The Church Down Here

We have had the privilege of attending 2 different churches since arriving in Fort Myers.  They are both basically the same.  Resurrection of Our Lord sits on about 5 acres of nicely landscaped property and consists of the church proper and the education centre building.  The church is off a modern design, wood and plaster inside with lovely coloured glass.  Only one figure of Mary present and a cloth draped over a cross up high behind the alter.  The church is wider than it is deeper so no matter where you sit, you are relatively close to the front.

There were about 600 or more people at the 9 am mass last Sunday, and some were standing.  There were 2 priests, one visiting from Ireland and the other from London, ON.  The regular parish priest is a Msgr and has another priest lsited as a parochial vicar to help him out.  The other church had a total of 3 priests I recall. The service went fairly quickly until the Eucharist as it took at least 20 minutes to serve everyone.  There was a good mix of old and young, I would say average age 55ish or less.  People actually smiled and shook hands when we gave each other a sign of peace.  It was refreshing.  No flu season down here.

They had a second collection taken up for seminarians.  The Dicosese of Venice is flush with vocations having a total of 17 current seminarians it is supporting in their priestly education.  It was explained that each seminarian costs roughly $55k per year to educate and for food and accommodation.  Last week's offering for all purposes totaled over $32k.

Of course the music was fantastic, organ with violin sounds and a superb soloist.  There are 2 deacons, a Business Manager, Director of Religious Education and a Youth Ministry Coordinator listed in the bulletin.  They have daily mass, 2 afternoon masses on Saturday and at least 4 masses every Sunday.  This is their busy season with the influx of snow birds like us.  Strangely enough to me, there was no K of C Council listed.

All in all a very positive experience.  If I was ever to be a priest or deacon, I think Florida would be a good place to be.

Update: The reason there is no K of C Council here is because they have an equivalent men's club called the Resurrection Men's Club.  This group of parish men meet monthly, plan parish dinners, hold fish frys do a little fund raising and donate funds to local charities.  They hold elections to elect an Executive team and have various committees.  Sounds very similar to K of C without the insurance access benefits.