After spending 20 years in various Protestant denominations
Brad Schilling found his home in the Catholic Church. Brad lives in Bunbury, Western Australia with his wife Marina and their three children.
The Beginning
Sometime in February 2010 I decided to attend a Catholic Mass. After 20 years of being a Protestant Christian I had come to the point where I could no longer bring myself to attend another church service. Over the years I had been a part of over 10 different denominations as well as helped to begin an Anabaptist like house-church. I was tired of wanting church to be more than a service that I watched. I remember thinking that Sunday morning, "Well, if Church is no more than the Sunday service then I will go to where they do it properly."
As a postman in Bunbury I knew where all the churches were. So, I headed straight to St. Mary's in Columba Street, South Bunbury. Only once before had I been in a Catholic Church. So, I had no idea of protocol, gestures, liturgy or the like. I told myself that today I would suspend any judgment on what I was to be part of. I was here to worship the risen Lord. So, that would be my focus and not the people, priest or the other distractions.
The First Mass
Much to my surprise the Mass was entirely focused on Jesus Christ as the Second Person of the Trinity. I heard more Scripture read than I had ever heard in any Protestant church. I heard a 15 minute sermon on the Gospel reading. We said the Our Father together. We confessed our sins together. We prayed for the Church, the government, the needy, the lost and our selves. We remembered members of the Church who had died. We sang hymns. We kneeled. We stood. We made the sign of the Cross. We shook hands with each other and said, "Peace be with you." It was a corporate affair.
The fact that the Church has always understood the New Testament idea that Baptism was incorporation into Christ's Body, the Church, had always been something I admired about the Catholic Church. It made sense of why so much of the Mass was said out aloud, and acted out together. We were the Body of Christ. It wasn't just about me.
I sat there observing all the ritual, the vestments, the noises and the smells. Having come from a low-church background (Baptist, Churches of Christ) the Mass was the opposite of what I believed Christian worship to be. I have never liked vestments, liturgy, call and response prayers or the officiating of priests. Still I suspended judgment and focussed on Christ.
The Eucharist
The primary reason Catholics meet is for the Eucharist. They believe it is truly Christ made present in their midst. It is the key to understanding Catholicism. I had believed the Eucharist (Communion, Lord's Supper, Breaking of the Bread) to be symbolic but still meaningful because we -The Church - were showing solidarity by eating the bread and wine together. This understanding of the Lord's Supper came from my Anabaptist understanding of Church. My Anabaptist tendencies accentuated the people who ate together (the Body of Christ) over the One who broke the Bread at the Last Supper. The Catholic Church drew the two together.
I watched the priest preside over the Eucharist then invite everyone to come forward to receive Christ. I saw people of all races and positions in life (an MLA was kneeling across from me) rise and walk orderly forward as a group to the front. I remained of course and surveyed the scene. Once everyone had Communion the priest told us the Mass was ended. The whole Mass took 1 hour.
The Aftermath
I was pleasantly surprised that the Mass was so short. I was used to hour and a half services that continued afterwards with tea and biscuits. I decided to take a copy of the weekly Catholic newspaper The Record" from the back of the Church and headed for the café strip of Bunbury (I have since discovered that I should have paid for the newspaper!). Sitting with a large coffee I read the newspaper and reflected on the Mass. I felt edified and happy that the Catholic Church was not what I had thought it was. Funnily, I then bumped into a couple I knew from my previous church who had gone shopping that Sunday instead of going to church. They were coy because I had seen them. I was coy because I had behind my back the kind of newspaper that they would have disliked.
I came home and told Marina all about the Mass and said I would continue to attend for worship. Marina continued to take the children to our previous church.
Where to Now?
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