves him.
The overwhelming impression I have, though, is of an enormous difference in atmosphere and enthusiasm. The people at St Thomas are actually enjoying themselves. At OLW, the processional hymn, Crucifer, drags. The organist is a touch slow and not very spirited. I've heard Crucifer done well, but mostly badly; it actually wasn't until I heard it at our current diocesan parish that I came to like it. The OLW version I would give a C. St Thomas's version of Jerusalem the Golden, a favorite at that parish, was in my head for the rest of the day.
Another surprise was that I would judge St Thomas's capacity, including the transepts, at about 50% larger than OLW, and St Thomas is on the small-to-medium size for LA area Episcopalian parishes. (An Easter mass would have overflows into the parish hall, with the mass piped in.)
Another big difference, which so far I've noted in all the ordinariate YouTubes I've watched, is that none has a sound system equivalent to St Thomas. You can barely hear the readings at OLW. Some may feel the echoes are somehow churchy, but if they keep you from the substance, they shouldn't be there. But beyond that, I think we'll hear throughout this tour that if you're going to do ad orientem, you'd better have a sound system that supports it. Otherwise, it all comes out as mumbling.
The bells at the consecration at OLW sound like Jacob Marley's chains.
But a storefront rental, a basement chapel, a school cafeteria are none of them going to have a sound system that supports ad orientem. I think the takeaway here is that what you see at St Thomas, while Anglo-Catholic is not Catholic, does represent what decades of work, commitment, imagination, and not least money can accomplish. On the other hand, for Bp Martins to suggest OLW's mass is anything like Anglo-Catholic is pure politeness.
I'll have more examples in the next few posts. But at least in my mind, it's worthwhile to keep the example of St Thomas in mind in a spirit of asking how the ordinariate can do better than it has.
