This month's subscriber's submission deserves its own blog. The following story is written by Teresa Jones and Cecilia Bryan. As nothing is a coincidence, it was shared with Pompeii Rising that none other than Jacksonville's chaplain, Fr. Christopher Leith, gave Mrs. Laura Ann Jones the Apostolic Blessing during his time in Kansas. Thank you for sharing these beautiful memories and pictures.
My parents, Jim and Laura Ann Jones, met at the officer’s club at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida, at the end of 1956. My father, a convert, was already taking Catholic instruction with his chaplain. Once it was clear that Dad was “entering the fold,” the two settled pretty quickly on a wedding date.
The joyful nuptials took place at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Jacksonville, Florida, in April of 1957.
Shortly thereafter, while stationed on the West coast in the 1960’s, my parents, like many conscientious and faithful Catholics of the age, were troubled by notable changes in their local parish due to the upheaval of traditional norms before, during, and in the wake of Vatican II.
And thus commenced their life of seeking Tradition. At first, they parish hopped to find conservative parishes. Then, they joined together with other traditional-minded folks to establish a school. They become involved in traditional organizations. They moved around the country, always seeking the same traditional Liturgy in which their married life had begun.
After settling again in Jacksonville in the 1980’s and attending St. Michael’s for a while, eventually they decided to make the weekly trek to Orlando for Sunday Mass. The community there morphed into a Society of St. Pius X mission and then into the beautiful priory and church in Sanford. Before the church in Sanford was realized, though, Mom and Dad followed their youngest kids to St. Marys, Kansas, where Mom was recently laid to rest and where Dad is patiently waiting to follow her.
Ironically, with the renovation of Holy Rosary in Jacksonville under the leadership of the SSPX, this beautiful church where they began their life together will once again share the splendor of the traditional liturgy which they spent so much of their married life seeking. What a blessing!
