I am a Roman Catholic, but I have had some experience with non-Catholic friends of mine – praying Catholic prayers.
In 1990 I was engaged in doing an abortion rescue up in Vermont, and as usually happens we were dragged off by the police an thrown into jail. There were 95 of us, approx. 65% Catholics and 35% non-Catholic Christians (mostly Evangelicals, 7th Day Adventists, Pentecostals, and a few Fundamentalists). Also in the mix were 3 Catholic priests and 3 Pentecostal ministers.
After getting things organized (we had open cells, so we could gather and talk to each other freely) the priests arranged to do Mass each day, rotating among the three of them. They invited all of us to come – Catholics and non-Catholics alike. The Pentacostal ministers soon arranged to have daily services in another part of the confinement area, and they also invited all to attend – non-Catholic Christians and Catholics alike. The priests encouraged us to help support the Pentacostal services, because so few non-Catholics attended. So, many of us did.
We Catholics arranged to pray the rosary – one before each meal – and many of us signed up for a 1/2 hr. spot on a “perpetual rosary” that went on 24/7. In addition to that, a local church sent in an old monstrance – so we had 1 1/2 hours of Adoration each day out on the sun porch. Some of the local rectories and convents sent in Breviaries, and the priests and seminarians among us taught us how to do the Divine Office.
After about 1 1/2 months we noticed that some of the non-Catholic Christians were starting to attend when we said the rosaries before meals. And, before long, those same people were starting to wear the rosary beads around their necks – like a Catholic would wear a scapular or Miraculous Medal.
I’d say that only about 5 or 6 of the non-Catholic Christians eventually joined us and helped say the rosaries and other Catholic devotional prayers that went on during the day…but it seemed that quite a few more were becoming interested by the time we were finally bounced out. All-in-all we were there 70 days, and surprisingly enough most of the infighting that went on was within the ranks of the non-Catholics having verbal duels with each other…Pentacostal vs. Fundamentalist…7th Day Adventist vs. Evangelicals…etc. There were a few skirmishes going with the Catholics too…hyper-orthodox Catholics (we had a few) vs. ordinary Catholics. It was rare, however, to see a Catholic vs. non-Catholic debate going on.
Now, each day when we would participate in Holy Mass, there would be ‘open petitions’ where anyone could offer up their own petition. At each Mass, without fail, at least one – or sometimes two or three people – would offer up the petition “for the healing of the people in the next building”…and everyone would respond, of course “Lord, hear our prayer.” The prison where we were being held was a mental institution, and the people in the “next building” were the Hannibal Lectors of Vermont – the people so seriously criminally-insane that they would never be released back into society.
About 2 months after we had been there, one of the priests was sitting out on the sun porch when a guard walked by. Even though there was a heavy (name removed by moderator)enetrable screen separating them, the guard yelled in at the priest…“Hey man…are you one of them there ‘John Does’?” Fr. Tom said “Yes, I am” (we were all ‘John Doe’ or ‘Jane Doe’). Then the guard said “Well, I just wanted to tell you somethin. Ya see, I work over in dat other building, and the most amazin things been happening over there! People who been there 20 & 30 years – some of them – been gettin’ cured left 'n right! And I’ve been thinkin about it, and I noticed that it all started when you people got thrown in here.”
That evening, Fr. Tom shared that story with us as we were all having our dinner in the common area. He reminded us that we always mentioned the people in the “other building” in our Mass petitions, and that apparently it was having some effect.
After that, the few non-Catholic Christians who were ‘on-the-fence’ about saying Catholic prayers or attending Mass – decided to become more involved in the Catholic prayer life. At least 2 of them even decided to become Catholic when we were eventually released.
I thought that I would share that with you. There was a very great reluctance, at first, for non-Catholics to do any Catholic prayers…maybe peer pressure, or pressure from their ministers…or maybe just internal convictions. But, eventually we all felt comfortable interacting with each other and praying with each other…in small private little groups…or at Mass…or at Adoration (yes, quite a few non-Catholics attended this too!). I think that God was smiling down at us, seeing what had become of us as we were forced to live together for so long.
God bless you!
John
I doubt theres another person on this board who prays catholic prayers. I could be wrong. I hope I am.
anyone who hasn’thttp://bestsmileys.com/talking/2.gif heard mehttp://bestsmileys.com/talking/2.gif say so yet, I make hand-knotted rosaries for Rosary Army, as well as give them away to other individuals & groups…