Catholicism

» Diane Laney Fitzpatrick - Attending services of other faiths

Michelle, I enjoyed your blog on attending services of other faiths during vacation.
I wanted to share my experience attending a Byzantine Catholic service with my kids when we were visiting family out of town during Easter.
The Byzantine Easter service is beautiful, very ceremonial. Most of the service was sung, very little was spoken; it was just a breathtakingly beautiful service.
Then it came time to take communion. I was reluctant, since I had a feeling it would be "different" than the Roman Catholic way. My son pushed me forward. (He's always game to try something new!) Sure enough, in this church you stand before the priest, open your mouth and tilt your head back; the priest takes tiny silver tongs and picks up the host, dips it in wine and drops it into your mouth like a baby bird would be fed by its mother.
Emboldened by our success with communion, at the end of the service we noticed everyone filing up to the front again, so up we went. It wasn't until we were up at the altar that I realized everyone had brought dollar bills and were putting them in a basket. Here I was empty handed. So embarrassing!
When we left the church, I hoped everyone would see us get in the car with the out-of-state plates.
I think it's a great experience to see how others worship.