Bethune Catholic

Since our paster at St. Catherine's is on vacation in his homeland of Ireland, we have had some trouble finding or getting to daily Mass. St. Catherine's has daily Mass M-F at 9:00AM. It is one of the few rural churches that has Mass every weekday - and at the same time everyday. I understand that some parishes shift the Mass time so that more people can get to Mass at least once during the week, however we have found that in general, the same people show up no matter what the time. So for us, having Mass at the same time everyday is convenient to keeping a schedule and making sure we get to Mass.

However, with Fr. John away, we have had an adventure or two in trying to get to Mass. Take last night for instance. Mass at St. Peter's in Cheraw was at 5:30 PM. Cheraw is about 35 miles from Bethany. We all piled into the car at 4:45 - I had to put some air in the tires on the way. The first gas station we passed had a truck parked in front of the air compressor, so I just drove on to the next station down the street. This air pump was available, so I put my 4 quarters in and tried to fill our flat. 2 problems: this hose did not have a pressure gage on it, so I didn't know how much to fill it (our gage was in the other car.). Secondly, the air hose had an abnormally large head, and I couldn't quite get it to engage our stem properly. The result: we lost more air than we put in-at least by appearances. And we lost the dollar.

At this point, I went back to the first gas station. I had to go in and make change for the air pump. When I came out, this other fellow was filling his trailor tires. He finished before the air time expired, so he gave me the hose, ('saving' me a dollar). This time I was able to finish filling the tire.

By this time getting to Mass on time was a lost cause. However, we realized we would still be in time to receive the Holy Eucharist, so maybe we should make a go at it. Before we could get on the main road however, we were caught at a railroad crossing - destroying all hopes of getting to Cheraw in time.

This was my fault. We should have left earlier, but I pushed things so closely so I could get more work done - eventually cutting everything too close. This shows the value of a regular schedule. Today, we will try to make the noon Mass in Cheraw. We will leave in plenty of time.

UPDATE: We didn't leave in plenty of time today, and then we got behind a truck doing 1/2 the speed limit (with no passing allowed) for a good part of the way. We arrived just in time to receive Holy Communion. Tomorrow we try again.....

From Bethany, the small holding in Bethune...

Oremus pro invicem!