ALONG WITH THE celebration of the Eucharist, the center-point of every Catholic Mass, a series of additional celebrations took place during the 10 a.m. Sunday Mass on Oct. 20 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in La Habra.
The Mass was celebrated in honor of the Rev. Msgr. Justin MacCarthy, Pastor Emeritus of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who served as OLG’s Pastor for 35 years. The Most Reverend Kevin W. Vann, Bishop of the Diocese of Orange, was the main celebrant.
In June, Msgr. MacCarthy was honored for the 60th anniversary of his ordination.
“Our long-time parishioners at Our Lady of Guadalupe have many edifying stories of Msgr. MacCarthy’s excellent leadership of this parish,” said Fr. William Goldin, Parochial Administrator of Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Habra. “In his more than three decades of service to our church, Msgr. MacCarthy was a truly good shepherd.”
A special chalice, recently purchased for the parish by an anonymous benefactor, was shown publicly for the first time during the Mass and blessed by Bishop Vann. Dedicated in Msgr. MacCarthy’s honor, the chalice is a replica of the “Ardagh Chalice,” considered one of the most sacred treasures of the early Irish Church, Fr. Goldin said.
Before the collection was taken up, the chalice was brought forward by Kathy Garcia, a devoted long-time parishioner and volunteer, and Scott Miller, interim business manager at OLG and long-time parishioner, and blessed with holy water and then used for the first time during the Mass.
“It’s a great day for me,” Bishop Vann said just prior to the concluding rites of the Mass. “I’m very grateful to be here with you today, and especially to honor Msgr. MacCarthy. When I first came here, he was one of the first priests I met. He has been a real friend and a helper and a partner in many, many ways.”
Modeled in the style of late Roman tableware, the original “Ardagh Chalice” (housed in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin) is believed to be more than 1,200 years old and was discovered in the 1800s by a man digging for potatoes near Ardagh, Co. Limerick, Ireland.
With Msgr. MacCarthy being from Ireland, dedicating the chalice in his name is a fitting tribute, Fr. Goldin said.
THE MASS WAS CELEBRATED IN HONOR OF THE REV. MSGR. JUSTIN MACCARTHY, PASTOR EMERITUS OF OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE, WHO SERVED AS OLG’S PASTOR FOR 35 YEARS. A CHALICE MODELED AFTER THE ORIGINAL “ARDAGH CHALICE” (HOUSED IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRELAND IN DUBLIN) WAS DEDICATED IN HIS NAME. PHOTOS BY YUAN WANG/DIOCESE OF ORANGE
“The chalice will remain here in Msgr. MacCarthy’s honor for many years to come,” Fr. Goldin said. “We’ll use it from now on for major feast days, such as Christmas, Easter, and Our Lady of Guadalupe, our Patronal Feast. So, it will be the ‘Msgr. Justin MacCarthy Chalice’ going forward.”
The replica belonging to Our Lady of Guadalupe was crafted in 1914 in Dublin, Ireland, and is itself a prized antique and a fine example of Irish ecclesiastical silver, Fr. Goldin said.
Each Sunday at the 10 a.m. Mass, Our Lady of Guadalupe’s 4-person professional choir, the OLG Schola Cantorum, inspires the congregation with sacred music. Connie Salazar serves as the OLG Director of Music. But for this special Mass, the Schola Cantorum increased to nine members and was accompanied
by professional harpists and a tubular bell player. The OLG Schola Cantorum singers for this Mass were as follows: Sopranos: Tamara Bevard, Rebecca Tomasko, and Anna Schubert; Altos: Emily Border and Stephanie Shepson; Tenors: Jon Lee Keenan and David Morales; and the Basses were: Dylan Gentile and Abdiel Gonzales. The harps were played by Liesl Erman and Elisabeth Zosseder, and the tubular bells were played by Austin Cernosek.
The OLG Schola Cantorum sang selections from the “Westminster Mass,” a 21st century classical Mass setting by Roxanna Panufnik which features harps and tubular bells. This Mass was composed for the Catholic Church’s own Westminster Cathedral in London, England, to honor the 75th birthday of Cardinal Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster from 1976 until his death in 1999. At this Mass, the OLG Schola Cantorum also sang Claudio Monteverdi’s Beatus Vir and Johannes Brahms’ Geistliches Lied.
FOR THIS SPECIAL MASS, THE SCHOLA CANTORUM INCREASED TO 9-MEMBERS AND WAS ACCOMPANIED BY PROFESSIONAL HARPISTS AND A TUBULAR BELL PLAYER.
In addition to Bishop Vann, the concelebrants of the Mass included Fr. William Goldin, Fr. Gastón Mendiola-Arroyo, Parochial Vicar of OLG, Fr. Michael Pontarelli, Pastor of St. Juliana Falconieri in Fullerton, and Fr. Henry Stephan, O.P., a priest of the Province of St. Joseph of the Dominican Friars, who was visiting La Habra to be the guest speaker at Fr. Goldin’s “Catholics Invade the Bar” series the following Wednesday.