I remember a group of men in vestments parading around with a gilded cross on a stick and a large, decorated book. The entire episode seemed a little strange to me. I was never raised in any church and never went to Sunday school. I didn't attend church voluntarily until I was in high school and started going to a friend's congregation which turned out to be Pentecostal, which is not what I was exposed to in the under-18 services they held... those were more straightforward worship services without all the props and antics I saw later. The over-elaborate details that Catholics placed on Mass felt odd to me, like we were supposed to worship these objects they carried around with them and not the Holy Spirit of God and His Son.
The priests wear vestments that are in the colors reflecting the particular "season" of the church year. Each specific color worn has a specific meaning within the church. Right now they are wearing white and gold/yellow, because white is the color of Easter, and also Christmas. During Lent, they wear purple vestments as purple represents penitence and mourning. The robes (vestments) for the priests are either picked out by the parish, or the priest himself. They can be very elaborate, or very plain, depending on who picked them out. At my particular church, each priest (we have 4) has chosen and purchased his own vestments. They are similar in style, and colors are exact, but may be different fabric or "decorated" differently. Our youngest and newest priest, has extremely elaborate robes compared with the other 3, his mother made them for him. There are several different specific articles of attire that a priest will wear, during a Mass or in everyday dress, that each have a specific meaning.
The "large decorated book" is the Bible. In my church, the most elaborate one has a hard "gold" cover, and is laid on the altar during the Mass. There is a much less decorated one that an acolyte holds for the priest to read from during the Mass when he is not at the altar.
The "gilded cross" represents both Jesus' death(He was crucified on a cross), but also His resurrection.
If the cross has the figure of Jesus on it, it is called a crucifix. There is alwasy a crucifix either on the wall behind the altar, or as a free-standing crucifix on the altar. Some churches also use a crucifix on a "stick" which is usually carried by an acolyte followed by other acolytes and/priests up the main aisle at the beginning of the Mass and then taken back down the main aisle at the end of the Mass. A cross or crucifix is also at the bottom of a rosary. The crucifix is a symbol representing Jesus' sacrifice (his death) for us sinners.
While it may have appeared that these items were "worshipped" they are actually "symbols" that represent something specific relating to God/Jesus Christ.
Catholic Churches always will have statues of The Virgin Mary, and may have statues of various saints -depending on what that particular church wants. These statues will have candles at their base, for people to light and ask for a specific prayer, blessing or in thanksgiving. These are not "idols".
The sacraments (the Eucharist) of Communion - bread represents the body of Christ, and wine represents the blood of Christ. They are blessed by the priest during the Mass, and we take them into us, to represent taking Christ into us to remember Him until He returns. To a Catholic or an Episcopalian ...the bread and the wine ARE the body and blood of Christ.
To you it may seem elaborate....to me, and to many others...it's just the way of our Church. It's worshipful, ritualistic, symbolic, respectful, mostly solemn....yet intensely comforting.
