Today began with a visit to the Oratory of St. Francis DeSales in St. Louis. This is without a doubt the most beautiful parish church in America! Shortly after Mass a woman tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I recognized her. She had been a parishioner in Texas at my parish and recognized me! What’s even more is that I happened to be sitting behind one of my readers and his beautiful family. In fact, two of his boys had served the Mass. Pray for priests. we had a fun chat outside the church before I had to depart.
St.. Francis DeSales, St. Louis, MO
And then I drove clear across Missouri. Actually first I stopped to show my mother-in-law the grave of broadcasting legend Rush Limbaugh except that the cemetery was closed due to uprooted trees from a recent storm blocking the roads. But the guard we talked to was a prince. It turns out that he, too, was from my neck of the woods in Texas!
Then I drove clear across Missouri.
After checking into our hotel in Topeka, KS, we drove over to St. Mary’s. We met up with old friends who gave us a tour of their parish. I am talking about the new “largest church in Kansas”, that is, the Immaculata. I mentioned the Oratory was the most beautiful parish in America. Can there be a tie? See below.
I am dumbstruck at the beauty here.
A statue of Archbishop LeFebvre graced the exterior facade. He will be a saint one day.
After dinner in one of the most idyllic towns in the Midwest, we drove across the flatness that is Kansas and we’re treated to small town fireworks displays on this eve of the Independence of the former US.
Ka-boom!
God bless us all!
If you’ve read this far and feel like offering some assistance, I’m trying to locate a TLM in the vicinity of Yellowstone (or a priest willing to say the TLM for us. This would be next week. Email me if you have ideas.
We started our day with Mass as is to be expected. Returning to St. Francis DeSales in Georgetown, KY before heading further down the road, we discovered that this small country parish is anything but small on a Sunday. It was so edifying to see a hundred or more people packed into this space, worshipping God according to the ancient rite of the Roman Church This, of course, was after we navigated our SUV Past the rows of transit vans and minivans parked on the lawn just off the drive. Parking is tight here but it only adds to the visual image of a community exploding in growth. And that sermon? Stirring! Could not have asked for a better start to the Lord’s Day.
And then it was back on the road. First up, a visit to a cemetery in Kentucky’s capital city. We prayed at the grave of Daniel Boone because why not?
Then we stopped in for bourbon balls and coffee.
A little further down the road and we were sampling bourbon proper at a distillery.
Finally we took a few hours to visit with fellow alumni of our Alma Mater at a farm outside Louisville. The skies turned nasty but we managed a good time nonetheless.
And we capped it all off with five hours behind the wheel driving into the sunset. I am very excited to visit one of my favorite churches tomorrow in St. Louis!
Today I woke up in Georgetown, KY. Why, you ask, in this small town? Well, the tart Taylor Swift had a lot to do with that. You see, we were going to stay in Cincinnati last night, having met with some employees there for dinner. However due to the twit pop star staging some kind of writhing revival at the Bengals sportsball stadium, every hotel room in town and for thirty miles out was booked. So we stayed in Georgetown. Familiar Georgetown.
This hamlet lies 45 miles south along I-75 from Cincy. It is familiar to us because we stayed here thirteen months ago on another road trip. In fact, our hotel this time is literally next door to that from last year. We settled in for the night and went to sleep (after a few gin and tonics).
This morning we attended Holy Mass at St. Francis DeSales Mission. The weather was stormy. It rained a fair bit. This church, in the bluegrass countryside about fifteen minutes outside town, is, I believe, a Novus Ordo parish where the FSSP also celebrate Mass. See picture below.
I am happy to report that the church looked twice as full as it did a year ago. Fwincisss Effect. Our morning sacrifice ended, we puttered around. Did some laundry. Got some lunch. And then we headed to the Ark.
The Ark Experience, as it is officially known, is a supposedly to-scale re-creation of. Noah’s Ark. except that Noah didn’t charge damn near $300 for five people to enter and $15 for parking. I went mainly to see the engineering of the structure and I will tell you that it does not disappoint from that angle. Just be advised that the entire “museum” of the Ark is curated by fundamentalist Protestants and is almost entirely wrong. Oh well, you live and learn.
I saw the above image and my wife said, “Come on, people. June is over!” Remember that Satan inverts everything.
Also, I was surprised at how many dinosaurs Noah brought onto the Ark considering that dinosaurs didn’t exist. Don’t @ me.
Next up, St. Louis and the most beautiful parish church in all of the former United States.
Folks, I got off all that social media nonsense a while ago. Sorry but I'm not on Twitbook, Facepalm, YouHu, WingWang or any of the others. Maybe an event will happen to make me change my mind like Peter and Paul coming down with flaming swords and commanding it be so. Until then, read the blog and if you feel a comment is in order or you feel like sharing a tip or suggestion for a topic, email me at harvey@harveymillican.com.
Harvey Millican's Blog: Musings of a Trad Dad 