CEV
9th January 2005, 05:36 PM
Part IV of my series, lol...
So, today I attended mass, my first ever visit to a Catholic Church. Why am I sharing it with all of you Lutherans, and not the Catholics? Because what I have to say isnt' that flattering.
The church was huge and very elegant with statues of Mary, Jesus, and the Saints (very large statues) in the walls. There were pictures, paintings, statues, carvings, and all kinds of stuff all over the inside of the church (which was to be expected from a Catholic church).
When I first came in, no one greeted me. But that didn't matter to me; I'm not that social anyway.
So I went in and sat down in the pew in the very back of the church. The Priest stood by the door as the people came in. At some point before the service began, an usher came up and spoke to the priest. I heard the usher swear using God's name in vain, right to the priest. I knew immediately that something was wrong.
And then the priest went up to the front and began to address the mass. It seemed to me that he didn't take his job seriously and reverently. He mumbled on and was like "Yeah, cool," and "So anyways, where was I? Ha ha!" He seemed to be having way too much fun and not respecting the church or God at all.
I didn't sense the presence of God at any point in the service. It all felt fake and purposeless. It was clear to me too that although the surroundings seemed to say "We stand humbly before God and worship him," the people and priest seemed to say, "We don't have respect for this, we're just here to do our obligations." There were exceptions, however. I saw one elderly lady and one young man who seemed to be getting some serious business done with God. But otherwise I could hear ushers whispering loudly and chuckling in the back during the reading of the Gospel, and many other signals that told me this was not being used as a house of God.
In conclusion, the church I attended today was not serious about God or serving Him. Hopefully this isn't a trend with the Catholic church.
So, today I attended mass, my first ever visit to a Catholic Church. Why am I sharing it with all of you Lutherans, and not the Catholics? Because what I have to say isnt' that flattering.
The church was huge and very elegant with statues of Mary, Jesus, and the Saints (very large statues) in the walls. There were pictures, paintings, statues, carvings, and all kinds of stuff all over the inside of the church (which was to be expected from a Catholic church).
When I first came in, no one greeted me. But that didn't matter to me; I'm not that social anyway.
So I went in and sat down in the pew in the very back of the church. The Priest stood by the door as the people came in. At some point before the service began, an usher came up and spoke to the priest. I heard the usher swear using God's name in vain, right to the priest. I knew immediately that something was wrong.
And then the priest went up to the front and began to address the mass. It seemed to me that he didn't take his job seriously and reverently. He mumbled on and was like "Yeah, cool," and "So anyways, where was I? Ha ha!" He seemed to be having way too much fun and not respecting the church or God at all.
I didn't sense the presence of God at any point in the service. It all felt fake and purposeless. It was clear to me too that although the surroundings seemed to say "We stand humbly before God and worship him," the people and priest seemed to say, "We don't have respect for this, we're just here to do our obligations." There were exceptions, however. I saw one elderly lady and one young man who seemed to be getting some serious business done with God. But otherwise I could hear ushers whispering loudly and chuckling in the back during the reading of the Gospel, and many other signals that told me this was not being used as a house of God.
In conclusion, the church I attended today was not serious about God or serving Him. Hopefully this isn't a trend with the Catholic church.