Name of Church: St Mary's Parish
Church Address: 140 N Oakwood Ave., West Chicago, IL 60185
Date Attended: 11/1/15
Church Category: Tridentine
Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from you regular context?
The worship service I attended was technically a Tridentine mass, distinctly named the Latin mass service, however the only part of the service that was actually in Latin was the very last song we sung before the mass ended, so I was slightly confused by this. St. Mary's Parish is a small church located in West Chicago, thus making the service highly diverse, ethnically speaking. At this church there are normally two English masses, two Spanish masses, and a Latin one every Sunday, woah! The first thing I noticed when my husband and I entered the sanctuary was that everyone knelt and prayed in front of their pew before entering it to sit down, this was new to me. There were many nuns that sat at the front of the sanctuary, and the singing of hymns was led by one nun and a man (with an extremely good singing voice I might add). The service seemed to be a pattern of the priest reading/chanting scripture, the people responding with a phrase, the singing of a song or short song, and then kneeling to pray on kneelers; this was repeated over and over again. This sort of repetition and stringent structure is not seen at my church and it was interesting how fast and instinct the congregation was throughout the entire service. Like the orthodox service, there was incense and the raising of the Bible. Although this may not be important, there was interestingly a TON of children in the service, all ages, and although it was very distracting due to all the yelping, crying, and fighting among siblings; it made me realize how often the protestant church seeks to separate and seclude its children instead of seeking to raise them within the practices of a worship service.
How did the worship service illuminate for you the history and contour of global Christianity?
At this service specifically, the priest continually emphasized the work of the saints and how we should not be seeking to simply be "do-gooders" but rather to raise to the level of sainthood. This was unusual to me, but everyone in the congregation seemed to really be enraptured by the priest's words. He continually pointed to the front of the church which displayed over a dozen sculptures of what seemed to different saints, most prominent of course being Mary. The priest even went on to discuss the martyrs before us, I even heard him mention Ignatius which made my ears perk up. It was quite remarkable how much of the service was focused on the saints and the history of the church, most of which I was completely oblivious of before this class. The congregation recited the Nicene Creed without stumbling, unlike myself, and which to my memory has never been recited in my church. I'm not sure I had ever actually recited the Nicene Creed before this class. The Tridentine mass was so enriched and focused on the history of the church and its practices, something that is quite different from the style of worship I am used to.
How did the worship service illuminate for you your personal identity as a Christian?
Unlike the feelings I had of admiration after the orthodox service, this service actually gave me an enormous appreciation for my own church, my own Christian practices and identity in Christ. I want to be careful to not be cynical, however the Tridentine service seemed to be overly rehearsed and less meaningful than I would have thought it would be. Although it was quite evident that there was a sort of intense passion and value within the service, especially concerning the taking of communion, it was also appeared as those the congregation was simply going through the motions and checking Sunday mass of their list of "to-do's."There was no specific message given by the priest, and there was no socializing before, during, or after among members, and I felt so detached from the people sitting around me. Nobody greeted me or my husband while we were at the church, it was almost as if our presence was ignored, and I'm not sure I would want to bring a non Christian to a service like the one I attended if it was there first experience within a church. Although the church was practicing worship, they didn't seem to be practicing community or relation with the people around them or with God. Although both I and the congregation at St. Mary's believe that Christ is our Savior, it is interesting to see how far our style of worship, as well as the aspects of the faith that we seek to emphasize differ so greatly.
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