Caught Up In Faith

Being a practicing Catholic in Spain is turning out to be much more of a challenge than I ever thought it would be!

The past few weekends I’ve had a lot of trips with my program, which has been great because I gotten to see a lot of other Spanish cities outside of Madrid.  Last weekend we were in Barcelona and before that we traveled to El Escorial, Toledo, Cordoba, Segovia, and Barcelona.  I also took a trip with friends to Salamanca and on the train ride back we stopped off at Avila (as in St. Teresa of Avila) but unfortunately because it was a Sunday all of the museums about her are closed.  It’s only a hour and a half train ride so I may return later in the spring.

With the majority of my weekends being used for traveling, it can be surprisingly hard to find a Sunday mass.  None of the concierges working at the hotels have been able to give me mass times and so usually I just locate the closest few on the map and walk to them to read the mass times posted inside.  All of the cathedrals usually have a 11 am or noon mass but I always need an early morning or evening mass because our afternoons are taken up by tours and scheduled activities.  So far I’ve been pretty lucky in finding masses but it’s a little stressful every week because I don’t know where I’m going to go.

The mass I went to a few weeks ago when I was in Salamanca was interesting.  As I’ve found with almost all the parishes in Spain, there were mostly elderly people in the pews and no altar servers or music.  The priests here never lead an opening procession but instead leave the sacristy, go right up on the altar, and then walk right back into the sacristy after mass is over.  I’ve yet to find a bulletin or some kind of bulletin board with parish announcements.  Surprisingly, mass has become less enjoyable for me to attend because I can never understand the homily and the only form of music is the congregation singing songs by heart a cappella without song sheets for me to follow along with.  Thankfully at the parish in Salamanca they gave a handout with the readings typed up so I could understand them a little better by reading along.  After mass the priest announced to the parish that their diocese was starting a new program in which a few parishes would cluster together and be served by one rotating priest because all of the priests in the area are so elderly.  I thought this was interesting because my diocese at home in New Jersey is undergoing the largest consolidation process in the history of the church in the US, and after seeing multiple churches per street here in Spain and knowing their place of power in Spanish history it was interesting to learn even they are having their own problems.  I don’t know if all the Spaniards are satisfied with their parishes but I think they could learn a lot from American churches in terms of youth programs, etc. because there are rarely young people in the pews.  I know the US is having it’s own crisis in building a new generation of practicing Catholics but I think Spain is having a tougher time here.

In every Spanish city, the must-see sites always include a cathedral and religious-inspired work of art so I’ve definitely had a big leg up in understanding and appreciating the things I’m seeing.  Some things we see here, especially the architecture and art, are literally impossible to understand without at least a basic knowledge of Christianity.  In my study abroad program there are a large majority of Jewish students.  All are Reform and one is Conservative but none of them go to synagogues or keep kosher and from the way they’ve talked about their faith it sounds like they’re only practicing in the sense that they celebrate the high holidays.  One girl is Muslim but she is not practicing.  Besides one practicing Methodist (which is difficult here since I’ve yet to see any churches for other Christian denominations), everyone is either a non-practicing Catholic or does not belong to any religion.  It’s a little weird being the one person who is going to religious services every week, for example waking up earlier than everyone on Sundays to go to mass.  I was hoping to find someone to go with since at the beginning two of the girls who are non-practicing told their Senoras they’d be interested in going with them to mass but they haven’t really been into it.  So far I’ve been going it alone but I hope to invite them with me the next time we’re all together in Madrid or on a trip.

I’ve had some great experiences with the people in my program, such as being able to explain confession, things in the cathedrals and how they’ve used, and Catholic practices to people who aren’t Christian but want to learn more to be able to understand Spain better.  Unfortunately, I’ve also had some not-so-pleasant experiences with people in my group who frankly can sometimes be pretty offensive and close-minded.  Since Catholicism is such a part of Spain’s history, it comes up all the time in our tours and its role has not always been pretty such as when the Catholic Monarchs expelled all of the Jews and Muslims from Spain to unite its people under Catholicism.  Instead of trying to understand the political context of something like this and how the Catholic church is a human institution capable of mistakes, it’s easier for people to just write all Catholics in history off as ignorant and discriminatory.  I understand that some of the church’s doctrines, lives of saints, and current practices people are hearing for the first time probably seem ridiculous without a lengthy explanation and some faith, but quite a few times I’ve heard people make offensive comments and jokes.  I don’t understand this because I would NEVER make fun of someone else’s religion especially while standing in their sacred house of worship, because obviously those beliefs while not mine are important to someone and in general are encouraging their followers to be good people.  I’ve talked about this to Meg Masciola who just arrived in Buenos Aires to study abroad and she has encountered similar challenges.  So far it’s been hard for us to know how to respond because we want to be living examples of Christ’s love and therefore don’t want to retort back or scold anyone, and at the same time there never seems to be an appropriate opportunity to let someone know what they said was offensive.  Hopefully this will improve.

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday and as usual I had trouble finding a mass because I had class and a play to go to with my program during the three daily mass times at my nearby parish.  I got lucky by finding a 7 pm mass an hour before the play started and only a block away from the theater.  I was going crazy all day because I couldn’t figure out why absolutely no one I saw in the city all day long had ashes on their foreheads.  I finally figured it out at mass- they sprinkle them on top of your head!  Unfortunately again I couldn’t understand the homily and so I was really missing mass in English and the Newman Center community.  One idea I’ve had lately to off-set my worries that I’m not taking away any new insights from mass because of the language barrier is to listen to the weekly homilies recorded online in my free time posted on the website of Holy Trinity parish in Georgetown.  My Senora also gave me one of her old Magnificat monthly issues in Spanish which has the order of the mass inside and so now I can bring that along to read the prayers until I have them memorized.

Preparing for Lent has also been difficult because I don’t know how to spiritually challenge myself here with so many things being different.  I was thinking about going to daily mass more often like I did last year and although that would be a sacrifice I don’t think I would spiritually grow other than receiving the Eucharist because I can’t understand anything.  I also can’t really sacrifice anything food-related because it would be very rude to refuse something my Senora made me or to ask her to prepare meals differently when she already works full-time and makes me two home-cooked meals a day.  After visiting Avila I realized I didn’t know very much about St. Teresa and so I think I want to start doing some spiritual reading every day because I could easily bring a book anywhere and it would be something unique to do for my Lent here in Spain.  So yesterday I set off for the nearest Casa del Libro (which is like a Spanish chain of Barnes & Noble) but unfortunately their limited English section only had classics and best-sellers.  I also stopped by the Corte Ingles (the big department store chain all over Spain) but it also didn’t have anything I was looking for.  Although it may take a while I might have to buy a book online, ship it to my house, and then have my parents ship it to me.  In the meantime I guess I’ll just need to keep looking.  I also by chance found a website of an English-speaking parish (the biggest surprise was that a Spanish parish had a website, period!) and it looks to be within walking distance so maybe I can get involved somehow there.  I’m planning on going to their one Sunday mass this weekend.

As Marissa, Meg, and I have all discussed among each other, we are really all missing the Newman Center community as a source of strength in continuing to develop our faith lives.  I have to agree with Marissa when she said her prayer life just isn’t the same here.  Thanks to the Skype I’ve been able to continue my weekly rosary with Meg and Ingrid but obviously it’s not the same.  I really encourage everyone at the Newman Center to take advantage of all the great activities such as CDA, KoC, daily mass, community service, retreats, social events and all the other great programs that build community while challenging your faith.  Don’t take them for granted because they won’t always be there for you and the time to learn and try new things is now.  I know it’s definitely not the same here!

If you’re interested in seeing some of the pictures of the churches I’ve seen or reading about my trip in more detail, feel free to visit my personal blog at http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Julie-Marie/.

Besos,

Julie

Hi everyone! My name is Julie and I am a junior studying abroad in Madrid, Spain. I thought opening our Newman Center blog to GW Catholic students studying abroad would be a great way to keep in touch with them while also learning more about how other Catholics live in other countries! I am keeping a separate blog for my family and friends to read up on all of my travels in detail, so if you are new to the Newman Center and are interested just let me know. I have been in Madrid for about a week and a half. When I first got here, I went to orientation for a few days in a hotel before I met my home stay mom, Patricia, who is also a practicing Catholic. Patricia lives alone in a small apartment in a nice part of the city 2 blocks from the metro. She is 46 and works for an insurance company in HR but has been considering a career change to becoming a teacher. She has 8 siblings and her aunt, who is also housing a girl from GW and lives nearby, has 11 siblings! Patricia speaks English almost fluently which is helpful when I have difficulty saying things or when she repeats something multiple times and I still don’t understand. My study abroad program is through GW and so all 20 students are from our university. Some have chosen to take classes directly with Spanish students at the Spanish university we go to, but the rest of us are taking separate classes taught by GW professors at the university designed specifically for the program. Right now I am one week into our three week language and culture intensive course but in February I will start my real classes: flamenco dancing, European history since the 20th century, more Spanish, and an art history course at the Prado and Reina Sofia (the two famous art museums in Madrid). Since I’ve gotten here, our group has taken a day trip outside the city to El Escorial and Toledo in addition to exploring the city itself.

Catholicism is completely intertwined with Spanish history and culture. For example, we have off from class at the university tomorrow because it is the celebration of the patron saint of students in Spain. Who knew? The academic calendar at the university shows there are other days off for religious days even though the university is public. Patricia explained that there are about 12 national holidays during the year, and most but not all are religiously based (for example, people get off of work for the Assumption, the Immaculate Conception, Feast of St. James/Santiago who is the Patron Saint of Spain). When we went on a field trip to visit the famous works of art in the Prado, at least 3/4ths of the works I saw were inspired by Catholicism. Our director was explaining the significance and symbolism in the paintings and it’s so much easier for me to understand everything- I’m starting to feel bad for the Muslim and Jewish students in my program because they are so confused! There are churches everything in the city, ranging from small ones that look more like apartment buildings to beautiful cathedrals. Patricia and I had a discussion about Catholicism in Spain and she said like the United States, less and less people are practicing which I found interesting.

Last weekend I went to my first mass in Spain on Saturday evening at a church a few blocks away from the hotel I was in for orientation. I got directions from the concierge and it was only 4 blocks away. Almost everyone in the parish was over 50. The church didn’t look like a church at all (it was brown and nondescript) and so I walked right by it at first. I was a little disappointed that there was no music because I was excited to hear what songs they would sing. I found great comfort in being at mass so far away from home, but at the same time it is very isolating because I don’t know the responses in Spanish and have a lot of difficulty understanding the readings and homily. My new goal is to memorize the Creed and Our Father and to read the readings before mass. Communion was a little bizarre because instead of going row by row orderly, people just wandered down all at the same time.

Today when I visited the city of Toledo I visited the famous cathedral there, Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada. It was absolutely breathtaking! I also toured a lot of other smaller churches, one of which contained El Greco’s most famous painting “The Burial of the Count of Orgaz” which was beautiful. Tonight I was going to go to mass at the little church Patricia goes to only four blocks away from our house, but since I was running late I popped into Madrid’s cathedral, Almudena, for mass. It is right next to the royal palace. They had a great organ and choir and the high ceilings make everything sound very ethereal. I would like to go back during the daytime to see the stained glass at its best but I think I prefer a more intimate setting for mass since many tourists visit. Again, during communion people randomly wandered up. I didn’t go up because no one in my section moved, thinking that the Eucharistic Ministers would move over to ours afterwards since the cathedral is big. That didn’t happen and I was pretty confused because many people never even went up at all. I asked Patricia about it at dinner and she explained that people who need to go to confession, are in mortal sin, ate before mas, etc. can’t receive and I told her I knew that, but almost everyone in the US at mass receives the Eucharist despite following the same guidelines. I can’t figure out if the Spaniards take Catholicism more or less seriously? Patricia and I also had an interesting conversation about Judaism in Spain because many Jews emigrated here during WWII when Franco admitted those fleeing from Hitler. Patricia said many Spanish Catholics have Jewish roots because it was necessary for them to learn the language to work and live in the country, which is so intertwined with Spain’s Catholicism.

I’ve definitely seen more churches in one week here in Spain than I have in my entire life! It is exciting to be studying in a country where religion has been such a large part of the culture for so long.