Matthew Prechter--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?

When I entered Saint John Cantius Church on Palm Sunday, I was captivated by the colors and the sheer size and I felt humbled by my smallness in comparison to the grand surroundings. This humility prepared me for worship which began with praise to God in Latin followed by the procession of the priest and alter boys carrying palms and incense. The procession walked around the congregation and ended at the alter where the priest read in Latin from Scripture and lit candles. I was sitting too far in the back to see the details of the alter in front of him, but when he finished, the procession walked around the congregation once again and the church followed one by one. This walk signified the walk of the cross and beautiful carvings  of the walk of the cross adorned the walls around the church. After the walk, the congregation returned to their seats and the priest read Matthew 26-27:54. After the reading, the priest gave a sermon in English in which he exhorted the congregation to love as Jesus loves and to emulate him. We must take the advice of Mary and listen to everything Jesus tells us to do. 

The experience was similar to my own context in regards to the walk of the cross and the celebration of Palm Sunday, but, of course, since I am Protestant, the experience obviously had more differences than similarities being a Catholic expression of Palm Sunday with incense and Latin.

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

I found it interesting to compare my experience of Saint John Cantius Church with Saint Peter and Saint Paul Orthodox Church. There were some similarities in the form of worship, but I noticed that there were fewer icons in this particular catholic church than in the the orthodox. It was interesting to take part in a celebration that was happening in similar form all over the world and I was intrigued by how the Latin language acted as a common language cross culturally. I remember my experiences in Germany and Italy when I entered a catholic church and I heard Latin spoken in worship to God and I thought it was interesting just how Latin has become a common and unifying language for worship in the catholic church. However, Latin also feels like a dividing language in the sense that not many people speak it and it feels foreign. Perhaps that is merely the protestant in me speaking, but Latin tended to give me the impression that what I was observing was far removed from my own context. 

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

The illumination I experienced at the Saint John Cantius was similar to my Orthodox church experience. I realized that my moment of discomfort further illumined my own Protestant convictions. I have begun to wonder at how I, as a Protestant, could reach out in love to my Catholic and Orthodox brother and sisters. I wondered this especially as  I gazed upon the ceiling above my head which depicted Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The Gospel was the center of the church for this congregation, and I had the feeling that surely there is more in common than meets the eye. I am glad for my experiences of both Churches since they have caused me to wonder at my own practices and to think critically about points of difference between Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox traditions.