Saturday, June 6, 2009

65. St. John the Evangelist (Now the Parish of St. John the Evangelist-Our Lady of Peace Church)

NOTE: In 2015 Our Lady of Peace Church closed down and was merged into St. John the Evangelist as part of the Archdiocese of New York's great closings & mergers of 2015. Only St. John's will remain open for regular Masses and other events. This combined parish is called St. John the Evangelist-Our Lady of Peace Church.

(mass times & church info last updated 03/25/2016)
Address: 348 E. 55th St. (@ 1st Ave.)
Phone: 212.753.8418
Weekend Mass Times: 
Sat: 5:30pm (English)
Sun: 7:30am, 9am, 10:30am, 12pm, 5:30pm (all English)
Weekday Mass Times: 
Mon-Fri: 7am, 8:15am, 12:10pm, 5:30pm (all English)
Sat: 8:15am, 12:10pm (both English)
Japanese Mass: 
2nd Saturdays: 1pm
Confession:
Mon-Fri: 11:30am-12pm, 5pm-5:30pm
Sat: 11:30am-12pm, 4:30pm-5:25pm
Exposition: Fri: 8:45am-12pm, 12:45pm-5pm
Benediction: 5pm
Miraculous Medal Novena: Mondays following the 12:10 and 5:30pm Masses
Rosary: Mon, Wed: following the 5:30pm Mass
Links:
Official Website
About the Organ
About St. John the Evangelist
Cathedral of St. John the Divine (Episcopalian)

(June 30, 2009)Sorry, y'all.

I visited this church back in the early part of June and have found myself not only gloomy due to the previously scribed business, but devastatingly absorbed with work and side projects (probably a good thing, not giving me a whole lot of time to focus on the sad,) and I've just gotten back after two weeks of being on the road for work. This is basically a post meant to be written and posted a month ago...

SATURDAY MORNING DAILY MASS
I have to apologize for the recent whining and complaining. What am I doing? It's time I turn more to prayer and contemplation rather than wasting time and energy with my vocalizing my sorrows

I arrived at St. John the Evangelist optimistic for the weekend, thinking this would be my first of four new churches to visit this June (it turned out to be the only one,) having come to this neighborhood with plans to meet some friends to cross the Queensborough Bridge, and the weekend ahead of me to accomplish a great deal of tasks I'd set before myself. As soon as I entered the church I knew I liked it immediately. It was modern, but bright and yet intimate, with a great deal of space and natural light. Interesting art on the walls and sculpture scattered about. Instantly I liked being here and was glad to have come.

Later, I met my friends and we crossed the bridge and headed to Studio Square in Long Island City. This was a good time with good friends (something I needed for sure,) but I went ahead and enjoyed myself too much and then later, at the behest of another friend, drunkenly decided to join him at a crazy Superhero party in Williamsburg. I arrived home at five in the morning (miraculously safe!) and slept through most of my Sunday, heading to Mass late in the day at a church I realized only too late didn't offer services in the evening. The entire week after I played catch-up with my work, trying to make-up what I had failed to do the entire weekend. The following weekend was wrecked by a similar situation I got myself into Friday night, finding me working my ass off Saturday and Sunday just to get everything done before I headed out of town. It was a busy, reckless couple of weeks, caused all by myself, my poor choices, my unfocused quality.

Regardless of this, my experience at St. John the Evangelist was nice. It seemed to have a strong sense of community and was much smaller than other East Side churches. I was able to find peace and comfort here, though mistakenly I took none of this with me, merely cast it all aside as I walked back out the doors and towards treachery, nefariousness, disgrace and sin.

The other day, after a jam packed week of 9-5ing it at my job and coming home to work on a side project until I fell asleep, then waking up to do it all over again; followed by two weeks of 18-20 hour days working out of town, I finally looked up from it all and realized my relationship was over. It was all very stark. Forget my private (and public!) rantings and angst, never mind the shameless self-pity; pure and simple, it is grief, the suffering of a loss not only of some kind of present happiness but also a future I clearly saw myself in, and with the loss of the present, and the vanishing of that future, my way becomes murkier than before, clarity is gone.