alpha course

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The_Reginator said:
Having read just some of the article below I would definitely STAY AWAY from this course.
The Alpha Course—an Evaluation

Two things jump right out at me from seeing this:
  • Praying for “the gift of tongues”? How is that at all helpful in growing as a Catholic … in growing to know Our Lord better?
  • I know that the local parish (which I only attend when absolutely necessary) is doing this Alpha Course with the Anglican parish down the road. There can be no “communion service” as we are not in communion with any protestant denomination.
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Speaking in Tongues is not false. The Catholic Church sees Speaking in Tongues as a Gift of the Holy Spirit. There even have been Saints of the Catholic Church who were gifted with the Gift of Tongues. Please watch these videos of Catholic Answers: youtube.com/watch?v=Bc8qKjocq4I
youtube.com/watch?v=9UA693G-uUg

It is not wrong when Catholics work together with Anglicans. Protestant denominations not being in full communion with the Catholic Church doesn’t mean that Catholics shouldn’t work together with Protestants. It means that it is forbidden that Catholics and Protestants celebrate Eucharist together and it means that Catholics can’t receive Communion in protestant denominations and Protestants generally can’t receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church says that it is good for Catholics to pray together with Protestants. Here you can read the decree “Unitatis Redintegratio” from the Second Vatican Council: vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html
 
Fischli said:
It is not wrong when Catholics work together with Anglicans. Protestant denominations not being in full communion with the Catholic Church doesn’t mean that Catholics shouldn’t work together with Protestants. It means that it is forbidden that Catholics and Protestants celebrate Eucharist together and it means that Catholics can’t receive Communion in protestant denominations and Protestants generally can’t receive Holy Communion in the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church says that it is good for Catholics to pray together with Protestants. Here you can read the decree “Unitatis Redintegratio” from the Second Vatican Council: vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html
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Totally agree that we can work together with Anglicans and Protestants and that it is good to pray with them. For we all agree in the core beliefs of Jesus…Son of God, 2nd person in the Trinity, Born of the virgin Mary, died for our sins, rose from the dead defeating death and sin, will come again to judge…and if we left it at that we’re all good. But, we can’t be blind to the fact that there are significant things we disagree on…and they’re kind of important.

We disagree with them on: how many books are in the Bible, how we get to heaven, defining justification, sometimes on whether baptism is even necessary, the authority Jesus gave to His Church, who His Church even is, the role of Mary and the saints, whether Mary was ever-virgin, what Jesus meant at the Last Supper…and others. We as Catholics almost tend to apologize for these beliefs as if we are the cause of the disunity. And now because we are so afraid of offending and limiting our audience that we bow down to a Protestant-based evangelization program. My God, what has happened to Catholics over the last 400 years!!

Our attitude (and I know what I’m about to say isn’t politically correct in today’s Church) should be that if Christians want real unity then come back to the Church. Alpha just exacerbates the horrible misinterpretation many take on the unity verse in John 17:20-23. Jesus was praying for unity among His believers in His Church! In His truth as only taught by the one, holy, catholic, apostolic Catholic Church! Today many believe unity to include all Christians regardless of their beliefs. The “let’s all just get along and co-exist” mentality. Why do Catholics have to dance around the great truths of our faith?

The Catholic Church is the sole Church of Christ established by Jesus and protected by the Holy Spirit. Unity from a Catholic perspective must never waver from that fact. If that bothers anyone then maybe they’re not as Catholic as they thought. And I’m not professing to be arrogant, but rather supremely confident with a strong mix of respect and humility for the only reason we’re Catholic is by the grace of God.

-Ernie-
 
SecretCatholic said:
Respectfully, It may be the “end of story” for you, Deacon, but some of us like dialog. Your appeal to authority is misplaced, especially these days, when Church leaders don’t seem to be able to agree on even basic Catholic doctrine and we the laity have had to remind them of it. Ernie, others and I don’t merely state a subjective opinion, but also good arguments for having that opinion.

Alpha is flawed for the many reasons already stated in this thread. Besides that, it’s not Church dogma- It’s another commercial product among many. And it is shameful that we must (literally) buy into a protestant program (it is protestant as in it is designed by a protestant and prioritizes protestant beliefs and excludes specifically Catholic doctrine, at least initially) to evangelize.

[snip for space]
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Thank you for your 3 posts.

May I add Pascendi Dominici Gregis
**
Modernism aka liberalism, is the source of all error

Ecc 10:2
**
A wise man’s heart inclines him toward the right,
but a fool’s heart toward the left.
 
All one has to do is ask yourself, What Saint would promote Alpha? Even Saint John Paul II didn’t Invision this when it came to New Evangelization. I would suggest reading Cardinal Stanislaw “New Evangelization a Question of being and doing” its only 3 pages beautifully put together on how New Evangelization was meant to bring back evangelization as it was and not to be confused with a magical formula or a new method of evangelizing. Even if the majority of Bishops agree with Alpha regardless if it’s not Catholic. That Doesn’t mean the census is right. Remember during the Arian crisis 4/5 Bishops denied the Divinity of Christ. In the words of Ven Archbishop Fulton Sheen “Moral principles do not depend on a majority vote. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong. Right is right, even if nobody is right.” We are in the 4th major crisis in the Church but it’s a Silent Crisis, 5 thousand unborn angels are murdered a day, 80% Catholics use birth control, reverence for Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist is not visible during Mass by many Priest and Laity, majority of Catholics don’t speak up in public settings about the Faith “instruct the ignorante” which ultimately denies Our Lord, Politics has entered into Theology, Mass attendence is dropping rapidly every year, confessional box is mostly empty, Catholics don’t believe or not afraid of Hell. God has given us time to turn the tide back to Him. Regardless of what your views are about President Donald Trump he was sent by God for this time. To break this politic correctness to give us courage to speak our faith as it was written with the fullness of Truth. In the words of Hillary Clinton “religious beliefs have to change” we were on the brink of war, Church against State. So my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we either submit to members of the Church spreading heresies and stay silent. Or, we pick up our cross and stand for Christ and his Church and be the Saints we were meant to be. “We may not die a martyrs death, but we are expected to live a Martyrs Life” - Servont of God Fr. John Hardon S.J.

God Love You,
Christianos13

“Who is going to save our Church? Do not look to the priests. Do not look to the bishops. It’s up to you, the laity, to remind our priests to be priests and our bishops to be bishops.”
- Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen
 
As Cardinal Kasper recently said about Alpha, it strengthens ecumenical togetherness among Christians’ providing the setting for a ‘joint proclamation of faith in Christ in today’s world’.

Like come on… that says it all doesn’t it.

God love you,
Christianos13
 
Christianos13 said:
All one has to do is ask yourself, What Saint would promote Alpha? Even Saint John Paul II didn’t Invision this when it came to New Evangelization. I would suggest reading Cardinal Stanislaw “New Evangelization a Question of being and doing” its only 3 pages beautifully put together on how New Evangelization was meant to bring back evangelization as it was and not to be confused with a magical formula or a new method of evangelizing. Even if the majority of Bishops agree with Alpha regardless if it’s not Catholic. That Doesn’t mean the census is right. Remember during the Arian crisis 4/5 Bishops denied the Divinity of Christ. In the words of Ven Archbishop Fulton Sheen “Moral principles do not depend on a majority vote. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong. Right is right, even if nobody is right.” We are in the 4th major crisis in the Church but it’s a Silent Crisis, 5 thousand unborn angels are murdered a day, 80% Catholics use birth control, reverence for Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist is not visible during Mass by many Priest and Laity, majority of Catholics don’t speak up in public settings about the Faith “instruct the ignorante” which ultimately denies Our Lord, Politics has entered into Theology, Mass attendence is dropping rapidly every year, confessional box is mostly empty, Catholics don’t believe or not afraid of Hell. God has given us time to turn the tide back to Him. Regardless of what your views are about President Donald Trump he was sent by God for this time. To break this politic correctness to give us courage to speak our faith as it was written with the fullness of Truth. In the words of Hillary Clinton “religious beliefs have to change” we were on the brink of war, Church against State. So my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we either submit to members of the Church spreading heresies and stay silent. Or, we pick up our cross and stand for Christ and his Church and be the Saints we were meant to be. “We may not die a martyrs death, but we are expected to live a Martyrs Life” - Servont of God Fr. John Hardon S.J.

God Love You,
Christianos13

“Who is going to save our Church? Do not look to the priests. Do not look to the bishops. It’s up to you, the laity, to remind our priests to be priests and our bishops to be bishops.”
- Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen
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13 heresies (not an exhaustive list) are mentioned here. catholic.com/tract/the-great-heresies

One of them is behind Alpha. Bottom line, Re: Alpha, who is teaching who, here?

seems to me, if many in the Catholic Church think this is a good format to promote, then we ought to promote our own program. Not someone else’s, riddled with error for the sake of can’t we just get along] ?
 
Inspiring stuff Christianos13 and Steve b!! At least for me. In charity, we must remember that there are those on this forum and many more Catholics who believe deeply in Alpha. There are also others that have spoken pretty loudly against this program including myself. Just as we are called to boldly witness to non-Christians or non-Catholics in a respectful and humble way, we must also do the same as it relates to those that may not see Alpha for what we see it to be.

Not that any of you have, but let’s make sure we don’t get on a high horse of righteousness and continue to focus on the truth. Be bold but be respectful. In any evangelistic effort people can’t be forced to believe. Let’s just keep preaching the truth and pray for the Church and to be used by God for His greater good. Keep fighting the good fight! His will and not ours!!!

God bless!

-Ernie-
 
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Ernie07 said:
Inspiring stuff Christianos13 and Steve b!! At least for me. In charity, we must remember that there are those on this forum and many more Catholics who believe deeply in Alpha. There are also others that have spoken pretty loudly against this program including myself. Just as we are called to boldly witness to non-Christians or non-Catholics in a respectful and humble way, we must also do the same as it relates to those that may not see Alpha for what we see it to be.

Not that any of you have, but let’s make sure we don’t get on a high horse of righteousness and continue to focus on the truth. Be bold but be respectful. In any evangelistic effort people can’t be forced to believe. Let’s just keep preaching the truth and pray for the Church and to be used by God for His greater good. Keep fighting the good fight! His will and not ours!!!

God bless!

-Ernie-
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Amen brother! We shouldn’t cause division in the Church. Jesus wants unity for his disciples.
 
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Absolutely, the Church is going through this identity crisis because of our disobedience to God. We must hold fast to the truth and always remember God’s in control. Correct error when we see it, call a spade a spade. But keep our eyes always fixed on the Sacred Heart of our Lord.

God love you,
Christianos13
 
JoyToTheWhirled said:
Yes it is charismatic in emphasis, coming as it does from what in would call a ‘soft charismatic’ church in the CofE. So, no wild manifestations, but there is great emphasis put on the Holy Spirit day about halfway through the course, where people pray to receive the Holy Spirit and are gently encouraged to experience it physically.

Personally I have always been a little baffled that Catholics use the lowest-common-denominator approach of the Alpha course when there is so much distinctively Catholic teaching about. As I understand it, the Catholic element is a ‘bolt on’ to the main course. I honestly don’t know what Catholic distinctiveness it covers.

In short, there’s nowt particularly wrong with Alpha, but why would a Catholic church have a frozen, preformed beef patty when they could get a three course meal elsewhere?
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I realize that this is an old post, but since it is near the top of the thread, it is likely to be read by folks just coming upon it - like me. Therefore, I want to respond.

Alpha presents the kerygma, the basic, core gospel message in language that modern people can understand and respond to. If you aren’t familiar with the word “kerygma”, read Peter’s speech on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

Notice there is nothing distinctively “Catholic” in Acts 2…nothing about transubstantiation, purgatory or the Marian dogmas there. Just the basics.

Alpha is “alpha”…not, beta, gamma or delta. It is the beginning of the journey to Christ - not the end. Catechesis, to which many posters have pointed, can only succeed AFTER someone has made the decision to follow Jesus. Unfortunately, many Catholic programs BEGIN with Catechesis, and it falls on deaf ears like seed on unplowed soil.

Here is an introduction to Alpha which features Catholic luminaries such as Raneiro Cantalamessa, preacher to John Paul II, extolling the Alpha course:

youtube.com/watch?v=9xZW5Xjjzo0

Here is a testimonial from Bishop Michael Byrnes:

youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Trt3rKSW4
 
As it is my post you have responded to, allow me an addendum. I have since followed links to details of Catholic Alpha, and while I still have misgivings about emphasis, I reiterate that there isn’t much wrong with it.

I experienced Alpha at both a nondenominational church and an Anglican church, and can honestly say the non-Alpha course I have recently followed partway in RCIA was much richer and Christ centered, but that is a personal experience, and I make no claim to being wiser than those who use Alpha. In fact my Protestant children are about to begin Alpha in their church.
 
Randy_Carson said:
I realize that this is an old post, but since it is near the top of the thread, it is likely to be read by folks just coming upon it - like me. Therefore, I want to respond.

Alpha presents the kerygma, the basic, core gospel message in language that modern people can understand and respond to. If you aren’t familiar with the word “kerygma”, read Peter’s speech on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

Notice there is nothing distinctively “Catholic” in Acts 2…nothing about transubstantiation, purgatory or the Marian dogmas there. Just the basics.

Alpha is “alpha”…not, beta, gamma or delta. It is the beginning of the journey to Christ - not the end. Catechesis, to which many posters have pointed, can only succeed AFTER someone has made the decision to follow Jesus. Unfortunately, many Catholic programs BEGIN with Catechesis, and it falls on deaf ears like seed on unplowed soil.

Here is an introduction to Alpha which features Catholic luminaries such as Raneiro Cantalamessa, preacher to John Paul II, extolling the Alpha course:

youtube.com/watch?v=9xZW5Xjjzo0

Here is a testimonial from Bishop Michael Byrnes:

youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Trt3rKSW4
Click to expand...
Hi Randy,

I’m glad you brought this up because at the core of the deception around Alpha is everyone who claims that it is only about Kerygma (“that is why it’s called Alpha” I hear people say). So, let’s take a look at that claim and why I call it deception. What is Kerygma? Some describe it as preaching the core tenets of the Christian faith. Another way I’ve seen it written is the message that “Jesus loves you, He gave His life for you, and now He is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you”. I think you get the idea.

My issue is that Alpha isn’t only about Kerygma. In fact, I’d say only a small portion is about Kerygma. Is it purely Kerygma when Alpha espouses a false 66 Bible? Is it purely Kerygma when Alpha claims that there isn’t one Church that has the whole truth? Is it purely Kerygma when Alpha claims that baptism is not necessary to become a child of God? These are just a few examples (of many) where Alpha takes a stand beyond Kerygma.

If you want an example of Kerygma read the book More than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell. I’ve been told that I have a misunderstanding between Kerygma and Catechesis. The book I’m referencing is written by a non-Catholic and is a concise, very compelling argument for the Christian faith. True Kerygma. Just read the chapter summaries online and you will see what true Kerygma is…and that Alpha is not it.

Alpha is a Protestant based evangelization program that sometimes overtly and other times subtlely opposes the core beliefs of the Catholic Church. It is far beyond Kerygma and those who can’t see that are blinded in some way (including Church leaders that endorse it).

I’d welcome any differing opinions and thoughts. Thanks.

-Ernie-
 
JoyToTheWhirled said:
As it is my post you have responded to, allow me an addendum. I have since followed links to details of Catholic Alpha, and while I still have misgivings about emphasis, I reiterate that there isn’t much wrong with it.

I experienced Alpha at both a nondenominational church and an Anglican church, and can honestly say the non-Alpha course I have recently followed partway in RCIA was much richer and Christ centered, but that is a personal experience, and I make no claim to being wiser than those who use Alpha. In fact my Protestant children are about to begin Alpha in their church.
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Here is an analysis
catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=7562

Scroll down to **Evaluation of Alpha

**I would ask, who is teaching who here? Note: Alpha for Catholics isn’t a Catholic version of Alpha.
 
Randy_Carson said:
I realize that this is an old post, but since it is near the top of the thread, it is likely to be read by folks just coming upon it - like me. Therefore, I want to respond.

Alpha presents the kerygma, the basic, core gospel message in language that modern people can understand and respond to. If you aren’t familiar with the word “kerygma”, read Peter’s speech on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.

Notice there is nothing distinctively “Catholic” in Acts 2…nothing about transubstantiation, purgatory or the Marian dogmas there. Just the basics.

Alpha is “alpha”…not, beta, gamma or delta. It is the beginning of the journey to Christ - not the end. Catechesis, to which many posters have pointed, can only succeed AFTER someone has made the decision to follow Jesus. Unfortunately, many Catholic programs BEGIN with Catechesis, and it falls on deaf ears like seed on unplowed soil.

Here is an introduction to Alpha which features Catholic luminaries such as Raneiro Cantalamessa, preacher to John Paul II, extolling the Alpha course:

youtube.com/watch?v=9xZW5Xjjzo0

Here is a testimonial from Bishop Michael Byrnes:

youtube.com/watch?v=Z9Trt3rKSW4
Click to expand...
Hi Randy

May I suggest

an analysis of Alpha
catholicculture.org/cult…fm?recnum=7562

Scroll down to **Evaluation of Alpha

as an aside,
**Note: Alpha for Catholics isn’t a Catholic version of Alpha.
 
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