Do you pray in a Protestant Mass?

[lilypadrees]

paperwight:

So I don’t agree with your premise that the only form of worship we as Catholics are allowed to participate in is our Mass.

That’s not what I said, I was saying that we should not participate in non-Catholic forms of worship.

Praying the Our Father (Lord’s Prayer) together at a funeral shows the love of Christ for the deceased and gives emotional support to the bereaved family who are left behind. It isn’t considered worship since the readings, prayers and music are usually chosen by the deceased beforehand or the deceased’s loved ones who knew how special they were to their loved one.

It is a time to gather together in mourning and celebration of the person’s life not the time to take sides - "me, Catholic, you, Protestant - quibbling about forms of worship.

It’s a time to show your love and support as one Christian to another. If we are all members of God’s family, as we say we are, then we need to act like it in good times and bad regardless of our differences in worship.

It’s a time to share memories, to laugh, to cry, to reunite with those you haven’t seen in a long time, people who knew the deceased as family, friend or co-worker.

Of course, if there is Communion during a Protestant funeral service, something I’ve never experienced in the funerals I’ve been to for Protestant relatives, then we wouldn’t participate in that. But praying for and with the family, sharing memories of the deceased, just being there in support of the family, yes, we Catholics can do that.

Catholics can go to the grave site or not as they wish. Catholics can also gather together and share a meal with the deceased’s family. Here in the South, we cook and bring food to the home of the deceased since we know the family won’t feel like cooking in these early days of being without their loved one.

We show our support in so many ways. And it doesn’t matter whether the person is Catholic or Protestant. What matters is the love, the caring, the support we give one another as Christians, as human beings.

 

[PJM]

PRAY yourself; they don’t have a Mass, only a prayer service

May your friend REST in Peace

 

[Rasoleil]

Yes. I attend my wife’s church (Lutheran, LCMS) with her on Sundays and they say the creed and the Our Father. And they make the sign of the cross several times during service. This particular church, and not all churches to this ( depends on the congregation ) has communion every service. Of course, I do not partake in their communion.

 

[QContinuum]

Er, some of us have both.

Here a Mässa (mass) includes communion, Divine Service does not.

Just because some local brand of Protestants do things one way doesn’t mean the other denominations do.

Isn’t it fun always having to explain and defend your faith tradition? So many oddball opportunities to practice diplomacy.

 

[mrsdizzyd]

Don’t participate. If you can, sit near the back, and stay sitting (even if they stand, kneel etc, for their worship.)

You can pray quietly, but I don’t think you should say their prayers with them.

Whatever you do, don’t let them think that you are participating in their worship, or being agreeable to it.

OP if you are going to act like this at the funeral do not go. Better to stay home than to disrespect the dead…

 

[ComplineSanFran]

Hello, I have to go to an Protestant funeral. It’s my first Protestant funeral. How do you participate the mass?

I just scrolled through this thread and did not see any mention of what church you will be attending. That might help you know the proper etiquette for a funeral. If it is a funeral liturgy in an Episcopal or Lutheran church, you will be quite comfortable with the format. If it is a Black Baptist church, it may feel a bit more new to you. Is it Pentecostal? Presbyterian? LDS? Non-denominational? It makes a difference in what you’ll experience.

There is a series of books called, “How to Be A Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook”. VERY helpful guidelines on being a guest in someone else’s House of Worship. It tells you when to sit, stand, when it’s ok to participate, when it’s not. I would recommend going to the chapters on Presbyterian Funerals (if that is the church you will be attending) and reading what they have to say.

As for being a guest in someone else’s Home Parish, please do the polite thing. Sitting in the back corner and scowling is not being the polite guest we all know Catholics are.

 

[LoyalViews]

OP, what kind of Protestant funeral is it? If it’s Anglican (who are not protestant) you have nothing to worry about. Just do not go to communion.

If it’s anything else, just follow the actions of those around you. You’re going to say farewell and you can pray for the soul of the deceased whilst you’re there. Protestants don’t do that, but you can. It’ll be your offering.

 

[Pup7]

The OP has nothing to worry about regardless of what kind of service it is. Go, be respectful, don’t take communion in the odd event it is held, say appropriate words to the family, leave.

 

[BarreandBark]

I think what Christ would really want is for us to be supportive of the grieving and respectful of the occasion. I would pray my own prayers. Stand when everyone stands, sit when everyone sits. The Lord is more concerned about what’s in my heart than my outward appearance. I think he’d be more appreciative of that than me standing there and saying…"oh, this is all wrong - - y’all going to hell".

If you can’t respect and be non-judgmental for that moment, then I just wouldn’t attend the funeral and join everyone outside church.

 

[Pup7]

My Baptist grandmother didn’t attend her Greek Orthodox baby brother’s (her only brother, I might add) funeral when he died very suddenly because her (weird, disastrous, unChristian, prejudiced - I’ll say it) pastor said it wouldn’t be a good idea.

Seriously. She didn’t go. My grandfather did, she didn’t.

Who does that?

 

[Hereiam]

Don’t participate. If you can, sit near the back, and stay sitting (even if they stand, kneel etc, for their worship.)

You can pray quietly, but I don’t think you should say their prayers with them.

Whatever you do, don’t let them think that you are participating in their worship, or being agreeable to it.

no no no no no no…wrong on so many levels.

 

[Crusader30]

Which brings scandal to the Faithful

A Catholic must never join in a false religions prayers

We are forbidden form doing so by Canon Law of 1918 and it still holds true today

 

[Crusader30]

It is right to do so

 

[tweedlealice]

Sweetheart
They don’t have masses. They have services. Just follow their lead for the community responses. Then, pray silently as you would in church. Pray for the soul of the deceased. Pray for his grieving family to receive comfort.
Blessings

 

[guanophore]

Don’t participate. If you can, sit near the back, and stay sitting (even if they stand, kneel etc, for their worship.)

You can pray quietly, but I don’t think you should say their prayers with them.

Whatever you do, don’t let them think that you are participating in their worship, or being agreeable to it.

I find this most interesting. As a non-Catholic I have always stood etc when in a Catholic service whenever the rest of the people did.

Yes, this is very old school traditional Catholicism that avoids ecumenism. The fact is that Catholics only recognize “worship” as the Eucharist, and this does not occur in Protestant services.

There is nothing wrong with praying together with our separated brethren.

Mark 9:40 “For he that is not against us is for us.”

Christians have more in common with one another than any of us have for the world.

I felt this was the respectful thing to do and never dreamt that any Catholic watching might interpret it to mean that I was in agreement with all things. Whatever is wrong with participating in one another’s worship of God??

We are not to participate in the sin of indifferentism, which may include participating in other religious practices that are inconsistent with Catholic faith. We are not to celebrate communion with other Christians with whom we are not, in fact, in communion.

I must admit I felt uncomfortable with that as it apeared to me to be disrespectful and had the look of an act of defiance.

Yes, and the post to which you responded did seem to have an attitude of defiance.

 

[Hereiam]

A Catholic must never join in a false religions prayers

We are forbidden form doing so by Canon Law of 1918 and it still holds true today

In the context of this thread, your interpretation of the Code is grossly errant.

While partaking in communion at a Protestant Church would be wrong for a Catholic, there is nothing wrong with joining in prayers with fellow Christians (not so, of course, for pagans, new agers, and other non-Trinitarian religions).

 

[Hereiam]

It is right to do so

It is not right…it lacks charity.

 

[Augustinian]

Don’t participate. If you can, sit near the back, and stay sitting (even if they stand, kneel etc, for their worship.)

You can pray quietly, but I don’t think you should say their prayers with them.

Whatever you do, don’t let them think that you are participating in their worship, or being agreeable to it.

Sounds pretty disruptive. If a group came into Mass, perhaps non-catholic and made a point to stay in their seats and not engage in prayer I would wonder why they came in the first place.

If this is what you want to do, you’d be better off staying home for the event.

 

[Wannano]

Wannano:

Don’t participate. If you can, sit near the back, and stay sitting (even if they stand, kneel etc, for their worship.)

You can pray quietly, but I don’t think you should say their prayers with them.

Whatever you do, don’t let them think that you are participating in their worship, or being agreeable to it.

Sounds pretty disruptive. If a group came into Mass, perhaps non-catholic and made a point to stay in their seats and not engage in prayer I would wonder why they came in the first place.

If this is what you want to do, you’d be better off staying home for the event.

Your reply here to me should have been addressed to BridgetN as it is not my post. I agree with your answer.

 

[Wannano]

BridgetN:

Don’t participate. If you can, sit near the back, and stay sitting (even if they stand, kneel etc, for their worship.)

You can pray quietly, but I don’t think you should say their prayers with them.

Whatever you do, don’t let them think that you are participating in their worship, or being agreeable to it.

I find this most interesting. As a non-Catholic I have always stood etc when in a Catholic service whenever the rest of the people did.

Yes, this is very old school traditional Catholicism that avoids ecumenism. The fact is that Catholics only recognize “worship” as the Eucharist, and this does not occur in Protestant services.

There is nothing wrong with praying together with our separated brethren.

Mark 9:40 “For he that is not against us is for us.”

Christians have more in common with one another than any of us have for the world.

I felt this was the respectful thing to do and never dreamt that any Catholic watching might interpret it to mean that I was in agreement with all things. Whatever is wrong with participating in one another’s worship of God??

We are not to participate in the sin of indifferentism, which may include participating in other religious practices that are inconsistent with Catholic faith. We are not to celebrate communion with other Christians with whom we are not, in fact, in communion.

I must admit I felt uncomfortable with that as it apeared to me to be disrespectful and had the look of an act of defiance.

Yes, and the post to which you responded did seem to have an attitude of defiance.

Am I understanding you correctly that for the Catholic only the Eucharist constitutes worship?