Please post this same question in the non-Catholic religions section of this Board.
You are getting an extremely biased response here in the Traditional section.
I was born and raised evangelical Protestant, and so was my husband. We were extremly active members of some of the best evangelical Protestant churches in the U.S. (Famous evangelicals authors, speakers, and ministry heads, including the head of Campus Crusade for Christ, come from our chuches.)
My first thought is that you should ASK the Protestant which Mass he/she would like to attend with you. Explain–with fairness now, OK?!–the differences, and ASK him/her to choose.
If for some reason you don’t ask, or they tell you to choose for them, here are some things to think about.
If the Protestant is from a mainline denomination, you might be OK taking them to the TLM. It will be familiar to them, just kind of “quaint” because it is in Latin instead of English.
If the Protestant is an
evangelical Protestant, you should definitely take them to the NO, provided that it is a “reverent” NO.
Here are my reasons.
- Evangelical Protestants are committed to sola Scriptura and the teaching/preaching of the Word of God. If they can’t understand the words, they will be very suspicious of the whole experience, because they won’t KNOW what they are being taught. For all they know, that priest in the scary-looking vestment might be saying All Hail Satan. They want to UNDERSTAND what is goign on. Certainly the Missal will help, but many newbies claim that it is hard to follow.
- The evangelical will have a very difficult time with a priest who cannot be heard (silence). They will reject this practice as unBiblical, since the Bible clearly says, “Faith comes by HEARING.”
3… Evangelicals often reject “experiences” and “feelings” and are very suspicious of “experiences” that create “feelings.” They will check it out in detail to make sure that it is “genuine.” One of the posters mentioned a friend who had tears streaming down her face during TLM–notice she she was from a
Pentecostal Protestant background, a group that is very much into feelings. But an
evangelical Protestant would reject these feelings and concentrate on hearing and understanding the pure Word of God in the Mass. He/she will strive to avoid getting caught up in the “majesty” of the Mass, and claim that it is the same as being impressed at Disneyworld. According to evangelical Protestant teaching, It’s not the feelings, it’s the FACTS and FAITH that make a Christian.
- Most evangelical Protestants abhor ritual and teach that it is part of the “works of men” that Christ preached against. Some evangelicals even believe that these rituals were borrowed from pagan rites, and are Satanic or pagan. Evangelical Protestant churches are unadorned and there is no set liturgy.
- An evangelical Protestant will be looking for reasons to reject Catholicism as “non-Christian” or “non-Biblical.” Don’t be surprised when they bring their Bible and look up every single thing that happens in the Mass. **A good, reverent NO Mass will surprise the bejeebers out of them! ** Every prayer, every response, even most of the songs, including the Haugen/Haas songs that so many of you despise–almost ALL of these are straight out of the Scriptures, and the evangelical Protestant will RECOGNIZE these Scriptures and be shocked and intrigued! He/she has always assumed that the Catholic Church is un-Biblical, and then they hear for themselves that everything is from the Bible! :bigyikes: That is such an amazing concept for evangelical Protestants! They will probably try to find something in the Mass to pick apart around you, but believe me, they will go home and in secret, start studying Catholicism!
I suppose this could happen in the TLM, but why put the barrier of language up? Let them hear and understand every word of the Mass first.
I still remember the first time my husband and I attended Mass (NO). We were bowled over by the Biblicalness of it. We had expected ritual and Latin, and instead, we got good solid Bible teaching from everything, even the songs.
Many Traditionalists reject “Protestantized” Masses–well, you aren’t Protestant! Put yourself in their shoes. When you go swimming, do you like to jump in all at once, or ease yourself into the unfamiliar water? I would say that most evangelical Protestants would prefer to ease themselves in. There are exceptions, of course, but I believe that I speak for most evangelical Protestants.
Please don’t scare them away by insisting that the only
good Mass is a TLM. That’s a rejection of what the Holy Mother Church teaches, and mark my words–an evangelical Protestant WILL PICK UP ON ANY DISSENTION AMONG CATHOLICS and use it as an excuse to avoid Catholicism.
