50 years strong

One of my favorite churches is the Saint Anselm Abbey Church.  The church is unique in many ways, namely that it is round, has 16 arched beams, and doesn't have a lot of the features found in churches like statues or Stations of the Cross.  But, it is an amazing temple of prayer and I spent countless hours in that church when I was a student there attending Mass and Vespers (Evening Prayer).  There is a certain smell to the church and whenever I walk in, I feel right at home.

The Abbey Church was dedicated on July 11, 1966 and this past week, the monks of Saint Anselm Abbey marked the golden anniversary.  The idea for the church came from the former archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Richard Cushing who said the campus didn't have a "heart" when he was speaking at the installation of Abbot Gerald McCarthy, OSB in 1963.  He then pledged $500,000 towards the building of a new church!  One of the monks joked with me that the Archdiocese of Boston must still be paying that off!

Trinity High School has a special connection to the church as we of course have our annual Baccalaureate Mass there and many of our faculty and staff are alums of the college.

If you're interested, you can read Abbot Mark Cooper's homily at the anniversary Mass here.