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Holy Family Catholic Church by Maryam Ahmad |
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[a non-Christian perspective on Catholic worship] I decided to attend a Catholic church because it is so close to my house but I had never been there. The Catholic religion is an Eastern religion that has many followers including part of my family. I attended the session on Sunday at the 9:00 AM mass. I didn't call before hand because my sister-in-law knew all the timings. I went to the mass with my sister-in-law and my niece and nephew who are devoted Catholics. The church is located two minutes from my house and I always thought it was very interesting because every time I left for work I saw so many people leaving and it just was nice to see people come together for something. We walked in and sat down at the pews and they also had books there to read from. It was very pretty inside with a lot of rows for people to sit. They had crosses and flowers everywhere, it was kind of hard to see much up there because there were a lot of people going up there. They opened the mass with an entrance song. Then they had opening prayers. Then Rev. Mark F. Carrier read two excerpts from the songs that have meaning. Then he goes on with reading the Gospel form the New Testament and everyone stands up to listen to it. After he is done then everyone sits down. Then the priest talks about parables, and the topic he chose to talk about this time was forgiveness. He took the topic and related it to everyday life. After talking they sent around a bucket for collections. My sister-in-law gave my niece and nephew each a dollar to put into the bucket and that made them happy. Then they had something very interesting where they do the wine and bread. This interested me a lot because everyone did something different. The younger kids just walked up and took some bread. Some of the older generation took the wine and the bread, they walked up with their hands in a fist, their left over the right and they took the food with their right hand. But there were also people who walked up with their arms crossed over their chest and just accepted the blessing. The mass ended with the final blessing and then the priest walking out carrying the cross and the Bible. Then everyone left. I was able to talk to the Rev. but for only a couple of minutes because I had two restless kids with me who were tired of sitting down for and hour. He welcomed me back any time for the services. The Church also offers services for children's religious education and they also had a Youth and Children's Choir at 11:00 AM but we had to leave because I had to be at work. I learned a lot from going to the Church because I knew a little about the religion but it was nice to see how my sister-in-law practiced her religion because she always saw me at home practicing my religion. |
| Created by Laura Ellen Shulman |
Last updated: November 2002
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