Article: Catholic church embraces new and old

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the article:
A Catholic church, in fact. Just not Roman Catholic.
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There are a surprisingly large number of such churches. They can call themselves Catholic, they can use similar clothing and liturgy, they can pronounce any kind of belief that they want. But if they have broken with Rome, they are Protestant.

I think the article does a disservice to Catholics, especially those who have fallen away from active participation and who are troubled by some aspect of doctrine. It suggests that churches which copy some of the outer aspects of Catholicism are an acceptable imitation of the real thing. The article would have been better balanced if it had explained why the Catholic Church holds these imitations to be illegitimate.
 
As soon as she got out the door for college, “I was a Christmas and Easter Catholic from that point on,” she recalled. She was put off by the church’s conservative stand on matters from homosexuality to premarital sex to divorce, the latter especially touching her since her first marriage broke up. By the time she remarried, she and her husband had found a female priest to marry them and a church for their children.
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I guess if you don’t like the views of Holy Mother Church you start your own religion.
A Catholic church, in fact. Just not Roman Catholic.
Four-year-old All Souls Faith Community is part of a small body of so-called independent Catholic communities planting themselves outside the authority and theology of the Vatican. Its tiny congregation of about 20 refugees from Roman Catholicism celebrates Mass Saturdays in a rented Episcopal church in Watertown.
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Anyone can call a belief as catholic it just means united. And anyone can call themselves a priest.
The Rev. Rene Petrin, All Souls’s copastor, says his church shares views, though not an affiliation, with the Old Catholic Church, founded in Europe in the 1870s in rebellion against the Vatican’s then-new doctrine of papal infallibility on faith and morals. Like the Old Catholic Church, All Souls allows women and married priests and takes other liberal stands, declining, for example, to condemn homosexuality.
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Seems like the first 1860+ years were thrown out.
All Souls is part of the American Catholic Church of New England, which is part of a conference of like-minded Catholic churches in North America. Relations between independent Catholics and leaders of the Romans, Petrin’s shorthand for Roman Catholics, hover between unfamiliarity and wariness. When the ACCNE asked permission once to use an archdiocesan building for one of its meetings, Petrin said, it was turned down.
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The term ROMANS used this way is taken by many as an insult. I am not a ROMAN I am a Catholic with a Capital C and follow the Holy See.
 
Dale_M said:
There are a surprisingly large number of such churches. They can call themselves Catholic, they can use similar clothing and liturgy, they can pronounce any kind of belief that they want. But if they have broken with Rome, they are Protestant.

I think the article does a disservice to Catholics, especially those who have fallen away from active participation and who are troubled by some aspect of doctrine. It suggests that churches which copy some of the outer aspects of Catholicism are an acceptable imitation of the real thing. The article would have been better balanced if it had explained why the Catholic Church holds these imitations to be illegitimate.
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The words in red say it all. Thank you.
 
These churches are not Protestant in that they are not derived from the Reformation and do not adhere to doctrine articulated by any of the reformers. Luther, Calvin, Melancthon and the others all believed in the Trinity and in Scripture, and took those beliefs seriously. The “catholic” “church” described in the Globe piece takes nothing seriously but the confused desires of those who attend. It is a pretend religion, a bastard cult.
 
Well their acronym…ACCNE…is just about right. They are definitely a blemish on Church.

Thankfully, not many are fooled by these churches into thinking they are genuinely Catholic.
 
These people make a joke out of religion. It’s like the various schismatic sects who have a ‘Pope’ elected by their family and a couple of random friends. They don’t even take themselves seriously - if they did, they’d go mad!
 
Dale_M said:
There are a surprisingly large number of such churches. They can call themselves Catholic, they can use similar clothing and liturgy, they can pronounce any kind of belief that they want. But if they have broken with Rome, they are Protestant.
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No, if they break from Rome after the Reformation ended, and don’t formally accept some specific Protestantism…

They’re heretics.
 
Riley259 said:
Take a look at this article describing a break off schism from the Catholic church that calls itself Catholic despite holding many positions contrary to the Roman Catholic Church.

boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/02/09/catholic_church_embraces_old_and_new/
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It seems that they hate Catholicism, but love it at the same time; hence, the name ‘Catholic’ still inherent in them. Maybe subconscientiously, they know they belong to the true church but stubbornly living in denial.
 
I have run into various churches that use the adjective “catholic.” The last one I ran into was one called “Christian Catholic” where I attended a dinner. I recall they made quite a thing out of avoiding pork; they had some kind of bacon that was in fact beef… “Catholic” means “universal” or “all encompassing” or something like that. Nobody has copywrited the term. “Protestant” has various meanings too. Some, like one writer above, notes that it belongs to churches that arose out of the reformation tradition. But there are protestant churches that did not arise out of the reformation tradition. What these names mean seems to depend on who is using them.
 
But if they have broken with Rome, they are Protestant.

Do you really mean to imply that the Orthodox are Protestant?

Fie!
 
bpbasilphx said:
But if they have broken with Rome, they are Protestant.

Do you really mean to imply that the Orthodox are Protestant?
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Oh, no, no, no! I apologize for giving that impression. The sad split between East and West is an entirely different matter.
 
Dale_M said:
Oh, no, no, no! I apologize for giving that impression. The sad split between East and West is an entirely different matter.
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I agree with you. I just don’t feel it is something that we want to get into at this time.
 
While this is a sorry state of affairs, we must also be compassionate in our treatment of such people, because they are conflicted. I can’t imagine what one must feel like to be in such a dilemma.

It is appropriate for the Catholic Church to clearly state that these faith communities are not in communion with the Catholic Church nor are sanctioned by the Catholic Church in any way.

That being said, it is also important to retain a spirit of charity toward those who are struggling with their faith. Harsh tones and hardened hearts toward such people do not serve the Church or bring back those who are wandering.

The question must always be how we can draw these people back to the Church without making them feel that their issues and struggles are not important, because they are. However wrong they may be in their choice, their issues and the questions that they grapple with are real to them and a cause of great pain.

Christ who is the wounded healer of all men must shine through each of us as we find a way to bring back our brothers and sisters.

JR 🙂
 
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