June 08, 2014
10:30AM Sunday Mass
43.5miles
A brilliantly beautiful start to the day ... which eventually gave way to thick dark clouds and heavy downpour. In a bit of a coincidence, the "random" selection of St Theresa's in Frederick, 43.5 miles from the house, happened to be almost right on the average distance to the first 18 churches we'd been to - 43.63 miles. As good a numerical omen as any!
We got to the church almost on time (the priest was just entering the church from the front). Neat looking little church from the outside ... and not bad looking from the inside as well. As soon as we stepped in, an usher took us to the front of the church (not what we wanted!) and deposited us in the 2nd pew. Almost immediately we were struck by the vigorous audience participation ... full throated singing of hymns and prayer responses! I'd have loved to have been in the back, all the better to observe the congregation in full worship mode!
I was somewhat dreading the homily, equating in my mind vigorous congregants to dogmatic pastor. Thankfully I was wrong and the pastor gave a pretty interesting non-dogmatic, non-preachy homily. He started off by bringing up the fact that this August will mark the 100th anniversary of the start of WW I - when Christian nations warred amongst themselves, killing millions of fellow Christians in significantly brutal ways. Then the victors imposed onerous restitution on the Germans which helped foster Nazism and WW II when the Christian world went bonkers yet again. The pastor also mentioned the Rwandan massacres and highlighted the fact that both the Hutus and the Tutsis were primarily Christians as well. Not a very pretty picture altogether!
After the Mass was over, as we were hanging around taking our usual pictures of the church, the pastor came up to us and we had a little chat. When we told him about our Colorado Catholic Churches tour, he was interested to find out which ones we considered the best we've been to so far. He was extremely pleased when we told him his congregation was ranked #1 in audience participation ... by far. Even Padres have a competitive streak!
We thought little St Theresa's deserves to be ranked #2 overall (St Daniel's in Ouray is the current #1.)
Church's website - http://www.sttheresafred.org/
Mission Statement
Saint Theresa is a generous and caring community of faith and family; striving to grow a spiritual life in Jesus Christ. We are strengthened with a multicultural Parish incorporating people of many rich heritages of the Carbon Valley area and surrounding communities. We strive to build a nurturing and unified environment in which the spiritual lives of all of our members (youth, families, singles and seniors) thrive to celebrate the sacraments with enthusiasm and commitment. Saint Theresa Catholic Parish is committed and dedicated in investing and sharing our gifts of time, talent, and financial resources; enabling many ministries that make the Body of Christ a visible and effective presence in our community that in turn builds our faith and future.
