Abby Amstutz - Church Visit #1

Church Name: Ascension Catholic Church

Church Address: 808 S East Ave, Oak Park, IL 60304

Date Attended: Friday, April 1, 2016

Describe the worship serve you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?

Yesterday evening, Darren, David, Jess, and I attended the Taizé service at Ascension Catholic Church in Oak Park. The service was brief – no more than an hour – and focused on meditative singing, a short reading of Scripture, periods of silent reflection, and a communal candle lighting. The worship drew from the Taizé tradition, developed in the mid-twentieth century at the Taizé ecumenical monastic community in Saône-et-Loire, France. The constituent elements of the service were not necessarily new experiences, but taken as a whole, the liturgy had more simplicity and dignity than any of my past worship contexts (Presbyterian and now Anglican). The service’s period of reflective silence, stretching on for about ten minutes, was probably the most profound difference I noticed. Intended to emphasize the frailty and insufficiency of human attempts to communicate and to bring one to listen rather than speak to God, this element was one I imagine would be hard to implement into Protestant services. After the juxtaposition of last night’s worship, I left with the impression that many Protestants, myself included, are characterized by a spiritual impatience and fear of silence.

What aspects of Roman Catholic theology did you notice expressed in the service?

As the service included neither the Eucharist nor much spoken liturgy, Roman Catholic theology was not very explicit. Furthermore, in reflection of the Taizé community itself, the service was decidedly ecumenical, featuring songs in Spanish, Italian, and Polish in addition to Latin and the traditional Greek Kyrie eleison. However, the predominant stream of influence was decidedly Roman Catholic, although clearly of a generous, more open Catholicity characteristic of Vatican II. The more traditional songs betrayed the liturgical pattern of Mass, as did the alleluias accompanying the reading of Scripture. Despite the sparseness of an explicit liturgy, the worship still followed a fairly defined liturgical pattern, revealing the inseparability of tradition and worship. The underlying weight of tradition was especially evidenced by the lack of any explication of Scripture (the sermon is typically the only indispensible part of a Protestant service), as well as the way that Scripture’s reading was thoroughly ensconced in tradition through a call and response led by a cantor in Gregorian chant.

What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?

One of the most profound takeaways from the service (something I’ve felt in every high church worship service I’ve attended) was the import of the sacredness of space. Some Protestants pride themselves on holding services anywhere, (such that churches are today intentionally built in the style of warehouses) and while it testifies to the omnipresence of God and against materialism, to a certain extent it also trivializes worship and conforms to a consumerist culture. Humans are truly physical beings, affected deeply by our senses, such that there is spiritual power in the grandeur of the worship space, in candles and repetitive singing, even in “smells and bells.”

The service also carried with it a weighty sense of worship as a humble and corporate act before God. In singing, processing with our candles to the front of the church, and even in silence, it was difficult to approach worship in the individualistic sense I normally do.