Taneth Gray

Professor Emily Dibble

Humanities 100 M/W 12:00
July 27 2015

What event did you chooses for this activity?: The activity I chose to participate in was a Catholic mass at
the cathedral of the Madeline in Salt Lake City on Sunday, July 26 th at 6:00pm. I attended the entire
service but did not partake in the Eucharist.

With whom did you speak and what did you learn from them?: I spoke with one of the fathers of the
parish, but to my embarrassment do not remember his name. We spoke mostly about the mass itself, never
having attended one before, there were a great deal of steps that the congregation participated in that I was
not aware of beforehand. Also a great deal of it was being spoken by a man with a very heavy Spanish
accent which made it difficult for me to understand, so I spoke a great deal with the father to clear up what
exactly had been said. We also spoke of the cathedral itself. It was dedicated in 1909, then renovated in
1918 then lastly in 2009 it was closed to restore it back to its 1909 luster.

What does civic engagement mean to you?: To me civic engagement is a tool the school uses to attempt to
both round out student knowledge and to force them to become more active in their community. The
success of that endeavor hinges heavily on the willingness of the student to allow themselves to become
more active.

How did this assignment help you to be civically engaged?: By introducing me to a segment of the
community I would normally be unlikely to have much contact with, it allowed me to engage with people
outside my normal spheres of contact.
Did you enjoy this experience?: I personally dislike community anything as the more people I am around,
the more uncomfortable I am. As such I tend to resent being forced to engage in community activities, but
in this case the experience was generally pleasurable.

Would you do it again? Why or why not?: I would attend mass again if someone were to invite me to
attend with them. The mass itself was quite beautiful and full of pageantry and the leaders were friendly
and inviting. I would be unlikely to attend by myself again as while the service was nice, I have studied
the catholic faith to the point that I have ascertained it to not fall in line with my own personal beliefs.

How did it relate to the course?: The service I attended tied directly to the religion portion of our class. In
class we had discussed Catholicism fairly briefly and we learned of its origins, but because of the nature
of the class and the brevity that entails, we were not able to discuss the more minute points of its
teachings or services, as well as not being able to truly capture the beauty inherent in its practices and
culture.