A Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form in Louisville...

August 15, the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, will see the first Solemn High Mass to take place in Louisville in quite a number of years. Yours truly, along with two other archdiocesan clerics, will be serving as celebrant, deacon, and subdeacon, respectively. I have served as both M.C. and subdeacon before, and am familiar with the Solemn High, so am comfortable with it. I need to help the other two (deacon and subdeacon), as well as the other ministers (thurifer, acolytes, M.C., etc...) to learn their parts, however. Knowing that many of you who frequent this blog are well versed in the Extraordinary Form, I have a question: is anyone out there familiar with any helpful resources they could recommend that could be used by those learning the Solemn High (and the Extraordinary Form in general) for the first time? I'm familiar with the Fortescue and O'Connor books on rubrics, and find them helpful. What I'm looking for is perhaps any audio-visual resources (maybe even posted on the web), or any resources you may have used in teaching/learning the Solemn High/E.F. Any help would be appreciated. And if you are in the area on the 15th, join us for what will be the first Solemn High in years in our area at St. Martin's.

Whitetop Laurel Creek

A summer trip: a few days camping and fishing the Whitetop Laurel Creek just outside Damascus, VA along the Virginia Creeper and Appalachian Trails...

Otter Creek...

More Fishing Pics...

Some more - somewhat random - pics from Otter Creek. Less than 45 minutes away from downtown Louisville, it's been a nice retreat for me this summer. I spent some time exploring the upper stretches of the creek recently, focusing on the two or so miles of creek designated as "special trout water." Check it out...

Just below "The Pump House" where the military has set-up a pumping station to move water from the creek up to the military installation. It's the upstream boundary of the special trout section of the creek:


Some nice water - with several deep holes - a bit further downstream from the pump house:


Sunset over the creek. Evenings are a great time to be on the water:


Here's a few shots from the recent great weather we've had. Low temps and low humidity make for great time on the water. Here's a few shots from the area of the creek known as "Twin Bridges." It's normally off-limits but I recently gained permission to access the area. A buddy of mine and I fished this stretch last week, and were probably the only fishermen to hit this water for some time. Check it out: