The 3 p.m. Podcast | All the Angles

I am always in awe of other religions.

This week, I had the privilege of photographing a lovely Jewish family from La Cañada for a story written by La Cañada Valley Sun columnist Anita Susan Brenner.

The Harris family — Tiffany, Marc, and kids Isaac, Rachel and Brooklyn — were very patient and helpful throughout the shoot, even though it was scheduled to start at 8:15 p.m. I wanted to make sure everyone was home.

Marc was dressed in his traditional prayer shawl, while Tiffany, Isaac and Brooklyn took turns playing a shofar, or ram’s horn, which is used during Rosh Hashana. Rosh Hashana begins at sundown Friday and will mark the beginning of the year 5770 on the Jewish calendar. It was the funniest thing to see little Brooklyn playing the big ram’s horn. And she could only play it if her mom held up the other end! It was even funnier to see that her father, Marc, couldn’t get a good note out at all!

It was a unique experience for me, and it made me happy to see a family so proud of their religion, so willing to share it with visitors to their home.

I remember interviewing a young woman last year, days after she and her husband had just returned from the Muslim Hajj. She told me of her experiences there, walking through the desert with hundreds of thousands of other people, wearing nothing but the same sandals (her husband ended up losing his) and a simple robe for days. Her days consisted of prayer, mediation, prayer, discussion with other Muslim women, and more prayer and meditation.

Wow. That was an experience.

As a part-time religion reporter, I’ve attended La Cañada Presbyterian, La Crescenta Presbyterian, Lenten services at St. George’s Episcopal Church, Easter sunrise services at St. Luke’s of the Mountain Anglican Church, Sunday services at Ananda Ashrama Temple in La Crescenta, St. Bede Catholic Church, St. James the Less Catholic Church and La Cañada United Methodist Church.

I remember my first Presbyterian service at La Crescenta Presbyterian when I was in middle school. I attended with a good friend at the time as part of a youth group that was held there on Thursday evenings. The group attended services one evening. During communion, I was taken aback at the fact that they were using actual bread and that it was being passed along to the people in the pews as opposed to being distributed to people in standing in line. The communion cups were also passed along in this way.

At St. George’s, I was intrigued at the similarities between an Episcopal church and a Catholic church. Both have altars; both have the stations of the cross along the walls. I was even more intrigued when I attended services at La Cañada and La Crescenta Presbyterian churches — and saw no altar at all!

Probably one of the most beautiful services I ever attended was at the non-denominational Ananda Ashrama Temple in La Crescenta. This little temple is located where Pennsylvania Avenue ends at Markridge Road in La Crescenta, at the foot of the San Gabriels. Meditation, incense and music were the order of the morning, and a state of well-being was had by all (except someone’s cellphone kept ringing. I guess high up on the hill wasn’t high enough.) On a spur-of-the-moment decision to visit the temple one afternoon, my then-girlfriend and I even got to see a family of deer wandering the grounds.

Some people might say attending the services of another religion is sinful or even blasphemous. I disagree.

Why would it be a sin for a Catholic, such as I, to attend a Jewish service, or Anglican service, or Ananda Ashrama service if I continue to make it my life’s work to serve my faith in the end? I’m still the same old Catholic I was before I walked through the doors of the Episcopalian church or the Jewish temple. I’m not turning my back on my religion. I’m not looking to convert. Curiosity is a human trait, and I’m curious about your religion.

We all have the same mission, it seems, that is to serve God as part of our life’s work.

Until next week.

All the best.

MICHAEL J. ARVIZU is regional coordinator of the San Fernando Region Ministry With Young Adults. Reach him at (866) 304-0341, or e-mail michael.arvizu@sfmya.org.