Epiphany

Where: 2712 Dumbarton St NW, Washington, DC 20007

When: Saturday, November 20th, 2010.

Web: The parish website is located here; the ADW listing is located here.

We attended the Vigil Mass at this small church just off the busy streets of Georgetown.  A single priest celebrated Mass, with the assistance of a cantor (who served as pianist and organist), three altar servers, and a lector.  The congregation was about fifty - mainly white and older, but with a few younger couples in attendance too. 

The Mass followed the standard rite.  As this Sunday was the feast of Christ the King, the priest focused his homily on the origins of the feast and, more importantly, what it means.  He explained that while earthly kings have temporal power on earth, Christ's power is supernatural and superior to all.  Those who realise this will align their lives to His.

St Francis de Sales

Where: St Francis de Sales, 2015 Rhode Island Ave NE, Washington, DC 20018.

When: Sunday, November 14, 2010.

Web: The parish's website is located here; the ADW listing is here.

We attended 9am Mass on Sunday, November 14th at this small and architectually distinctive chuch (it is the basement of a never-completed larger church) in the Langdon Park neighbor hood of northeast DC.

A single priest celebrated Mass with the assistance of a deacon, a lector, and two altar servers.  There was no choir or music group.  The Mass followed the standard rite.  The congregation was almost totally black and older, though there were some younger people and children in attendance as well. 

The priest gave a homily on the coming of Advent.  After his homily, he invited a visiting sister from the Sisters of Matara, an order of nuns active in thirty countries, to speak of her order's work.