St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, Morden (Roman Catholic)
12 July 2015 Leave a comment
I could only find information of any length on the history of this church on a single webpage, which also goes into far more detail on the architecture and layout of the building than I could ever have managed from my notes. As the usual “History” and “Appearance” sections of the review would therefore have been effectively no more than paraphrases of the information on said webpage, I thought it more appropriate to simply provide a link to it:
Clergy
The service was taken by a priest in a white cassock and green stole, and a deacon dressed in a similar manner. There were about twelve or thirteen young altar servers, boys and girls, who took part in the processions at the beginning and the end of the Mass.
Congregation
The congregation was too large for me to accurately count, but I estimated there to be at least 120 people there – too many for them to all fit in the nave, with several spending the service out in the narthex.
There was a relatively even number of men and women in the congregation. A large proportion of those in the congregation were of an ethnic minority, perhaps about one half or three fifths. Although there were several elderly parishioners, most of the congregation was young or middle-aged.
Service
The church has two Sunday morning services, one at 9 a.m. and another at 11 a.m. I attended the latter, which followed (as did I assume the 9 a.m. service, there being no indication to the contrary) the Mass of Paul VI, the order of service ordinarily used, which has a basic structure of introductory prayers, Bible readings, communion, and concluding prayers. There were also some hymns sung during the service.
The Bible readings were from Amos 7:12-15, Ephesians 1:3-14, and Mark 6:7-13. Psalm 84 was also sung with responses. The sermon was given by the deacon after the gospel reading, and focused on the “unclean spirits” we should aim to cast out of our own lives; he made it clear that he understood the spirits in the gospel reading to refer to illnesses and addictions, not actual demons.
The priest made some announcements before a closing hymn, and the Mass ended with a procession to the entrance of the church. The service lasted one hour.
Afterwards
The priest and deacon stood at the entrance after the service, saying goodbye to parishioners as they left. Several stayed in the nave, praying privately or talking to friends. There were no refreshments available.