My First Catholic Mass & What I Learned from Chad

Today marks a first for me. I attended my first Roman Catholic Mass.

I am in Columbus for an Ohio School Board conference. One of the people there with our team is our librarian/teacher/media specialist. His name is Chad and he is a remarkable guy. I've known Chad for about 14 years. When I was but a wee lad, Chad attended my church, Mt. Hermon UB, for a spell when he was in high school. When I was in high school, he was the geography and British Literature teacher. When it came time for me to take his class, he transferred to the hybrid position he has now. In 2003, he re-enlisted in the Army Reserves. In 2006, he was sent to Iraq as an intelligence liaison. Needless to say, he is a pretty cool guy. He is the kind of person you enjoy being around. I've enjoyed discussing everything from teachers contracts to the finer points of theology. What does this have to do with a Mass?

Between sessions, Chad and I decided to walk to the historic St. Patrick's Church in downtown Columbus. On the way, Chad told me that during his time of church hoping, he found his home in the Catholic Church. I was surprised. I didn't know he espoused any particular faith, let alone Christian. We talked all the way to the church. When we got there, we found out they had a daily Mass at 11:45. It was 11:50, so we went in. Now I know a lot about Catholicism, but even I was slightly lost during the service.

I enjoyed the priest's homily, but we missed nearly half of it. He was talking about a saint from Italy during the 4th century who was a pacifist. Then I remembered, it is Veteran's Day. The majority of the remainder was taken up by the Eucharist. Chad was considerate to stay kneeling with me in reverence while the others went up for the sacrament.

Now, I do have serious qualms about the Catholic church and it's teaching. But, I only heard one mention of Mary as the "Mother of God" and to be honest, it reminded me of a very liturgical United Methodist wedding I attended a few years back.

Chad and I walked to an indoor market place for lunch and we continued our talk over NY style pizza and curried Indian vegetables. I was always quite impressed by this man. But today I saw a new side of him. Is Chad an evangelical? I'd say close, but not quite. A true Christian? I saw more of Christ in him today than I see in many people who claim to be. As he and I both said, God looks on (and knows) the heart.