SPIRITUAL HOME
Queenswood, Pretoria, South Africa

Even though my spirituality is inclusive, and my sacred "space" is primarily inside my own head, I do feel the need for brick and mortar, ritual and synergy sometimes. Since I have a special, umbilical-cord-like bond with the Catholic Church, I went to Mass at Christ the King Catholic Church during my two-month visit, and it felt like a home-coming.

The parish priest, Father Chris Townsend, struck me as both a good priest AND a good parish priest (the two don't always go hand-in-hand). Here are some of the things I particularly liked about him. * He speaks clearly and naturally, reads fluently and reflectively, projects well, and has a good sense of both timing and humor. * He obviously has loads of common sense. There is every indication that he is running the parish intelligently and transparently. The parishioners are very lucky indeed to have him.

The music was good - mostly folksy, but attractive, featuring instruments such as the guitar and trumpet along with the organ. One of the guitarists proved to be very proficient at his craft, embellishing melodies rather than just playing chords, which transported me away from the humdrum strum. I was reminded of how well brass instruments support congregational singing.

An anecdote deserves being shared. They use an electronic notice board in church to project the lyrics of songs as well as the spoken parts of the mass. One day there was some confusion as to whether the Gloria would be spoken or sung. No words were appearing on the electronic board, and the musicians were silent. The priest (I seem to recall it was a visiting one, while the regular priest was in Poland for an international youth conference) started reciting it, and the congregation followed suit. However, after the first few lines everyone got stuck, and had a good giggle about it. The musicians were then galvanized into action, and the lyrics appeared onscreen. Back in the day, before the advent of electronic notice boards, everyone without exception knew all the spoken parts off by heart. Nowadays, with information available at the touch of a button, people don't need (or care) to remember things anymore. I think memory spans have shrunk along with attention spans.

I will treasure the memory of my time spent there. Initially the big interior space of the building was very cold (for me), but as spring sprung it became progressively less frigid. I was happy to make this transition. Even though it was cold at times, at one level, it was always warm and welcoming, at another.