I Went to Church
Okay, now in all fairness, I have been to church since I arrived in Italy. However, this was the first time that I went to mass at the church around the corner. Now, I am not just posting this to alert my mother and other potentially interested parties that I went. I have some rather interesting observations to share. Before discussing the mass, though, I realized something rather interesting as I was walking to church. This mass marked the fourth time I have experienced a Catholic mass in a foreign language. I have previously been to a German mass in Austria, a Portuguese mass in Rio, and a Czech mass in Prague. Now, this Italian mass made four. Pretty cool, I thought.
Back to the mass. First, it started at 10 PM. Yes, that is not a typo--10 PM was the start time. And the place was PACKED. Lots and lots of people. A lot of young people, too. I haven't seen that many young people in a church since I went to mass at Cornell.
The church was amazing. Mind you, this is just one church of many in Bologna, but it was larger than some cathedrals I have seen. I do believe it is larger than the cathedrals in Sydney and Prague. And the lights in the church were actually more like chandeliers that one would have in a ballroom or foyer. I had never seen such lighting structures in a church.
The congregation also seemed to take communion very seriously. In the States, I have noticed that it is odd for people not to go to communion during mass. The vast majority of people go, whether they should or not. But yesterday a lot of people did not go to communion. I wondered why. Perhaps people take confession more seriously here, so if a person hasn't been to confession recently, they don't feel they are worthy to accept communion. I don't know--that is just my current theory.
And the best parts of my mass-going experience? There was NO music. No singing, nothing. And the mass only lasted 40 minutes, mainly because of the absence of a musical repertoire. Not quite as expedient as Fr. Eugene, but it's still better than the 1.5 hour masses I experienced at Cornell and pretty much every church I have visited since then.
Now if only I had any idea what they said during the mass....
Back to the mass. First, it started at 10 PM. Yes, that is not a typo--10 PM was the start time. And the place was PACKED. Lots and lots of people. A lot of young people, too. I haven't seen that many young people in a church since I went to mass at Cornell.
The church was amazing. Mind you, this is just one church of many in Bologna, but it was larger than some cathedrals I have seen. I do believe it is larger than the cathedrals in Sydney and Prague. And the lights in the church were actually more like chandeliers that one would have in a ballroom or foyer. I had never seen such lighting structures in a church.
The congregation also seemed to take communion very seriously. In the States, I have noticed that it is odd for people not to go to communion during mass. The vast majority of people go, whether they should or not. But yesterday a lot of people did not go to communion. I wondered why. Perhaps people take confession more seriously here, so if a person hasn't been to confession recently, they don't feel they are worthy to accept communion. I don't know--that is just my current theory.
And the best parts of my mass-going experience? There was NO music. No singing, nothing. And the mass only lasted 40 minutes, mainly because of the absence of a musical repertoire. Not quite as expedient as Fr. Eugene, but it's still better than the 1.5 hour masses I experienced at Cornell and pretty much every church I have visited since then.
Now if only I had any idea what they said during the mass....
posted by Katie | 16:57
1 Comments:
interesting katie! i went to the cathedral here in LA -- i liked it even though architecturally theres a lot of critics. cant say ive ever been to mass though :)
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