Category: Events & News Page 4 of 6

In March 2019, the Chapel at Mercy College of Health Science had its first Traditional Baptism!

Thanks to Fr. Windschitl for welcoming Baby Helena into Church!

Back in January 2019, a local family baptized their newborn according to the ancient baptismal rite at St. Augustin’s by the Reverend Christopher Pisut.  

This marks 5 different local diocesan churches which have celebrated the Traditional Baptismal Rite in the past 12 months:  St. Anthony’s, Basilica of St. John, St. Augustin, St. Theresa, and Mercy College of Health Science Chapel.

If you are interested in having your child baptized, reach out to Una Voce Des Moines, and we can assist in preparing the priest and a booklet for you.

The schedule for the Traditional Liturgies during Holy Week is posted.  We wish you and yours a blessed Triduum and joyful Easter.
A few additional notes:  

• We had a wonderful showing for the Saturday evening and Sunday morning lectures for Dr. Denis McNamara the weekend of March 23/24th.  His presentations on Church Architecture were so important in our times, and then to see the worldwide reaction to Monday’s tragedy in Paris (see these stunning images!) gave me a sense that deep down inside, people have a longing for beautiful church architecture.  Pray for the people of Paris — and for the world — that McNamara’s work may continue to influence architects to a return to the classical approach.  (N.B. Thanks to those who helped financially support the event, especially a recent donor who helped us break even with a generous $400 donation!)
  
  
• For those who are parishioners at St. Anthony’s, the Annual Diocesan Appeal is ongoing.  It’s important to show our support of Msgr. Chiodo, St. Anthony’s, and the Traditional Latin Mass community that we participate.  If you’ve not already done so, please consider a gift to the ADA.  If you do, write something like “TLM” or “Latin Mass” in the memo line, or write a note that says, “I support the Extraordinary Form” in a letter to let both the Diocese and St. Anthony know that we are doing our part.
  
  
  

• On Sunday, May 5th, you are cordially invited to the First Holy Communions of four of our children.  It is in conjunction with the 1st Sunday of the month potluck, so nothing is different, other than the potluck will be in the parish hall (ie, the gym), since we anticipate more people to celebrate the 1st Communions of Antonia, Matthew, John Paul, and Damien.

• Finally, Una Voce Des Moines has a unique opportunity to participate in extending the altar rail at St. Anthony’s!  St. Anthony’s has benefactors funding the rail itself (as I understand it, it won’t go across the entire entrance of the sanctuary, but close).  To underscore the importance of the communion rail to our traditional style of worship, Una Voce Des Moines has agreed to fund the padding for kneeling, so that the faithful can more reverently receive the Eucharist.  This padding is estimated to be $500, and we are encouraging you — after you’ve made your donation to the ADA! — to assist Una Voce Des Moines with a financial contribution to this noble project of adding reverence to the Holy Mass at St. Anthony’s.

The officers and I plan on being around at the Holy Week liturgies, if you have any questions about these projects/events. 

With gratitude for your service to Our Lord in the traditional expression of liturgical worship throughout central Iowa, we wish you a joyful Eastertide!

Una Voce Des Moines is pleased to welcome Dr. Denis McNamara to Des Moines! In conjunction with the Catholic Culture Lecture Series, McNamara will be speaking on Saturday, March 23 @ 7pm at St. Augustin, but will visit with the Una Voce Des Moines group on Sunday, March 24th at St. Anthony’s and give a talk entitled: “Church Architecture and the Liturgical Movement: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century”.

The TLM at St. Anthony’s has been moved (for one week only!) to 9:30am, so McNamara’s talk will take place afterwards, around 11am. It will be a Solemn High Mass.

Lunch will be provided. Free will offering is encouraged.

All are encouraged to attend, but there won’t be childcare available, so please make arrangements so that children are respectful of the presentation.

Questions or to RSVP: info@UnaVoceDSM.org.

https://unavocedsm.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2018.03.24.McNamaraFlyerFINAL.pdf

Friends, we have a personalized 2019 liturgical calendar!

Thanks to excellent photos of Lisa Bourne and Jose Vitteri — as well as Jose’s graphic design skills! — we have a 2019 Liturgical Calendar just in time for Christmas shopping!

The unique 12″ x 12″, card stock calendar contains high quality images of Traditional Masses celebrated at St. Anthony’s and the Basilica of St. John by Msgr. Chiodo, Fr. Cassian, and Fr. Ripperger.

Here are some images:

Each day as indications for the liturgical calendar in both Extraordinary and Ordinary Forms, as well as abstinence or fast symbols.  Note that under each day of the week there is an theme which is traditionally observed.

There’s an entire page on spiritual fasting and the symbols that each day indicate.

Yes, friends, it looks like this:

Proceeds benefit Una Voce Des Moines and the continued promotion of the Traditional Mass throughout Central Iowa.  Be sure to share with your friends and family, but order quickly as Christmas is in a few weeks and we have a limited supply!

Calendars are $20 a piece

Can be purchased through PayPal or
make a check payable to “Una Voce Des Moines” or
give us a check at Sunday Mass.

For more information, email Bryan @ info@unavocedsm.org or call/text 812.686.6102.

Since the liturgical changes following the Second Vatican Council, it’s rare to see Iowan couples choose to exchange their nuptial vows in the Traditional Rite.  Recently, a couple was married at Christ the King in Des Moines, and below are photos and a reflection from Andy Milam, Una Voce Des Moines’ liturgical coordinator and MC extraordinaire.

In your charity, please offer a prayer for Taylor & Samantha as they begin their married life together!

Additionally, it was the first time that the Una Voce Des Moines schola was able to wear cassock and surplus and sing the Gregorian chant propers and ordinary for the Mass!  Feel free to reach out if you want the schola to sing at your EF Nuptial Mass or Requiem Mass.

Reflection from Andy Milam

As I reflect on the day and the Nuptials from an outsider’s point of view, several things are evident.  First, the use of both the vernacular and Latin in the Nuptials makes it easy for even the most detached person from the Church to understand what is directed toward God and what is directed toward man.  It also provides a bit of mystery, which every couple faces at the start of any marriage.

Secondly, as the Nuptials are not part of the Mass proper, the celebration of Taylor & Samantha is contained to them and the Sacrament they confect together.  Yes, confect.  They are, by definition, making something new and putting two things together.  Namely themselves.  It truly is a confection of the Sacrament in the most literal sense.

Finally, the Extraordinary Form pulls the worshipper through.  It affords him the ability to worship and not feel as though he has to “do something.”  He can just be.  And that is the whole point of worshipping God:  that we can be with “He Who Is”.

As we worship, we can take from Taylor & Samantha one thing:  that we are to be led (or pulled) by the Holy Spirit through Christ Jesus to God the Father.  That is the aim of Matrimony, and as an example of the glorious day of their wedding, it becomes an example to us as we enter into our Sacramental lives at Holy Mass.

Because Easter Sunday is early this year, Lent comes early (starting on February 14^th with Ash Wednesday), and thus the Season of Septuagesima begins oddly before the Feast of the Purification.  What is Septuagesima and why is it important?

Septuagesima and Lent are both times of penance, Septuagesima being a time of voluntary fasting in preparation for the obligatory Great Fast of Lent. The theme is the Babylonian exile, the “mortal coil” we must endure as we await the Heavenly Jerusalem. Sobriety and somberness reign liturgically; the Alleluia and Gloria are banished.

The Sundays of Septugesima are named for their distance away from Easter:

• The first Sunday of Septuagesima gives its name to the entire season as it is known as “Septuagesima.” “Septuagesima” means “seventy,” and Septuagesima Sunday comes roughly seventy days before Easter. This seventy represents the seventy years of the Babylonian Captivity. It is on this Sunday that the alleluia is “put away,” not to be said again until the Vigil of Easter.

• The second Sunday of Septuagesima is known as “Sexagesima, which means “sixty”. Sexagesima Sunday comes roughly sixty days before Easter.
• The third Sunday of Septuagesima is known as “Quinquagesima,” which means “fifty” and which comes roughly fifty days before Easter.

Quadragesima means “forty,” and this is the name of the first Sunday of Lent and the Latin name for the entire season of Lent.

Throughout this short Season of Septuagesima – and the next Season of Lent – you will notice a deepening sense of penance and somberness, culminating in Passiontide (the last two weeks of Lent), that will suddenly and joyously end at the Vigil of Easter on Holy Saturday when the alleluia returns and Christ’s Body is restored and glorified.

Slightly modified and taken from Fish Eaters.