I had a quiet evening on tap and decided it would be a good night to visit a new church in the Indianapolis area. While I've been on my journey for a while and have been visiting one church semi-regularly, I remain intrigued by Catholicism and decided to visit a new parish. St. Pius is located on Indy's Northeastside near 71st & Keystone in a mostly residential area. The parish includes an elementary school within its community and is set well enough off the road that you really kind of have to look for it a bit before you realize it's there.
Part of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, St. Pius is pastored by Father James Farrell with Father David Bunyar as associate pastor. With over 1600 families belonging to the parish, St. Pius has grown quite a bit in its 60 years of existence.
St. Pius can be accessed via two different entrances off of East 71st Street, though if you need the accessible parking in the center lot you're best pulling in off of what I believe is actually Sarto Drive. The parking lot is a tad confusing and gets quite busy after a Mass is held, plus the parking lot is one way where the accessible parking is and you can't really access it easily from what looked like the main entrance.
As seems to be true of most Catholic parishes, attempts have been made to make the church accessible including accessible parking with curb cuts (at least 3), at least one automatic door closest to the accessible parking, and audio devices to help those with hearing impairments. I could not tell if the altar area was accessible - it wasn't from the front, but it may have been from the back. This is pretty common in Catholic churches, though I have seen some that haven't made this area accessible.
The sanctuary reminded me of St. Matthew's - somewhat contemporary with wooden pews and the expected Catholic features. A multi-person worship band led mostly traditional hymns off to the side led a female singer who also played guitar.
I realized a little too late that one entrance had the bulletins, while the entrance I used did not. As someone who is inexperienced with Catholicism, this meant I spent most of the Mass rather confused. About halfway through, however, they did start announcing the hymns.
There was a guest speaker from a Grenada-based mission - I seem to have a knack for visiting Catholic churches when they have guest speakers. He was quite personable, though the message itself didn't give me a strong feel for the parish.
As is usual for Catholic churches, Communion is done toward the end of the Mass and is not open to those outside the Catholic faith. I appreciated that one of the ushers asked if I wanted Communion brought to me, though I obviously respectfully declined.
There's a "passing of the peace" type moment during the service, which practically guarantees that as a stranger your presence will at least be acknowledged. I have some friends who appreciate you can go into a Catholic church and just blend in and be left alone, while I've had others bothered by the fact that you could easily attend week after week without ever really encountering people. As a person in a wheelchair, I tend to at least get acknowledged. I would say that St. Pius was on the low end of actual hospitality, though. This was somewhat surprising as I saw multiple people with disabilities, mostly intellectual/developmental, and it would seem the congregation is comfortable with disability.
I also noted that they have at least some ministry outreach to Indy's large Burmese population.
Overall, this was a middle-of-the-road experience for me. I didn't really feel welcome, though I also didn't really feel ignored or rejected. The congregation is definitely mostly older and my sense was they probably skewed conservative. My sense was that if I appeared regularly that I would likely eventually be greeted. I did really like a sense of welcome for the kids - I'm always a bit bothered when fidgety kids are sent outside. I think it's important for kids to be in the service and I felt like a couple of fidgety toddlers were embraced.
As evidenced by the fact that a 60-year-old congregation didn't even have a Yelp page, St. Pius's older population and more traditional service would likely not resonate as deeply with those seeking a more contemporary experience but I found it somewhat soothing. The auditorium had plenty of space in the back for wheelchairs, though I didn't see any other identified places and I would note that during the standing portions of the service it was difficult to see and fully participate.
While I doubt I'll return for a second experience, for those seeking a more traditional Catholic experience with mostly, but not exclusively, older congregants St. Pius offers a wonderful option. read more