Samuel Cho - Church Visit #2

Our Lady Immaculate
410 Washington Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois 60302
17 April 2016

1. Describe the worship service you attended. How was it similar to or different from your regular context?
The first thing I noticed as I walked into the sanctuary was a sign that stressed the necessity of proper dress code in order to honor the Lord. Men could not wear jeans or slacks, and women had to either bring a head covering or wear the one that was provided. Although I have been to services with dress codes, I have never seen a sign that demanded the women to wear head coverings in order to be a part of the service. Even young girls had to wear head coverings.
This was such a different experience because I was mostly lost throughout the service since most of the service was done in Latin. It is interesting to think that the church has a language, but I did not enjoy feeling lost throughout the service. I had to keep my mind from wandering because I felt so disassociated in the service.

2. What aspects of Roman Catholic theology did you notice expressed in the service?
The first thing I must say is that Our Lady Immaculate is a schismatic church that rejected Vatican II because the believed that the ecumenical council did not reflect the gospel. Most of the service was done in Latin, but in the middle of the service one of the Priest did give a type of sermon for the congregation. He stressed the importance of remain pure from the false ideas of the Protestant Reformation that influences much of the Catholic Church today. He also stressed the importance of tradition that the apostles passed down; although the priest did not blatantly say this,  he did hint that revelation solely comes from tradition and not from the scriptures. Although much of his ideas of purity paralleled the arguments of the Donatist, he also stressed many of Augustine's arguments that the church must be spread throughout the nations.

3. What aspects of Scripture or theology did the worship service illuminate for you that you had not perceived as clearly in your regular context?
Honestly, the service did not really even mention the scriptures, but rather the priest focused on tradition as the focal point of the church's theology. It seemed at times the priest seemed to reject the notion that the scriptures can be a source of revelation. He implied that they are the true inheritors of the apostolic traditions. Since most of the service was in Latin I wasn't really sure of the explicit theology of the church, and the only other time the congregation spoke in English was the ending prayer to Mary. Service seemed to be a rejection of Vatican II and Protestantism. The main concern was the purity of the church; it even seemed to overshadow the Eucharist. I don't know how much Latin the laity new, but the priest did not seem to know Latin that well for he mumbled through the service.