This past Sunday, on the feast of the Assumption, His Excellency Joseph Perry, auxiliary bishop of Chicago, celebrated a Pontifical Mass in the traditional rite at the Cathedral Basilica of Ss Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. This was the 21st annual Assumption Mass organized by Mater Ecclesiae parish in Berlin, New Jersey, and the pastor, Fr Robert Pasley, and his many collaborators did an absolutely outstanding job. The Mass was also celebrated as the culmination of the first choral festival of The Catholic Sacred Music Project; Sir James MacMillan, one of the best known composers and conductors of sacred music in our times, who had given a presentation at the festival, led the choir in singing Ralph Vaughn William’s Mass in G-minor as the ordinary. I was fortunate enough to be present for the Mass myself, and it was very moving to see such an enormous number of people (over 2,000) honoring Our Lady on Her greatest feast day.
We wish to thank Bishop Perry, His Excellency Nelson Perez, Archbishop of Philadelphia, and Fr. Dennis Gill, the rector of the cathedral, for their truly paternal solicitude in granting the use of the cathedral for this wonderful event. Also, we thank one of our favorite photographers, Allison Girone, for sharing her magnificent pictures with us once again. You can see more of them on her professional Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GPhotographyandFilms
