Overview

I had the opportunity to visit The Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt

Lake City. I attended their Mass, and it was a thought provoking experience. I

was able to learn about their values through their priest and through their

communion. They value the Savior Jesus Christ, prayer, scriptures, baptism

and peace. The Catholic Religion was derived from the teachings of the

prophet Paul, and they pull many of their practices from the Bible. I will

compare my experience to Kluckhohn and Strodtbecks theory on value

orientation, specifically the value of peace and how the Catholic Church

encourages people to be peaceful.

Religion

Christianity is the largest religion in the world. Catholics strive to follow

the teachings of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Bible. Their goal is to be

perfect as Christ is perfect as stated in Matthew 5:48. They do this by being

baptized to be worthy to enter into Gods kingdom, and they take the

communion (bread and water blessed by the priest) in remembrance of the

blood and body of Jesus Christ. They believe that when you partake of the

communion it literally becomes the blood and body of Jesus Christ. They
repeat the Lords prayer as written in the Bible as a congregation. They also

believe that Christs mother Mary, has always been a virgin and that she

conceived Christ being sinless. The Catholic Church values being free from

sin, remembering Christ, and being filled with love, hope and faith.

Religious

The Mass has been dated back to Christs time during the Last Supper.

In this event, Christ blessed unleavened bread and broke it, and blessed wine

and passed this to all his disciples and told them to take it in remembrance of

him. He did this in remembrance of his body and blood. Catholics now are

asked to take the communion at least every year at Easter. Mass is the time

which the priest will recite scripture, the Lords Prayer, constitute the

communion and pray with the congregation.

Value Theory

The Value Orientation Theory by Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck studied the

importance of cultural values to be able to understand cultural groups. Values

are the most deeply felt beliefs shared by a cultural group; they reflect a

shared perception of what ought to be and not what is. According to

Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, all members of a cultural group answer important

questions about life such as: What is human nature? What is the relationship

between humans? The one question I find most applicable to religion is,

What is the preferred personality? Which emphasizes doing and growing

spiritually as an individual.

Analysis

As I have analyzed my experience, and have related it to Kuckhohn and

Strodtbeck, I have found that Catholicism has really placed a great emphasis

on the question, What is the preferred personality? In my opinion, any

Christian would answer this by saying, To become like Jesus Christ. From

my personal experience at the Catholic Mass, I have found that they do value

what ought to be and not what is. When the priest gave his sermon, he

encouraged the congregation to act. He proclaimed, If you want to lose

weight do something. If you want to get an answer from God, act in faith. He

really wanted the people there to feel moved to act and grow spiritually. At

one point he told everyone to, Make peace with each other. Then everyone

turned to the person sitting next to them and shook each others hands. This

may be showing an act of peace, but is that reality on any other given day

outside the Cathedral? No, rarely do we ever make peace with our neighbor

by saying hello, sharing a smile, shaking their hand, or giving a hug. We often
say curse words under our breath about them, frown upon their way of living,

and judge them for their imperfectness. Although there may be a preferred

personality, no one is living it, and thats why I relate Kuckhohn and

Strodtbecks theory of value orientation or valuing what ought to be to

Catholicism.

Reflection

Before attending the Mass, I felt uncomfortable. I felt like I was betraying

my own religion and congregation by attending another churchs meeting. I

was also worried that someone in the Catholic Church might ask me

questions of why I was there and try and persuade me to be baptized. But

when I got to the Cathedral, I felt better when I saw that people were spread

out between the pews and I could be left alone in the back of the room. I liked

the casualness of peoples appearance, whether it was the woman in her

exercise clothes, or a man in his jeans, or the homeless man with a torn shirt.

Each person came simply to worship God, and learn of Christ. It made me feel

more comfortable.

I learned that the Catholic Church believes in a lot of the same things I

believe in; Jesus Christ, the Bible, baptism, prayer, etc. I also learned some of

the etiquette of attending a Mass. It is respectful to kneel towards the altar

before sitting in a pew. It is also encouraged that only members partake of the

communion. It is also respectful to stand when the priest stands. I learned that

anyone is invited to come and listen no matter what they look like. I was

surprised to find that everyone drinks out of the same goblet for communion!

In conclusion, I got to learn more about one of the most widespread religions

on the earth!

The application of theory did help me understand my experience better,

in the fact that I was able to see what the Catholic Church values and how

they help others learn about their values. I was able to see how value

orientation plays a part of many religions, and as I reflected on my own

religion as well I realized that we are valuing what ought to be and not always

what is in front of us.

As I move forward from this project, I will be able to recognize values

that I cherish now, and values that I hope for. I can look to my career and

schooling, and find values that I want and ought to follow. I have a new

perspective of religion and whether youre a Jew, Christian, or Muslim; each of

us are hoping for a better world. We have a common goal, and that is to

become our best selves and we find values to help us do so.

References

Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2014). Intercultural Communication in

Contexts (6th ed.). NY, NY: McGraw-Hill.