Describe the main features of a specific place of catholic worship.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Simon Phillips RE

Describe the main features of a specific place of catholic worship

There are lots of features of a catholic place of worship; I am going to write about my local church “St Johns” in Buttershaw. A Brief history of my local church: St John’s Parish, Butershaw, was founded in 1954 with the appointment of Fr William Bryson, curate at St Mary’s, Halifax. Early in 1955 a site was acquired in Cooper Lane and on 8th June 1955 Bishop John Carmel Heenan laid the foundation stone of the new church.

In the entrance hall there is a bowl of holy water, when people enter the church, they dip their fingers into the holy water and make the sign of the cross on them selves. In St Johns there is an altar, the altar is shaped like a table and is often covered with a cloth. All the people in the church face the alter during the service. The alter is a symbol of the table used by Jesus at the last supper. Behind the alter there is a crucifix with a figure of Jesus fixed to it, the crucifix is usually quite large so that it is easier for people to see it, the crucifix is symbolic of how Jesus met his Death.

There are statues of several people in St Johns, the most prominent is the statue of St John himself, there is also a statue of Our lady, In front of the statues of St John and Our Lady there is a row of candles that is lit when people are praying. There is a confessional, a confessional is a small room which is at the left hand side of St johns, it is divided into 2 parts, a part for the priest and a part for the person who is confessing, there is a screen where the confessor can be heard but not seen, the person who is confessing will tell the priest what the person had done wrong, and then the priest seeks to bring the person closer to Christ’s understanding and forgiveness.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Incense is burned during a service; the incense is symbolic of the prayer rising to God. The incense is burned in a metal container, which is hung on chains so that it can be swung. In St Johns there are fourteen Stations of the Cross, these are painting hung on the wall depicting the different stages in the suffering of Jesus on Good Friday. These 14 Stations of the Cross are located on the outer walls next to the benches where the public will sit to hear the service, these are placed her because when people are listing they often look and take note of their surroundings. There is a Tabernacle; this is a small cupboard, which is set into the wall, next to the Confessional. It holds within its walls
(the Blessed Sacrament) a chalice, paten and what is left from the previous communion service.

Next to the lectern there is a font, the font is a large bowl on a stand, which holds the holy water that is used when a person is getting baptised.

Analyse and explain the role and factors of a Priest

A Priest doesn’t have an easy life as many may think, most people who don’t know what a priest really does just think he does a service on Sunday, a few wedding here and there and the occasional baptism. But a priest has got a much bigger role in the catholic community than may first appear. A priest has many duties to do; he has many people young and old, sick and the healthy.

A priest first duty of the day is to celebrate mass at around 8 am, maybe in his parish or at a convent. He has to write letters on a regular basis, they are important because it helps him to keep in contact with his parishioners who for some reason cant meet him. There is a lot of planning a priest must do for his pastoral work. A priest also visits hospitals, where he might be the hospital chaplin, there he makes the effort to see whom needs a ear to talk to or who ever needs a caring hand at their time of need.

A priest will also visit schools to give assemblies, talks, etc. Where he can meet the next younger generation. A priest would visit both primary and high schools; he would talk and mingle with students and the teacher’s alike listing to problems, guiding them in the direction of the lord. On Certain days a priest would visit the house bound, so they could take communion. A priest has to listen to peoples confessions and keep all what he hears to himself, what a priest hears is completely confidential.

Also a priest says prayers for people, for the sick, the dieing, and to remember the dead. As well as praying for people he has attend mass on a regular basis. A priest has a vocation to celebrate the sacraments and preach the gospel.

Analyze and explain the role of a bishop in a diocese

A Bishops primary role is to teach the church’s mission, but that isn’t all a bishop role is. A bishop has to help teach the Christian faith and procedure. He can do this in several different ways, he can teach the Christian faith through masses, writing, in councils and in the media (TV, Radio, Newspapers). A bishop welcomes new members young and old. A bishop visits parishes in his diocese, to see how the priests are managing in day to day running of the parish. A bishop meets with other bishops to discus news, to discus new arising problems, and their solutions.

A bishop needs to keep contact and be involved with the secular world; a bishop needs to have links with different community leaders in industry, the public sector and the voluntary service. His diocese may stretch a long way so a bishop has to lot to do and a lot to contend with. Also a bishop has very similar tasks to what a priest does but a bishop is more important than a priest because a bishop runs the diocese and the priest runs a parish and a parish is in a diocese. A bishop has additional tasks. People look upto a bishop for guidance in life and in death. A bishop needs to be a model Christian to provide the lay people with trust, and with somebody to admire. A bishop has to administer church affairs, but he needs to manage the dioceses in conjunction with other diocese.

“You don’t need to go to church to be a good Christian”

A Christian is not noticed by what they do for God, but by what God has done for them in Jesus. Going to church, praying, reading the Bible, donating money to charities - these are all good things to do, but they do not make us Christians. We need to rely on what Jesus has done for us.

No one can make himself or herself acceptable to God because everybody under his judgment. But Jesus willingly and freely took that judgment upon himself, and it is by placing our trust in Jesus' death for us that we receive forgiveness and become members of God's family.

It is natural that once we are in God's family we would want to meet with other members of the family. The Bible describes the church as a meeting of believers who gather to encourage and build up one another by prayer, hearing the Bible read and taught, using their gifts, and serving one another in love. When this happens church will be a greater positive experience.

Those who cant go to church often thing to be a good Christian you need to go to church, the house bound and the people in hospitals quite often think they aren’t good Christians because they think to be a good Christian you need to go to church and they are incapable of going to church, but I strongly disagree.

Going to church, like the Bible reading, prayer, and acts of kindness, does not produce faith, but is the product of faith. In the four gospels (John, Luke, Matthew, and Mark) and in the history of the early church (the Acts of the Apostles), Jesus so identifies himself with his gathered people that to ignore them, or to fail to love them appropriately is to deny our relationship with him. Christians recognize that while the Christian faith is a personal matter.

Word Count: 1’441