Mitchell McElroy— Church Visit #2

Mitchell McElroy – Church Visit #2

Church Name: St. John Vianney Parish     

Church Address: 46North Wolf Road Northlake, IL 60164

Date Attended: November 1, 2015

Church Category: Tridentine Mass

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

            I am not comfortable with Latin, but there was a book that translated the liturgy for me. The combination of the book and my knowledge of Spanish got me through the service well informed. The service was held in a basement chapel of a larger catholic church, however I thought it was interesting that the tridentine mass was more heavily attended than the English mass in the main sanctuary. I was raised going to a Lutheran church, so I am well accustomed to the robes, candles, acolytes, alters, and processions. In fact, the service brought back pleasant memories from my confirmation days when I was an acolyte in several church services. Apart from the kneeling and sermon about attaining indulgences for those in purgatory, I was very comfortable in the service.

          

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

            The mere fact that this service exists is a testament to the value some Christians tie to traditional services. It seems that some Christians would sacrifice their own understanding of the liturgy for the value of the traditional worship in Latin. That concept is completely foreign to me. Sometimes I complain about a church service when I don’t understand my pastor in English. Another key aspect of the service was the use of images in the church. Both the sanctuary and the chapel contained images of Christ on a cross and many images of the Stations of the Cross. I even noticed a byzantine icon of Mary on one of the walls. The use of images is consistent with my observation from the Greek Orthodox church that early Christianity tied a lot of meaning to the use of images in worship.

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

            It is very interesting to see a catholic service when your religion is defined by being in opposition to many of the teaching of the Catholic Church. In many ways I felt as if I would identify more closely with the Greek Orthodox than the Catholics. This is probably because I am conditioned to react negatively to the idea of indulgences or confessions and I have no context to critique the unique practices and beliefs of the Orthodox Church. Watching a Catholic mass does not entice me to join the Catholic Church, but I do think that there could be some things that they do that we can learn from. One example was when the priest prayed silently at the alter as part of the liturgy. I can’t imagine this ever happening in a protestant church, but if we believe in the power of prayer, why should we have any problem with a priest or pastor making and inaudible prayer on our behalf?