St. Patrick Church — Attraction in Niagara Falls

Visiting the Niagara Falls area on our honeymoon had us in town for Easter Sunday. We were very excited to spend our first Easter as husband and wife at church service. We are non-denominational Christians and had always wanted to attend a Catholic mass, so we thought it would be the perfect time to visit St. Patrick's. I emailed the church office before our trip to make them aware of our plans to visit and ask if there was anything special we needed to do in preparation for our visit, but I heard no response, so we went with the best of intentions to the earliest service. The church is absolutely beautiful inside and out. Since it was Easter, the hustle and bustle of the large crowd trying to find seats was what we experienced first, but it wasn't too hard of a task. There were also ushers trying to help church-goers find open seats. As we waited for mass to start, we looked around at the beautiful windows, vaulted ceiling and carvings. Breath-taking! We sat through the service attentively, but missed parts of what was being said because of noisy children seated next to us - no fault of the church's, of course. There were speakers and a microphone to project voices throughout the sanctuary. Then came time to take communion, and while the church was full, the rows of pews emptied quickly and the line to the altar seemed to be moving swiftly. I paid special attention to see if there was any difference in the way they served communion here compared to how I was used to taking communion at a Methodist church at home. Nothing seemed to be different or out of the ordinary, so I waited my turn. The priest announced that there would be 4 stations to take communion that morning since the church was full prior to beginning, so when he had people going to his station ahead of me, I proceeded on to the next station. When I reached the lady handing out of the wafers she held it away from me like she didn't want to give one to me. Thinking I must've missed a step with wine/juice somewhere, I turned back to the first station with the priest, and he too held the wafer away from me. When I looked at him questioningly and asked what to do, he asked if I was there to take communion.... Confused, I said yes, and he continued to hold it away from me while looking at me disdainfully. This especially shocked me because he had seemed so nice and personable before when he was addressing the people from the altar. It was like he was looking at me like I wasn't worthy to take communion. My husband told me just to move along so as not to hold up the line of waiting people behind us, so we never did get to partake. I felt very upset and had to hold back tears the rest of the mass. I was dressed nicely and acted respectful during our visit, so I was very hurt that I hadn't been allowed to participate. If I did anything wrong, I don't know what it was. I wish the friar or the lady at the second station had said something to give us a little guidance if we were doing something incorrectly. I understand that Easter is one of the two busiest holidays in a church, and he didn't have all day to explain things to us, but he could've taken a few seconds to nudge us in the right direction. All in all our expectations of a lovely Easter service worshipping our Lord on our first Sunday together as husband and wife was ruined, and that's the memory I have for the rest...

Dear TONI KING, I am sorry for your experience at a Catholic Church. You must understand that being Catholic is unlike being in any other denomination. That “wafer “ you refer to is believed to be the actual (read not symbolic) body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you are not Catholic I can see your confusion. It is not appropriate for anyone to receive until they have full Catholic knowledge of this action and accept the faith. Please take a second look at the Catholic Church and talk to someone who can guide you in what you need...

I have called this church because my fiancé and I love this church and have always wanted to get married here. Read reviews and said they were welcoming. He is baptized I am not. When I called to see what I could do to be married here she wouldn’t even talk to me because I am not baptized. So much for warm and welcoming. God loves...