Caroline Saylor - Church Visit #2

Church Name: St. John Cantius Church

Church Address: 825 N Carpenter St, Chicago, IL 60642

Date attended: October 25th 2015

Church Category: Tridentine Mass

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

This particular church service I attended was highly liturgical and especially dynamic seeing as it was a high mass. As soon as I walked into the church I was able to catch onto the specific style of reverence they held for Christ. The design of the sanctuary was stunning, with gold trimmed pillars, extremely high ceilings decorated with images of Holy figures and breathtaking detailed architecture. The style of worship matched the environment, which a dominant focus on liturgy and prayer. The church had a full choir in the balcony to chant the prayers after the priest. Although the congregations’ involvement remained scarce, the position of our bodies played a critical role in the power behind the worship. There were specific times where we were expected to be kneeling versus standing or sitting. There were many components of this service that were similar to my regular context, such as reciting the Lords Prayer, taking offering and the service of communion. However the ways in which this service acted out these foundational concepts of Church were much different from what I was used to. Besides the overall style of worship, the main difference that stuck out to me the most was the music style. As mentioned, this church had a full choir that would chant and sing choral music from 16th century composers. I was struck by the beauty they were able to capture, a style of musical worship I had never physically experienced before.    

How did the worship service illuminate for you the history and contours of global Christianity?

I was continually struck by this church’s ability to maintain such ancient religious practices within our modern society. I have had some prior experience attending a Catholic Mass, yet I am always in awe with their ability to preserve their specific style of worship. A small example was how their service was primarily in Latin. Most consider the language of Latin to be slowly deteriorating with a lack of use in modern contexts. However most of this service was performed in Latin even to the point of the congregation would reply to the priest in Latin. As mentioned earlier, the music accompanying the Mass was derived from the 16th Century composer Clemens Non Papa. His style of music is matches the classic musical style all the way back to the 16th century—which set the tone for the entire service.  Another detail I noticed was how almost every woman in the congregation was wearing a lace veil. This parallels the passage in 1 Corinthians 11 that asserts that women should wear a head covering in order to honor her head. Overall, it was truly a unique experience to witness a worship service that has perfectly preserved timeless traditions.

How did the worship service illuminate for you your personal identity as a Christian?

This specific service was able to reveal my high respect for the sermon within my personal experience of worship. The sermon in this mass was an elaborate analogy of God as our healer full of grace, to Humpty Dumpty. Although the Priest delivered an important lesson, I was effected by the dissonance between the somber prayers and chanting and the priest repeatedly referencing Humpty Dumpty. It didn’t seem as though the homily was supposed to be included into a High Mass. At the same time I was deeply moved by the style of music—the beauty in the cappella choir seemed to briefly capture the glory God deserves. It was as if the choir was offering to God the best form of worship to God. Although I often appreciate the involvement of the congregation, the experience of the listening to the choir was able to supersede my previously prioritized habit of getting involved vocally. I think both of these components of my experience further affirmed my identity as a Christian as delighting in a more traditional style of worship.