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Observation 4
Church Four Observation Report
17th July 2005
Having worked at this church on a number of occasions recently (usually playing for funerals) I am well known to the staff and many parishioners. Though warmly welcomed, this being a Roman Catholic Church the research team was immediately marked out by its ineligibility to receive communion. The church was so full and there was so much movement (particularly at the back where a large number of families with young children sat) that none of the team felt out of place or conspicuous.
This was the largest congregation we observed - about 200 present in total, of which 43 were young people. There are two reasons for the size of this congregation. The first, and most obvious, is that there are far fewer Roman Catholic Churches than there are Anglican or free churches. Whereas it is usual to find an Anglican church (and often a free church too) in every village, Church Four serves the whole of the area in the Lighthouse catchment. In addition to this, roughly a third of its members (according to one of the deacons) live outside the parish and, for reasons it is not my place to explore, choose to worship in there rather than in their own parish church.
The majority of the children were present in church for the majority of the service. This is the only church we have observed where this has been the case 1 and the high level of 'exposure' to the liturgy means that the young people here get a much greater chance to learn and participate in the music of the liturgy. The 3-7 year olds went out during the homily for Children's Liturgy. In recent times there was similar provision for the older children, but this has ceased due to lack of available leaders.
The music was delightful, provided by a group of musicians (sensitively selected for each item), including clavinova, electro-acoustic guitar, flute, clarinet, cantor and SATB choir. Supported thus, the congregation sang well throughout, including three part arrangements of the psalm and kyrie. There was no explanation as to how the parts should be divided or sung - the congregation knew what to do. Singing the liturgy is a concept that has been very much taken to heart in this church.
The research team suffered a little confusion over the order of service. There was a hymn board displayed, but that only mentioned the two hymns that were sung from Celebration Hymnal for Everyone. The missal gave no indication as to what might or might not be sung and the team was greeted so enthusiastically by the clergy and sides-people that we missed the opportunity to ask the musicians for a running order before they began to play. Consequently, the results on the observations record sheets took a little untangling. Jo arrived late so the first two sung items are recorded on Elspeth's sheet for both Jo's and Elspeth's observation areas of the church.
We were not able to interview as many young people as we would have liked (a total of seventeen), as a large number of families actually left during or immediately after the last hymn. I had not anticipated this! Had I known that might happen, I would have brought an extra researcher to stand outside and catch the ones leaving, but as it was, the team was unable to leave, needing to observe those that were still inside. The team interviewed all the young people that came to coffee.
I had intended this observation to be one where five researchers would observe, one doubling with me for control purposes. In the event, we were one research team member down - Sue was ill and had to back out at the last minute. Had we had our planned full compliment of researchers, we might have managed to interview more young people.
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- Apart from Church Nine, where the service observed was not a normal Sunday service. Back to text
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