I'm in Mobile, Alabama for a few days, where most of my mother's family lives, so I attended Mass Saturday afternoon at the stately Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.
The congregation was under 50 people, as the downtown area was practically empty on a steamy Saturday afternoon. (You know it's humid when you step out of an air-conditioned store into the parking lot and your glasses fog instantly!)
An enjoyable aspect to the Mass was that the priest and servers took the time to make the processions move calmly and slowly, giving us time to sing three or even four verses of the hymns. (Efficiency of motion is not the goal, men!) The hurried clergy up North need to learn something from these guys. The choices of music were OK: the hymns were "Be Thou My Vision" and "O God our Help in Ages Past", and the Mass Ordinary music was from the Mass in honor of Pope Paul VI and the Danish Amen Mass.
Mobile's definitely a Baptist town, but the Church was here first when the city was settled by the Spanish and French, and I'm glad to see her continuing growth here.
[Some pictures of the Basilica's very nice windows are on-line at stainedglass.org.]
Up North? I would move slower if we were to use the same hymns they use.
There's something about "hymns" like Gather Us In that make you want to get to the sanctuary faster so that the music will end...!
Mobile is not a Baptist town. Catholics have always ran it, and even though some Baptists did come to town during the war, we still do run it. The minute Baptists actually do take over is the day I leave