Caleb Sprenger: Church Visit #2

Caleb Sprenger: Tridentine Mass Visit

October 30^th, 2016

St. John Cantius Parish

825 North Carpenter Street

Chicago, IL 60642

1)    Mass began with an organ playing. This was similar to my non-denominational context back home but was a clear difference from the Orthodox liturgies I have observed. Another obvious difference between my regular church context is that Tridentine Mass was in Latin, the Orthodox service was in Greek and my normal service is in English. The church building itself was magnificent, with beautiful architecture and artwork compared to the church I belong to that looks more like an auditorium. Like the Orthodox, the Catholics crossed themselves throughout the service but went to the left first whereas the Orthodox went to the right first. They also did a kneeling motion frequently, including every time that they entered or existed a pew. The Mass we attended included a sermon in English, which was not the case in the Orthodox service we observed. Finally, there was very minimal audience participation in the worship compared my context where the entire body sings worship songs.

2)    As I sat and listened to the liturgy, it struck me how tumultuous the history of the church has been, specifically in the West. I could not help but think of all the trials, tribulations, successes and failures that the church has undergone in the past 2,000 years. It was a very humbling to ponder all the ways in which the church has hurt others but it was also a joyful experience to think about how God has used the church for his glory in the past, and is continuing to use the church to this day. An obvious historical idea that I saw in the service was the addition of the Filioque clause in the creed. It seems so meaningless at first glance and yet it was the cause of so much debate. Also, the central aspect of mass was the Eucharist, which reminded me that Protestantism is actually very unique in the context of global Christianity will its emphasis on the sermon as the focal point of the church service.

3)    Much like my experience in the Orthodox church, the actual worship service was a lot more communally focused than my regular church context. For example, the Eucharist was not about Jesus and me but about the church and Jesus. Individuals were not worshiping the Lord; the church was worshipping the Lord. The sermon was not directed towards me on an individual level but to the church on a communal understanding of Jesus as King. The actual worship experience was communal, but there was very little interaction between church members before or after the actual service. Right when it ended it seemed as though everyone left without spending time with one another. I did feel left out when I could not participate in the Eucharist with the rest of the body and it even made me question whether we were all Christians in the same universal catholic Church, or whether we were two different groups.