St Joseph

Where: 313 2nd St NE, DC, 20002

When: Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

Web: The ADW site is here; the parish's own site is here.

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We attended 8:30am Mass at St Joseph's on Sunday, May 23, 2010. St Joseph's sits in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, not that far from Union Station, the Senate office buildings and other government buildings, and the Capitol itself. We weren't quite sure what congregation would turn up there early on a rainy Sunday morning.

The congregation was mixed racially and demographically. Certainly whites were the majority but there were some blacks and latinos too. There was a good mix of families, couples, groups of friends, and single people. All told we reckon the congregation was about sixty.

Two priests celebrated Mass, which began a little before 8:30am (that really is a first for us!) As with St Ann's last week, this church took both collections at the same time (the second one was for CRS again - did they get it two weeks in a row or did churches have discretion as to when they held the collection? We don't know). For communion, the two priests served the Host from in front of the main altar, while two lay people served the Chalice from either side.

This was Pentacost, of course, so the priest's homily focused on the Holy Spirit. He appearned not to use notes and speak very much from the heart.

There was neither music nor singing at this Mass - we think this is typical of many early morning Masses.

Afterwards, the priests greeted their congregants outside the church, even though it was still raining.