service paper

For this this assignment I attended a religious service at a Catholic church. I went to the weekly Sunday Mass at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Naperville, Illinois. Since it was my first time every going to a Sunday mass, and first time going to a Catholic Church, I decided on going with one of my Catholic friends, so he can help me out and make me feel like less of an outsider. He told me when to stand up, kneel, and sit down; as well as what to do.
When I first entered the building I was overwhelmed with how the building looked like on the inside and the amount of people that came to the service. As big as the church was, it was still filled with people. When we entered, there was no one to greet us at the door; we just walked into the Church.
The service was exactly an hour long. We first started by sitting down on benches like everyone else, I chose that we sit in the back so I can observe what is going on throughout the building while the service is going on. Then during the service, we stood up, as well as kneeled down to preform different rituals.
The inside of the Church was very spacious and open. It has benches placed in rows, where people sat, facing an altar in the front of the Church. On each bench there was a pamphlet which had the verses of the hymns that were sung. The walls were decorated with pictures of Jesus showing the process of the crucifixion. Also, the windows were decorated stained glass windows which portrayed Jesus and his disciples. There were also statues of Saints all around the corners of the building.
When the service started I noticed that there was more than one priest. I assumed that there would only be one priest to lead the service, however in this case, there were...

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...were not dressed formally, like I thought they would be, instead, mostly everyone was dressed casually, while only a couple of people were dressed formally.
However, as nice as the mood was in the church, I still did have a very awkward and uncomfortable moment during the service.
After going to this service, I did not really learn anything new about Christianity in general; I just got a better understanding of what and how a Sunday Mass is practiced at a Roman Catholic church. I have always been curious as to what was actually done in a Sunday service at a church, and this visit cleared up all of my questions regarding this situation. I found it very interesting how everything was done and how everyone participated in it, even the priests. This experience did make me realize that religions, in general, help bring people of all ages, genders, and races, together.