Fr. Earle Fox celebrated the mass and preached, as he has for 8 of the 9 Sunday services since the mission was launched on November 21st. Fr. Fox preached on the theme of the rule of the saints over the world.

The start of the service was delayed 20 minutes as Fr. Fox and several of those attending were late in arriving because they were delayed or detoured by the police who were engaged in practice exercises of blocking the city's streets ahead of Thursday's inauguration of President George Bush to his second term.

Ms. Janet Durig, Executive Director of the Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center, gave a talk at 1 p.m. describing the counseling work of the center and some of the individual stories of young women who come to the center.

Ms. Durig invited the group to take home a baby bottle provided by the center and to fill it with change over the next two months. The bottle is then to be returned to the mission and turned over to the pregnancy center. She also encouraged those in attendance to volunteer to work at the center.

The baby bottle program is an annual fund-raising effort of the center, which counsels women with unwanted pregnancies, provides free baby supplies to needy young mothers, and also teaches abstinence in the public and private schools of the District of Columbia.

Those in attendance were asked to take a baby bottle home and deposit spare change in it over the next two months and bring it back to the mission in March, where the contributions will be turned over to the center.

Fr. Fox also spoke to the chapter about British atheist Antony Flew's recent statements that he now has concluded that one can make a credible case for the existence of God from scientific evidence alone, based largely on intelligent design. There was a lively discussion afterward of the growing acceptance among scientists of the intelligent design explanation for the existence of the universe.

Four newcomers attended the morning mass, including the mission's first visitor who lives in the neighborhood near Church of the Holy City. The visitor came in response to an ad that ran in the Washington Post a week earlier. Six new visitors to the mission were among those who attended in the afternoon.

So far, more than 50 people have visited or supported the mission with contributions or other help since it began. The mission averaged 10 people in attendance at morning mass during its first 10 services (including a church blessing on Tuesday evening, December 14).

The people at the mission prepared a large buffet of food and beverages for the members of the Forward in Faith chapter. The food was served ahead of the chapter meeting.

The mission is planning an Ash Wednesday service in the main church of Church of the Holy City on February 9th at 12:15 p.m.

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