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Zenkai
Guest
I am in RCIA and I attend Mass on Sundays. I haven’t been to my Protestant church in several weeks. Am I allowed to go to a service at my old Protestant church, perhaps this Sunday night?
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Randy_Carson
Guest
Of course, but it may not be wise to attend at this point if you are not rock solid in your new Catholic faith.
Just my $.02.
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Zenkai
Guest
ThanksOf course, but it may not be wise to attend at this point if you are not rock solid in your new Catholic faith.
Just my $.02.
I’m pretty rock-solid, so I should be good.
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jpjd
Guest
Why do you want to attend a service at your old Protestant church?
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jmcrae
Guest
In order to express to God that you are 100% committed to becoming Catholic, it would be a good practice to refrain from attendance at any Protestant service (other than the funeral of a relative or close friend, of course) for at least two years - your RCIA year and your Neophyte year.
After that, if you are still tempted to go, you could attend once in a while, but not often enough for them to become confused and think you belong there.
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Zenkai
Guest
The people there are very kind. They are probably wondering what happened to me.
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JerryZ
Guest
:Hmmm: As other posters have suggested it is wise to refrain on doing so. As for what you expressed above, I wonder how will they react if the know you changed the Church you belong to. There are still so many anti Catholic attitudes out there some hidden until confronted.
They will try to dissuade you from your “new” faith.
Sad aspect of life!
Also I sincerely hope you are NOT trying to “TEST” yourself.
Not a smart thing to do, “Lead us not into temptation”
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Edmundus1581
Guest
Short answer: Yes
Long answer: Yes
Well, that would be the end of it for me…
Long answer: Yes
Well, that would be the end of it for me…
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Zenkai
Guest
Why would it be wise to refrain from going?
Nope. Not trying to test myself. I will never go back to Protestantism. Protestantism just doesn’t make any sense.
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iloveangels
Guest
You’re in RCIA, which is a time of learning and deciding. You should be thinking and praying hard about what you want to do, and what you need to do. You are choosing between two alternatives. If you have to look at both of them closely, then do it. But eventually you will have to make up your mind, you realize. You can’t be both at the same time.
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Bonnie
Guest
If they are truly wondering, they will call you. When I dropped out of the Protestant church I had been attending, I found out that no one really cared (except my mother). Later, as a Catholic, I returned, briefly, to a Protestatnt chuch. So many people love-bombed me, I thought I had returned home. But then the Holy Spirit got my head straight & I left. Not a soul called me to find out what happened.
No parish is perfect, but God is there & He’s perfect.
And welcome to the Church!
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Holly3278
Guest
I would strongly advise against it because you may be tempted to stay Protestant and I can guarantee you that the Protestant churches are NOT the one true Church instituted by Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
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Zenkai
Guest
I’ve already completely made up my mind. That’s why I’m in RCIA.
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Zenkai
Guest
I wouldn’t be tempted. I officially made up my mind several months ago after thinking about it for a while. After I officially decided to become Catholic, I still attended the Protestant church up until a few weeks ago. I was not tempted one bit to stay Protestant.
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CleverUserName
Guest
Yes, you are “allowed”.
I’m glad you’re secure in your path. I don’t think anyone here is giving you credit for being as secure as you say you are. I’ll give you that! It doesn’t sound as though showing up at a Protestant service is going to undo everything you’ve set out to do like waving a magical wand. I don’t think Protestantism is that contagious, haha.
I just think about the whole “common union” thing in situations like this, that’s all. I would worry what they would think (the Protestants), especially with the anti-Catholic sentiment out there. “Must not be very happy with the Catholic church…”, or “Hmph, I knew she’d be back”… that sort of thing. I think if it was me and I missed the people at my old Protestant church (I actually have a few), I’d show up where they all go to eat breakfast, for fellowship afterwards. Say hello there.
Just a thought.
God bless you on your journey Home
I’m glad you’re secure in your path. I don’t think anyone here is giving you credit for being as secure as you say you are. I’ll give you that! It doesn’t sound as though showing up at a Protestant service is going to undo everything you’ve set out to do like waving a magical wand. I don’t think Protestantism is that contagious, haha.
I just think about the whole “common union” thing in situations like this, that’s all. I would worry what they would think (the Protestants), especially with the anti-Catholic sentiment out there. “Must not be very happy with the Catholic church…”, or “Hmph, I knew she’d be back”… that sort of thing. I think if it was me and I missed the people at my old Protestant church (I actually have a few), I’d show up where they all go to eat breakfast, for fellowship afterwards. Say hello there.
Just a thought.
God bless you on your journey Home
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iloveangels
Guest
Got a phone book? You could always call them and let them know you haven’t fallen off the earth. You don’t have to go to church to see them, if you’re as decided as you say you are.
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Catholic1954
Guest
That is fine for now, but soon you will have to stop attending your church for good and only go to the Catholic church.
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R_C
Guest
In theory, no. A Catholic is not allowed to have common participation in worship (communicatio in sacris) with communities not in full communion with the Church, though some very feeble ground is left for the sake of ecumenism.
Remember that a protestant community does not have valid sacraments. To participate for a Catholic would mean to not acknowledge that their doctrine is erroneous, even though we do not charge our protestant brothers with formal heresy (since they were, so to speak, “born into” these communities rather than willfully leaving the Church and joining them).
In short: you took a wonderful step in seeking full communion with the Church, and you will probably be of greater help if you show the solidity of your decision by not attending any more protestant activities.
Below, one of the most quoted answers by Fr. Serpa
Remember that a protestant community does not have valid sacraments. To participate for a Catholic would mean to not acknowledge that their doctrine is erroneous, even though we do not charge our protestant brothers with formal heresy (since they were, so to speak, “born into” these communities rather than willfully leaving the Church and joining them).
In short: you took a wonderful step in seeking full communion with the Church, and you will probably be of greater help if you show the solidity of your decision by not attending any more protestant activities.
Below, one of the most quoted answers by Fr. Serpa
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Iron_Donkey
Guest
Since there are differing opinions on this, and since only one (in the posts I read) has been expressed, I figured I’d speak up for the other.
I think this is an absolutely fine thing to do - to show up, talk to a couple people, and express your gratitude for the time you spent there. It makes perfect sense to me to want to tell those who you spent so much time worshiping with that you really enjoyed your time in their church and that it helped you to grow closer to God, that you wish them well, but that you feel like God is leading you towards Catholicism.
That said, it is extremely likely that people will try to dissuade you, but I absolutely do not think that correct response is to isolate yourself from these people, or to leave without a word.
I see no problem with occasionally (we do not want to give the impression to them or to ourself, somewhat subconsciously perhaps, that we are part of their faith, but occasional should be fine) attending a service for another faith, so long as we are absolutely clear on what we are and aren’t doing (no communion, no affirmation of creeds that we do not accept, etc, basic honesty in purpose), do not let our obligations to our own faith slide, and make sure that we are both careful of our own faith AND are not pushing it on others at their place of worship.
Some of those may be hard for some people, and it may be worth being careful to make sure that you can pull it off - if you find the preaching there seeming to weaken your faith, you may need to do some studying to resolve whatever questions it raised and the like. But I am absolutely opposed both to the idea of separating ourselves entirely from others and to the idea that we must avoid ideas we disagree with entirely. (Be careful with exposure in such a way as to make sure that we can research each disagreement that comes up before seeing more so that we don’t just get hit by wave after wave of things that sound right but disagree with us yes, but hide from it no.)
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cheezey
Guest
What would happen to this person for going to a Protestant - Christian - Church too much? From God’s perspective? Just curious…
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