Friday, September 29, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
Happy New Year!
Happy Rosh Hashana to all my Jewish friends and readers!
May you have a sweet new year....with lots of apples and honey!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Questions of religion and money
Every Sunday, millions of Americans go to services in churches around the country. With all of the dozens and dozens of denominations and their very different approaches to worship, there is one constant, one ritual common to all: the collection.
Churches can't operate without cash, so they all have some form of offertory, offering, collection, or passing the hat during their meetings and services. Some churches are even known to count the money and if the leader doesn't think there's enough, they'll do a second—or even third—collection. Now, I don't claim to have attended every different flavor of church; I have, however, gone to enough places and watched enough other denominations on television to be able to make a few little observations.
The first observation is that Protestant churches have a collection plate or a collection basket that they pass up and down the pews. Sometimes it starts in the front and makes its own way to the back and sometimes they have ushers at the ends of the pews who facilitate getting the plate or basket from row to row, but either way, the congregation handles the money (and sometimes people even "make change") as the plate or basket makes its way amongst the people.
The second observation is that in Catholic churches, they never pass a collection plate or basket. They all have baskets on long sticks that are handled by ushers or collectors who manipulate the sticks in a way that the basket goes by the donors so they can drop their contribution into the basket. Donors never touch the group offering or the container. As the ushers/collectors make their way from the front of the nave to the back, I often think that their basket and stick motion reminds me of farmers reaping their crop.
These observations lead me to some questions. Are Catholics less trustworthy than Protestants? Or are Catholics just too busy praying during the offertory to be bothered with passing collection plates? Why is there this difference between the way Protestants and Catholics handle their money collections?
Well, I don't really have an answer. But what prompted these musings was my experience at church this past Sunday evening. Now, I'm not even a member of the parish at St. Stephen's (or a Catholic, for that matter), but I guess they'd seen me there often enough that they recruited me to be one of the collectors during the offertory as I walked in the door. I got to wield a basket-on-a-stick!
As the cantoress sang a capella "Tell his praise in song and story" to Abbot's Leigh with a few members of the congregation murmuring along, I carried out my duties with three other people. I was a little bit embarrassed that I wasn't wearing a jacket and tie (it's the Episcopalian in me), but Catholics are very casual in church (some wear t-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops) and my aloha shirt and green trousers were probably the best dressed combination of any of the collectors.
Aside from that, it was a routine Mass. The Sunday evening service is usually as well attended as the 9 and 11 a.m. Masses, but for some reason, this parish treats it rather as a bastard step-child with no choir, organist, or "praise band," and the priests usually celebrate a low Mass. I find this awkward, since they still attempt to do some of the same hymns and service music as was done at the earlier Masses. The a capella thing just doesn't work for me in the absence of a trained choir to lead the worship: it ends up being a cantor/cantoress solo with a few congregants half-heartedly mumbling along.
In addition to the aforementioned offertory, the processional was Iste Confessor, communion was a responsorial "The Lord is my light and my salvation" by Willcock, and the recessional was an odd "The voice of God goes out through all the world" sung to National Hymn (a/k/a "God of our Fathers"). The Mass setting was the Proulx A Community Mass with the Memorial Acclamation from his Mass for the City and the Agnus Dei from Isele's Holy Cross Mass. All of the music was weak, since there was no accompaniment.
Couldn't really figure out what the homily was about, so I didn't get any quotes.
Churches can't operate without cash, so they all have some form of offertory, offering, collection, or passing the hat during their meetings and services. Some churches are even known to count the money and if the leader doesn't think there's enough, they'll do a second—or even third—collection. Now, I don't claim to have attended every different flavor of church; I have, however, gone to enough places and watched enough other denominations on television to be able to make a few little observations.
The first observation is that Protestant churches have a collection plate or a collection basket that they pass up and down the pews. Sometimes it starts in the front and makes its own way to the back and sometimes they have ushers at the ends of the pews who facilitate getting the plate or basket from row to row, but either way, the congregation handles the money (and sometimes people even "make change") as the plate or basket makes its way amongst the people.
The second observation is that in Catholic churches, they never pass a collection plate or basket. They all have baskets on long sticks that are handled by ushers or collectors who manipulate the sticks in a way that the basket goes by the donors so they can drop their contribution into the basket. Donors never touch the group offering or the container. As the ushers/collectors make their way from the front of the nave to the back, I often think that their basket and stick motion reminds me of farmers reaping their crop.
These observations lead me to some questions. Are Catholics less trustworthy than Protestants? Or are Catholics just too busy praying during the offertory to be bothered with passing collection plates? Why is there this difference between the way Protestants and Catholics handle their money collections?
Well, I don't really have an answer. But what prompted these musings was my experience at church this past Sunday evening. Now, I'm not even a member of the parish at St. Stephen's (or a Catholic, for that matter), but I guess they'd seen me there often enough that they recruited me to be one of the collectors during the offertory as I walked in the door. I got to wield a basket-on-a-stick!
As the cantoress sang a capella "Tell his praise in song and story" to Abbot's Leigh with a few members of the congregation murmuring along, I carried out my duties with three other people. I was a little bit embarrassed that I wasn't wearing a jacket and tie (it's the Episcopalian in me), but Catholics are very casual in church (some wear t-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops) and my aloha shirt and green trousers were probably the best dressed combination of any of the collectors.
Aside from that, it was a routine Mass. The Sunday evening service is usually as well attended as the 9 and 11 a.m. Masses, but for some reason, this parish treats it rather as a bastard step-child with no choir, organist, or "praise band," and the priests usually celebrate a low Mass. I find this awkward, since they still attempt to do some of the same hymns and service music as was done at the earlier Masses. The a capella thing just doesn't work for me in the absence of a trained choir to lead the worship: it ends up being a cantor/cantoress solo with a few congregants half-heartedly mumbling along.
In addition to the aforementioned offertory, the processional was Iste Confessor, communion was a responsorial "The Lord is my light and my salvation" by Willcock, and the recessional was an odd "The voice of God goes out through all the world" sung to National Hymn (a/k/a "God of our Fathers"). The Mass setting was the Proulx A Community Mass with the Memorial Acclamation from his Mass for the City and the Agnus Dei from Isele's Holy Cross Mass. All of the music was weak, since there was no accompaniment.
Couldn't really figure out what the homily was about, so I didn't get any quotes.
Sunday, September 3, 2006
Sunday Mass
The new GWU students are moving in to the dorms this weekend and there were dozens of new freshmen and their parents at Mass at St. Stephen's this morning. I suppose by design, the university chaplain (who's also posted on staff at St. Stephen) was the celebrant for the 11 o'clock, so naturally, given the high percentage of government, public affairs, and international affairs students at GW, he devoted his homily to talking about public responsibility and the role of the "righteous" and the Catholic/Christian public servant. Twas one of his better homilies, since he's wont to be too academic and to wander in his thoughts.
The organ is still broken, so the organist is playing an electronic keyboard. He had it cranked today, though, and his improvisations between hymn verses were quite inspiring and entertaining. Speaking of which, the hymns were Leoni for the processional, Sharpthorne for the offertory, and Rustington for the recessional. They did a responsorial "My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord, my God" during communion. Also during communion, the summer schola (a quartet, including the cantoress) sang "Sing praise to God who reigns above" by Don McAfee as a motet. The Mass setting was a confusing hodgepodge with each element being pulled from a completely different Mass setting.
After communion, some little lady went up and knelt in the middle of the aisle just below the chancel step and stayed there. The departing altar party had to walk around her, and she was still kneeling there when I left the church. I've no idea what she was doing. Catholicism does end up with a lot of odd expressions of faith when they blend the Church with local religions in the Third World.
The organ is still broken, so the organist is playing an electronic keyboard. He had it cranked today, though, and his improvisations between hymn verses were quite inspiring and entertaining. Speaking of which, the hymns were Leoni for the processional, Sharpthorne for the offertory, and Rustington for the recessional. They did a responsorial "My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord, my God" during communion. Also during communion, the summer schola (a quartet, including the cantoress) sang "Sing praise to God who reigns above" by Don McAfee as a motet. The Mass setting was a confusing hodgepodge with each element being pulled from a completely different Mass setting.
After communion, some little lady went up and knelt in the middle of the aisle just below the chancel step and stayed there. The departing altar party had to walk around her, and she was still kneeling there when I left the church. I've no idea what she was doing. Catholicism does end up with a lot of odd expressions of faith when they blend the Church with local religions in the Third World.
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