Catechetical Trip to Harrisburg Area Churches

On Saturday, March 9, 2012, Evan, Ben, and Stefan, together with Pastor Elkin and Gary Weber took a trip to Harrisburg to visit various churches, a cathedral and a synagogue, to observe the art and architecture of the various religious houses. The grand St. Patrick's Cathedral on State Street in Harrisburg was contrasted with the simple 18th century Paxton Presbyterian Church. Worship in the round. Worship while surrounded by magnificent Icons, on every wall. Examining a Torah with Rabbi Eric Cytryn in the Beth El Temple. Just a few of our experiences on that busy day.

St. Ann Byzantine Catholic Church Here is a portion of what the confirmands had to say about their adventure:

Front of St. Ann Byzantine Catholic Church Evan Barone writes: I saw many unique churches while I was on the confirmation trip. One was St. Ann church; it was amazing. There were tons of icons on the wall. Icons are considered windows to heaven. You could tell which person was Jesus, because there was IC and XC on Him. Another way you could tell it was Jesus was because He wore blue and red. You could tell it was Mary because she had stars on her forehead and shoulders. There was incense to remind you of the prayers going up. There were doors to the apse and Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John were on the middle door. There were two deacon doors one on each side. The nave is considered a ship to heaven. It is heaven on earth.

Ben Haussmann writes: On our catechetical trip we studied architecture of different churches, and what the church is trying to show about about God ~ is He powerful, holy, peaceful, etc. The church I'm doing my report on is St. Patrick's Cathedral. This particular church is trying to show how powerful God is. For example, some of the organ pipes were trumpet enchamade which means that those organ pipes were horizontal like a trumpet. They were also as loud as a trumpet. The organ was on the balcony and all of its pipes were visible unlike St. Mark's organ pipes. The sound from the organ was very, very loud showing how powerful God can be.

St. Michael This church has stained glass almost everywhere you looked, and if you didn't see stained glass you would see something painted or stenciled on the wall. There were also symbols for prophets and symbols for God all over the place. The Romanesque style was found in the church as well. Romanesque means round arch. I learned a lot on this trip, but one thing that stuck out is that the Bishop's chair is called a cathedra. You know the Bishop's chair is the Bishop's chair by the coat of arms on it. This church was my favorite
church out of every one we visited.

The marble baptismal font, St. Michael Stefan Weber writes: The church I am writing about is called St. Michael Lutheran Church. It was once a German church but, it changed a little bit ago. The only German thing they do now is on Christmas Eve they sing the first verse of Silent Night in German. The have two Bibles that were donated to the church by two German pastors. The church had two big towers on each side of the front of the church. Unfortunately, part of the church's front caught fire and burned down. Their sanctuary was made of almost all marble. That describes the church, St. Michael.

Trying to see into Paxton Presbyterian Church Saint Catherine Laboure Church Rabbi Eric Cytryn in the Beth El Temple