Church visits : Our Lady of Guadalupe: Good but Noisy

Church visits

Visiting: As a student of religion, I've seen how various factors in a church visit affect spiritual growth and religious attitudes as one searches for a church home. I visit churches to observe, firsthand, how they present themselves to visitors. My visits, with a few exceptions, focus on Christian churches. This blog contains accounts of those visits, and related posts. I look for the following in my visits:
• Friendliness and warmth
• Genuine welcome, true Christian hospitality
• Effective, well-delivered bible-based main teaching
• Music deepening the worship, not just entertainment

Map to churches I have visited.
My email: churchvisits@gmail.com

Contributors

Chris Thompson

Chris Thompson, an amateur biblical scholar and student of religions, is a member of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and Society for Biblical Literature (SBL). He enjoys AAR/SBL where he studies, first hand, with worldwide religious scholars. A management consultant, skilled in all aspects of 360-degree feedback programs and human resource management systems, he practices these skills as Workforce Consulting. He lives in Anchorage.

ON THE WEB

Google map with visited churches

As I visit churches, I'll post their locations on this map.

Our Lady of Guadalupe: Good but Noisy

Posted by Chris Thompson

Posted: February 19, 2009 - 11:01 pm

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Our Lady of Guadalupe - ExteriorSummary
Personally greeted by Fr. Vincent Blanco as I entered Our Lady of Guadalupe on February 8, 2009 for the 5:30 p.m. service, I felt this would be an uncommon experience. It was in many ways. Rarely do I encounter pastors greeting arrivals at their churches but this was an exception. From the little girl handing me the missal with a shy smile, to the beautiful and reverential music delivered by a large choir and orchestra, I felt I was in the right place. Sadly, the acoustics of this new mission-style edifice magnify every sound and the din became overpowering. Women in high heels clicked and clacked up and down the aisles during the service, even the mass, with little regard for the noise they were creating. Babies cried, for the most part, without restraint. Although Fr. Blanco delivered a great, extemporaneous homily, I heard little of it due to the noise. Although this Catholic church is warmer than most I've visited, the noise hampered my worship experience. Still, it is worth visiting if you are of the Catholic persuasion. Fiercely multicultural, this large and growing congregation is worth experiencing, offering many weekend service options.