Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Hoonah

Week two of getting a sense of Hoonah’s religious community brought us to the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart.

I walk by Sacred Heart Church, some four times a day, to and from school. One day, I noticed a posting on the door. It read that a Deacon would be in town to serve communion that Sunday. I thought it would be nice to meet the Deacon and see what the Catholic’s were up to in Hoonah.

Andrew and I arrived at five to 11, quietly entered and were greeted by Deacon Charles. He was tall man with curly hair and glasses. He wore loose ivory vestments that bore a design of grain and water. He shook our hands heartily and then gave us three books. One was the missal with the scripture readings for the day, one was a music issue and the last book was prayers to be said in the absence of a Priest. Andrew and I were well prepared with literature to maneuver through the service. It is a good thing well coordinated.

Andrew and I sat in the second row of folding chairs. (These fold-out chairs had cool fold-down padded kneelers) The congregation consisted of four other people. Sitting across the aisle was an older couple, behind us was a Spanish speaking lady and Rich, the forestry coordinator who is working with Steve on the Wood-burning Project. He was in the back playing the guitar.

The service started and I fell into the religious motion that I have known for over 30 years. The part of me that loves to know what is coming next in life, cherishes the predictable organization of the Mass. Catholic means universal. The Catholic Church wanted to provide a service, or a Mass, focused on offering the Eucharist in the same ritual around the world. In one hour, a Catholic Mass gives attendees a chance to sing familiar praise songs, read the same scriptures, and pray in unison words taken from the Bible or crafted by the devote leaders of the church. I have attended mass at St. Marc’s Square in Italy, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, and now in Hoonah and all ceremonies are the same. It is an amazing mega-religious franchise. Of course, it is riddled with, as any huge corporation, with human error and an intense difficulty to control the quality of its product. But the focus has been and always will be on the Eucharist….and when a Catholic parishioner believes in the real presence of Jesus…the redundant prayers, bad music, and a weak homily are a small sacrifice to endure. For only through the Mass can he take part the greatest gift of being with Jesus at the Last Supper once more. For a Catholic, taking in the real body and blood of Christ is as close to Christ as a person can be.

The praise song stops….again, I feel as if I just sang a solo. I look and smile at Andrew and he just rolls his eyes at me, knowing that mom is always the loudest singer in the room. The Deacon shares some announcements, mainly, the plans for a Priest to come more regularly to Hoonah. We read five pages of unison prayers from, “Prayers to say in the absence of a Priest.” It is now time for the scripture readings. The Deacon looks at the “congregation” and asks if anybody is interested in reading from the Old Testament. After an awkward silence, his eyes fall on me. I guess he assumed that because I wasn’t afraid to sing on my first visit, I wouldn’t be afraid to speak either. I slowly go up to the lectern muttering my apology for not being more prepared.(yeah, right) I quickly scan the passage….thankfully there are no names like “Reuel”, “Eliphaz”, “Jeush”, or “Oholibamah” to confuse my tongue. I give a smooth read and sit down. Once in my seat, I realize that I was so nervous about reading that I forgot to genuflect before approaching the alter and after the reading. (Shoot, and I was doing so well, too) We now sing the responsorial song. Rich amps it up a bit and is carrying the melody quite nicely. It is time for the second scripture reading. The Deacon wastes no time in nodding at me. I am up in a flash…I genuflect and give solid reading from Corinthians. I genuflect again and sit down. I am relieved that my time up front is done. The rest of the Mass is up to Deacon Charles. He reads the Gospel and gives a short Homily; tying the messages from the readings to his experience of being a professional Icon painter. He then unwraps the previously consecrated host and all but Andrew received communion.

It is always a tough call for me to take communion during a Catholic service. I love receiving communion. I do believe in the real presence, but I am not a practicing Catholic. In respect of the rules of the Catholic Church, I shouldn’t take communion on my whim. Yet, in this case, I do, figuring in the end God alone can judge my heart.

We sang one more hymn and church was concluded. Deacon Charles served store bought sandwich cookies, coffee, and tea at the back of the church. Andrew snagged a couple cookies. I just smiled and winced. It felt a little awkward watching the eating and drinking in the sanctuary. After a few minutes of standard conversation, Andrew and I said our thank yous and goodbyes (which don’t take very long where there are only five people) Deacon Charles escorted us to the door and asked me about Andrew’s preparedness for first communion. It was a very awkward moment. I was polite, respectful and appropriately vague. I opted for the safe response that kept me uncommitted. I didn’t feel it was the right time to go into my religious beliefs.

It is a complicated subject for me. While I enjoy attending a Catholic service, I don’t feeling comfortable passing on the legalistic aspect of religion to Andrew. There are a lot of rules. I realize that they were created to honor Biblical teachings and assist people in becoming closer to God, but for me they are more of hindrance and distraction. I know it worries my mother and confounds my some of my siblings. Some may agree, others may blame my ignorance, but ultimately I am accountable to God. I don’t have all the answers and I have a lot to learn. Yet, I believe God is so great that no human or religion can articulate His wonder, much less organize the perfect path to heaven.