Can I participate in a Methodist service when visiting friends?

[jmswenner]

Several times a year I attend a Methodist church when I spend the weekend at my friends’ house, which is two hours away from my home. I have been on mission trips with this church several times and love listening to the pastor’s sermons. I think their worship service is awesome and it is the only opportunity for me to get to see the sixty people that I spend a week with during the mission trips. Is it a sin for me to choose to attend that service when visiting my friends, in place of finding a local Catholic Mass for the weekend?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Is it a sin for me to choose to attend that service when visiting my friends, in place of finding a local Catholic Mass for the weekend?

Yes. For just reason you might occasionally attend a Protestant service, but it can never “take the place” of a Catholic Mass. You would still need to go to Mass either on Sunday or on the previous Saturday evening. Not to do so would be grave matter. If done so with adequate knowledge and deliberate consent, it constitutes a mortal sin.

I am also concerned about your description of your involvement with this particular church. You are not just an occasional guest at a Protestant service for the sake of accompanying a family member or close friend. You are an actual participant in this service, to the extent of going on mission trips with this Protestant church. Such involvement could possibly damage your Catholic faith, and apparently already has done so, since you see no difference between going to this Protestant service and going to Mass. I can only recommend that you end your involvement with this church.