Church كنيسة

Today I went to mass in the Catholic church in Fez.  There is no Anglican church here - despite what Google maps says.  (That one is an evangelical church.)  There is only one Catholic church in the city - St. Francis of Assisi.  It has two masses each week: Saturday at 6 pm and Sunday at 10:30 am.  There a is no cross on the top of the church and there are no church bells.  (As I write this, I can hear the call to prayer from the local mosque.)  I knew that the mass would be in French, but I was surprised that the usher asked me if I spoke French as he handed me the bulletin.  Then, when I sat down, I saw that the man in the pew in front of me had a bulletin in Spanish.  There were 4 older white women (counting me) and about 200 Subsaharan Africans.  They all looked to be in their twenties.  There were more men than women, but it was a good mix.  There was a very nice choir that sat in the front (about 10 - 15 people).  At the front, there was a large screen that showed the words to hymns.

There was a collection, and ushers came with baskets, but they didn't pass them down the pews.  They would come along the aisle and if you wanted to give money you signaled them.  I watched to get an idea of how much to put.  Most people gave nothing at all.  Some gave a few dirham (8 dirham = $1).  I put about 6 dirham in.  I didn't have any 10 dirham coins and the next thing I had was a 50 dirham bill.  I would guess that they collected less than 200 dirham from all those people.  I'm guessing the church in Rome must subsidize because there's no way the priest could even eat on that.  Of course, they're not paying for any heat (FREEZING in there - like every other building in Fez). 
The communion was wafers - kind of waffled - that the priest or an acolyte (older African woman) put in your hand.  More than half the congregation went up for communion.  At the end, they had their announcements.  They are going on retreat to Rabat on 2/18.  It definitely seemed like an active community.
Of course I didn't take pictures during the mass, so all these photos are from after the mass ended.  There were many people around the priest at the end.  I went over to ask if I could take pictures in the church.  The priest asked if I was Italian.  He said he thought he heard an Italian accent in my French and said that he is Italian.

Above, you can see the stations of the cross on the side wall.

This is the altar.

This is the area behind the altar.  Just in front of the brass cross, you can see the aumbry.