Alexa Pontus - Church Visit #1

Church name: St Michael Catholic Church

Church address: 310 South Wheaton Avenue, Wheaton, IL 60187

Date attended: September 12, 2015

Church category: More Liturgical 

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

My usual church context is a charismatic non-denominational church so this experience was a lot different.  I've grown up going to Mass several times a year because my mother's entire family is catholic, so nothing was terribly shocking about the service for me.  The service is significantly different in terms of structure - namely that it is so structured.  I'm used to the loose structure of worship songs, announcements, sermon, worship songs that is pretty typical of a lot of non-denominational churches; however, a Catholic service is very structured because they also follow a liturgical calendar that determines the weekly topics.  It's very different to see that determined by a governing body since my church has only lose affiliations with other church bodies.

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

I love that Catholic churches honor tradition as much as they do.  We recited several different creeds, including the Nicene Creed that we just talked about in class. It's nice to see a level of unity within the Catholic church that is not found in the majority of churches that I'm familiar with; the prayer for church leaders including the pope and the local bishop as well as those suffering in the church at large were evidence of this.  Second, I greatly admire the Catholic reverence for the Eucharist.  Catholic believers have a respect for communion that is rarely found outside of Catholic and Orthodox traditions.  This contrasts heavily with my home church where we talk it maybe three times a year, which fails to stress the importance of the sacrament to the Christian life.

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

I very much missed the contemporary Christian worship element in the Catholic service.  Although some Catholic churches I've attended will include contemporary songs, St. Michael's was very traditional in the use of hymns.  It's not that one worship style is better than other - rather, I've become accustomed to singing several songs to position my heart in an attitude to receive from the sermon.  For me, music is a very central part of the experience of Christian worship.  In addition, because this was not my usual context, I felt very out of place trying to recite the liturgy and find the correct places in the hymnal when everyone around seemed to already know the pieces of liturgy by heart.  As someone who does not come from a liturgical context, it is difficult to keep up with the pace and rhythm of the service, but undoubtedly for regular attenders it becomes like second nature.

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

The Catholic church has an incredible respect for tradition, as I mentioned above, that illuminates the connection between the Church today and the Church throughout history.  The sense of unity is much more concrete within the Catholic context than in many evangelical situations.  Christians have tended to divide themselves from each other along theological lines, yet the Catholic branch remains steadfastly united to one another under common leadership which I think is something important that  many churches have lost.  Considering the ethnic and socioeconomic make up of the Catholic denomination, there is a lot more respect for diversity; even within St. Michaels I was struck by the difference among many of the congregants.  There is something very holistic about the body of Catholic believers that makes it incredibly appealing and enlightening coming from a non-liturgical background.