Semana Santa and my new found appreciation for the Catholic faith.

Quick! Say to yourself the Lord's Prayer! I'll start you out, "Our Father, who art (is) in heaven..."

Now if you're like me and a well raised member of a mainline denomination church, that wasn't that difficult of a task. The reason I had you all say the Lord's Prayer is because even though I've attended church nearly every Sunday , as well as a few services in the middle of the week, I just said the Lord's Prayer for the first time since arriving here in Peru on Palm Sunday when I visited the Catholic Church near my home. As someone who is used to saying this simple and comforting prayer every Sunday, it's something that I've been missing. But because I've been living in the tiny Evangelical community of Huanuco all forms of litergy, really anything makes them look Catholic, are removed to help them distinguish themselves as well NOT Catholic.

Here's a break down of each service as I have experienced them here so you can see the similiarities and the differences for yourself.

Typical Catholic Worship Service (or what I've experienced so far):

* Welcome and Call to Worship

* Hymns, some recognizable, and sometimes some more contemporary sounding songs.

* A Prayer maybe

* Passing of the Peace

* Reading of the Scripture (done by lay people of the congregation, and the few services I've been to have actually had women read the scripture)

* Another Prayer

* Sermon by the Priest (duration approx. 15-20 min.)

* Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary

* Apostle's Creed

* Communion with Words of Instiution

* People go up for Communion

* Sing another song or two and the offering

* I think another prayer

* The priest goes around with Holy Water and blesses everyone

* And then we all go home

TOTAL DURATION: APPROX. 1 HOUR

Typical Evangelico worship service:

* Get to church and wait for a good 20-30 minutes after church was supposed to start for more people to come and for people to stop chatting.

* Sing 2-3 songs all praise songs Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord = Abre Mis Ojos Oh Cristo

* Passing of the Peace

* Prayer

* Sermon with Scripture sprinkled in (duration approx. 1 hour - 1 1/2 hours)

* Prayer

* Song with offering

* Another Prayer

* Announcements and Such

* Mingle, get hugs and kisses from cute old ladies, and go home

TOTAL DURATION: APPROX. 2 HOURS (sometimes more)

Now which service is most similar to what is typical for you on Sunday Morning?


I usually end up going to church with my host family, because I feel like it's an important time for us to spend together. Sometimes I will go to another Evangelico church with my friend Edel and her boyfriend Jimmy. But there are times when I just need the familiarity of liturgy and hymns, even if they are in Spanish, so that's when I go to the Catholic Church. Also I will never again complain or grumble about the length of a sermon back home, haha.


Recently, ok it's been a few weeks now, I was in a region of Peru called Ayacucho spending a retreat week with the other YAVs and celebrating Holy Week. Part of the festivities of Holy Week in Peru, and I'm sure in many Latino countries as well, is the tradition of Alfombras and processionals. During Holy Week, and especially on Good Friday. The streets of the city around the Plaza de Armas are covered in colorful scenes and designs made out of saw dust and/or flowers and other plant pieces. And then they take a few of the icons out of the church and walk them around the streets and people either line the streets or follow along with the image of Jesus or the Virgin Mary.

Alfombra on the street in Ayacucho. Each one was as beautiful and intricately designed as the last one!

The most moving processionals for me where on Good Friday. Hundreds of people lined the streets, with lighted candles, and down the streets comes a slow moving crowd in the middle of which is a lighted coffin containing a Jesus figure (morbid I know, but stick with me). After Jesus passed through the crowd it was the Virgin Mary's turn. Accompanying Mary was a group of very somber women, all dressed in black with black veils. And it struck me how much this resembed a funeral processional, which is I am sure the whole point. For that moment each one of those women was Mary, following her child and grieving for him all the way to the grave. I recently read a wonderful book called, Gracias, written by Catholic priest Henri Nouwen. In it he commented about Mary's importance and significance to the women in Peru, and in Latin America. Mary, was a mother and wife, like so many women are. She knew what it was like to raise a child (children) in tough economic and political times. She is a woman who has known loss of first her husband and then her child. For all these reasons, and so many more, Mary is an accessable figure for women all over world and someone that they feel they can turn to, because she's been there before.

I know it's a bit blurry, but here is the Mary icon. She is dressed in mourning black.

There will always be things about the Catholic faith that I don't understand. The crucifix, all the statues of the saints and disciples, all the different Virgin Marys, when and how you cross yourself, etc. etc. But even in the protestant churches here I am still surrounded by the unfamiliar and the confusing. Living in country that is predominately Catholic has taught me a lot about this anchient faith that for better or worse has kept up it's traditions for centuries and provides us with a link back to those first few believers in First Century Palastine. It's sometimes funny to me where I find comfort and familiarity in this country, whether it's the Supermix Mercado that always has Coke Zero, or the girls I work with playing and singing along to Beyonce music playing on their cell phones, or game nights with foreigner friends, or in a Catholic worship service, I never know where God is going to give me these little gifts of comfort.



... And speaking of comfort and familiarity, we're getting down to the wire with my time here! 8 months down and a little more than 2 to go!! This has already been such a wonderful adventure and part of me never wants it to end. BUT, I am getting really excited to come home and see all your shining smiling faces. Thank you all so much for your support so far, I'll never be able to express how much it has truly comforted and strengthened me. Please continue to pray for me in these last few weeks here, for my health, for focus, and for comfort and peace as I leave so many people that I've grown close to and transition back into life back in States.