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Church of the Sacred Heart
Petersburg, Virginia

by Arthur Lockwood

I attended a Mass at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Petersburg Virginia. The building, being in a somewhat rural area of southern Virginia, was small and unassuming. The interior was decorated with the Stations of the Cross, which were small statuettes depicting Jesus’ life and crucifixion. The pews were arranged much as they are in most churches, with an aisle running in the middle of the rows which lead up to the altar area. There was a red candle hanging above a small ornate box, which in turn was above the altar. This contains the Host; which is the body of Christ. The Catholic belief that transubstantiation actually transforms the bread into the body of Christ means that in the container God actually resides. Also displayed conspicuously was the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. There were also Crucifixes, which is different from Protestant churches, which normally use Crosses. 

The service began with an informal blessing bestowed upon a person in the congregation, although I’m not certain this was an actual liturgical precept, or just happenstance. The service was easily divided up into distinct sections, each with a formal beginning and ending. There was the greeting of the congregation, and then a hymn was sung as the priest enters. When he got to the front of the congregation, he made the sign of the cross, and greeted the congregation with a prayer, said in a sing-song type of delivery. I would suppose that this marked the beginning of the service proper. 

Then two preliminary readings from the bible by both an acolyte and the deacon (one rank below the priest) were performed. Then the actual gospel, the central lesson for the day was read by the priest, after announcing it in the sing-song delivery. After this was completed, the deacon gave a sermon. Apparently, it is more important in the Catholic church for the priest to perform sacraments (baptism, confirmation, confession, etc) than to actually preach the word of God to the congregation. This was the middle point of the service. 

The communion was the thrust of the final portion of the service. It was also the most interesting. First the Nicene creed was read, which outlines the precepts of the Catholic Faith (although at one point, it is stated ‘We believe in one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, which sort of threw me for a loop). Then the Prayers of the People were spoken. After that, the wine and host were brought up from the congregation, which I had not seen done before in either the Episcopal, Presbyterian, Baptist, or non-denominational services I have attended in the past. There was then a pre-communion prayer, and the hymn ‘Hosanna’ was sung. Then the priest blessed the Host and Wine, which, I later learned from Father Gallagher, was the transubstantiation; the entire prayer sequence; not at any one point did the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. Following that was the sing-song post-substantiation prayer, and the Lord’s Prayer, and another small prayer (Lord, I am not worthy, but only say the word and my soul will be healed). At this point the congregation began to file up to the altar and received the communion. 

After this, there were some closing prayers, announcements, and the dismissal with a hymn. The communion seemed to be of primary importance to the service. It was the portion of the service which remained most ritualistic. Additionally, I noted that while in most churches, there is a paper handed out in the beginning of the service which outlines what will take place that day, in the Catholic church, it is assumed the congregation knows the service by heart. I am not sure if this was only the case in the church I attended, or true for all Catholic Churches. I enjoyed my visit very much, and would like to attend a High Mass. I would encourage anyone to attend a Catholic Mass, if only because it is one of the oldest Christian institutions in the world.

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