Blessing yourself when passing a Catholic Church - when?

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My Gran always blesses herself when she passes a Catholic Church, but how can you identify a church as being Catholic from the outside?
 
brefardan said:
My Gran always blesses herself when she passes a Catholic Church, but how can you identify a church as being Catholic from the outside?
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It usually says “Catholic” somewhere on the outside, like Roman Catholic or Byzantine Catholic.

If I am passing an unfamiliar church, I usually wait until I get to wherever the sign is displayed , just to be sure I’m not crossing myself as I pass a what could be a beautiful Protestant church.
 
It doesn’t always work, but I look for a statue of Mary outside the church. That’s a good sign. For the most part though, I stick to the same areas and have learned where the churches are so I know to have a hand free and leave a pause in my conversation for crossing myself and silently praying “My Lord and my God” as I pass.
 
It’s usually easy to spot the Catholic Churches around here (they’re all signed fairly well) BUT I don’t see what the harm would be in blessing yourself if it wasn’t a Catholic Church. I’m sure our Lord knows where our heart is and wouldn’t fault anyone for a simple mistake.
 
nickybr38 said:
It’s usually easy to spot the Catholic Churches around here (they’re all signed fairly well) BUT I don’t see what the harm would be in blessing yourself if it wasn’t a Catholic Church. I’m sure our Lord knows where our heart is and wouldn’t fault anyone for a simple mistake.
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Plus, Orthodox churches have the Eucharist too 😃
 
nickybr38 said:
BUT I don’t see what the harm would be in blessing yourself if it wasn’t a Catholic Church. I’m sure our Lord knows where our heart is and wouldn’t fault anyone for a simple mistake.
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That’s a good point. I’ve always just blessed myself when passing what I’m 100% sure is a Catholic Church. There have been times when I wasn’t sure, and I didn’t bless myself. But I think a few times they turned out to be Catholic.
 
nickybr38 said:
It’s usually easy to spot the Catholic Churches around here (they’re all signed fairly well) BUT I don’t see what the harm would be in blessing yourself if it wasn’t a Catholic Church. I’m sure our Lord knows where our heart is and wouldn’t fault anyone for a simple mistake.
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If I found you blessing yourself in front of my Lutheran church, it would make me happy. We need all the help we can get.
 
benjohnson said:
If I found you blessing yourself in front of my Lutheran church, it would make me happy. We need all the help we can get.
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Amen. 🙂 And if nothing else we are all praising the same God. (All Christians that is).
 
I’ve heard of people doing this, but my parents never did. Don’t recall my great aunts doing this either.However, they,especially my Great Aunt Helen were very active at St.John’s in Hot Springs and were always helping clean the church, brought flowers,etc so maybe because they spent so much time at church,they may not have felt they needed to do that every time they passed a Catholic Church. Don’t even know where the custom started.
 
I cross myself as I pass Catholic Churches, Schools, Diocesean offices, etc.

If I’m out of town and don’t know the church I wait until I pass and see that it says “Catholic” or “RC” … so I’m making the Sign of the Cross after I pass the place.

There is no rule about when, and there’s no requirement to do this, it’s just nice to make the Sign of the Cross and say a quick prayer “My Lord and My God” or “God Bless this School” or “God Bless our Bishop”
 
I thought Catholics blessed themselves because of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but I guess it’s ok to do even if it’s a different kind of Church, perhaps even if it’s a synagogue or a mosque?

I’m not sure since I’m kind of new to this… 🙂
 
Alicia05 said:
I thought Catholics blessed themselves because of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but I guess it’s ok to do even if it’s a different kind of Church, perhaps even if it’s a synagogue or a mosque?

I’m not sure since I’m kind of new to this… 🙂
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I’d never heard of (Western/Latin) Catholics crossing themselves near a church until now. I knew that Orthodox were wont to make the sign of the cross and bow three times in front of a church, assuming this was because of Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist.
 
I thought Catholics blessed themselves because of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but I guess it’s ok to do even if it’s a different kind of Church, perhaps even if it’s a synagogue or a mosque?
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That’s why I do it. Just as I genuflect or bow on the inside when I pass before the tabernacle I do it on the outside. Typically when passing on the outside though I am driving and genuflection is typically frowned upon ;).
 
I know where the Catholic churches are when I going to and from work, and doing my normal errands so I always do the sign of the cross when passing by them. When I am in areas I don’t know well, I check for a sign that a building is a Catholic church then do the same. No one looks at me strange for doing so, and its my way to evangelize by my actions.
 
In the New Orleans area it is quite common to see one making the sign of the cross when passing in front of a church. When I lived in AR following Katrina I didn’t see it happen as much and those that did I found out had lived in South LA. In this area some will also make the sign of the cross when passing a cemetery - I usually say a short prayer something like - Lord please bless the souls buried in this cemetery - it doesn’t draw attention when traveling with non-Catholics.
 
How do I know I ,am passing a Catholice church,usually by the Statues around the church,the building is made differtant than other ones, that tell us it,s a Catholice church,and last, Most Catholice church have a Saint name,and the letters RCC which stands for Roman CatholiceChurch. So I make then the sign of the Cross. :bible1:
 
In older cities, older Catholic churches have a fairly prominent cross on the steeple or bell tower. Most of the Protestant ones don’t. And if you see statues of saints, or of Mary, that’s usually a giveaway too. A lot of the Catholic churches do NOT have signs in front of them, but have Mass times posted near the door.

However, making the sign of the Cross can’t hurt, even if you guess incorrectly!
 
Well, I am pretty familiar with all of the Catholic parishes in my area so I usually know when I am passing by one. That said, Catholic parishes are usually far more beautiful than Protestant ones, both on the inside and the outside. I don’t mean that as a slam against Protestants either. I just think that Catholics are more focused on art and architecture and stuff.
 
When young we were told to show some sign of respect when passing a Catholic church (for one thing you know that the Blessed Sacrament is in reserve inside). We could make the sign of the cross. Men could tip their hat was one suggestion by the priest.

In those days many Catholic churches had a crucifix outside somewhere, so you could be very sure it was a Catholic Church because no other churches had that. All Catholic churches have crosses at least, so that’s a good sign from a distance, then look out for the board with the name of the church on it and the times for the Masses.

I cross myself when passing Catholic churches, and any cemetery (and say the Requiem prayer).

If I see a cross on any church or road death memorial cross that gives me the opportunity to say the prayer of St Francis, ‘We adore you Lord Jesus Christ here and in all your churches all over the whole world and we bless You because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world’.
 
Nice touch about the roadside memorial crosses there. I say a Hail Mary for the soul of the departed person when I pass by one.
 
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