Hunter Beck - Church Visit #1

Church Name: St. Ita Catholic Church

Church Address: 1220 W Catalpa Ave, Chicago, IL 60640

Date Attended: 9/20                                     

Church Category: Ethnic/ Racial

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

St. Ita Catholic Church was the first Catholic mass that I had ever attended so the whole thing was a new experience for me. The service itself was very timely and regimented with the service taking exactly one hour. The cathedral was stunning with tall spires and beautiful stained glass windows. The congregation was very diverse with most ethnicities represented but the majority being Latino or White. All of the songs came out of the “hymnal” (if that is what you called it) and out of the six or seven songs we sang, I was only familiar with one. There really was not very much in common at all between my church and St. Ita. However I really enjoyed seeing how the Catholic Church worships. I thought it was very cool to see the tradition played out in the service and how highly God is honored throughout the service.

What did you find most interesting about the worship service?

The thing that I found most interesting about this church was the communion process. At my church, communion is usually what closes out the service. When we take communion everyone takes it at their seat as the bread and cup are distributed to us. At St. Ita, communion was the primary focus of the church service. It took about one-third of the total time and was interesting to watch. People stood in line down the aisle and received a blessing from the priest before they took communion. I did not participate in the communion because my church tradition does not do first communion and I never took the class to do so. I really enjoyed how much time they put into the communion process because I think it is a very important act of worship that often gets neglected in many churches.

What did you find most disorienting or challenging about the worship service?

One thing that about the service that I found challenging was there did not seem to be any emphasis of a personal relationship with Jesus during the mass. Everything seemed oriented to Jesus, the redeemer, which is great, but it seemed more like a business transaction than anything. It seemed like a conversation like, “Jesus died for your sins and you are forgiven, and now pay him the reverence that he deserves.” The mass seemed like it did not matter whether you were serving God gladly or not, it was just something that was required.

Another thing I struggled with during the mass was there did not seem to be any sermon taught. There were several songs and prayers read, then about a 5 minute “message”, then more prayers read, and then communion. It did not seem like there was any real “teaching” going on, rather it was seemed more like a worship service.

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate that you had not perceived clearly in your regular context?

I think the thing that stood out to me the most at the Catholic mass was the architecture of the church. I have been in several Catholic churches but never attended a mass before. I am always amazing by the beauty of the architecture of the churches and the stained glass windows, but I never understood why they were that way. The mass really seemed to compliment the architecture as everything pointed to God. All objects in the church seemed to be oriented upwards. There was great reverence in the tradition and rituals that embodied the architecture. It really reminded me of the beginning of Psalm 19 that says “the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”