Can I go to a Protestant service if it is the only way to bring someone to Mass?

[siquike]

I am a Catholic. I know my faith, I pray, and I read Catholic apologetics often. I have a friend who is Protestant. The thing is that she only comes to Mass with me if I go to her church. I really feel that going to her church is the only way to get her to come to Mass with me. I am trying to share my faith by bringing her to Mass, but I am not sure if it is acceptable for me to attend her Protestant service in a passive mode. I am aware that their communion is not truly the body and blood of Christ and that their service will never compare to a Mass, so I do not participate, only attend. Is this acceptable or should I stop attending?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

You may not believe a Protestant service and a Catholic Mass are equivalent, but what do your actions say to your friend if you go to her church as quid pro quo for her going to Mass with you? By engaging in quid pro quo, I’m afraid that your actions speak louder to her than do your words to the contrary in this forum.

Generally speaking, Catholics may occasionally attend non-Catholic services as a guest, if they have just reason to do so. This presumes that they do not receive invalid communion and that they meet their obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation. But such attendance also should not be a cause of scandal (i.e., creating a stumbling block for others). In my opinion, engaging in the kind of quid pro quo you describe does indeed create the potential for scandal.

This isn’t to say that you cannot continue to invite your friend to Mass with you, or to occasionally attend her church. But I can only recommend explaining to her that you are becoming uncomfortable that you may be giving the impression to her church community of being a congregant of her church and not merely a guest, and that you therefore would rather that you each go to the other’s church only when you each genuinely desire to do so, rather than as a “trade.”