That feeling of transportation, of immersion, only increases if you stay for Mass, in which the heavy scent of incense fills the air and attendees (practicing Catholics, at least) are asked to imbibe the body and blood of Christ. Diane Winston, MS, PhD, professor of media and religion at University of Southern California, calls Catholicism a sensual religion in the most literal sense. To experience Catholicism is to experience not just a religion but an aesthetic, too — and that’s hardly accidental. “[Catholicism] is all about beauty,” she says. “The Catholic Church has been very wealthy for a long time, so they’ve been able to accumulate amazing artwork, beautiful religious vestments, [and] amazingly built cathedrals.”
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