Attending Services at Non-Catholic Christian Congregations

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Ah, I see, Kei. Fair enough. (I very much prefer Wesley as a human being, but then Zwingli lived in more tense times.)
 
That was my situation 40 years ago. We co-worshipped at the CC and at the High Anglican (not the episcopal) church. Nothing but wonderful results. All our kids, grown and married now, are still religious and attend church.

Just an anecdotal observation: All but one of my dozens of Catholic peers complain sadly that their kids rarely went to church after they were confirmed. Some of their kids didn’t even see the need for baptizing their own kids. It seemed like a big “Whatever!” to them, I’m told. And this is from families who were diligent about taking their kids to church and teaching them well.

That’s all I can tell you. I don’t judge, and I certainly can’t explain that. But our kids have all stayed very close to church and faith, so I’m glad we did what we did.

Blessings to you. Ask the Holy Spirit for guidance. listen, and you won’t be led astray.
 
^^^Ditto.

I’ve been in a mixed marriage for 14 years now. My wife loves my non-Catholic church back home, and wishes there were more like it where we live now. She enjoys it for many the same reasons you lay out that you do.

The biggest thing in mixed marriages (when it comes to church) is having respect for each other’s faith, which it sounds like you do. Sounds like you’re in a good place.
 
I’m in a mixed marriage and we go to each others services occasionally. I attend a small group with members of his church each week which has been a real blessing and we are hopefully going on a retreat later this year.

As long as you meet your mass obligations it doesn’t have to be a problem.
 
If you get married in the Catholic Church, you make a promise to God to raise your children Catholic. The Priest will even have you make that promise during the wedding ceremony. I’ve seen mixed religion faiths work, but the problems usually start when it’s time to decide what faith you want for your child. Please remember the promise you make to God. It needs to be taken seriously. Good luck and God Bless!
 
Somewhere on the spectrum toward Calvin’s ‘Real Absence.’
 
obvious_ron

I have to disagree with you here. It is not a mixed marriage. Do not fall into the same sectarian mindset as so many here on this site.

If your Fiancée’s faith is in Jesus Christ the eternal and divine Son of God, - so is yours.
If she believes in the Trinitarian perspective of the godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, - so do you.

She believes there is only ONE universal Church, to which both RC and non-Catholics, spiritually have been baptized into … - okay… you can flex that.

She believes in the second coming of Christ - so do you
She believes you can lose your salvation - so do you.
She believes the bible is the inspired word of God- so do you.

There is much here to agree on and I’m not even a big fan of the Wesleyan Church. If the people and Pastor are loving and not judgmental or feel superior to other Christian circles, it sounds like the Lord is knitting together a great marriage.
 
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Thanks for this reply. We do share particular beliefs. I’m learning practical tips from the pastor’s sermons. His intense belief in the Rapture turns me off a bit. However, it’s not a tenant of Wesleyan doctrine. I have a book on Wesleyan theology and such from a former leader in that denomination. He specifically mentions that one need not believe in the Rapture in order to be in good standing in the Wesleyan Church. they do teach a second coming of Christ and that is enough.
 
The only benefit I have ever derived from going to a non-catholic church is to experience the lack of His presence.

When you walk into other churches, people (generally) behave similarly to how they act when they go to a concert or presentation; they wander around, have loud, idle conversations, etc… There are some exceptions to this of course, but this has been my general experience.

When you walk into a Catholic church, people (generally) behave similarly to how they act when they go to a library or a cemetery; they instantly become quiet and still. There are some exceptions to this of course, but this has been my general experience.

To me, this a testament to the True Presence. Something in our very core instantly knows that we are in a sacred place; not a place where we just talk about Jesus, but a place where Jesus comes to us and waits patiently there for us.

I remember attended a wedding a few years ago at a local baptist Church and I was instantly struck with this feeling of emptiness; there were pews, there was a cross (with no corpus) there was a choir area… but there was no tabernacle. He was not “there” anymore than He is with me when I was in the parking lot or at the grocery store.

God is always with us… but when we are in the presence of the Eucharist, we are present at Calvary. God draws us up to Him.

Ultimately, I think this quote about the soul sums up my feelings about attending other churches:
“If anything could prove the existence of a soul, it is the utter emptiness of a corpse.”
-Mary Doris Russel
Click to expand...
If anything could prove the true presence in the Eucharist, it is the utter emptiness of a church without it.
 
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I could see benefitting from attending the Hours or the Divine Liturgy in Eastern or Oriental Orthodox Catholic Churches.

I could potentially see getting SOME benefit from Protestant services with this caveat - is that person extremely well catechized, and able to discern orthodoxy from heterodoxy in whatever he may hear, and is he at zero risk of being snatched from the Barque of Peter?

If he IS well catechized and at no risk of being “poached”, go for it, so long as you can meet your Catholic obligations as well.

If there’s any question whatsoever of the person not being thoroughly catechized or potentially jumping ship, then I would say they absolutely should not even step foot in a non-Catholic Church.
 
Can you go to both?
I would not skip a Sacrament of Mass for anything or anybody.
it’s pertinent to my soul, my beliefs, and my life as a Catholic.

This is something you have to come to terms with.
 
Dlee said:
turn to the gospel of Psalms
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The “gospel of Psalms…” what the??? That even sounds cacophonous. I can see the “book of Psalms”, the “Psalter,” or even the “library of Psalms…” or “wisdom of the Psalms…” but the GOSPEL OF PSALMS? This is madness!

That would drive me bonkers, what do they call Genesis? The Epistle of Genesis? How about the Law of St. Jude?

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
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Maybe not exactly the same but this made me think. When my very Polish Catholic parents in law came to visit they expected me to drive them to a Catholic Church the Saturday evening. That is okay and I understand and it is quite some distance as we don’t have many around here. My father in law was very interested in my Church and attended with me and my wife the Sunday Morning. Mother in law was just tired…

When I visit Poland no questions are asked and we are going to Church and I don’t really feel I can object. (I would have been okay with that if I could at least understand the homily). But when I mention a church in English actually (also some distance away) I don’t really get an answer. (I ended up going to the Mennonite service nearby for some English religious interaction)

Now I really love them but that wasn’t very considerate…
 
AveOTheotokos said:
The only benefit I have ever derived from going to a non-catholic church is to experience the lack of His presence.

When you walk into other churches, people (generally) behave similarly to how they act when they go to a concert or presentation; they wander around, have loud, idle conversations, etc… There are some exceptions to this of course, but this has been my general experience.

When you walk into a Catholic church, people (generally) behave similarly to how they act when they go to a library or a cemetery; they instantly become quiet and still. There are some exceptions to this of course, but this has been my general experience.

To me, this a testament to the True Presence. Something in our very core instantly knows that we are in a sacred place; not a place where we just talk about Jesus, but a place where Jesus comes to us and waits patiently there for us.

I remember attended a wedding a few years ago at a local baptist Church and I was instantly struck with this feeling of emptiness; there were pews, there was a cross (with no corpus) there was a choir area… but there was no tabernacle. He was not “there” anymore than He is with me when I was in the parking lot or at the grocery store.

God is always with us… but when we are in the presence of the Eucharist, we are present at Calvary. God draws us up to Him.

Ultimately, I think this quote about the soul sums up my feelings about attending other churches:
“If anything could prove the existence of a soul, it is the utter emptiness of a corpse.”
-Mary Doris Russel
Click to expand...
While I want to respect your opinion I would for myself say this is malarkey. I have been in many many different churches both P and C and would disagree with your conclusions. It has more to how you have been conditioned by experiencing the presence of statues and other traditional Catholic settings. If you were blindfolded and taken into many Lutheran churches you would erroneously claim there was no Real Presence when the blindfold was taken off.
Click to expand...
 
AveOTheotokos said:
The only benefit I have ever derived from going to a non-catholic church is to experience the lack of His presence.

When you walk into other churches, people (generally) behave similarly to how they act when they go to a concert or presentation; they wander around, have loud, idle conversations, etc… There are some exceptions to this of course, but this has been my general experience.

When you walk into a Catholic church, people (generally) behave similarly to how they act when they go to a library or a cemetery; they instantly become quiet and still. There are some exceptions to this of course, but this has been my general experience.

To me, this a testament to the True Presence. Something in our very core instantly knows that we are in a sacred place; not a place where we just talk about Jesus, but a place where Jesus comes to us and waits patiently there for us.

I remember attended a wedding a few years ago at a local baptist Church and I was instantly struck with this feeling of emptiness; there were pews, there was a cross (with no corpus) there was a choir area… but there was no tabernacle. He was not “there” anymore than He is with me when I was in the parking lot or at the grocery store.

God is always with us… but when we are in the presence of the Eucharist, we are present at Calvary. God draws us up to Him.

Ultimately, I think this quote about the soul sums up my feelings about attending other churches:
“If anything could prove the existence of a soul, it is the utter emptiness of a corpse.”
-Mary Doris Russel
Click to expand...
I agree with this, which seems to be my experience too.

The mass is beyond description, one can just be in awe. When they say in awe, the mass would be one that describes this phenomenum on earth most appropriately. Thus it is not a time of coming to concert or listening and enjoying the band or the pastor preaching or performance or socialising.

People come into God’s presence, everything else just becomes pale in comparison.
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Wannano said:
While I want to respect your opinion I would for myself say this is malarkey. I have been in many many different churches both P and C and would disagree with your conclusions.
Click to expand...
As I stated in my post, my conclusions were based on my own personal observations of how people generally act in those settings based on my own general experience, though there are exceptions. YMMV
Wannano said:
It has more to how you have been conditioned by experiencing the presence of statues and other traditional Catholic settings.
Click to expand...
Statues have nothing to do with the real presence, and a lot of the Catholic churches in my diocese are not “traditional Catholic settings”. It is a mission diocese and several of the churches have little to no statues and are in buildings converted from buildings designed for other purposes, and some are merely trailers. My home parish has no statuary in the church other than the Crucifix and one statue of a resurrected Christ that is on the back wall and is only visible as you exit the church.
Wannano said:
If you were blindfolded and taken into many Lutheran churches you would erroneously claim there was no Real Presence when the blindfold was taken off.
Click to expand...
Lutheran’s believe in a Real Presence, but they do not have valid ministerial priests or Holy Orders, so there is not actually Transubstantiation, nor is there a Real Presence in a Lutheran church. My claim of them lacking a Real presence would therefore not be erroneous.
 
AveOTheotokos said:
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Wannano:
While I want to respect your opinion I would for myself say this is malarkey. I have been in many many different churches both P and C and would disagree with your conclusions.
Click to expand...
As I stated in my post, my conclusions were based on my own personal observations of how people generally act in those settings based on my own general experience, though there are exceptions. YMMV
Wannano said:
It has more to how you have been conditioned by experiencing the presence of statues and other traditional Catholic settings.
Click to expand...
Statues have nothing to do with the real presence, and a lot of the Catholic churches in my diocese are not “traditional Catholic settings”. It is a mission diocese and several of the churches have little to no statues and are in buildings converted from buildings designed for other purposes, and some are merely trailers. My home parish has no statuary in the church other than the Crucifix and one statue of a resurrected Christ that is on the back wall and is only visible as you exit the church.
Wannano said:
If you were blindfolded and taken into many Lutheran churches you would erroneously claim there was no Real Presence when the blindfold was taken off.
Click to expand...
Lutheran’s believe in a Real Presence, but they do not have valid ministerial priests or Holy Orders, so there is not actually Transubstantiation, nor is there a Real Presence in a Lutheran church. My claim of them lacking a Real presence would therefore not be erroneous.
Click to expand...
Well if the only benefit you have ever derived from going into a non-Catholic church is experiencing the lack of His presence you probably got what you were looking for.
 
Wannano said:
Well if the only benefit you have ever derived from going into a non-Catholic church is experiencing the lack of His presence you probably got what you were looking for.
Click to expand...
The majority of the non-Catholic churches in my area are non-denominational. Since “feel good” theology, once saved always saved, and prosperity gospel themes are not really my jam, I would say yes…The benefit of gaining a greater appreciation for His Real Presence in the Catholic Church through the lack of encountering it in these other churches who openly criticize and denounce the evil Catholic church and twist the gospel to mean what they want it to mean is exactly what I was looking for.
 
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