Sunday Masses yesterday in New Hampshire were a bit different from the usual observance of the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time / 13th Sunday after Pentecost.

Bishop Peter Libasci sent out a letter a few weeks ago calling for prayers and penances in atonement for the acts of violence in our country. He directed Catholics to:
(1) make a partial fast on Friday, August 12, and restrict the use of meat to one meal;
(2) pray the Sunday Mass with the propers "in time of war"
(3) offer Mass on Monday with the greatest possible solemnity, despite the lack of the holy day obligation.
(4) make acts of devotion in honor of our Lady's Assumption.

His letter is on-line at the diocesan website.

As it happens, I was up in NH yesterday as a volunteer at the brand new EF parish in Nashua, St. Stanislaus Church. It's unusual to offer a 2nd-class votive Mass on a Sunday, but the pastor confirmed that there is a rubric which foresees such a possibility, if the bishop should call for it. So a choir of eight mostly young people sang the chant propers for a Missa Cantata, and the pastor presented the Mass with the penitential aspects that pertain to it: with no Gloria, and with violet vestments.

The church was formerly a national parish, but was merged with a neighbor about 15 years ago; since then, it has been kept open as an adoration chapel and the site of a food bank. Now it is again a parish on its own, with a new mission. Here are some photos from the first Sunday Mass on August 7, with 375 souls attending: