Sorry I haven’t been posting with my normal regularity but I
am away from my base for the weekend and the internet connection isn’t working
out for me.
I thought it might be interesting to put up a post about
what I notice about religious practice here in Panama – bear in mind that I am
spending most of my time in the Seminary, and have only visited two parishes so
this is very much first impression stuff!!!
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| Parish Church |
Firstly, it is very evident that everyone comes to church
wearing their Sunday best – even when it’s
There is music and singing at every Mass and
each Mass seems to last anything from 1 to 1 ½ hours.
There is no talking or noise during services (apparently
the people don’t tolerate it)and children who get restless are taken out to the
patio in front of the church where they can have more freedom.
The churches are spotless and the ones that I
have seen are very modern.
Curiously,
the religious images that they have in these churches are very traditional
(with the exception of the crucifixes) – a lot of them are very obviously
Spanish in inspiration and have a strong baroque influence.
I never much liked baroque, personally, but,
I have to say, that in the context of these modern churches, I can honestly say
that I don’t like it at all!!!
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| Augustinian Priory of Los Angeles (Panama) |
not Sunday
Some of the women here wear the Mantilla (for younger people: the Mantilla was a common feature in Catholic churches everywhere up
until the sixties. It is a head covering
for women, normally made of lace, which is placed on the head either during the
entire Mass or just for receiving communion), which is certainly, for me at
least, a throwback to the past (check out Google images if you want to know
what they look like). There are a number
of things here, in fact, that remind me on times gone by.
Most people here receive communion on the tongue. It really surprises me how few receive the
host in the hand. It is difficult to
avoid the lipstick when giving out communion and my fingers have been bitten,
twice!!! It also seems to be quite
common here to have an altar server holding a paten accompanying the priest
when he is distributing communion. Once
again, for younger readers, this was common practice in the church up until the
seventies (???). The server would hold
the paten (a flat saucer-shaped gold plate with a handle on it (check it out on
Google images), under the chin of the person receiving communion lest the host should
fall on the ground. Personally, I find
this to be an awful intrusion on both the person receiving communion and on the
priest distributing it – I have gently asked them not to do it when I am giving
out communion.
One interesting, and for me very lovely, thing about
receiving communion is that married couples present themselves to receive side
by side. It is a very clear reminder of
the presence of married couples in the community and it also makes people aware
of the contribution married people are making every day in their parish, just
by being married – signs of faithfulness, of love, of commitment, and of
caring.
It is very striking here, especially coming from Ireland, the amount of people who go to confession regularly. I have never experienced so many, especially young people, who go to confession with such frequency. I know it was the practice once in Ireland but that had already changed when I was young - which was about last week in case you are wondering!!!
I have spoken elsewhere of the role of the Permanent Deacons
so I won’t go in to that again here but I
would like to say a word about the involvement of the laity in the celebration
of the Mass. There are people welcoming
the congregation; others distributing leaflets or fundraising; choir members;
readers; Eucharistic minsters; altar servers (from about 15 years old up to
about 30); Monitor (who gives a formal welcome to everyone and points out some
themes from the readings); person who reads the prayers of the faithful; person
who reads the notices; collectors; people representing different activities in
the parish who come up in the offertory procession (every week!!! – I really like this idea, it helps make
people aware of the active ministries in the parish and also ensures that
people know what is going on in the parish) – It’s great to see so many
involved in so many ways. I haven’t
forgotten, of course, the huge amount of people involved in cooking and selling
food (as fundraising) outside the church – many of them there from 5 in the
morning until the last person has gone home – which could be after 11 o’clock.
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| Hearse is used, even when it is simply and urn with ashes |
One other interesting thing that I have learned here is that
funerals don’t normally take place with the
Normally, it seems, in Panama, the person has
already been cremated and the family brings the urn with the ashes to be
blessed at Mass.
Really, as far as I can
figure out, the funeral Mass here is just the ordinary Mass with the prayers of
final commendation at the end of Mass (the prayers during which the holy water
is sprinkled and the coffin is incensed).
Another interesting little thing is that the priest never goes to the
cemetery.
The only time the priest will be
present at the burial is when the person is interred in the crypt of the
church.
All of this really surprises me
as, in Ireland, we do things quite differently.
corpse present in the church.
Sounds like IRL of the 60's. Has Ireland lost its way a bit or is it progress. Will Panama catch up. Tom, Ballyboden.
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