Catholic Mass Experience

I chose to attend a Catholic Mass service at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. I selected this type of experience because I have never attended a Catholic service. I am an African-American female and I was raised in the Baptist faith. In my community there are very few Black people of the Catholic faith; therefore contacting a friend to attend the service with was impossible. I attended the service on a Monday. The service started at noon. The congregation was predominantly white. The African-Americans I saw were very few in number. Since I am a very open person I was really excited to attend the service. My family on my mother’s side are mostly Seventh - day Adventist and I was taught several ideas about the Catholic Church.
The beginning of the service was called the Introductory Rites. This part of the service was very similar to the first phase of any other service I have attended. It began with the entrance of the priest and everyone was standing just like when a pastor comes into the pulpit in a Baptist church. I was not surprised by what I saw next; the congregation began to sing hymns and then there was a prayer. After the prayer the priest read from the Old Testament scripture of the bible. Objectively, I went into this situation thinking that there would not be many differences between the different denominations. As the service continued I noticed that there were numerous references to Pope and the different prayers that I did not understand. I am very familiar with communion, but communion was only served once a month in the church I grew up in.
The parishioners were very friendly towards me; however when I entered I got a few glares from people. I am not sure if it was because I am Black or if it that I was a new face. They gave me gazes that were awkward, but I am use to gawks from people so that did not interfere with my intended purpose. I sat in the congregation confused at times. As the service continued from the Introductory