A Look Around the Church

Anyone unfamiliar with the inside of a Catholic Church would be a little confused on their first visit. What are those things hanging on the wall? What is that raised area with a table? Why are we sitting on benches rather than chairs? Why is there water at the entrances?

Those of us who grew up in the Catholic Church can enter any other parish and feel almost at home. The church building is a familiar place to us, and we recognize common elements in other Catholic churches as well as in the Mass, no matter how far from home we go.

Because there are many things in a church that have always been there, we don’t often think about them enough to question what they are and why they’re there. It often takes a visitor to the parish or a child asking, “What is that?” to make us stop and ask the question ourselves and search for an answer.

So, on occasions like today, our 3-Minute Catechesis will answer some of these common questions, based on inquiries we have received.

We begin with the ambo. Why do we call the podium an “ambo”? Is this a special religious term? The answer is that the piece of furniture from which the readings are proclaimed and the homily often delivered is not a podium. A podium is something you stand on, like a soapbox, which is used to raise the height of a speaker.

In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left (as viewed by the congregation) is called the pulpit. Since the Gospel is often read from the pulpit, that side of the church is sometimes called the gospel side.

The other speaker's stand, usually on the right, is known as the lectern. The word lectern comes from the Latin word lectus, from a word meaning to read, because the lectern is mainly a reading stand. It is typically used by lay people to read Scripture from the Lectionary, to lead the congregation in prayer, as a cantor might, and to make announcements. Because the 2nd reading is most often taken from a letter or epistle, the lectern side of the church is sometimes called the epistle side.

The word ambo comes from a Greek word meaning an elevation, and it was originally an elaborate raised platform in the middle of the nave where Scripture would be read, and was occasionally used as a speaker's platform for homilies. In churches where there is only one speaker's stand, like Risen Savior, it serves the functions of both lectern and pulpit, and is properly called the ambo.