Catholic Churches
 

New to the Villages. Interested in a Catholic Church. Can someone give us some ideas of what is around and the times and types (solemn, guitar, etc)

There is St. Timothy's near Spanish Springs. AND St. Vincent de Paul near the southern part of The Villages is just finishing a new church. And St. Marks is a little north and west of The Villages.

All more traditional. Not too much in the way of contemporary music. I long for a good hearty Amen, A aaaa men in music every once in awhile, but hey...I feel His presence. Welcome to you.

Hope you will love it here.

Have been to all three. All seem very conservative and traditional, compared to where I came from. St. Timothy seemed too formal (organ music, etc.). St. Mark's was very nice but the pastor seemed a little too rigid for me. St. Vincent de Paul seemed friendliest, new pastor gives thought provoking homilies, music is piano and guitar (with occasional harmonica), choir soloist is excellent. New church will open in August which should make things even better.
All three seem to be "no touch" churches, i.e. No hand shakes, let alone hugs (heaven forbid) at the sign of peace. Head nods only, please. Not used to this. Also, people back their cars in to spaces in the parking lot, to facilitate a quick getaway. Is this an east coast thing?

By the way, St. Vincent used to have 9 weekend Masses, 4 Saturday Vigil, and 5 on Sunday. Will be cutting back to 5 total once new church building opens.

I miss the hugging too, Zonerboy.

We have been going to St. Marks since it opened it doors and had services in what is now the church hall for functions. We also felt St. Tims rigid and somewhat cliquish but that was us. We LOVE St. Marks and there never seems to be a shortage of hugs, like any place you are new to, give it time and really get to know the people, join in on some of the groups. We love the Pauline fathers at St. Marks they are actually less rigid than the diocesan priests and more humble. That said hope you find a church you feel good about :) I'm glad we joined St. Marks. Oh and Welcome to The Villages!!!

I have to agree with entry. I attended St Tim's but wasn't for me.

In my humble opinion :

I went to St Mark's the Evangelist and have been very pleased. The church,parish participation and ministries are first rate. MY opinion on the Pastor is that he is among the BEST I have seen in 61 years of Catholicism.
His sermons (to me) have always had a meaning. During the sermons he invariably tosses in a zinger that has the audiences laughing out loud .
That is good communication

The music has been good but due to a new music minister -I would say it is incredible. Guest musicians are welcomed and really add to the Mass

Yes some times Father does express his frustration that others don't have the same reverence as he does.

Perhaps if this offends you then there are many churches that can accommodate your unique needs.

If you want to dine and dash (put in a good 40 minutes)
then this church is NOT for you!

Perhaps I did not give St. Mark's a long enough trial. I found nothing "offensive" at all about the church, the people, or the pastor (reverence can be expressed in many different ways, IMHO). I just found St V de P better suited to my tastes, which are not that unique.
Different strokes for different folks, as they say.
Blessings,
Zonerboy

Did where you live in The Villages play apart in what church you attend?

i think the "no touch" thing started a couple of years ago when everyone was scared to death about bird flu or some flu that was threatening the elderly....i see plenty of hugs at st v's after the mass among friends :) looking forward to the opening of our new church building!

For me, yes.
St VDePaul is the closest.
I just wish it was cart accessible....

The restraint in the "Sign of Peace" comes from the Vatican. The Sign ofPeace was getting out of hand and the norm now is a quick nod or wave to others, only shake hands with those right next to you. Disturbs the sacredness of the time of the Mass. An otion discussed was moving it to before the Offeratory. Read it in "The Wanderer" Happy with this. One church back in St. Mary's County had everyone running around shaking everyones hand.

St. Mark's
 

While St. Vincent de Paul's was under construction, we decided to try to attend St. Mark's. I found the church to be beautiful and very spacious. There was never a problem to find a parking space when the snowbirds came back.We always had to fight for a space at St. Vincent's. Some mornings we had to leave 40 minutes earlier just to get to church on time. There were times we had to sit outside on those very uncomfortable blue plastic chairs. Now that the new Church is opened we will try and go back to St. Vincent's starting tomorrow. We plan on going to the noon mass. I do realize that parking is limited at St. Vincent's as it doesn't look like the parking lot can accommodate all the cars but we will go and try it. We did feel like St. Mark's was a good fit for us and we enjoyed all the sermons. The choir director at St. Mark's has a beautiful voice and we love the song selection he sings. St. Mark's is much further away like 25 minutes away.. We did attend this church for 5 months.

went to four pm mass saturday at our new church. did not have trouble parking but on grass...the church was packed as there are now only five masses per weekend and when snowbirds are here i fear we will be back to square one unless they add some masses for that season. as usual, father peter's sermon was great. the new building is simple and so far i miss the statues etc but maybe that will come...

Regardless of where you live in TV, I think you should visit all three a few times in order to determine which one provides the most uplifting services. We live closer to one but prefer another because we like their priest's homilies and their overall music style.