Cultural Experience Paper

For my cultural experience I chose to go to a Spanish Catholic church service in Sedalia. I chose this cultural event because I have never been to a Catholic service before. I specifically chose the Spanish service because I was aware of the larger Hispanic population in this area and I thought it was interesting how the churches provide this particular group services in their native tongue. My first thought when I walked into the church was how magnificent the church was. Beautiful pendant lights hung from the ceiling embellished with gold and green and the windows were floor to ceiling stain glass.
Quickly following this thought was the feeling of apprehension that I was going to stick out like a sore thumb. I was greeted at the door by a very nice Hispanic man who greeted me with a handshake …show more content…
I feel as though this might be an occurrence egocentrism, even though it may be subtle. To me, it says that the preacher does not think it is important to know the specific culture of the congregation, a quite large part of his congregation in fact. Many individuals who have immigrated here continue to make religion a major part of their lives which makes it even more surprising that the priest did not know the Spanish language. Priests are very important figures in the lives of those who are of Latin decent. In fact, many individual turn to their priests in time of emotional struggle instead of going to a counselor, making it in my eyes even more important that the priest be familiar with the language. Though there are translators, a lot can be lost in translation and important information can be lost. Most of the congregation may know some English however; they may not be fluent enough to be able to communicate properly. I think if were someone in the congregation I would be very offended at the fact that I could not communicate with my priest in my native