Catholic Church

Via wrote:Ugh, catholic mass...boringness.

Er, rather a lot of flippancy demonstrated above for something that doesn't seem to be known very well.

Curious about the Mass before Vatican II, Clau, or after? Rather a stark difference--as Nate notes. o0










IMP

Hehe, well, at the point, I think interest for my story has been fulfilled, and now it is only personal interest... But I'm done bothering everyone. ^_^



Thanks for all the amazing and long responses! I only wish I had more of the church included in my story now, haha. After gather research, I realized that doing much of it would just be a lot of nothingness happening at the beginning of my story...But it still helps. Much appreciated!

Sam wrote:*adds stuff* This is Anglican, but it's from the fun two-thousand year old tradition things that the Catholics have, too. ^_^

Random symbolic things you might be able to use:

EUCHARISTIC PRAYER [I do not recall the letter]:

[Sung/chanted]

Priest: We lift up our hearts.
Congregation: We lift them to the lord.
Priest: Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us.
Congregation: Therefore, let us keep the feast.
[Aleluia.]

Hmm. Weird.

What my church says:

Priest: We lift up our hearts.
Congregation: We lift them to the Lord.
Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
Congregation: It is right to give him thanks and praise.

...and the father talks and gives this prayer that goes something like, "All powerful and loving God," (something about worshipping and all that jazz) and finally, "Remember Benedict our pope, John, our bishop, and all the angels and saints who ..."

Damn. I forget too much.

But yeah.

And my church is Roman Catholic.

Another HUGELY important prayer:

NICENE CREED:
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, one in Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven:
[bow during the next two lines:]
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered, died, and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

^ that's that thing I could never remember.

My dads is like "is it right to give thanks to the Lord" or something for the Eucharistic, I think that one varies by church.

'member Suz, come with me to church!

Thanks Amelia! Yeah, my church rocks. I just love going there, and I wish the same on you guys for finding a good church.

Via wrote:Ugh, catholic mass...boringness.

Haha, I've always found Catholic mass very uplifting and interesting...

In any event! As I have very little to add to this already teeming-with-information thread, I thought I'd give you a pic, hopefully with some luck in inspiring you. This isn't my church, but it is the church which my grandfather attends, relatively local. I'm not sure why it turned out so golden - in real life, it's all white.



The table / pedestal that you see in the middle, just before the gates and the dais, is not the altar. The altar is behind the gates, which are usually opened during mass and closed at most other times.

Well my experience is very limited, but I will tell you my story anyway.

So I am a Christian, and at the time I was going to a CMA (Christian Missionary Alliance) church down in New Smyrna Beach, FL. I was 7 years old, and as you know the world is a very different place when you are 7. I lived in a world of absolutes, all Church was like this, all families were like mine... Well, you get the picture: I was pretty oblivious. I was invited to Church with a Catholic neighbor friend after I had spent the night, and I really didn't know what to expect. I should have understood that things were going to be very different just by the name of the Church: Sacred Heart. What I still want to know is how on earth they got a name like 'Sacred Heart'. Anyway, when I walked in the first thing I noticed were these older men dressed in robes standing by a little bowl of water mounted on the wall. My friend dipped her fingers in and made a gesture that I didn't recognize. When I got to the wall mounted bowl I was so confused on what to do that I just ducked underneath it and continued down the row till we reached a pew. When we reached the pew my friend's parents pulled down this long floor cushion and they began whispering these pre memorized prayers that I knew nothing about, so I just said my own prayer which I am sure went something like, "Lord I am very confused, please help me not to look stupid." I don't remember the service being particularly boring, because I was busy looking around at all the oddities, I do remember that the service sounded ridged to me. Needless to say, I was so dramatically surprised at the service that I have never forgotten it.