Parish church decorations

Posted on 27 December 2008 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

How about some photos of your parish church’s decorations?

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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28 Responses to Parish church decorations

  1. Thomas says:
    27 December 2008 at 3:30 pm

    My home parish is St. Francis Xavier’s in Parkersburg, W.Va., a truly beautiful and traditional church. If anyone has Christmas photos plese post one. I proposed to my wife in front of the Nativity scene at St. Joseph’s altar.

  2. Jayna says:
    27 December 2008 at 3:57 pm

    I’ll have to see if some of the photographers floating around the church during Midnight Mass will send me any pictures (I am the webmaster of the parish site, after all).

    I can explain it rather shortly, though; I never knew that many poinsettias existed.

  3. Dominus Vobiscum says:
    27 December 2008 at 4:06 pm

    I’ll go first…http://summorumpontificumak.blogspot.com/

    And have yourself a very Merry (and Fontanini) Christmas.

    Sincerely,
    Dominus Vobiscum

  4. David says:
    27 December 2008 at 4:38 pm

    I will send some once I get them off my camera. Do yo want them embedded or attached as an email?

  5. Surf Buddha says:
    27 December 2008 at 4:45 pm

    I took this picture in the dark of church with an 8 second exposure:

  6. Surf Buddha says:
    27 December 2008 at 4:47 pm

    I tried to embed with no luck!

    here is the link:

    http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y133/SurfBuddha/Christmas2008118.jpg

  9. Diane at Te Deum says:
    27 December 2008 at 7:31 pm

    Wasn’t sure if this was a link post or if Father wanted them mailed in.

    So, here goes, with more to be posted when I get through editing them:

    Christmas 2008 – Midnight Mass in Extraordinary Form at Grotto: Photopost 1

    Christmas 2008 – Midnight Mass in Extraordinary Form at Grotto: Photopost 2

  10. Charivari Rob says:
    27 December 2008 at 7:35 pm

    I e-mailed Father Z. with mine this morning. It wasn’t until I read these posts that I remembered my little-used myspace page, and realized that I did have somewhere to post/link it and not drain Father’s resources! Maybe my brain will come back to me in the new year! ;^)

    http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=346993627&albumID=935873&imageID=9770956

    This was some time in advance of our Christmas Eve Mass, with two or three dozen in early to pray.

    I stopped in back to snap this and a couple more up at the manger. I’m only starting to experiment with the camera function on my new phone. Entirely too many options, so I was having problems with light and holding still enough. The exposure actually works out well with this scene, though.

  11. Geo F. says:
    27 December 2008 at 9:14 pm

    This is from Christmas Day 2008 :

    Christmas Day 2008

  14. wwfmike says:
    27 December 2008 at 10:33 pm

    If you click my name below, you can see pics of our altar, which I decorated myself.

  15. Monica says:
    27 December 2008 at 11:09 pm

    Are you talking about the decorations in my Virginia Beach parish, St. Gregory the Great? You know, the parish that took the opportunity to move the tabernacle behind a brick wall to make way for the Holiday Tree forest up at the altar a few years ago (in hopes that nobody would notice that the tabernacle remained BEHIND the brick wall and was NEVER moved back to it’s original and more visible location in the sanctuary after Christmas. No explanations for the permanent hiding of the tabernacle were ever given to parishioners. Now, every advent season is a reminder of the time of year that our Lord was taken and hidden from us by our pastor and parish leaders. I guess theology and liturgy can be confusing and at opposite ends of the spiritual spectrum sometimes…if you follow the south eastern Virginia model of Catholicism. My parish even earned itself a feature on one of our local blogs for this unnecessary and unfavorable action and the tabernacle remains behind the wall with no explanation:

    http://annalsdesire.blogspot.com/2007/12/holy-liberace-o-tannenbaum-but-where-oh.html

    Christmas Trees should never be used for sinister activities like permanently moving and hiding tabernacles from unsuspecting parishioners.

  16. Maureen says:
    28 December 2008 at 11:15 am

    Re: above story

    That’s not only a sad and stupid action, but cowardly too. Sigh.

    Re: Christmas trees

    Loved the Holy Father’s line from the Psalms in his Midnight Mass homily, about “the trees of the wood come forth to Him and exult”!

  17. Brian Day says:
    28 December 2008 at 3:53 pm

    I took some pictures today after Mass. I down sized the pictures and posted them at Flickr.
    http://flickr.com/photos/17104318@N04/sets/72157611748450151/
    If anyone wants a high-res picture let me know at bd55 -AT- pacbell.net

    The church has been “semi-wreckovated”, but it does have the potential to be a great parish church.

  18. David Osterloh says:
    28 December 2008 at 6:23 pm

    Posted some good Christmas pics of my parish on my seldom used blog, ( I hope to get back to it this year) the folks put a lot of work into the nativity display every year, enjoy

    http://germanegyptian.blogspot.com/

  19. David Osterloh says:
    28 December 2008 at 6:25 pm

    P.S. add a comment if you drop in, just curious if anyone will look

    Thanks

  20. rosebudsal says:
    28 December 2008 at 10:48 pm

    These are from my parish. Our church is actually pretty simple, but elegant in it’s own way. I forgot to get a picture of the nativity, but it’s truly lovely and may try to get a shot on Thursday. I attended Midnight Mass at our Cathedral Basilica but didn’t get pictures of the church.

    Maria from Santa Fe.

  21. Fr. Jay Finelli says:
    29 December 2008 at 4:43 pm

    I guess I’m a bit late, but only had a chance to post some pictures to our parish website today. Anyway, you can find them here if you like: http://holyghostcc.org/?page_id=310&show=gallery

    God bless,
    Fr. Jay

  22. Joy says:
    29 December 2008 at 8:43 pm

    http://joysthoughtsfromnemo.blogspot.com/
    First Christmas at Shrine of St Rose of Lima in Quincy IL.

  23. Ed Casey says:
    29 December 2008 at 9:28 pm

    Merry Christmas. Our Lady of Victory’s sanctuary was beautifully decorated for the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord.

    OLV, Floral Park, NY

  24. Ann says:
    29 December 2008 at 11:35 pm

    fxr2, holy cow! What is that church? Awe-inspiring musical intro/message. I read a few of the bulletins. Strange words that seem vaguely familiar like “mortal sin” and “CCD” and “Ordinary”….I am assuming (sadly) this is not actually a Catholic parish, but SSPX? Can anyone clarify?

    http://www.stpeterrcc.com/

  25. Jennifer says:
    30 December 2008 at 12:06 am

    Ann,

    St Peter RCC is indeed a Catholic parish belonging to the Diocese of Camden, NJ.

  26. Florida Latin Rite says:
    30 December 2008 at 12:40 am

    Here are some pics from St Stephen in Pensacola, FL.

    http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=198236&l=145f4&id=565125436

  27. Julie D. says:
    30 December 2008 at 8:15 am

    Late to the party, but hopefully the photos will be pleasing … St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Dallas, Texas.

  28. Sheryl D. says:
    1 January 2009 at 12:01 pm

    Nativity of the Mother of God Ukrainian Catholic Church
    Springfield, Oregon

    http://laptopluddite.blogspot.com/2009/01/christmas-2008.html