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How to Worship at St. Alban'sWhat we pick up as we walk into the church
St. Alban's Ordinariate Catholic Church uses the Divine Worship Missal, an order of service, and a hymnal, which together are consistent with Anglican tradition that goes back to the sixteenth century. Most parts of the Mass are the same every time, or change only a little, and a few parts—a few prayers, Scripture readings, and music—change every day with the Church's liturgical calendar. Both Anglicans and Roman Catholics have this approach in common.
For Holy Mass we use three texts that are available at the back of the church:
A thin, burgundy pew missal, which has the full Divine Worship liturgy that is prayed by the priest and the people every day—in formal church English—with the traditional "thees" and "thous",
A one-page Order of Service which has all of the day's specific prayers, Scripture readings, and also lists the hymn numbers that correspond to the chanted service music and hymns in the hymnal, and
The Hymnal 1940 provides the hymns and chanted Mass settings.
In the Anglican tradition, these three have been used together for worship services so that the whole congregation can participate in the prayers, the chant, and the hymns. During Mass, the people use the Missal to find their prayers and responses and also to follow along with all of the prayers that the priest says. The accompanying hymnal contains hundreds of beautiful, majestic, enlivening, celebratory, prayerful, and spiritual hymns and Christmas carols that Anglicans have sung together for centuries, filling the church with heavenly music!
Until recently, converts to Catholicism have had to leave these beloved traditions behind. In order to welcome more converts from the Anglican tradition, Pope Benedict XVI established the three Personal Ordinariates. Today everyone, not limited to former Anglicans, is welcome to enjoy these traditions with us!
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Our Mass
The Divine Worship Ordinariate Mass has three parts: the Liturgy of the Word, the Penitential Rite, and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Many of the prayers for Divine Worship were taken from Thomas Cranmer's original Book of Common Prayer (1549). However, the prayers and solemn rituals of the Mass are not identical to any historical liturgy, but combine several historical rites that were used in England over the past 500 years, including the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and the ancient Sarum Rite. The Roman Catholic Novus Ordo also finds a place in Divine Worship, albeit a minor role as an option that can be used as desired. We participate in Eucharistic Revival along with the rest of the Roman Catholic Church, thereby seeking encounter with Christ in the Eucharist during Holy Communion at every Mass. Overall, our Holy Mass looks, sounds, smells, tastes, and feels like Anglican High Mass with current Roman Catholic beliefs about the Holy Eucharist.
Collect for Purity
At St. Alban's, we emphasize holiness and beauty in the Mass. One source of beauty is in the language. The prayers use the timelessly sacred language of formal Prayer Book English from the sixteenth century. Here is an excerpt from near the beginning of the Liturgy of the Word—the Collect for Purity, which is familiar to everyone who knows the Anglican liturgy:
Almighty God, unto whom all hearts be open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Notice that this prayer addresses God directly. It also acknowledges the power of God to know our thoughts and feelings. Christians and Jews have always believed that God knows and influences our thoughts—well, until the late twentieth century, that is. We still believe it anyway. We cannot hide our desires from him—our desires both virtuous and sinful. Only God has the power to know us this deeply. Our families, friends, teachers, and algorithms cannot know what is truly deep inside us. Since he knows us so well and has good intentions for us, God has the power to help us be better persons in ways that no one else can. He can be trusted to always act and guide us in our best interest.
Moving on in the Collect, we ask that the Holy Spirit may come into our hearts and minds, cleansing our thoughts and desires and giving us better ones. What kinds are better than our own? They are thoughts and desires that help us to do our part to move God's grand plan forward. Although we cannot know what God's grand plan for the universe is, through spiritual discernment, we can know what he wants our small role to be. When we humbly set aside our own wills and let God guide us from the inside, we approach perfect love for God. This is one way in which we acknowledge the holiness of God in the nave of the church with us, and we also acknowledge our own potential for growth in our holiness.
In moments of divine inspiration by the Holy Spirit, we may feel an unusually deep and ardent desire to magnify his holy Name. Even without that special event, we still praise and magnify his holy Name during Mass and at other times because it is always good to do. We ask for this blessing through Christ our Lord, because Christ is involved on our behalf as part of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Holiness and Beauty
This Collect for Purity is just the beginning. We pray many more prayers and do other actions to call on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with an attitude of formal reverence. Since God alone is powerful enough to know us deeply, he deserves to be treated with utmost respect—far more than we would give a human person. The whole Mass is a celebration of our knowledge and understanding that God ought to be honored.
We're all in this together. He is God for each of us. We all desire to come together each week to pay our respects through beautiful prayers, music, and our own singing. We find that The Hymnal 1940 often has just the perfect words to express something that we're already feeling when we come to Holy Mass. And it sounds so sublime when we fill the space with everyone singing together!
The priest and altar servers are instrumental in creating an environment for shutting out the outside world and inviting God in. We have lots of incense. We have bells. The Mass is chanted. The priest faces the altar along with us so that we all look up to God together, with the priest mediating God for us. And our Holy Eucharist is given to us in a formal way too. It's all part of the Mystery. We love it.
We do all of this because we believe that it is right and good to humbly give him our "Sunday best" while we acknowledge the greatness of his vast, unfathomable power to create and govern the universe—including ourselves. -
Holy Eucharist
The Roman Catholic Church and St. Alban's encourage all confirmed Roman Catholics in good standing (that is, not in a state of mortal sin) to receive Communion at Mass. The Holy Eucharist should not be received more than once in a 24-hour period. The alternative is to ask for a blessing.
At St. Alban's we receive Holy Communion in the traditional way, kneeling at the altar rail. However, sometimes the building in which we worship does not have an altar rail. At these times—we improvise. It is always safe to follow the manner of those in line in front of you who appear to know the way. No one should be embarrassed about making mistakes in following the manner of receiving Holy Eucharist at St. Alban's because we all make them sometimes.
Those who are unable to kneel are welcome to stand or sit, as available, to receive Communion.
Anyone who is unable to walk through the communion line should inform the priest or server so that they know to come to you in the pew to give you Holy Eucharist.
Those who have not yet been confirmed in rites of initiation in the Roman Catholic Church should not receive the Holy Eucharist. If you are not able to receive it yet would like to go through the Communion line, you may do so, asking for a blessing instead of the Eucharist. The priest and ministers do not know who is able to receive the Eucharist and who is not. To ask for a blessing, you need only cross your arms over your chest when the priest or minister comes to you. At the end of the blessing, you may reply "Amen."
There is traditional etiquette for the Communion line. If there are two or more people in your pew, fold the kneelers up before you stand up to get in the Communion line, and put the kneelers back down after everyone in your pew has returned. Do not be impatient to be first in line, but get in line in an orderly way in your turn. Depending on the parish and day, ushers might let people out of their pews to get into the communion line. Each line waiting to approach the altar rail should have 6-10 people, or about one communion rail waiting in the queue at any time. After receiving Communion or a blessing, so that the person after you is not disturbed by your movement, wait until the person at the altar rail next to you has also received, then get up and return to your pew. Walk back via the outside of the pews and around the back of the church, if needed, to complete your circuit for Communion. -
Children at Mass
As a church, we worship Christ together in the Holy Mass. We are one parish family, and like a family gathered for a feast, we have members of all ages. We love one another, we care for each other, and really support our young families. We want our littlest members to grow up knowing they are beloved children in God’s own house.
We also recognize that little children sometimes get overwhelmed (and so do their parents!) at Mass. We try to support our families in the pews, but we also have space in the back of Church, where parents can have a bit of a rest while still remaining present at Mass, and children can play (which is their worship in another way). In this, both parents and children experience very much God’s grace. As the early Christian prayer that we pray in the evenings, the Phos Hilarion, says: “Thou art worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices, O Son of God, O Giver of Life!”
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Fellowship After Mass
After we have received Jesus together in Holy Communion and the Holy Mass is ended, we regularly spend time together as a parish through fellowship hour. Our unity in God and Christ makes us grow in love and friendship together.
We encourage visitors to stay for fellowship and meet a few of St. Alban's parishioners.
Fellowship provides a time for the adults to connect, and for the kids to spend time with their friends. We look forward to this! Our unity in Jesus, whom we receive in the Holy Eucharist, makes us friends and family at St. Alban's.
We have coffee, cookies, juice, and snacks most times during our parish fellowship. We have occasional potlucks for special feasts and occasions, including a monthly birthday blessing for those who have birthdays—complete with a birthday cake! -
St. Alban's YouTube Channel
Missed a Mass for an important feast day? Check out our YouTube channel to watch videos of Masses for feast days, choral Evensong, Lessons and Carols at Christmas, Baroque concerts, and more!
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The Ordinariate's Liturgical Year
The Church's liturgical calendar is important to understand because all of the worship liturgies and prayers have parts that change daily according to the specific day of the year. The calendar runs from the first Sunday of Advent, which falls around November 30, to the Saturday prior to the next Advent season in the following year. The major seasons are Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time. Other holy days remember the events by which Jesus brought about the salvation of the world. The calendar also includes holy days to remember Saints, especially those who had general significance for the whole Church for all time.
The Ordinariates use the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, with several additions of special days from Anglican tradition and to celebrate the Ordinariates' anniversaries and patron saints' feast days.
The Ordo is a little reference book that is published in the autumn for the next liturgical year. It is the bridge between the liturgical calendar and the prayer books and Missal. This book provides all of the page numbers and readings in the Ordinariate's other books so that anyone can follow along every day, praying the same daily prayers and reading the same Scripture passages as everyone else in the Ordinariate.
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In addition to weekly Sunday or its Vigil Mass, those in the Ordinariate are obligated to attend Mass on the following dates:
8 December Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (of precept in the United States but not in Canada)25 December Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ
1 January Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God
Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter Solemnity of the Ascension (forty days after Easter, nine days before Whitsunday or Pentecost)
15 August Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
1 November Solemnity of All Saints
For the complete list of modifications to these obligations, see the Ordinariate's website.
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Celebrations for the Ordinariate
These days are for remembering all of the anniversaries of the founding events of the Ordinariates and the feast days for our patron saints.
1 January Anniversary of the Erection of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter (2012)
2 February Anniversary of the Episcopal Ordination of the Most Reverend Steven J. Lopes, First Bishop of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter (2016)
14 February Anniversary of the Dedication of the Cathedral Church of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter (2004)
22 February Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle
Solemnity of Title of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter19 March Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Patronal Feast day of Canada
1 September Our Lady of the Southern Cross
Solemnity of Title of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross in Australia24 September Our Lady of Walsingham
Patronal Feast of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter
Solemnity of Title of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the United Kingdom
Solemnity of Title of the Cathedral Church of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter9 October Saint John Henry Newman
Patronal Feast of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the United Kingdom4 November Anniversary of the Promulgation of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus (2009)
8 December Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Patronal Feast day of the United States of AmericaParish Anniversaries
The Solemnity of Title of each parish is celebrated as a Solemnity. The celebration is transferred, if allowed, to the adjacent, unimpeded Sunday according to the Table of Precedence.
The Anniversary of the Dedication of each parish church is celebrated as a Solemnity. It is also transferred, if allowed, to the adjacent, unimpeded Sunday according to the Table of Precedence.
Reposted from the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, "Special Days in the Life of the Ordinariate."
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Ancient Seasonal Celebrations of God’s Gifts
The four sets of Ember days, located at the onset of each of the four seasons in nature, call to mind the agrarian cycle of planting, tending, and harvesting. In spring, we give thanks for the renewal of the earth and the gift of light as the days grow longer. In summer, we thank the Lord for the gift of wheat, and in autumn again for the grape harvest. As winter approaches, we pray in gratitude for the olive crop.
Holy Mother Church provides her children these times to give thanks for the goods we have reaped, and to humbly seek the Divine assistance in the goods yet to be sown.
From these harvests will come the bread, the wine, and the sacred oils that will nourish and strengthen us in the Sacraments. We recall the prayers of the Offertory, as the priest presents the bread and wine at the Altar of God, that these are “fruit of the earth/vine and the work of human hands.”
And so, as we give thanks for these harvests, we also give thanks for the abundance of grace poured out in the divine mysteries of our faith.
Each Embertide is kept over three days: Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. These days recall Our Lord’s betrayal, death, and his harrowing of Hell.
The term “Ember Day” or “Embertide” has nothing to do with embers or ashes. It may be from the Anglo-Saxon ymbren, meaning a circle or revolution, or it may be a corruption of the original Latin term, quatuor tempora, developed through the German quatember.
History
The Ember days date back to the early Church. Pope Callistus (217-222) ordered the observance of a fast three times each year to compete with the pagan Roman seasonal rituals of the time. By the time of Pope Gelasius, (492-496), there were four such times in the liturgical year, which harkens to the Old Testament practice of fasting four times a year: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be seasons of joy and gladness, and cheerful festivals for the house of Judah: therefore love truth and peace.” ~ Zachariah 8:19
It was Pope Gelasius, too, who seems to have begun the practice of conferring Holy Orders to ordain priests and deacons on the Saturdays of Embertide. Thus, these became times of prayer not only for the physical harvest of the fields, but also for a plentiful spiritual harvest of vocations to the diaconate and priesthood.
Ember Days Today
Ember days are no longer widely celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal recommends but does not require them (cf. GIRM 394).They are still observed in the Ordinariates, though, as they came with us as a beloved part of our English traditions, and thus as a treasure to be shared with the whole Church.
We find Ember Days on the calendar in December (Advent), February (Lent), May (Whitsuntide or Pentecost), and September. The ORDO is the place to go for the exact dates and instructions for keeping each of the 12 Ember Days during the year.
How to Observe the Ember Days in the Ordinariate
Fasting and Abstinence. In the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, Ember Friday is a day of obligatory abstinence from meat. These were traditionally known as fisshe dayes. The one exception is Ember Friday after Whitsunday or Pentecost, as the Octave of Pentecost (8 days from Sunday to Sunday) is a week for celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit. The faithful are nevertheless welcome to follow the traditional pattern of fasting and abstinence. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, a fast and partial abstinence limits the day's meals to two small meatless meals and one full meal that can include meat. Fasting on the Ember Days is an ancient spiritual discipline that is optional for all.
Prayer. The faithful are asked to pray in a special way during the Ember Days for vocations to the priesthood and religious life in monastic communities, as well as for seasonable weather and an abundant harvest. The St. Gregory Prayer Book offers a number of prayers for these intentions.
An interesting note regarding the Advent Embers in the Ordinariate. While the traditional reckoning of these Embers is in the Third Week of Advent (nearest St. Lucy’s day), the Holy See shifted them to the First Week of Advent for the Ordinariate. This was done so that it would not conflict with the observation of the O Antiphons (Sapientiatide), from December 17-24 in the Ordinariate calendar.
Adapted from The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, "Ember Days."
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Both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion have always had multiple kinds of requirements for prayers, depending upon one's station and calling by God. Laypeople are required to attend Mass weekly. And so, the Divine Worship was developed for this. Some laypeople, often more devout, attend daily Mass. The basic Mass liturgy is included in St. Gregory's Prayer Book. In addition to Mass attendance, the tradition of morning and evening prayer for laypeople has also been around for centuries.
For priests and monastic communities, there are more intense requirements for prayer. The Daily Office has the Liturgy of the Hours, six or seven sets of prayers throughout the day, which they may be required to practice as part of their vows. They might chant or pray all 150 Psalms in a month or even in a week. The Daily Office has all of these prayers for each day of the liturgical year.
Nowadays, the Daily Office is online. The Ordinariate's Daily Office online with morning, evening, and the rest of the daily prayers can be found here.
For those who want to add a musical dimension to the morning and evening prayers, the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the United Kingdom links to an online version of the daily office with music for Gregorian chant. SingTheOffice.com uses the 30-day cycle for the Psalms that is found in the Walsingham prayer book rather than the Psalms as specified in the Ordo.
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This handy little reference book is essential for following the activities in the Ordinariate because it is the yearly roadmap through the calendar of weekly Masses, Daily Office, and morning and evening prayers. It covers each day from Advent to Christmastide. For each day, it indicates the day of the liturgical calendar including all of the feasts, solemnities, and memorials. Days of special obligation such as Ember Days are on the calendar and indicated as having the obligation to abstain from meat or perform some other penitential act, or to fast. In addition, it lists the page numbers used in Divine Worship: The Missal and the readings from the lectionary for Mass. It also includes the Psalms and lessons for morning and evening prayer.
Everyone who wants to pray with the Church daily needs one of these!
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