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Mary Brown

Author

Affiliation

Course

Instructor
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Mary Brown

Interview

Interviewer: What is your name?

Mary : My name is Mary Brown.
Interviewer: What is your ethnicity?
Mary : I am racially ambiguous
Interviewer: What religion do you ascribe to?
Mary : I am of the Catholic faith.
Interviewer: How often do you go to church?
Mary : I attend church every Sunday and two mid-week sessions for choir practice.
Interviewer: What is the name of your church?
Mary : I attend St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
Interviewer: Where is your church located?
Mary : St. Joseph's Catholic Church is located at 313 2nd Street NE, Washington, D.C.
Interviewer: Do you belong to any group in church?
Mary : Yes, I attend choir practice twice weekly in preparation for Sunday Mass.
Interviewer: What happens if you cannot participate in church on Sunday?
Mary : If for some reason you are unable to attend Mass, you are not obligated to do so
because it is not a requirement. However, I do usually issue prior notice to my
choir director.
Interviewer: What makes your religion unique?
Mary : The celebration of the seven sacraments and the belief in papal supremacy are two
of the distinctive aspects of the Roman Catholic doctrine and doctrine.
Interviewer: What is your sexual orientation, and is it influenced by your faith?
Mary : I identify as heterosexual, and yes, the church is lenient mainly towards that form of
orientation.
Interviewer: Thank you for your time. That will be all.
Mary : You are welcome.

Observation summary

St. Joseph's Catholic Church (St. Joseph on Capitol Hill) is located in the Capitol Hill

neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It is a part of the Archdiocese of Washington, which has 139

Roman Catholic churches. Mass is held at the church every Sunday from 8:30 a.m. until 12:00

p.m., except on government holidays. The Initiation Rite, which includes the Penitential and

Intercessory rites, is the prayer that opens the Mass. Speeches, readings, and announcements are

all part of the ritual. The Liturgy of the Eucharist and the Prayers of the Faithful are the

following items on the agenda, which will finish the service with prayers and Communion.
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Social Norms

Church employees and attendants regularly gather before the church building to discuss

social issues and weekly happenings. In the context of faith and reason, the social encyclopedia

reflects current issues directly affecting people’s lives. For Catholics, social norms are unwritten

religious principles that offer commentary on how to assess and respond to particular activities.

Catholics use the natural law precepts in politics, economics, and culture (Beckwith, 2021).

Seeing your church buddies again is a great way to share spiritual experiences and plan for the

day. These meetings are used to maintain the predictability and order of social events. With the

start of Mass, events organized by the church officially began.

The Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharist are the two primary rituals of the Mass. The

celebrant and other ministers enter the procession and bow to the altar to begin the initiation

procedures. Everyone makes the cross sign, and the celebrant extends a biblical greeting to

everyone present. Although it is a benediction and a water sprinkling at Easter, the act of

penance and acknowledgment of sin comes after the welcome at the start of Mass (Brummond,

2022). The congregation gathered to join the angelic choirs of praise when Gloria repeated the

announcement made by the angels at the Nativity. The celebrant invites everyone present to pray

as the opening prayer concludes the introductory ceremonies.

Most of the year's scriptural readings are from the Old Testament, and the second reading

is taken from a letter from the New Testament. The Church feeds the People of God during the

Liturgy of the Word from the banquet of His Word found in Sacred Scripture. In the reflection

on God's word, the Responsorial Psalm is sung in between the readings of the scriptures. They

are reading the Gospel of Christ's life, ministry, and preaching marks the conclusion of the

Liturgy of the Word (Schrock, 2018). Following a deacon’s reading of the Gospel, the celebrant
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makes a profession of faith based on the sermon they have just delivered. The Liturgy of the

Word concludes with the Apostles' Creed and collective prayer.

The preparation of the altar and offering before the arrival of the bread and wine by the

people's representative marks the beginning of the Eucharistic Liturgy. The celebrant thanks God

for these gifts of the Eucharistic sacrifice and blesses Him. These can generate monetary

donations to support the Church, help the needy, and become flesh and blood of Christ

(McTavish, 2018). This preparation is completed with the Prayer over the Offerings, which also

lays the groundwork for the Eucharistic Prayer, the central act of the Eucharistic Liturgy. The

introductory conversation makes it clear that this prayer is being said for the baptized and

ordained, with thanksgiving as its primary objective. The celebrant then starts speaking in his

intro.

Following the Eucharistic prayer, the rite of communion begins with the Our Father and

is followed by the sacrament of peace. As people extend a hand of peace to those around them,

the celebrant prays for the peace of Christ to permeate our hearts. The celebrant splits the

consecrated bread while everyone sings during the breaking ceremony. The Eucharist is

distributed to all by the priest or another ministry (Budaev, 2021). Only individuals in

communion with the Catholic Church may receive Communion, which is given to the celebrant

for the first time. The hymn for communion was sung while everyone took communion. After

Communion, there is a prayer asking that the blessings of the Eucharist continue to permeate our

daily lives.

During the concluding rites, people are dispatched with God's blessing to deliver Jesus

Christ into the world. The celebration of the Eucharist ought to spread joy and proclaim Easter to

everyone. After prayer and communion, announcements of the closing rite may be made. The
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statement might be about the weekly meeting as a chance for people to check in with one another

and various spiritual activities (Harrad et al., 2019). For the tiny number of individuals unable to

attend the busy Sunday Mass, midweek Masses are organized. Following the celebrant's blessing

of all present, the deacon sends everyone on their way. The liturgy is not just the conclusion with

those present who were tasked with spreading the benefits of the Eucharist across the world.

Activities that take place after meetings assist in scheduling choirs that have the honor of

leading worship at Mass and the first Eucharist every Sunday. This is an excellent method to

share your vocals and spend the first part of your workout playing games as you sing about once

a month and practice once a week. Youth choir members create a sense of community and gain

teamwork skills (Criss, 2022). As lay workers accompanying a clergyperson during a Christian

service, acolytes are eligible to apply for ordination as priests. The altar server is in charge of

supporting duties, including getting the altar bell and ringing it, among others. The post-church is

therefore essential to the Catholic Church.

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References

Beckwith, F. J. (2021). Catholicism and the natural law: A response to four misunderstandings.

Religions, 12(6), 379. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12060379

Brummond, M. (2022, March). Just in time for lent: Seven things you probably didn’t know

about the rite of penance - Adoremus. Adoremus. https://adoremus.org/2022/02/just-in-

time-for-lent-seven-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-the-rite-of-penance/

Budaev, S. (2021). Safety and reverence: How Roman Catholic liturgy can respond to the

COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Religion and Health, 60(4), 2331–2352.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-021-01282-x

https://www.facebook.com/sistersreport. (2021, January 13). Virtual Mass is the real presence of

Christ amid the pandemic. Global Sisters Report.

https://www.globalsistersreport.org/news/spirituality/column/virtual-mass-real-presence-

christ-amid-pandemic

Criss, E. (2022). Teamwork in the Music Room on JSTOR. Jstor.org.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/40960175

McTavish, Fr. J. (2018). Jesus the Divine Physician. The Linacre Quarterly, 85(1), 18–23.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0024363918761707

Harrad, R., Cosentino, C., Keasley, R., & Sulla, F. (2019). Spiritual care in nursing: an overview of the

measures used to assess spiritual care provision and related factors amongst nurses. Acta Bio-

Medica : Atenei Parmensis, 90(4-S), 44–55. https://doi.org/10.23750/abm.v90i4-S.8300

Schrock, D. (2018, January 17). 7 Things You Should Know About the Lord’s Day. The Gospel

Coalition; The Gospel Coalition. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/a-brief-history-of-

sunday/
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