Church name: St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church
Church address: 36 N Ellsworth Naperville IL
Date Attended: 4/17/2019
Church Category: Tridentine Mass
Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar or different from your regular context?
The service was a mix of beautiful and troubling elements. Like a Protestant church, there was a sermon, or homily--albeit it was about ten minutes. Most of the service was liturgy, and sung in Latin. The Liturgy itself was incredible for the most part. I really enjoyed the use of the creeds. I really wish more evangelical churches saw the value of connecting with the saints who have gone before us through the creeds. There was also prayer to Mary (always troubling for a Protestant!), along with the sprinkling of holy water on people in the pews. The architecture was so different than Protestant architecture. Roman Catholics really know how to build beautifully! The sanctuary was incredibly artistic and grand, with mosaics lining the windows and one portion of the ceiling. I was shocked to realize that some of the women wore head coverings! In fact, most women were! I was under the impression that head coverings had largely died out in Western churches in general.
How did the worship service illuminate for you the history and contours of global Christianity?
It made me realize that if the creeds aren't just arbitrary add-ons in two of the great streams of Christianity, but are actually central to the service, then maybe these creeds are a lot more important than evangelicals realize for most Christians in the world. It also allowed me to see in action the fact that the people in the pews believe in the power of the priests. It seems as though the priests are vested with a power to "cast", as it were, blessings on people. This contrasts with a Protestant view of the Shepherding office of the church, wherein the power to bless is manifest more in prayer rather than in physical elements like holy water or incense. Hence, many traditions of Christianity throughout the world stress the goodness and mystery of the physical world a lot more than Protestant churches do.
How did the worship service illuminate your personal identity as a Christian?
I came into the service with a pretty low view of the Roman Catholic Church. Coming out of it, I realize that there's a lot more light in the liturgy than I previously realized. While I knew there were brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic communion, I'm much more willing to embrace that fact now. It illuminated my own identity by allowing me to delight in the fact that I am "united by faith with those who believe", including the many brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic tradition. Nevertheless, it also made me realize that compassion and genuine grief rather than my cage-stage Calvinistic tendencies are essential in dialogue. There's a lot of twisted theology still present in the Roman Catholic tradition--justification as a process, and their views on Mary to name a few. I still believe that Trent's theology can very easily lead one away from Christ and into self. The Gospel is still distorted. Yet God is still good, still gracious, and still sovereign over His church in all traditions. To make progress in understanding the good news that Jesus Christ is the risen Lord, grief, patience, love, and joy in the Name we both adore is necessary.
Church address: 36 N Ellsworth Naperville IL
Date Attended: 4/17/2019
Church Category: Tridentine Mass
Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar or different from your regular context?
The service was a mix of beautiful and troubling elements. Like a Protestant church, there was a sermon, or homily--albeit it was about ten minutes. Most of the service was liturgy, and sung in Latin. The Liturgy itself was incredible for the most part. I really enjoyed the use of the creeds. I really wish more evangelical churches saw the value of connecting with the saints who have gone before us through the creeds. There was also prayer to Mary (always troubling for a Protestant!), along with the sprinkling of holy water on people in the pews. The architecture was so different than Protestant architecture. Roman Catholics really know how to build beautifully! The sanctuary was incredibly artistic and grand, with mosaics lining the windows and one portion of the ceiling. I was shocked to realize that some of the women wore head coverings! In fact, most women were! I was under the impression that head coverings had largely died out in Western churches in general.
How did the worship service illuminate for you the history and contours of global Christianity?
It made me realize that if the creeds aren't just arbitrary add-ons in two of the great streams of Christianity, but are actually central to the service, then maybe these creeds are a lot more important than evangelicals realize for most Christians in the world. It also allowed me to see in action the fact that the people in the pews believe in the power of the priests. It seems as though the priests are vested with a power to "cast", as it were, blessings on people. This contrasts with a Protestant view of the Shepherding office of the church, wherein the power to bless is manifest more in prayer rather than in physical elements like holy water or incense. Hence, many traditions of Christianity throughout the world stress the goodness and mystery of the physical world a lot more than Protestant churches do.
How did the worship service illuminate your personal identity as a Christian?
I came into the service with a pretty low view of the Roman Catholic Church. Coming out of it, I realize that there's a lot more light in the liturgy than I previously realized. While I knew there were brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic communion, I'm much more willing to embrace that fact now. It illuminated my own identity by allowing me to delight in the fact that I am "united by faith with those who believe", including the many brothers and sisters in the Roman Catholic tradition. Nevertheless, it also made me realize that compassion and genuine grief rather than my cage-stage Calvinistic tendencies are essential in dialogue. There's a lot of twisted theology still present in the Roman Catholic tradition--justification as a process, and their views on Mary to name a few. I still believe that Trent's theology can very easily lead one away from Christ and into self. The Gospel is still distorted. Yet God is still good, still gracious, and still sovereign over His church in all traditions. To make progress in understanding the good news that Jesus Christ is the risen Lord, grief, patience, love, and joy in the Name we both adore is necessary.
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