Any Protestants Ever Went to Catholic Confession?

[Contarini]

The priest sinned gravely in his scandal, and not fuffilling his priestly responsibilities. He should be ashamed of himself for administering the sacraments in question outside the case of grave necessity.

peace

mgrfin,

I’m not sure what priest you are talking about. The priest I confessed to in New Jersey had no reason to think I wasn’t a Catholic. I would expect that priests generally assume that people who ask for confession are Catholic, particularly if they show up on the day of the Easter Vigil, evincing a desire to be absolved before Easter. Are you suggesting that priests should interrogate everyone who comes to them for confession to make sure they are really Catholic?

I am not proud of my own part in this–I justified it to myself at the time but I think the justification was flimsy.

Edwin

 

[mgrfin]

I am sorry I have confused you.

i) The Charismatic Episcopal Church is a denomination. It was one of their priests visiting a Roman catholic Church who heard the confession of a Roman Catholic parishioner because the RCC priest was no where to be found. He came running up later without any clerical collar, etc. This had nothing to do with my leaving the Catholic Church. It was an side to the confession thread. The CEC Priest likely should NOT have heard confessions of a ROman Catholic parishioner in a Roman Catholic Church. This guy probably felt like he was doing a good thing. The RCC priest likely thanked him because he had no idea he was a CEC Priest.

ii) I did not believe that Mary was conceived without sin, etc. The Priest did not know. It was the leader of the RCIA and he said it did not matter.

iii) I converted after marrying my wife in a Protestant church (my wife was RCC). I wanted some unity of faith in our family and had always been attracted to the Catholic Church. I attended a Catholic college for undergraduate work. I left the church because my wife never got an annulment from her previous marraige nor tried. That meant limited particpation in the Church. On top of that I was used to substantial exegetical sermons (history behind text, application, meaning of greek, etc) and the vast majority of Roman Catholics priests were very poor homilists. Their sermons were watered down pablum compared to what I had previoulsy experienced. So I went to church and was not being fed. Also, there was no Christian life in the Church. Most Protestant Churches have bible studies and many other acitivities that involve the whole family in learning God’s word and putting it into action. This was absent. As well, Catholics did not seem to take their faith serisouly. They came to church late and left early. Bascially warmed the pew for 45 minutes and never darkened the door of the church until the next weekend. Most of them did not even bother to sing the hymns (Glory and Praise music)…wheras you go to a Baptist Church and their is joy and everyone is singing. Some RC’s even tried to get ahead of the Priest out the door.

Rev North

So, the priest said ‘it did not matter’? Where did this guy come from> His responsibility - yes, his responsibility - is that his catechumens are comfortable in their understanding and belief.

Catholic priests are very poor homilists? Well, judging by the quality of evangelists I see on TBN and elsewhere, I have to disagree. Baptists in particular are poor biblical scholars, and do not transfer their reading in real faith.
Priests receive a very strong background in Scripture, and homiletics. Your experience was unfortunate, but I hardly think your generalization is valid.
Catholics 'came to church late and left early"? That is not my experience. “Warming the pews for 45 minutes”?? These are generalities you can make of all believers who go to church on Sunday. I don’t think lukewarmness is limited to Roman Catholics.
You want to say that Protestants are better believers than Catholics, better church-going people, better worshippers. Their preachers are better, although the message is meager. We Catholics have little experience going to Protestant churches, - why would we? - Baptists are not very high on our list of believers. They have little else in their faith and worship than singing. They do a lot of vocalizing, depending on the makeup of the congregation. As Baptist preachers get deep in their sermon, the message gets less and less,. and the emotion gets more and more.
I don’t think your generalizations of the Catholic faith are valid, and now we’ve heard your ‘conversion’ story, I hope that puts an end to your anti-catholicism on this site.

peace

 

[RevDrNorth]

So, the priest said ‘it did not matter’? Where did this guy come from> His responsibility - yes, his responsibility - is that his catechumens are comfortable in their understanding and belief.

Catholic priests are very poor homilists? Well, judging by the quality of evangelists I see on TBN and elsewhere, I have to disagree. Baptists in particular are poor biblical scholars, and do not transfer their reading in real faith.
Priests receive a very strong background in Scripture, and homiletics. Your experience was unfortunate, but I hardly think your generalization is valid.
Catholics 'came to church late and left early"? That is not my experience. “Warming the pews for 45 minutes”?? These are generalities you can make of all believers who go to church on Sunday. I don’t think lukewarmness is limited to Roman Catholics.
You want to say that Protestants are better believers than Catholics, better church-going people, better worshippers. Their preachers are better, although the message is meager. We Catholics have little experience going to Protestant churches, - why would we? - Baptists are not very high on our list of believers. They have little else in their faith and worship than singing. They do a lot of vocalizing, depending on the makeup of the congregation. As Baptist preachers get deep in their sermon, the message gets less and less,. and the emotion gets more and more.
I don’t think your generalizations of the Catholic faith are valid, and now we’ve heard your ‘conversion’ story, I hope that puts an end to your anti-catholicism on this site.

peace

I get the impression that English is not your first language based on your misinterpretation of a couple of things I have said. So, I will try to be charitable.

Don’t ask me for my experience or why such and such and then be rude and slam me. I shared my experiences based on several RCC Churches when I was RCC. It is my experience and nothing more. I did not say it meant all RCC Churches were identical. Your rude and defensive tone is riduculous when you asked me. If you don’t want to hear the answer…don’t ask

As an aside, TBN? My advice is to quit watching it. Those are Word of Faith for the most part and most (with few exceptions) probably don’t have graduate level theological education. Next, don’t mix up fire and brimstone Baptist backwoods Baptist preachers with your average large Southern Baptists Churches. Those preachers have 90 credit hour Masters of Divinity (Greek, homletics, Soteriology, etc). They preach in an expository (academic style) that combines language interpretation behind the text, culture, hisotry and practical application. Again, you asked and I gave you **MY ** impressions based on hearing numerous RCC sermons versus Baptist and so on. If all were like Fr. Corapi…no problem.

Again, DO NOT BE RUDE WHEN YOU ASK ME WHY? YOU ASKED…I ANSWERED. If you think you might not like the answer then don’t ask. Start a forum on this forum where only those who say super postive things about the RCC are allowed. Then everything would be nice and superficial. “Did you see the new shoes the Pope had?”. “Oh glory yes…they were divine”. If some said, “Well…I don’t think they went with his stole?” You could accuse him of being anti Catholic and have him banned
Or call for the Holy Inquisition…

Rev North

 

[mgrfin]

Rev North

I have several qualified degrees, and all my courses were in English. I also have studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Spanish, but English is my first language. Your attempts at charity failed the mark.

You etch your experience with an article about some guy in a collar hanging out in a Catholic Church on a Saturday afternoon. Hardly even worth your comment, let alone your generalization. If such were the case, someone should have called the Police on the guy for loitering.

Generalization about people hanging out in the back pews and not returning to the church for another week applies not only to Roman Catholics, but every other denomination.

So where can I hear these Baptist preachers that are so impressive? When I hear them, it is on some esoteric verse from the O.T., stretching as they go for some practical application, but usually for money. Most of the ones I hear claim to have direct revelations from God, and powers to heal the halt and the lame.

There are plenty of comments on this site which are not so glorious about our Faith, to which I don’t object. I have never read anyone’s comment regarding the color of the Pope’s shoes.

I have read posts of yours over the past months. They have a particular anti-Catholic tone. If you don’t believe me, I’d be happy to regurgitate several of them.

Let’s stick to doctrine, and stop the personal attacks on the Church.

peace

 

[RevDrNorth]

I have several qualified degrees, and all my courses were in English. I also have studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Spanish, but English is my first language. Your attempts at charity failed the mark.

You etch your experience with an article about some guy in a collar hanging out in a Catholic Church on a Saturday afternoon. Hardly even worth your comment, let alone your generalization. If such were the case, someone should have called the Police on the guy for loitering.

Generalization about people hanging out in the back pews and not returning to the church for another week applies not only to Roman Catholics, but every other denomination.

So where can I hear these Baptist preachers that are so impressive? When I hear them, it is on some esoteric verse from the O.T., stretching as they go for some practical application, but usually for money. Most of the ones I hear claim to have direct revelations from God, and powers to heal the halt and the lame.

There are plenty of comments on this site which are not so glorious about our Faith, to which I don’t object. I have never read anyone’s comment regarding the color of the Pope’s shoes.

I have read posts of yours over the past months. They have a particular anti-Catholic tone. If you don’t believe me, I’d be happy to regurgitate several of them.

Let’s stick to doctrine, and stop the personal attacks on the Church.

peace

Okay…I am not going to comment anymore. You are deliberately trying to misunderstand or cannot understand. You are still stuck on some bizarre issue with the CEC Priest I mentioned in passing that is a more a criticism of the CEC Priest for hearing confession in an RC Church since this was a trhead dealing with confession. Your imterpretation is bizarre.

Anti Catholic is anything that disagrees with you. I have opinions and some of them are stated in hyperbole to point out the superficality of the other argument just made. I also have a number of threads here supporting the RCC, the Pope, doctrine and those seeking vocations.

I do not know what your personal problem is but you are reading plain english sentences and coming up with twisted interpretation.
Bloody bizarre dialogue. :hypno: You just want to fight over every thing.
:banghead: and apparently engage in superficial, self congratulatory back slapping.

I was going to give you a break because I assumed that English was not your native language but since it is…omg. I will not respond to amymore of your posts. uch:

Rev North

 

[po18guy]

I went once, without telling the priest I wasn’t Catholic. I had just got back from Europe and had not been to an Anglican confession (I don’t have a lot of excuse for this, since I had been to a conference in Cambridge–but the conference had kept me pretty busy and I had not been there over a weekend). I was in New Jersey visiting my fiancee and did not know any Episcopal priests in the area who would be likely to do confessions (the next year, by which time I was married and living in NJ, I went into New York). There was a Catholic church just down the road so I barged in on Easter Saturday morning (!) and asked to see a priest. The priest took me into a corner of the church, heard my confession, and told me to say an act of contrition. I started to stumble through it, since I know what it involves but don’t have a formula memorized. The priest thought I was a very poorly catechized Catholic, I think, and said “Just say, ‘Jesus forgive me.’” And basically that was it!

Two years after this, I nearly “sneaked” confession again, but this time I went to another local church where they actually had confessional booths. I saw the long line of Catholics (I think this was Good Friday) standing around the church and couldn’t face standing there with them knowing that I was fake. Anyway, going to confession under false pretences seemed like a pretty silly idea anyway. So I haven’t tried it since, though of course in danger of death I know it would be OK.

Edwin

edwin,

Go ahead, make the leap of faith! The moment of Grace when God Himself destroys your sin is worth it. You sought out the Catholic church, but Who really lead you there? Hmmmmm?.

Peace, my brother.

 

[mgrfin]

Okay…I am not going to comment anymore. You are deliberately trying to misunderstand or cannot understand. You are still stuck on some bizarre issue with the CEC Priest I mentioned in passing that is a more a criticism of the CEC Priest for hearing confession in an RC Church since this was a trhead dealing with confession. Your imterpretation is bizarre.

Anti Catholic is anything that disagrees with you. I have opinions and some of them are stated in hyperbole to point out the superficality of the other argument just made. I also have a number of threads here supporting the RCC, the Pope, doctrine and those seeking vocations.

I do not know what your personal problem is but you are reading plain english sentences and coming up with twisted interpretation.
Bloody bizarre dialogue. :hypno: You just want to fight over every thing.
:banghead: and apparently engage in superficial, self congratulatory back slapping.

I was going to give you a break because I assumed that English was not your native language but since it is…omg. I will not respond to amymore of your posts. uch:

Rev North

U are free to ignore my posts. And you are certainly free to hold whatever doctrines you wish. But your anecdotes about priests have to be taken with a grain of salt. I comment on posts as the spirit moves me, whether it is your’s or some else’s. Anti-catholic propaganda has no place on this site, whether it comes from you or from me.

peace

 

[Michael_Francis]

Thread closed pending review by Moderator Rachel Malloy.

 

[Rachel_Malloy]

It will remain closed.

God bless-

Rachel