The Mass in My Life

Rosemary Lunardini is a Catholic laywoman and professional writer who has written a memoir of her lifelong experience of the Mass. Growing up in the Midwest in the mid-twentieth century, she graduated in journalism from Ohio State University. She delayed a career after marriage until her children were ready for college, and then began working for publications at Dartmouth College. During these years, she earned a Master in Liberal Studies degree from Dartmouth, while working as associate editor of Dartmouth Medicine magazine. Two of her articles, including one on the housing needs of the elderly, won national awards.
During years of study and work, she was devoted to Catholic adult education, particularly bible study, and came to see more clearly the presence of the bible in the prayers of the Mass. In retirement she decided to examine the Mass more closely, from the viewpoint of a lay person in the pews. A saver of things old and good, she found abundant resources for this book in family letters, old missals and bible, and family mementoes. To these, her up-to-date library of Catholic books adds resources that keep her looking forward. While she looks at the Mass objectively through its prayers and actions, she finds the voice of personal experience in prayer and work that make this story her own. She believes that every Catholic has a personal experience of the Mass alongside the communal experience, and that her story is only one.
These days she continues to live in Hanover, N.H., with her husband, enjoying the visits of nine grandchildren.