One Bread, One Body?

I had the pleasure of choosing where to worship this morning. I've never been to the big new Catholic church, St. James the Greater, just up the road before, and I've wanted to see the inside of it since they finished it a couple years ago. So off I went for 11:00 mass.

Now, I've been to masses before, so I kind of know the drill. Nevertheless, I was a little anxious, as most first-time visitors surely are. So when I went in I looked for a friendly looking usher, found one (!), and said, "I'm new at this. Is there anything I should know?"

She looked pleased for an opportunity to be helpful. "Oh, are you a Protestant?"

"Yes, I am!" says I.

"I'm a convert!" she said. "Just don't freak out by how many times we get up and down and up and down. This service is also a little noisy, because, unlike Protestants, we bring our children to church."

"...." I said, biting my tongue.

She continued, undaunted, "Some of the kids get a little loud, and some of them I'd just like to POP sometimes! But over all, it's good to have them here. Now are you exploring Catholicism?"

"No, I'm just on vacation."

"Oh, well, that's wonderful that you can be with us. We have a visiting priest today. You can sit anywhere, and enjoy the mass!"

In spite of the slam about Protestants and children, I went into the sanctuary feeling lighthearted and oddly welcome. The sanctuary is really quite beautiful. It has a contemporary feel without the experimentation of a lot of modern church architecture. It's a large sanctuary, and it was quite, quite full. The walls are painted in a sort of greenish khaki with tan trim, which gives it all a warm, homey feel. The pews are a rich cherry-looking wood, and relatively comfortable. There is, of course, an enormous crucifix on the front wall, with statues of St. Peter to his right and St. James to his left. There is a ring of three fish on the ceiling over the center of the transept, the meaning of which I should know, but it seemed a bit out of place. I think it is trinitarian and recalling the multiplication of food, but whatever. There are two tiers of windows. The upper ones are clear, the lower are stained glass representations of the various biblical stories, OT on the left, NT on the right. After the service I found that there are four sets of statues with candles and kneelers in the four outer corners of the transept. The choir loft / balcony is in the back with a huge, 3-manual Allen organ, which was played ably during the mass. There is a very large representation of the Annunciation on the back wall.

The service itself was like most masses I've been to and not unlike our own liturgy in many regards. Different elements are more or less emphasized than in our service, but the order is pretty much the same. There were two men leading the mass, both in green and gold liturgical garb -- forget what they call the poncho-like robes. The older man was the visiting priest who had been the parish priest for St. James some fifteen years ago, as it turns out. He was soft spoken and not well miked, so he was hard to hear (especially with all those noisy children -- they really weren't that bad). The younger man, it turns out, was a deacon -- a layman who can serve in virtually every way as a priest except for officiating the eucharist. I learned this later along with the fact that he is married and has two children. He was a much better speaker and much easier to hear. He led most of the prayers and did a really good job.

As for the older priest's homily, well, Catholic priests have a reputation for not being very good preachers, and this fellow didn't disappoint, I'm afraid. For the life of me, I don't know what his point was. There was stuff about the covenant with Abram, and looking at the stars of the sky (I got the impression that the priest has a love of the night sky!), and a good bit about freedom -- for physically enslaved Israel and for modern people enslaved by sin (and maybe bad doctrine?), but I couldn't really find the connection or what God's part in it all is supposed to be. And it was hard to hear him, to boot. I did get the impression he wants us all to be free, though, so I'm good with that.

The woman who was the cantor for the responses and the Psalm and all was very good and had a beautiful voice. I saw her as she was walking out after the service and noticed she was wearing a lace scarf over her hair. I had noticed earlier that several other older women around sanctuary were wearing such scarves, too. I was a little surprised at that at first, but I was particularly surprised by the cantor, as she was a younger woman, probably in her early 30s. I am not familiar with this being a regular practice in Catholic churches. There weren't many who were doing it, so I wouldn't call it widespread, but there were enough to catch my attention.

I found myself singing the responses more robustly than a lot of the people around me. Thought that was interesting since I didn't know most of them. Just sayin'.

I knew going in I wouldn't be taking communion, which I don't really agree with or appreciate, but I am willing to abide by their custom. In the front of the missal (the seasonal book of liturgy and prayers in the pews), it explains a bit about this practice of what we call closed communion, who can and can't partake, and so on. It suggests that those who are not taking communion should pray for the unity of Church and of all God's people. So I did that. While the many and various divisions within Christendom will probably never even come to consensus on what "the unity of the Church" means, I prayed for it nonetheless, and for God's blessing on the congregation and mission of St. James. I have, in the past, often felt smug and arrogant about my own faith tradition when attending mass. Today, by the grace of Christ, I was able to get past that. That felt good.

After the service and after I had meandered around admiring the sanctuary, I was making my way out, wondering if I might see the usher with whom I had spoken. She was in fact in the narthex, talking with some children. When she saw me she came straight to me and asked if I had had any questions. I told her no. We introduced ourselves, and she asked again if I was just starting to explore Catholicism. I told her, no, I am actually a Presbyterian minister. Surprisingly, this did not slow her fervor for getting me what I needed to pursue my conversion to Catholicism! Among the points she made were that their previous priest was also a convert, that I should read Scott Hahn's books about his journey from Protestantism to Catholicism, how his exploration of the early church fathers' writings pointed to Catholic practice and doctrine rather than things Protestant, that there is a particular program on one of the Catholic cable networks about converting, and a few other stories about her own journey from having attended Baptist and Presbyterian (PCA) churches but having come to understand that Christ is in the Eucharist and submitting to the authority of the Church she was led to convert. I tried a couple times to assure her I was really fine with being Presbyterian, but she seemed to know differently. "When you're ready, read some of Hahn's books, if you are looking for some answers." Trying to remain gracious, I thanked her. We wished each other well, and I made my get away. It was fascinating to find someone who was so zealous and evangelical for the Catholic faith. She obviously had sincere motives and was wanting nothing but to help me on my way, even though she might not have taken the time to discern where my way seems to be going.

All in all, I had a very pleasant experience of worship, even though there were many points where I might otherwise have found myself feeling alienated, frustrated, or even insulted. I think what I appreciated most was the sincerity of faith I felt from this one woman and in the atmosphere of the congregation. The desire to have an experience of God's presence, to share that experience with others and pass it along to others (either children or pre-converts), to participate in the mystery of Christian community, these are things we share, and I believe they only come from Christ by grace. As many things as we all do in our churches to turn people off, Jesus still is inherently attractive, making us one body in him.

Thanks be to God!