Thanks to Michael Inman who wrote to me about LifeTeen (more on that later) and directed to me to one of the essays on this site, which also concerned a LifeTeen Mass. But once you start reading, you probably won't be able to stop. From the site's author:
Around October of 1998, somebody in my parish decided that, before Sunday Mass, we should introduce ourselves to someone we didn't know. Since I am hopelessly shy, I simply could not bring myself to do this, so I decided to attend Sunday Mass elsewhere until they got tired of it. They haven't tired of it yet, sad to say. I've been attending a different parish each week, and I have found it to be a very enlightening experience. I am learning quite a bit about the great diversity that can be found in the Catholic Church today, and in the long run, I will likely benefit greatly.
The articles below originally appeared on CompuServe's Catholic Online forum and in the Catholic Online discussion area on Internet. They were favorably received, so I have collected them here for convenience and reference.
I offer one important tip for the reader: I take God very seriously. I take the Church very seriously. I take the Mass and the sacraments very seriously. I take myself not at all seriously. Consider your tour guide on this journey as comic relief.
What one reader says:
"Actually, the entire series should be captured and recorded as a rare, first-person snapshot of real-life Catholic worship in the US at century's end. It is exactly the sort of historical observation that is most ephemeral and yet most revealing. And, for inveterate 'church-hoppers' like me, it's also endlessly fascinating (although sometimes morbidly so-- I admire your courage more than that of a restaurant critic, sir!)."
Ditto. Go visit. You may not agree with the writer's assessments of the liturgies nor with his aesthetic preferences, but what he experiences is interesting enough on its own. (Don't start with the pieces near the top, though. Most of them don't seem to be there. Go down to the bottom and work your way up.)