Structure
All rituals have a set structure and this is particularly relevant in the Mount Alvernia College Mass. The main structure of a Catholic mass involves Entrance Procession, Greeting, Penitential Rite, Gloria, Opening Prayer, Gospel, Homily, Nicene or apostle creed, Prayer of the Faithful, Communion, Blessing and dismissal. All Christian Masses have to have all the same main elements due to the requirements set by the charter. There can be small discrepancies in a Franciscan mass such as in the opening procession; the choice of Creed; and the choice of songs. The opening procession varies slightly from the traditional mass in that the Franciscan mass uses the san damiano cross instead of the crucifix. The San Damiano Cross is the Cross-that St Francis prayed before he was sent the vision to rebuild the church. (Holly Hayes, N.D. paragraph 3) The creed also varies slightly from the traditional mass in that the traditional mass uses either the Apostles or the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed is a summarization of the faith that Christians profess and the apostle’s creed is a list of what Catholics believe. ( the editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 19/04/2014, paragraph 2) But the Franciscan mass uses the Franciscan Creed. The Franciscan creed is of special importance as it expressed the community’s acceptance of Gods message and the commitment to the vision as of the world as inspired by St Francis. Another section is during the Eucharist when everyone is called to service, this displays the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception ethos as it calls everyone to service. The Eucharist is symbolically important as it represents the blood and body of Jesus Christ. (No author, 2013, paragraph 1) The final section is just after the Eucharist when everyone takes a moment of silence to pray this is divergent to the catholic mass because instead of a minute of silence in the Franciscan Mass they do the Franciscan five. Franciscan five is designed to be a time to relax and calm down, like meditation. For reasons such as the Franciscan Creed and the processional Cross the mount Alvernia college mass is divergent to other masses