Tom O'Connor- Church Visit #2

Church Name: St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church
Church Address: 36 N Ellsworth St, Naperville, IL 60540
Date Attended: Sunday, October 30
Church Category: Tridentine Mass

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

The service was a weird combination of interactive and not interactive at all. It was interactive in the sense that there was lots of standing and sitting, and changing in between the two. In this way, the congregation was forced to engage with the service and pay attention. However, it was not interactive in the sense that obviously no one in the congregation could understand the liturgy being spoken because it was in Latin, but also because the priest and clergy (is that what the other officiants are called?) paid no mind to the congregation. The liturgy really had nothing to do with helping the congregation encounter God, it seemed to be entirely about giving honor to God. This was different than my regular context, as at my church it seems like the liturgy is much more about allowing the congregation to be a part of every prayer and interaction with God, as opposed to just having them be present for it. 

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

Even though I didn't think that it necessarily enhanced my worship experience, I think it was good for me to experience a worship service in another language. It's an important reminder that the church is not limited to my local context, and it's not limited to a format that I'm familiar with and comfortable with. It's easy to roll your eyes at attending a church service in a dead language like Latin, but it's also super powerful to think about the fact that the reason I worshipped God in Latin on Sunday is because Christianity has been carried out in Latin for over a thousand years. My faith is older than my language, and that's pretty cool. The service also kind of restored the humanity to the early church for me, because the practices of the Latin mass are so pious and the language is such a barrier that you forget these are people that are living in the modern world right along with me. When the priest got up to give announcements just like for any other church, It reminded me of that. This is true of the early church too, which is what Latin makes me think of. Those hypothetical people in my head that are worshipping God were real people with real lives.

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

The worship service reminded me that church isn't all about me. As I said, the liturgy really gave no regard to the congregation. For the majority of the service, the priest or other officiants didn't address us or even speak loud enough to make sure we could hear. This is very contrary to how most protestant churches operate. There was no element of catering to the consumer Christian that we've talked about a couple of times in class, and I really appreciated that. This style of service can make it harder to stay engaged and to personally grow from a service, at least when the format is unfamiliar, but the reminder that Christianity is not about me and that it's not the church's job to keep me engaged was important to me. That's something I'll take back to my church.