Our family started to come to Holy Cross for weekday Mass on major holy days back when Wayne Haney was taking services here part time. There wasn’t any other Episcopal parish in driving distance, or anywhere in the state as far as I know, that had services on most of the days of obligation during the week. I think that’s still the case. Most of our children were at home back then, and we would often make up the bulk of the congregation.
Â
After Father McCausland was called, he used to quiz our children about the history of whatever feast we were celebrating. He started out with easy questions like, Who ascended into heaven today? (on the feast of the Ascension), but then we graduated to harder ones like, Who did our Lady visit today (on the feast of the Visitation). We had a 25 minute drive to the McCauslands’ house, during which I would try to cram the children for the quiz. They usually didn’t do too well, but at one triumphant Michaelmas Day service they identified the colors of the wings on all nine ranks of angels.
Â
Eventually we transferred our membership here.  Fernanda and I have a pretty strong Catholic orientation, which to me means recognizing that church unity is more important than personal preferences. There seems to me to be a Catholic spirit about Holy Cross which has been nurtured by Father McCausland, but has other sources, one of which may just be the diversity of the congregation. You can detect it in the sense of holiness in this room, the silence before Mass starts, the dignity with which people approach the Blessed Sacrament, the respect people show to each other, the attentiveness that people give to the vicar’s challenging homilies, and the general sense that we are here not for a social event or a performance but to participate in that great sacrifice of our Lord’s giving of himself to us.
Â
Our family has benefited from this in many ways. One of the most important is the impact on our children of being repeatedly exposed to the combination of the warmth of the personal relationships and the solemnity of the ritual. It’s hard to teach children that joy and seriousness are not mutually exclusive, and their weekly experience of how you all move from being cheerful conversationalists downstairs before the service, to being humble recipients of God’s forgiveness as we prepare to receive Communion afterward, is a powerful example to them of what our lives have to encompass if we are to grow into the stature of Christ. Because of their experiences here, I think all of our children will remember all their lives the very serious claim the Church has on them in regard to their duty to others and devotion to God. We hope to be able to give this mission whatever support it needs to continue its work here.
Â