Space and Place: Interactions During Service

An Ethnographic Account of Service from Adriana Castillo

The first time I visited the Sacred Heart Parish was also the day children were celebrating their First Communions. Because I did not want to interrupt the service and also because it was my first time there, I decided to sit behind the last row of people who were sitting in the center aisles of the church. That day, I had walked in through the back door entrance and had noticed everyone was arriving through there.

When I entered the church, people were staring at me and I wondered if it was because they had never seen me in their community. Although it was a little weird, sitting at the back of the church helped me seem a little more hidden from everyone else. Granted, I would occasionally be stared at because I would be writing field notes on my notebook at the same time that I tried to pay attention to the service, I believe I was able to get a good view of what was going on around me.

The Sacred Heart Parish's architecture is interesting because it creates different boundaries among people. When coming in through the main entrance one immediately sees the rows upon rows of benches. The closer one is sitting to the main entrance, the further away they are from the altar and the Father. The first time I attended the services, I sat in the row behind the last row of people in the center aisle. I thought this was a good idea because it would allow me to write field notes without interrupting or bothering people or being seen as disrespectful. Because children were celebrating their First Communions, the very front rows of the center were reserved for the kids, godparents, and parents.

Besides the center rows at the church, there are also two angled areas for sitting that also face the main altar from the different sides. The people who choose to sit on the right side are closer to the choir. One of the observations I made while I attended the different services was that people who had toddlers would sit on the right side towards the back of the section. The people who chose to sit on the left side area on the other hand, were closer to the altar. Both the left and right sides also have access to entrances. Coming in through the back door parking lot entrance one can easily go in through either the right side or the left side. Considering that no one really uses the main entrance, it is easier for many of the members to enter through the right side and walk to their desired area of sitting.

As I mentioned earlier, the first time I went to a service, I was further away from the Father because I had decided to sit towards the very back. For the remaining three services I attended, I had the opportunity to sit with one of the community members on the right side sitting area. We would sit on the second row and be closer to the Father. In one of my observations, I found it funny that many parents who had smaller children would sit on either the right or the left sides rather than the center sitting area. It was easy to notice why though: if the children began to cry, it was easy for the parents to step out from those entrances and go into the church lobby. For the toddlers, sitting in those areas (and mostly on the left side) was better because it allowed them to run and play around without the Father paying any attention to them.

Overall, it was interesting to see the way the community members interacted depending on the area they chose to sit at. In the center, specifically, the very first rows were full of adults and older members of the community. Both the right and left sides had younger couples and members of the church who had children. In terms of architecture, because the left and right side combined with the center created a crescent shape with the altar, it felt as though the people who sat in those areas were closer to the Father.