Church Observation Paper

In this field observation I attended a catholic mass of a friend’s church. I was born in a Christian family and never thought that I would ever attend a Sunday catholic mass. I only have one friend who still attends a church, a catholic church. I attended this mass with my friend Paul and his family who are Pilipino. Paul was nice enough to let come to his church to be an observer and a bit of a participant. I wanted to know more about what happened at a Catholic Church mass and what it meant to the catholic community. In addition, the church is located on Vinland and Stagg in Sun Valley, and the church is named, our lady of the holy rosary.

Although I attended mainly as an observer I became a participant out of respect for what seemed like

First, as the priest walked on to the altar there was a table with a cloth over it which the priest kisses. I was curious as to what the meaning of the table was and asked my friend Paul. His answer was that the meaning the table signified the body of Christ. On that same table the priest set a gold colored what seemed to me to be a wine glass and a circular disk on the table. The priest lifted the circular disk in to the air with both hands and said “this is my body which will be given up for you this is the challis of my blood”. I asked Paul what the meaning of the circular disk was. He answered that the circular disk is bread that represented life, and the body of Christ. In addition to the bread, I also asked about the wine glass, and the wine glass is supposed to be the blood of Christ. Both the wine and the bread are drank and eaten to signify the acceptance of Christ or also known as Holy Communion. But before the bread and wine are received there is prayer. After the prayer all the church members turn to each other and make an offering of peace to each other as a community to bring everyone together. This is where I had to join in also, all the members reach out to shake hands and exchange a hello or a god bless