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jmcrae
Guest
They do? What Mass has she been to where that happens? I want to go - at my parish, it seems as though each person has a completely different idea of how to behave at Mass - some people kneel all the way through; we have one person who stands for the whole thing - all except for him are kneeling at the Consecration, and then there are other places where some people kneel and other people stand - then you get the ones who think they are the priest and say all of his lines - I won’t even get into the kids, since they are quite literally all over the place.
Ask her if she did a poll, and if not, how she knows what people are thinking at Mass. Just because they aren’t jumping around like lunatics doesn’t mean they aren’t having a good time, or that they don’t appreciate what’s going on.
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Teflon93
Guest
This is a fascinating question. May I suggest purchasing her a copy of Catholic Mass for Dummies? When my wife and I considered converting, we found it very helpful in answering that question:
Because everything we do is based in scripture and tradition.
The Eucharist is present because Christ decreed it so. It’s not a once-a-month or once-a-year thing, but EVERY TIME WE GATHER.
Didn’t mean to shout there.
What I find equally fascinating is that Protestant churches simply raided the Mass for their liturgy. Sermons are long homilies, communion offered in place of the Eucharist, prayers offered, etc. I grew up Episcopalian—the liturgy very closely aligned to the Mass. Pentecostals had more hymns, a LOOOOONG sermon, and transformed the distribution of the Eucharist and dismissal into long “altar calls”, Methodists follow a basic Mass structure but layer in more hymns, etc.
Because the Order of Mass is well-defined, my wife and I were able to attend Mass in Rhode Island on a recent trip and not miss a beat. Attending different Methodist churches resulted in radically different liturgies (not much truth in advertising there these days).
So maybe the best rejoinder to “Why do Catholics act like robots” is “Why do you act like gameshow contestants?”
Because everything we do is based in scripture and tradition.
The Eucharist is present because Christ decreed it so. It’s not a once-a-month or once-a-year thing, but EVERY TIME WE GATHER.
Didn’t mean to shout there.
What I find equally fascinating is that Protestant churches simply raided the Mass for their liturgy. Sermons are long homilies, communion offered in place of the Eucharist, prayers offered, etc. I grew up Episcopalian—the liturgy very closely aligned to the Mass. Pentecostals had more hymns, a LOOOOONG sermon, and transformed the distribution of the Eucharist and dismissal into long “altar calls”, Methodists follow a basic Mass structure but layer in more hymns, etc.
Because the Order of Mass is well-defined, my wife and I were able to attend Mass in Rhode Island on a recent trip and not miss a beat. Attending different Methodist churches resulted in radically different liturgies (not much truth in advertising there these days).
So maybe the best rejoinder to “Why do Catholics act like robots” is “Why do you act like gameshow contestants?”
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Mommyof02green
Guest
hmmm… that’s the first I’ve heard of the book “Catholic Mass for Dummies”.
I’ve heard of this book though: “Catholicism for Dummies”. Is this the book you are refering too?
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Teflon93
Guest
I actually conflated two books—Catholicism for Dummies and the How To Book of the Mass, which makes me “the dummy”.
The latter was the one I should have referred to, since it gives a great scriptural justification for each element of the Mass.
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