Julianna Mueller - Church Visit #1

Julianna Mueller - Church visit #1

Church name: St. Peter’s Catholic Church

Church address: 1891 Kaneville Road Geneva, IL (13 miles from Wheaton College)

Date attended: January 19, 2014

Church category: More liturgical

Describe the worship service you attended.  How was it similar or different from your regular context?

            One way that the Catholic service was different from my regular Baptist church context was that it included many different rituals.  The entrance of the priest and deacon seemed elaborate when compared to my regular context.  At the beginning of the Catholic service, young people dressed in white robes entered behind the priest and deacon.  One young man was holding a pole with a cross at the end aloft, and the priest was holding a Bible over his head as he walked.  At my church, the pastor just walks onto the stage after the opening songs.  Another difference was the call and response form of prayer that occurred between the priest and the congregation throughout the service.  For example, the priest said, “Lift up your hearts,” and the congregation responded, “We lift them to the Lord.”  In my church, there is usually only one-way communication between the pastor and the congregation in that he speaks and we listen.  One similarity between my regular context and the Catholic service was the inclusion of music before, during, and after the service.  However, the style of music differed.  The music during the Catholic service came from a hymnbook, while my church uses contemporary Christian songs.

What did you find most interesting or appealing about the worship service?

            I found it interesting that the congregation knew certain things by memory.  They knew when to kneel and how to respond when the priest said a call and response prayer.  Also, they recited the Nicene Creed and the Lord’s Prayer by memory.  The church bulletin did not contain any information about the service, such as the words to prayers, and nothing was shown on the screens behind the altar.  I wonder if this is a characteristic of Catholic services in general, or if it is unique to the one I attended. 

What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?

            I found the sermon to be the most challenging part of the service.  When I am listening to sermons, I expect there to be a main message based on Scripture that the pastor expounds upon.  The sermon given by the priest at St. Peter’s, however, did not have a clear central message.  First of all, it was difficult to understand what the priest was saying because there seemed to be something wrong with the microphone he was wearing.  Also, because he spoke very quickly, some of his words got slurred together.  Furthermore, the sermon was difficult to follow because it was not based on a passage from Scripture, and the priest rambled and repeated himself.  The main messages that I understood were that Jesus is the common denominator between Catholics and Protestants, and people need to actively try to connect deeply with Jesus.  Although these are important messages, I was unable to grasp how they were connected in the sermon.    

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?

            When people entered the sanctuary, they dipped their fingers in a basin of holy water and then made the sign of the cross.  Also, people genuflected before entering the pews.  My first reaction to seeing people perform these rituals was to feel sorry for them because they had been brainwashed into believing they were necessary.  This negative reaction was most likely the result of the anti-Catholic sentiments that I have heard in my family for years.  But as I reflect on the purpose of these rituals that I had judged to be only superficial, I have begun to see them differently.  Both the use of holy water and genuflection are actions that demonstrate reverence for entering into the presence of God.  The use of the holy water seems to be a sort of purification of the person, and the genuflection seems to be an act of humble submission to God.  Although I do not see these rituals as necessary for worship, I do see and respect the value and meaning they have for Catholics.