An Interreligious Sunday Morning at Wolska in Warsaw, Poland

Last Sunday, I ended up having a bit of an interreligious stroll through the Wolska area of Warsaw (about a 20-30 minute tram journey away from Warsaw city centre).

First off, I visited the LDS (Mormon) church at Wolska to attend their Sunday Sacrament meeting at 10.00am:

I genuinely like some of Joseph Smith's scripture especially 'Doctrine and Covenants' (for the 'outsider', a much more interesting read than 'The Book of Mormon') and the account of Smith's 1st Vision in 'Pearl of Great Price'.  Moreover, I also like some of Smith's lesser known writings such as the King Follet Discourse (King Follet Funeral Sermon) where he starts to spell out the LDS belief in Exaltation (the process of people becoming gods themselves).

However, as usual, at the Wolska LDS church, I found the tight social conditioning procedures a bit stifling.  In my experience, (American) new religious movements like the LDS; Jehovah's Witnesses; and Christian Scientists are more than okay if you agree with everything that they say, but less so if you're a fan of independent or lateral thinking.  Thus, after an hour with the Mormons, I was ready to move on.

Coming out of the LDS chapel, I walked to the tramlines, and turned right for a 10-minute walk up to the Mariavite (Old) Catholic church:

The Mariavites are a Polish (schismatic) offshoot from the (Roman) Catholic Church.  Moreover, the Mariavites are divided into a conservative movement with (married) priests who still say Mass with their backs to the people facing east, and a far more liberal movement with female priests.  I've only been to a Mariavite Mass once at the church in Wolska which was very reverently sung in Polish with a kind of Gregorian chant ring to it.  Besides this, as their name suggests, the Mariavites are kind of massive devotees to the Virgin Mary:

However, despite being a Catholic, I can't help but sense that the Mariavites may overdo the Marian devotion a bit.

After the Mariavite church, I walked back down alongside the tramlines, passed the LDS church, and had a quick look at the beautiful, steep grey Catholic church at Wolska:

This is more the form of religiosity that I feel comfortable with, where religious belief and experience are more of a privatised thing, and people seem to have more freedom to determine how much they believe or invest in their religion.  Yes, this is probably the sense that I get that makes me feel more comfortable with established religions than new religious movements.

Finally, I couldn't leave Wolska without visiting the amazing Eastern Orthodox Cemetery church:

Of course, if I'm passing by, I always go inside the church to catch the incredible Orthodox Slavonic Chant (liturgical music):

Yes, it is when I listen to Orthodox (or Uniat Catholic) liturgical music or Gregorian Chant at a Catholic Old Latin (Tridentine) Mass that I feel closest to God.