Did I do a bad thing?

[ClairUK]

I’m asking a lot of questions at the moment, but not being Catholic yet I’m trying to learn and do my best…
I’m having a troubled day today and while I was out felt the need for prayer and to be close to our Lord - however the Catholic Church in this village is locked when not in use for Mass etc, whereas the Anglican one is open all the time as it’s very pretty and lots of tourists go in there to have a look around.
I went in there and prayed for a while, but I’ve just begun to wonder if I’m allowed to do this or if it would have been better to wait til I got home and pray there? Is it a sin to go and pray in a Protestant church?

 

[CountrySteve]

no of course not and also by the way you dont need to be in a Church to pray : ))))

 

[Hecares]

To pray privately anywhere is not sinful. sometimes I find it much easier to pray before the blessed sacrament. I used to have constant access, so it wasn’t a problem… Friends always remind me that God lives within each of us, so we are a tabernacle. We can pray anywhere at anytime. God is always there.

 

[Barb3]

The Church is probably closed because it was the victim of damage. My Parish Church is now only open for Mass – otherwise it’s closed. The Church experienced a great deal of damage so our Pastor decided it was better to keep the Church closed except for Mass.

 

[ClairUK]

Thankyou all, I am relieved at that - although I do pray at home, in the car, or walking down the street (silently, of course!) I do sometimes like/need a focal point and the peace of the church to help me
And I did end up feeling much better afterwards, I feel like my normal self now, I was quite troubled this morning without really knowing why!

 

[Monica4316]

I’m asking a lot of questions at the moment, but not being Catholic yet I’m trying to learn and do my best…
I’m having a troubled day today and while I was out felt the need for prayer and to be close to our Lord - however the Catholic Church in this village is locked when not in use for Mass etc, whereas the Anglican one is open all the time as it’s very pretty and lots of tourists go in there to have a look around.
I went in there and prayed for a while, but I’ve just begun to wonder if I’m allowed to do this or if it would have been better to wait til I got home and pray there? Is it a sin to go and pray in a Protestant church?

Hi,

Well it depends… my priest has counselled me not to visit Protestant churches, I think because I get confused easily. I wouldn’t go to a Protestant service… but I wouldn’t say it’s a sin to just go and pray by yourself in an Anglican church. As long as you know that they do not have the Real Presence… sometimes when the Catholic church is locked, I would go there and pray outside for a bit lol. (I wish it wasn’t locked).

God bless

 

[Catholic1954]

Thankyou all, I am relieved at that - although I do pray at home, in the car, or walking down the street (silently, of course!) I do sometimes like/need a focal point and the peace of the church to help me
And I did end up feeling much better afterwards, I feel like my normal self now, I was quite troubled this morning without really knowing why!

This might be a good time for you to start thinking about setting up a small “home altar”, an area set aside for private prayer. You can serf Catholic religious article website or vist a local Catholic bookstore and purchase inexpensive pictures, statues, crucifixes or whatever to help you focus your attention when you pray in your home and set them up on a shelf or end table.

 

[ClairUK]

This might be a good time for you to start thinking about setting up a small “home altar”, an area set aside for private prayer. You can serf Catholic religious article website or vist a local Catholic bookstore and purchase inexpensive pictures, statues, crucifixes or whatever to help you focus your attention when you pray in your home and set them up on a shelf or end table.

That’s a great idea! There’s a Christian bookshop which sells other things as well in my village and if they haven’t got it they will order it…there was also a shop attached to Prinknash Abbey a while ago, it might still be there…and I bought my St Benedict cross online for about £3
Thanks for the idea, don’t know why I didnt think of that before!