Wesley Newton--Church Visit #2 (Tridentine)

Image Credit: openhousechicago.org

Church Name: St. John Cantius Parish

Church Address: 825 N. Carpenter St., Chicago, IL 60642

Date Attended: 4/13/2016

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

Arriving early for mass, I reflected on my surroundings.  Unlike my familiar contexts (country-churches or converted gyms), the Baroque style of St. Cantius epitomized the label “high church.”  Being a low Tridentine mass, most of the liturgy alternated between whisper and silence.  This near-silence and the Latin liturgy combined to require much congregational participation: I struggled to follow along with the Latin-English missal; a friar, seeing my need, guided me.  I am used to being often treated as an entertained audience in worship; here, the priest faced away from us for most of the service toward the altar and crucifix--our worship was primarily a humble oblation (the mass was dedicated to a church order, a person with a birthday, and a recently deceased).  Unlike my familiar contexts (seeker-sensitive services catered to visitors), this was quite literally a “Mass of the Faithful” (c.f. Lumen Gentium p. 119).  

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

First, I saw Catholicism’s emphasis on physical aspects of worship--sacraments nourishing faith “both through words and through objects” (Sancrosanctum Concilium p. 56).  Since the mass was in whispered and silent Latin, congregants followed the liturgy by matching the illustrations in the missal with the movements at the altar.  Our worship was thus palpably symbolic (c.f. Sancrosanctum p. 37)--sets of three bell-rings evoked the Trinity we worshiped.  Second, I saw the Catholic mass as Christ’s sacrifice (i.e. Sacrosanctum p. 34).  The host was revered in its transubstantiation: congregants kneeled toward the altar when arriving and stayed kneeling for most of the Mass; the priests made the sign of the cross with each Eucharistic wafer.  People gathered and left in near-silence.  Such decorum in Protestantism is generally reserved for Good Friday, but Catholics view every mass as partaking in Christ’s sacrifice (Christ remains on the church’s crucifix) (Lumen Gentium p. 108).  Third, I saw the prominence of the saints. The homily presented St. Hermenegild as an example of orthodoxy contra Arianism; venerating him, Mary, and others, we exulted in their witness and prayed to emulate their faith (c.f. Lumen Gentium pp. 174-5).  Fourth, I saw an ambivalence toward Vatican II's reforms (i.e. Sancrosanctum p. 48): while this mass was strictly in Latin, the church also holds vernacular masses.  

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

First, the service modeled the Biblical teaching to prepare our hearts for worship (i.e. Psalm 15).  Many congregants arrived early for a rosary.  Additionally, many congregants met with priests in confessionals prior to Mass.  In the Mass itself, a lengthy absolution preceded the “Kyrie,” as we solemnly approached the Almighty.  Second, the church’s regal architecture (gilded walls, mighty columns, soaring arches, paintings of Christ in glory) demonstrated a theology of sacred space differing from my utilitarian home church buildings.  I recalled Dr. Daniel Block’s belief that our worship buildings should reflect God’s glory in their “beauty and order” (For the Glory of God 328).  Third, I saw the integration of congregational worship with personal piety--most of the congregants stayed for Compline.  The Catholic practices of daily masses and Divine Office thus broadened the life of worship beyond Sunday.