This week, I went to the 5p mass at St Giles. The north end of Oak Park is by far the most suburban section of our village. It largely lacks multi-family housing and is far enough away from the two “L” lines that run through Oak Park that people are far enough away that the residents are dependent on cars for their commuting. This means, among other things, that the parish has a good-sized parking lot and the parishioners are whiter than even St Edmund’s (although, I should note, the parish is still not completely white).
The most notable thing about the parish, I would say, is the architecture. The interior of the church is gorgeous, showing some prairie style influences in the design, with a curious marble canopy over the sanctuary. And the sound system worked, meaning that I could actually understand what the priest was saying. But I didn’t find the worship especially uplifting. Maybe it’s me.
One other observation: This is now two weeks in a row that the Apostle’s Creed was used rather than the Nicene Creed. I wonder if, with the other changes in liturgical language, that parishes are shifting to the shorter creed (and its lack of the problematic “for us men and for our salvation”).
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