Hayley Bennett Church Visit 2

Church Name: Saint John Cantius Church

Church Address: 825 N Carpenter St., Chicago, IL 60642

Date Attended: 3/20/16

Church Category: Tridentine Mass

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

      

   Immediately upon entering Saint John Cantius Church, I as struck with a foreign familiarity. It is foreign because it is distinctly unique from my personal experience growing up in the church. The incense, the Latin, the garb, the courtesy before alter, the standing, the kneeling, the lacy head coverings—none of these were present in my early church experience. Yet as soon as I walked through the first wooden door, the church felt familiar. I stepped into a magnificent golden chamber that was comically contrasted to its dirty urban surroundings. Standing with strangers we faced the cross and honored God. The particulars were different. After all, I grew up with a rock band, stage lights, and little communion shot glasses with grape juice and crackers. I grew up in a low church, and this was a high church. However, the themes were the same. We celebrated Palm Sunday, we heard a bible reading, and we heard a sermon. Kids still made faces at me in the bleachers.

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

Even though I am sure most of us did not understand the Latin, nor could have understood the mumbling bishop even if we did know Latin, we knew why we were there. Having never been to that church before, I was still able to understand the paintings of Christ’s walk to Calvary. I was able to pick out the different saints on the ceiling, and understood why the congregation paraded around the church with palm leaves. In coming from a different background, I am still united to these people through the bible and centuries of tradition. Since the protestant tradition came out of the Western Catholic tradition, the main themes seemed to be the same. The greatest difference, besides having the bishop speak in Latin with his back to me the majority of the time was that the sermon focused on Mary, and her obedience. I really appreciated the sermon, and laugh to think that something like that would never appear in a protestant service.

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

I loved how the choir was in the balcony behind me, and the bishop was upfront with his back to me. The entire congregation in these moments, all face the same direction—towards the altar. It was a poignant reminder that I am not the consumer but the participator. My personal identity as a Christian is a corporate identity. My church attendance is to honor God, not merely glean a new personal truth or see a friend. It is humbling, but so good to be reminded. In every protestant church I have attended, there is a stage where a band sings to me and a preacher talks to me. All the action is directed towards me. The placement and orientation of the action, though subtle, communicates something. I appreciated remembering my identity as one among the body of Christ.