I'm in a church...

[LifeIsGoodish]

How do I know what sort of church it is?

I think it's a Catholic church - but I'm not a Christian. My friend thinks it is an Anglican church - but then she's not a Christian, either.

So how do we tell?

(Either way, it's a lovely space.)

Oh, @LifeIsGoodish - I was one of the people sweltering in a big dress and making noise.

Hopefully, it was a nice noise.

Also @Peitho, Catholics believe in the true presence of Christ, so it is not communion wafers that are reserved in the tabernacle but the true presence of Christ. That is why a red candle is lit and why Catholics genuflect towards the tabernacle when entering or exiting a pew.

Yeah, I know. I'm a Catholic. But as the OP isn't a Catholic there wouldn't have been much use explaining it to her in those terms...

It was a lovely noise, MitziK.

I am blown away that a community choir - I was told that there are no auditions? - can sing such music. Ubi Charitas was just beautiful.

I think most Choral Societies and Choirs tend to try to be inclusive now - they usually say reading music helps, but the only requisite is being able to sing in tune, as if you've a reasonable enough ear, it's not too hard to pick your line up (or, at worst, get notes that feature somewhere in a chord). The thing is that singing lessons became something you could only get if parents were able to pay for them or if you already had talent and were picked out for church things by the time you were about 7.

This means that as the current generation of older members reduce, there are far, far fewer people below the age of 50 that have ever learned to read music or sing parts. Glares at successive governments who now think Music can be covered with a lesson a week in Year 4 and never mentioned again. If they don't move with the changes in people's backgrounds, they will become extinct within the next few years.

They're also often less strict about the male/female voice parts - it's now quite common to find a couple of Altos singing tenor because if they didn't accept them, they'd have tons of sopranos, fewer mezzos singing Alto and a deep rumble from the basses, but about 5 little old men with hearing aids and a soprano's adult son.

Some still audition, but they tend to be a bit fancy/much smaller, so any dodgy pitching is very noticeable.

Does it have a nice big sign outside?

For some reason I read this as Father Dougal and it really made me laugh 😂

Wow! A lot of assumptions and misconceptions. Anglican churches can also have crucifixes and a Tabernacle. Three of the Anglican churces I've attended to have had these. It is often so difficult to tell. My son's baptism was Anglican but most guests thought it was Roman Catholic as it was so high. Best thing to do would be to ask priest or check church online. Enjoy its beauty!