By their fruits you will know them

[kalt]

Well, I guess that’s understandable.

Perhaps the reason is because Catholic congregations are generally larger?

Yes, but that’s just the settled order. Situations that cause discomfort are inevitable in every area of human endeavor – new job, new boss, new friends, relocating to another area, going to a seminar, a conference, going on a trip, taking a vacation. People who are reserved and shy will doubtless have greater difficulty but there’s no way around it. We all have to learn to interact with each other. But then in some churches there are people who intrude upon one with artificial friendliness. Which is more palatable – the church people who ignore you or the church people who fawn all over you as if you’re some long–lost relative?

I daresay the Catholic and Orthodox Churches probably appear to the rest of Christendom as similar in this respect.

Well, perhaps so. They’re searching, anyway.

Fair point.

And neither does the Orthodox Church. But I think that’s more or less what happens in the rest of Christendom. And I daresay it’s the rest of Christendom that shapes the general level of expectation for church visitors?

Cordially,
Mick

Well, they are better greeters. I wonder if Mr Walton was a greeter in his Church.
You know what? The greeters at Walmart bug me.

 

[Selene]

Remember this. There are good people and people of good will in every religion. You shouldn’t convert to a religion just because the people you met at a particular service are nice. Convert for the truth. Trust me, I’ve seen some very uncharitable Catholics in my time. There are also very uncharitable Lutherans, Orthodox, Muslims, Hindus, etc. But my conversion was not based on the few bad apples I’ve seen, but the entire truth that I searched for.

Look at the examples of the religious brothers and sisters and priests who give up their pleasures and marriage in order to serve the Lord their entire lives! Look at the examples of all the saints and martyrs. Look at the miracles which God has shown us. Type in Miracle of Lanciano for a great example.

It is by their fruits that ye shall know them. And the Catholic Church has produced a lot of fruits through our saints and our brothers and sisters. What good is going to church every Sunday and all a person does is love their family and friends but never learn to love the enemy and their neighbor who is a stranger. When a person recognizes a newcomer or a stranger in their church and welcomes them, that is a sign that the people have the spirit of God in them because it is always easy to be nice and love people you know rather than people you don’t know.

And the examples of our saints are remarkable. Many of them have taken a vow of poverty and left the security of their family and friends to dedicate their lives to the poor and sick. Many of them have even given up their life for a neighbor whom they don’t even know. This is what real love means.

Peace be with you,
Selene

 

[Reuben_J]

It is by their fruits that ye shall know them. And the Catholic Church has produced a lot of fruits through our saints and our brothers and sisters. What good is going to church every Sunday and all a person does is love their family and friends but never learn to love the enemy and their neighbor who is a stranger. When a person recognizes a newcomer or a stranger in their church and welcomes them, that is a sign that the people have the spirit of God in them because it is always easy to be nice and love people you know rather than people you don’t know.

And the examples of our saints are remarkable. Many of them have taken a vow of poverty and left the security of their family and friends to dedicate their lives to the poor and sick. Many of them have even given up their life for a neighbor whom they don’t even know. This is what real love means.

Peace be with you,
Selene

As mentioned in my earlier post, I am truly privileged to know a few Catholics who actually fit this description. I don’t know whether this is a surprise (that there are such Catholics today at this age) but the truth is they exist. Come to think of it, there are million such silent Catholics but never made it to the official sainthood. We have not short of believers who take up the way of the Lord literally - self giving until there is nothing left, taking up the cross and selfless work of charity – according to the love that the Lord wants of us.

One of them was a millionaire but left everything to work for the Lord. She was so poor at one time that she did not have enough money to pay for a taxi fare to take her family out of the house where they were evicted from.

Another, a rich millionaire too, who donated her property to the church and the poor through a program and community during a span of about thirty years, that eventually when she died recently she had nothing left. You could cry to see these people and to know what they had gone through but the calling of the Lord is so profound that their lives were forever changed.

Then there is another - in a different situation. Still living; it’s not proper to disclose here except only to give as example. Those I am referring to are all lay people. The examples of priests and nuns and religious brothers are generally well documented and known.

What we short of, admittedly, is the effort to manifest inter-personal skill and warmness in our local parishes. This is an area where perhaps Catholics can work on. It would not be too difficult because the seeds are already implanted in most of us. It only needs more focus and emphasis perhaps by the local church body. Already I have seen this happens in some smaller parishes where before the mass start the commentator would ask if anyone there come for the first time to stand up – so that they can be acknowledged with a heartfelt welcome and to be identified, so that people can know them especially after the mass.

The warmth of the parishioners we see in Protestant churches (as if Catholic Churches are so cold and unfriendly which strictly speaking is untrue) surely to some extent comes as a result of encouragement or even policy set down by their leaders. In my years of personal association with them that is surely the case.

God bless.

 

[StillWondering]

Hello Kalt,

No, it is not like that here in Guam. 90% of the people on Guam are Catholics. My church is large, but we all know each other in church. Our congregation is like a second family. After Mass, many people stay back just to talk and catch up on what’s going on. Also, every year we have village fiestas. In my village, we celebrate two fiestas - Our Lady of Peace (which is our village patron saint) and the Sacred Heart. The fiestas always begins at the church. Everyone in the village would bring food to the church social hall. After the Mass, everyone socializes and enjoys the food. We also have cultural dances and songs in our fiestas. The number of people in a church fiesta is approximately 400-600 people. In other villages, it can number to more than a thousand. After the church fiesta, the next day, the entire village would celebrate a fiesta in their own homes. At any rate, a fiesta is celebrated in every village on my island at different times of the year except during Lent. Every village on my island has its own patron saint.

We also invite performers to our church. Because my priest is originally from the archdiose of Japan, he invited Japanese performers to perform Japanese cultural dance and songs in church after the Mass. People stayed back to watch the Japanese performers. Because they are visitors to our island, it is always customary to invite them to a lunch or dinner. Lunch or dinner for us means “a party.” Two of those Japanese performers saw how the people got along so well with each other during the “party” lunch that they wanted to convert to Catholicism despite the fact that they don’t know a single thing about the religion. The love that they see displayed by the people was enough to convert them. Those two Japanese performers went to my priest and told him that they wanted to convert to Catholicism.

Catholics are supposed to take what they learned from Mass and apply it to the outside world because we are the light of Christ and all who see our light will praise God. As St. Paul says, we are to put away our old self and become a new creature of Christ. And when we become this new creature of Christ, then we truly can love God and our neighbors.

Peace be with you,
Selene

This is a very nice story. Thank you for sharing it.