Sessions with Sydney is a weekly column by features editor Sydney Ray. For more installments of Sydney’s ideas, opinions and ramblings, check out the opinions page, and check back every Friday for a new issue.

My good friend, Chelsea Wathen, is a devout Catholic. Although I was raised with a Mennonite-Brethren background and now attend a non-denominational church, I was curious about Catholicism.

When Wathen invited me to attend the Ash Wednesday service with her on Feb. 17, I was excited. I had never been to Mass before.

Although I could go on and on about the significance of this experience, I think it is just as fascinating to discuss the process:

We drove to a cathedral called Holy Spirit Catholic church and went inside. Red-and-khaki-clad greeters awaited us. We sat down and the service began.

The priest started with a short message. Then another priest spoke briefly, reading passages from the Bible. The congregation stood to sing a song.

Although the unfamiliar tune captured my attention, I noticed the lyrics were very discouraging. The talented female vocalist, accompanied by a male pianist, was singing about how everyone is a sinner. It seemed to me to be a troubling way to view the world, but nonetheless I hummed along.

Then the priest spoke again, reading more scripture. In my home church, I am accustomed to the pastor reading scripture and then discussing the topic more in-depth, including his own opinions. But in this case, the priest did not so much put his own interpretation into the messages as he did facts straight from the word.

I had mixed feelings about this new approach. Although a pastor’s interpretations are often God-inspired and helpful to Christians of all backgrounds, they can occasionally become convoluted. At that point, deciphering facts from opinions is like uncovering the true meaning of life – it is very difficult, time-consuming and requires research, but is extremely rewarding.

The vocalist’s beautiful notes once again caught my attention, as it was time for communion. Although I was baptized in a church, it was not in the Catholic church, and so I decided not to participate in communion as to not offend the members of the assembly.

However, I enjoyed watching as the majority of the congregation reverently stepped forward to engage in this traditional ceremony.

Not long after communion, the service was over. The priest invited the congregation to come up and have the ashes of the palm trees from last Easter smeared onto their foreheads.

I accepted the ashes on my forehead as a sign of remembrance for Jesus’ suffering. I knew all day people would be asking me what their purpose was, and I was excited to share the experience.

All in all, my experience in the Catholic church was eye-opening. The interaction between the priest and the congregation absolutely captivated me. Like I mentioned, the congregation responds with memorized phrases to the priest during his speech, which is completely contrasting from the other churches I have attended, where the congregation sits quietly.

Another contrast was the structure of the service. I have often heard that Catholic services require standing up and sitting down frequently. Although this was said to me in a negative context, I liked the movement. It kept me awake and connected with the message.

Although I do not plan on becoming a Catholic, the experience of attending my first mass was riveting and beneficial. I believe it is good to challenge oneself in faith, and mass exposed me to a whole different world of which I was previously unaware.

While Christianity can become tense ground when the topic of denominations is mentioned, my mass experience proved to me that faith truly crosses these lines.

For more of The Feather staff’s opinions on faith, read the Feb. 16 article, Haiti: The other side of suffering or the Feb. 12 editorial, Life through a tinted lens.