Attending Mass at a Calvinistic Church

[MichaelP3]

I have a good feeling that if my label was Protestant, I would receive more approval and flattery from certain posters.

Interestingly I wanted to change my label to Catholic as a test to see if I would have more friends. For some reason I always get the feeling I attract more replies just because of that and I could have said the exact same thing with much more agreement.

 

[Lenten_ashes]

As a test of whether I had a solid case for converting, I spent 6 months defending the Catholic Church over there. I have not posted over there as Tomyris. I got insulted, and moderated, of course, and my conclusion was that they were disappointingly unhelpful. There are some Catholics over there who are admirably restrained.

It’s been cleaned up since then - a number of Protestant people I interacted with have been banned over there. Sometimes I go read threads there but it is usually stuff I am familiar with, so much so that I have not been over there in a long time.

I noticed that as well.

CARM actually seemed to lose more of the on the fence types to the Catholic Church than the other way around. And their poor behavior, I feel, had something to do with that.

They moderate ugliness here. I wish they would go after misrepresenting the Catholic faith. People are actually getting in the way of the intent of the place.

Understood

 

[Magdalena59]

Some of the behavior of so-called lay apologists on this site has been a factor in driving me away from the Catholic Church. I asked myself if I wanted to take on the snide, superior attitude of many of the ex-Protestants who spend a lot of time sneering at their old faith and patting themselves on the back for becoming Catholic. While many of them have gotten banned, there are still a few around. And there are cradle Catholics who are hostile to Protestants. There are also many who would give you the impression they know something about Catholicism but know only enough to be dangerous. There is the joke about the Methodist minister who passed out “First Baptist Church” bumper stickers to his congregation. When asked why, he told them he had seen them drive and didn’t want anyone to know they went to his church.

This site would be greatly improved if they required someone to pass a knowledge test before he or she slapped a ‘Catholic’ label on their profile. It is hard for outsiders to know who truly represents a Catholic viewpoint and who is misleading people.

I am sorry if myself, other ex-protestants or cradle Catholics here have given you a bad taste and turn you away from the Catholic church.

It is not “protestants” that ex-protestants or cradle Catholics dislike but it is the theology behind protestantism. There is a seriousness to the issue. It is the seriousness of a person’s soul. It is love that drives one to want to tell people the truth and hopefully save their soul. As I said earlier it was false ecumenism that led me out the door but it was God who led me home.

I am not an ex-protestant because I am smarter or holier but because in my confusion I cried out to God and He led me home, with the help of Saint Francis and the prayer before the cross of Saint Damian, which I learned from a Methodist minister.

“Most High, glorious God,
enlighten the darkness of my heart and give me
true faith, certain hope, and perfect charity,
sense and knowledge, Lord, that I may carry out
Your holy and true command.”

I prayed that every night and it wasn’t long before God hit me with an eye opener, then took my hand and led me home.

God bless.

 

[rcwitness]

Could not agree more.

I considered converting to Catholicism when I was dating my Catholic girlfriend a while back (now my wife). I can’t credit CAF for driving me away initially but I can surely say numerous members on CAF are just ensuring more and more the fact that I will never look into it again.

On the other hand, the posters on the non-Catholic threads are quite “nice” if you compare them the the posters I have encountered after naively venturing into the “Apologetic’s” forum.

But back to relating to your post. We all can google Catholic things and don’t need to rely on information from posters here. Its the rather the way they present them here which intrigues me.

Regards

Over the yrs here on CAF, I’ve debated Catholics, Lutherans, Easter Orthodox, Evangelicals, atheists, and even some Catholic priests. I have befriended some of most of these groups. The ability to dialogue in a charitable manner, while presenting sound reasoning and references, is not only reserved to any of them in particular.

I do find CAF to be well mannered overall. I just don’t assume any particular poster is accurately portraying their own tradition. But I try to assume they are sincere.

In real life, I talk with many different Christians. I find the ones who are most able to interfaith fellowship the best, are those with family members in other denominations. They usually have come to terms with different traditions and have found common ground and understand more than their own perspective.

All that said, if I didn’t see a profound call to a Universal Communion in the Catholic faith, which has Scriptural, Traditional, and ECF’S support, I would not have converted from the denominations. It doesn’t have much to do with individual Catholic member’s behavior. It has to do with Scripture, Teaching, and the Holy Spirit giving me confirmation.

 

[MichaelP3]

Over the yrs here on CAF, I’ve debated Catholics, Lutherans, Easter Orthodox, Evangelicals, atheists, and even some Catholic priests. I have befriended some of most of these groups. The ability to dialogue in a charitable manner, while presenting sound reasoning and references, is not only reserved to any of them in particular.

I do find CAF to be well mannered overall. I just don’t assume any particular poster is accurately portraying their own tradition. But I try to assume they are sincere.

In real life, I talk with many different Christians. I find the ones who are most able to interfaith fellowship the best, are those with family members in other denominations. They usually have come to terms with different traditions and have found common ground and understand more than their own perspective.

All that said, if I didn’t see a profound call to a Universal Communion in the Catholic faith, which has Scriptural, Traditional, and ECF’S support, I would not have converted from the denominations. It doesn’t have much to do with individual Catholic member’s behavior. It has to do with Scripture, Teaching, and the Holy Spirit giving me confirmation.

Hey RC

I have always like you and weren’t referring to you at all.

What you say there is true in a big sense. I’m not the one telling you that you are wrong and should convert in any way. You seem very charitable and fast in your faith. That is something I consider an answer to my prayers that people must come to God.

Regards

 

[GKC]

And from seeing your posts over the yrs, I don’t doubt that.

I do think that one’s faith tradition is more than a mere label. It represents what a person believes, and the leadership who provides what they consider accurately bringing Christ to them.

D’accord.

 

[Lenten_ashes]

Hey RC

I have always like you and weren’t referring to you at all.

What you say there is true in a big sense. I’m not the one telling you that you are wrong and should convert in any way. You seem very charitable and fast in your faith. That is something I consider an answer to my prayers that people must come to God.

Regards

You were totally referring to me.

I’m a bully

 

[MichaelP3]

You were totally referring to me.

I’m a bully

Interestingly the two posters I referred to the least actually responded to me.

PS. LA, you know perfectly well I didn’t.

 

[ToeInTheWater]

The pontificate of Pius XI is far removed from where the Church is today.

This has been superannuated.

Thanks be to God.

Father, first of all I am happy you have decided not to completely leave CAF. I would appreciate if you could explain what you mean by “superannuated”.

Regarding the general quality of apologetics here; I do get a sense that ex-whatevers, whether the “whatever” is Catholic or non-Catholic Christian, tend to stridently condemn the “errors” of their previous church because they have to do so to justify their own actions. Especially those who were ostracized from their family and friends for doing so.

These days that situation seems more common for those who convert to Catholicism from some evangelical faith that is convinced Catholics are hell-bound. And while the neo-traditionalists on CAF will claim the same of non-Catholics, that they are all hell-bound, most RL Catholics do not cut off their family and friends for leaving the Church.

I also notice a rather Traditionalist “more Catholic than the Pope” mindset here, even among those who do not claim the label. There seems to be among many, a strong nostalgia for the pre-Vatican II Church, or at least what they perceive as such. I recall at one point, many posters stridently expressed support for Michael Voris and his harsh critiques of the “Church of Nice”, though I haven’t seen much support for Voris lately.

Anyway, if I recall correctly, Father R, you actually have been a priest long enough to experience both pre-Vat II and post-Vat II Church, and I certainly respect your perspective.

The nostalgic longing for the pre-Vat II Church among those who never actually experienced it, remind me of how some young people in Russia, and even other countries, who see themselves as victims of capitalism, actually promote communism and see the Soviet Union as a great place. Even though it had long since broken down before they were born, so they have no experience about what it was really like back then.

 

[rcwitness]

Hey RC

I have always like you and weren’t referring to you at all.

What you say there is true in a big sense. I’m not the one telling you that you are wrong and should convert in any way. You seem very charitable and fast in your faith. That is something I consider an answer to my prayers that people must come to God.

Regards

Thanks. I do have a special respect for Non-Catholic Christians on CAF, because they are constantly the underdog! And I don’t like when they get bombarded with several posters at once.

I spend most of my time in the non-Catholic forum. I think because I like to share my faith and learn what causes Christians to reject the Church I receive Jesus’ body and blood through. The hope is to apply what I learn from others to real life. There are advantages to corespond in writing to one another. I can’t get this deep with most of my Christian friends and relatives in real life!

 

[Sy_Noe]

Some of the behavior of so-called lay apologists on this site has been a factor in driving me away from the Catholic Church.

As for myself, I would only make the following changes in your statement. This site has been a factor in driving me further away from the Catholic Church.

 

[rcwitness]

As for myself, I would only make the following changes in your statement. This site has been a factor in driving me further away from the Catholic Church.

What does “further away” mean? Independent Church? LDS? Jehovah Witness?

Just messin… kinda

Sorry you feel this way!

 

[Sy_Noe]

No group is saying we may have the right interpretation and the other guys may as well. It is only natural to have some sense of superiority about the group to which you belong because you must in fact believe it to be superior or else why join it.

I don’t know about that. There are Christian Protestant groups who say others with different interpretations are members of Christ’s Church too. And then a group such as Unitarian Universalism embraces a variety of the world’s religions along it’s search.

 

[Sy_Noe]

What does “further away” mean? Independent Church? LDS? Jehovah Witness?

Just messin… kinda

Sorry you feel this way!

It means further away than I had already been. Or maybe just confirmed for me why I was already where I was. I certainly don’t mean to paint all Catholics on this forum with one brush though. There are certainly Catholics here who have not done this to me.

 

[rcwitness]

It means further away than I had already been. Or maybe just confirmed for me why I was already where I was. I certainly don’t mean to paint all Catholics on this forum with one brush though. There are certainly Catholics here who have not done this to me.

I see… and where are you? As in, where do you receive the Lord’s Supper?

 

[TC3033]

As for myself, I would only make the following changes in your statement. This site has been a factor in driving me further away from the Catholic Church.

Ditto. I was treated pretty cruddy at the wife and kid’s two parishes and have read some of the same sentiments here as well. It was all a real culture shock learning how some think of and treat others. I grew up and was raised to see Catholics as other Christians part of our large overall family. Once I started going to Mass with the wife and reading here, I quickly learned that’s not how many Catholics see Protestants.

 

[exnihilo]

I don’t know about that. There are Christian Protestant groups who say others with different interpretations are members of Christ’s Church too. And then a group such as Unitarian Universalism embraces a variety of the world’s religions along it’s search.

The Catholic Church says all who are baptized are Christian. Even the Protestant groups who say those who disagree are still Christian draw a line somewhere. The Unitarians may ‘embrace’ different religions. But they nonetheless say they are wrong. For instance the Catholic Church claims to be the Church started by Jesus. The Unitarians obviously don’t believe that. They believe the Catholic Church is wrong and they are right. Modern openmindness is always a ruse. Its the self contradictory we tolerate everything but intolerance. You simply can’t accept contrary beliefs.

 

[Magdalena59]

Ditto. I was treated pretty cruddy at the wife and kid’s two parishes and have read some of the same sentiments here as well. It was all a real culture shock learning how some think of and treat others. I grew up and was raised to see Catholics as other Christians part of our large overall family. Once I started going to Mass with the wife and reading here, I quickly learned that’s not how many Catholics see Protestants.

I am sorry to hear that has happened to you. I understand where you are coming from. I had similar experiences during my protestant years. I felt Catholics were being rude to me as a protestant. I couldn’t understand why they continued to say Catholic instead of Christian and every time I heard the word Catholic it bothered me. Having said that before I left the Catholic church for the protestant churches I was treated very rudely by protestants. Frequently being excluded from the large overall family and made to feel as though I was not a Christian because I was Catholic and hearing all the misunderstandings out there was very hurtful and contributed to my leaving. There was rejoicing and congratulations from protestants when I left the Catholic church. In one protestant group I belonged to there was one Catholic woman trying to fit in and whenever she would mention the Catholic church she attended she would whisper as to not be heard by anyone. I have been on both sides and have been treated rudely by both.

The point of me saying that is that there are disagreements and different doctrines on both camps and arguing always hurts those on both sides of the argument. We can come to the point of peacefully disagreeing but some of the differences are pretty huge and can only be reconciled by one side moving to the other.

There can only be one truth. Christ promised to lead us into that truth. Sometimes this truth, though spoken out of charity, hurts. It hurt me when I heard it, like the two edged sword but it led me to peace. If there were two physically hungry people and one found food and didn’t tell the other about it he would be labeled as stingy and selfish and mean. If two people are spiritually hungry and one finds spiritual food and tells the other about it he then is called rude.

Also, side point, on the internet it is very hard to discern a person’s tone and attitude when reading their posts.

Glad you are here and God bless.

 

[Sy_Noe]

I see… and where are you? As in, where do you receive the Lord’s Supper?

Well I’m not welcomed to dine with the Lord in the Catholic Church even if I discern his body because I have warts. Even though he said he would turn no one away. As another said, where 2 are there he is.

 

[Sy_Noe]

The Catholic Church says all who are baptized are Christian. Even the Protestant groups who say those who disagree are still Christian draw a line somewhere. The Unitarians may ‘embrace’ different religions. But they nonetheless say they are wrong. For instance the Catholic Church claims to be the Church started by Jesus. The Unitarians obviously don’t believe that. They believe the Catholic Church is wrong and they are right. Modern openmindness is always a ruse. Its the self contradictory we tolerate everything but intolerance. You simply can’t accept contrary beliefs.

Though they are among his body, they are considered somewhat less so and not members of his true Church. I can accept that in matters of faith, we can never believe we are “certain” without faith.