Monday, July 11, 2016

Worthily Celebrating the Mass Outdoors: A Gallery of Reader-Submitted Photos

In response to my article "Worthily Celebrating the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass Outdoors" (May 23, 2016), many readers sent me photos of their own. These included some of the most beautiful images of outdoor liturgies I have ever seen, as well as a couple of items of great historic interest. Without further ado, I now share them with NLM's readership.

Outdoor Masses with European Scouts

Mass in Ireland (also, the next three photos)



















The Portable Altar

I had mentioned the portable altars made by St. Joseph's Apprentice, and fortunately I have photos to share of the wilderness model, which includes an altar stone.




Historic Photos

Father (later Msgr.) John J. Crowley, the “Desert Padre,” saying Mass at the Smithsonian hut on the summit of Mt. Whitney with Harry Clinch in September of 1934. (Charles Shelton, photo) Fr. Crowley’s parish boundaries extended from Mt. Whitney down to Death Valley. Lake Crowley, near Bishop and Mammoth, California, was named in his honor.  His altar server in this photo, Harry Clinch, was ordained in 1936 and eventually became Bishop of Monterey.

Fr. Hubbard celebrates Mass in a volcano crater
From reader Greg Cranham:

Fr. Bernard Rosecrans Hubbard, SJ (1888–1962) was an American geologist and explorer who popularized the Alaskan wilderness in American media during the middle of the 20th century. Known as "the Glacier Priest", he was a Jesuit priest, head of the Department of Geology at the University of Santa Clara, California, and for a time was the highest-paid lecturer in the world, leading 31 expeditions into Alaska and the Arctic.

One of Fr. Hubbard’s assistants in the photo lab at Santa Clara was a Jesuit Brother who later taught geology at Loyola High School in Los Angeles.  Since he wasn’t a priest, I don’t have expedition Mass photos from the late 1970s.  Bro. Robert McDermott did inspire me and many others to go into the field of Geology.  May both these great explorers rest in peace.

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