St Mary of the Mills, Laurel, MD - First Sunday 7:30 AM (Latin, Novus Ordo)

I just received this nice email shown below:

Just wanted to see if you were interested in listing this once-a-month Latin Novus Ordo Mass at St Mary of the Mills, Laurel, MD 1st Sunday 7:30 AM

Thanks!

The truth is, I initially decided to list Masses that were to be offered each Sunday in the right menu -->. However, that is not a firm rule, so if YOU'D like a Mass listed, please send it on and I WILL list it (and have: see the right menu now!). I set up this blog as a service to YOU, and will try to assist any way that I can.

So, one might ask, what ARE the rules? The answer is simply, "there are NO firm rules!" So then, what branch of nihilism am I affiliated with? ;-o) The fact is I am NOT a nihilist!

I started this blog because a new Archbishop was named to the Archdiocese of Baltimore, His Excellency Edwin O'Brien. In one of his earliest meetings with his Priestly Council reported in the Catholic Review, he wondered aloud if there was a venue to publish the upcoming TLM Masses that would begin in response to Pope Benedict's Motu Proprio? Seeing an opportunity, I jumped at the chance and started this blog the following day.

Everyone "knows" that THE locale for documenting the TLM anywhere in the U.S. or Canada is the website of the Coalition in Support of Ecclesia Dei (which is linked in the header above and also linked here). The problem is, this is a printed document which arrives quarterly and often Masses that have disappeared are still listed and new Masses are not listed! So, the internet seems to be the venue of choice! So, it would seem a blog would be the natural choice for a clearinghouse of a sort... right?

Soon, however, problems arose. I would learn via email that a Mass had begun weekly and would list it. In time, the Pastor (or the Associate) would leave, and the Mass was not offered anymore (Our Lady's Church in Leonardtown, MD is such a one). Or, in one case, a Mass (such as the one at St. James the Greater in WV ) seemingly goes through a "feast or famine" cycle that depends on the appearance of a particular Order of Priests. Thus, those who click the website link will find nothing listed in detail, although over Easter, as an example, there may be Masses offered each day for two continuous weeks and the person may miss that post!

To respond, I set up a calendar which links to "Special Events" which USERS can program on their own; they simply need my "click" to make them public! From time to time, I have gotten requests to place Events on the site, or Users have taken the time to do so (at St. Bartholomew's in Manchester, MD, for example, on more than one occasion). That too turns into a "hit or miss" proposition if I don't get an email informing me that an event was listed (I have since turned on the email 'notice' toggle).

So, the only REAL rule is then to search this blog in the upper left corner for a particular search string. I see that folks visit, click the link to St. James the Greater, for example, and find nothing listed on their Parish website. However, had they searched Saint James the Greater in this blog's "blog search", they would have discovered an entire menu of Masses over Christmas as one of the returned posts!

And so it goes. If there is one rule, that is it!