Alexa Pontus - Church Visit #3

Church name: St. Patrick Parish (Spanish service)

Church address: 400 Cedar St. St. Charles, IL

Date attended: 11/1/15

Church category: Different ethnic demographic

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

This service had to be as different as it could get from my usual context.  I go to a minimally diverse English speaking charismatic non-denominational church.  The service I attended was a Hispanic Catholic service in Spanish.  Having previously attended several Catholic services, it followed essentially the same order of worship, with the exception of a slightly more animated priest than I've previously witnessed.  I definitely noticed the ethnic difference - I think this experience helped me to understand what a lot of minorities feel like walking into the churches that I would probably choose to attend on any given Sunday.  In addition, the music had a clear Hispanic flavor that was different both from my own context and a typical Catholic service.

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

The sermon was the aspect that I really liked about the service.  From the parts I could gather with my rusty Spanish skills, the priest gave a sermon concerning All Saints Day which was celebrated today in the Catholic Church.  He focused his sermon on the concept of love.  He discussed the love between children and parents, husbands and wives, and what it means to love your neighbor.  He emphasized how it is not for the hunger for power that we should seek to be lawyers, doctors, and politicians, but out of love for our neighbor.  Then, to draw it all together, he emphasized love for God as having first place, over love for other people and over love for religious ceremony.  Because Christ died so that we might receive pardon, we owe him everything.  So, we ought to come before him with clean and repentant hearts to worship him.

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

It was very tiring and required a lot of brain work to try and keep up with what was happening in the service.  The language barrier was a challenge to actually digesting what was being said in the service.  I spent a lot of time worrying about how to respond if someone might speak to me, or how to pass the peace as I did not know the words in Spanish.  In reality it wasn't that big of a deal because the parishioners knew we didn't go there and passed the peace in English to us.  In addition, it was a challenge to stay engaged and not feel self conscious for sticking out like a sore thumb; it was a good experience to feel very aware of myself so that I could better understand what others feel on a regular basis.  There also was not an order of service available in Spanish, so even though everyone else seemed to know what was going on and what songs to sing, we were very lost the whole time.  The one thing I was able to recognize was the recitation of the Apostle's Creed and Lord's Prayer in Spanish.

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

There were a couple of things that I found very interesting about the service that were illuminated for me.  First, I noticed all the children that were present in the service and engaging in the acts of repentance and Eucharist.  It was cool to see the families all worshiping together - this stuck out to me because usually children leave the service in a lot of non-denominational services instead of worshiping together.  Second, I noticed that when the ushers passed around the offering, pretty much every family contributed.  This is not the case at most of the churches I've attended - I'd say I usually witness about half of people tithe.  This shows how seriously these parishioners take their beliefs and call to serve the church in a way that was both edifying and convicting to me.