Catholic Mass is the exact same everywhere, right? A theologian might immediately answer “Yes!” or “It should be!” Someone who has traveled might answer differently, thinking not theologically but culturally. Music, dress, and postures vary.
Mass is the same and different; people have the same Catholic faith and different cultures. That culture could be continents apart or on the next block of an ethnically diverse region.
Thanks to technology, we do not need to be world travelers to communicate with Catholics around the world and watch live-streamed liturgies from the other side of the world. Join me on this digital pilgrimage as we begin in the Philippines!
First Stop: Catholic Mass In The Philippines
All I knew about the Philippines was that it was super Catholic and sounded exotic—islands and all that. After reading a few ethnographies and meeting a handful of Filipino people, I realized that the Philippines has really good food and is incredibly culturally interesting.
There are multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Tagalog, and other local dialects, such as Cebuano and Ilongo, spoken in the Philippines. The culture is mixed with diverse influences from all over the world.
So, what would a Catholic liturgy look like in the Philippines?
To answer this question, I watched two livestreams of Mass from more urban areas, and was able to video chat with Catholic Link graphic design team member Apple Zosa and Catholic Link’s Sam McDonald. It is a great blessing to have their insights!
Catholics in the Philippines
If you are an American, these liturgies will be similar to yours. Both livestreamed for the 2025 Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, which we also celebrated the same Sunday here in the USA.
The first one with Reverend Father Douglas Kadong at St. Joseph Parish was very familiar to liturgy here in the States, apart from it being in Tagalog rather than English. The second livestream from Our Lady of La Salette (OLS) with Fr. Fidel Roura was in English. Talk about diversity!
People go to the parish for Sunday Mass, while neighborhood groups called Basic Ecclesial Communities (BEC) hold Communion Services in neighborhood chapels during the week. There are about thirty communities or chapels per parish, plus every parish has a mission territory.
In America, we might “parish hop” (visit multiple parishes in our area to see which one we prefer) to find one to officially join; the parish priest in the Philippines simply uses the language or liturgical form he knows best. Apple knew of one Latin liturgy in her area, but many local areas prefer their local language.
Many parishes use their local language in liturgy, Apple says, because it preserves local identity. For example, Cebuano Mass is spoken locally, and there are also Cebuano Bibles translated for the community.
Aesthetics: Style and Music
Apple tells us that gold decorations are common in the Philippine churches, which is visible in these livestreams! Both churches were decorated with colorful flowers and ornate décor in slightly different styles. For example, OLS was more contemporary with an A-frame and gold mural art lining the entire wall behind the altar. Both church buildings had the altar and tabernacle centered, but OLS’s tabernacle is inside the gold wall. Both liturgies used piano, choir, and organ-based music, with some hints of guitar.
A few ladies wore chapel veils, as Catholics might all over the world. Both congregations’ lectors and altar servers wore black bottoms and white tops, with OLS having an altar server in robes, while others had a sash around their collar.
In the St. Joseph Parish livestream, their beautiful Alleluia is sung at 11 minutes. The order of Mass was the same, though Apple did mention a Filipino Rite that puts the Our Father in a different part of the liturgical sequence. To have a Filipino Rite Mass, one must have permission from the bishop.
These livestreamed liturgies beheld a Catholic crucifix with the suffering Christ behind the altar–not a Resurrected Christ or more modern art version one might find in some parishes around the USA. The homilies were ten or fifteen minutes each, with the priest at OLS switching between languages smoothly. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that multiple languages are used. My own parish uses Greek and Latin, as well. We rely on English overall, so it is fun to hear Mass prayed in an unfamiliar language—or three!—and still understand what is happening.
This is where something completely new to me happened: people offered their monetary offerings to the priest at the sanctuary. He either blessed individuals or waited for a gathering and blessed them as a group. People waited for holy water and lifted their hands or made the Sign of the Cross. Then, the offering of bread and wine was brought up to the altar.
This is the longest offertory I’ve seen and is beautifully unexpected. Apple pointed out that this practice began during the Coronavirus pandemic. She knew of a rural parish that adapted by using a box to collect offerings. Previously, ushers passed baskets.
Consecration & Communion: The Source and Summit of Catholic Faith
To see consecration, the St. Joseph Parish livestream celebrates at 36:00. All this seemed familiar with bells three times for elevation of each the Precious Body and Precious Blood. OLS had many bells all at once for a length rather than three times. This may or may not be familiar to American Catholic as our parishes do not always use bells.
It was not easy to completely see Communion—St. Joseph Parish did not show the distribution of the Eucharist to the faithful on their livestream at all in favor of displaying the Spiritual Act of Communion for those witnessing the livestream. OLS showed Communion reception in the hands as typical. The priest also put on a mask for the Communion line at OLS, like some people still wear in the States. Apple pointed out that there was a shift from reception on the tongue to in the hands during the pandemic, so this is not unfamiliar to the USA.
Conclusion
Overall, this was very familiar and the variations between these two parishes are easily seen in the variations between American parishes. It seems that if an English-speaking American visited the Philippines, he or she could follow along at Mass and likely be understood quite well. Perhaps, if one wants to travel, consider visiting the Philippines during Holy Week, which a quick internet search will show is well worth the trip!
Discussion Questions
1. How does looking at other liturgies challenge your own assumptions about Mass or your own liturgical preferences?
2. What was familiar and unfamiliar about Filippino Mass?
3. How does thinking about Mass around the world change your perspective on the liturgy and your own parishes’ culture?
4. In your own words, how does culture and Catholicism combine throughout the world’s local faith communities?
More Resources On The Catholic Mass
Pocket Guide to the Mass (The Pocket Guide Series)
The Holy Mass: On Earth as It Is in Heaven (Building Blocks of Faith Series
My First Interactive Mass Book
The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth
Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Philippines_Catholic_Mass.jpg
