Does anyone know whether CUF can be trusted?

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timeandeternity

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I recently found some info on Catholics United for the Faith, which I’m including here, with the crucial bits underlined:

*Issue: May a Catholic attend a service at a Protestant church? How may a Catholic participate?

Response: A Catholic may attend and participate in common prayer at services in Protestant churches. Catholics are encouraged to pray and sing, and they may read or preach, but a Catholic may not receive “communion” if this is part of the service.

Discussion: There is no ban against a Catholic attending a Protestant service, although a Catholic may not receive “communion” if made available. This is largely a consequence of the invalid ordination of ministers attempting to confect the Sacrament. Canon 844 of the Code of Canon Law says that Catholic members of the Christian faithful may receive sacraments only from Catholic ministers. Further, the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that there can be no “Eucharistic intercommunion” between the Church and Protestant communities (no. 1400).

Participation in common prayer without taking part in a communion rite is an act of true ecumenism—promoting unity without denying the truths of the one true faith—and should not likely be a cause of scandal. The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, in its 1993 Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, encourages such participation:

In liturgical celebrations taking place in other churches and ecclesial communities, Catholics are encouraged to take part in the psalms, responses, hymns and common actions of the church in which they are guests. If invited by their hosts, they may read a lesson or preach (no. 118).

However, the Catholic must not think of the worship service as an addition or substitution for Mass. It is important that the Catholic does not give the impression that there is no real separation between Catholics and Protestants. Protestant services must not be attended in order for the Catholic to experience “feelings” of fellowship or closeness to God.*

I’ve always been taught that Catholics may *never *participate in other Christian services–we can go to their weddings/funerals/etc, but even then we’re not allowed to *actively *participate in the service. This info on CUF doesn’t agree with anything I’ve ever heard before, and I’m wondering if anyone knows whether this organization can be trusted to give out good information that definitely agrees with Catholic teaching.
 
Catholic Culture, a very reliable website, offers reviews of Catholic websites. CUF is listed among the best of the best, with a very high rating for fidelity. Here is the review.

Betsy
 
timeandeternity said:
I’ve always been taught that Catholics may *never *participate in other Christian services–we can go to their weddings/funerals/etc, but even then we’re not allowed to *actively *participate in the service.
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This was the pre-Vatican II rule, back when Protestants were “heretics” instead of “separated brethren”.

Here is a link to the 1993 document directly on the Vatican website.
 
Joe, I am personally inclined to agree with you. However, since balto_betsy provided evidence for her statement that CUF is actually a very good website, I would appreciate it if you could give me evidence supporting your statement. This is really important–I have a Catholic friend who also goes to Protestant services with her boyfriend, and is convinced there’s nothing wrong with that. I need to give her good solid evidence–either saying she’s wrong or she’s right, whichever ends up being the truth.
Thanks!
 
timeandeternity said:
I recently found some info on Catholics United for the Faith, which I’m including here, with the crucial bits underlined:

*Issue: May a Catholic attend a service at a Protestant church? How may a Catholic participate?

Response: A Catholic may attend and participate in common prayer at services in Protestant churches. Catholics are encouraged to pray and sing, and they may read or preach, but a Catholic may not receive “communion” if this is part of the service.

Discussion: There is no ban against a Catholic attending a Protestant service,* although a Catholic may not receive “communion” if made available. This is largely a consequence of the invalid ordination of ministers attempting to confect the Sacrament. Canon 844 of the Code of Canon Law says that Catholic members of the Christian faithful may receive sacraments only from Catholic ministers. Further, the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that there can be no “Eucharistic intercommunion” between the Church and Protestant communities (no. 1400).

Participation in common prayer without taking part in a communion rite is an act of true ecumenism—promoting unity without denying the truths of the one true faith—and should not likely be a cause of scandal. The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, in its 1993 Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, encourages such participation:

In liturgical celebrations taking place in other churches and ecclesial communities, Catholics are encouraged to take part in the psalms, responses, hymns and common actions of the church in which they are guests. If invited by their hosts, they may read a lesson or preach (no. 118).

However, the Catholic must not think of the worship service as an addition or substitution for Mass. It is important that the Catholic does not give the impression that there is no real separation between Catholics and Protestants. Protestant services must not be attended in order for the Catholic to experience “feelings” of fellowship or closeness to God.

I’ve always been taught that Catholics may *never *participate in other Christian services–we can go to their weddings/funerals/etc, but even then we’re not allowed to *actively *participate in the service. This info on CUF doesn’t agree with anything I’ve ever heard before, and I’m wondering if anyone knows whether this organization can be trusted to give out good information that definitely agrees with Catholic teaching.
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Since I’m biased (I personally know the president of CUF (and would answer “with your life” on those grounds), I would point out that they are only citing the documents and that yes this is a change since Vatican II (actually 1983 IIRC).
 
The first paragraph from the 1993 Directory states:
  1. The search for Christian Unity was one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. The Ecumenical Directory, called for during the Council and published in two parts, one in 1967 and the other in 1970,1 “has given a most valuable service in directing, coordinating and developing the ecumenical effort”.2
My understanding is that the earlier directories were more liberal, e.g., allowing Catholics to satisfy their mass obligation at Orthodox services, and that the 1993 directory tightened up a few of the rules.
 
I’m very confused about the Church teaching on this… I keep on hearing different things 😦

I don’t go to Protestant services, but someone invited me to visit one… I don’t know if I should! would it be alright to visit (once) if I just sit there, and don’t actively participate? (ie: just watch)

I read some old canon from 1917 about how worshipping with non Catholics gets you excommunicated… I don’t want to do anything wrong… but if the rule changed, I don’t understand why! can the canon law change, unlike dogma? :confused:

Also, my family is Eastern Orthodox, and I went to an Orthodox (Vespers) liturgy a while ago and prayed with them and lit some candles… that’s active participation… according to the canon law, am I excommunicated??? (I didn’t receive Communion though)
 
Monica4316 said:
can the canon law change, unlike dogma? :confused:
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Yes, canon law can change. Here is an article about a recent change that I know of. There were a number of changes between the 1917 code and the 1983 code. For example, I think it changed the exact rules about under what circumstances a person could receive communion a second time in one day.
 
Canon law rules regarding disciplines can easily change.

Canon law rules regarding excommunication have been known to change as well. For example, there is now a new excommunication for the attempted ordination of women. And there used to be an excommunication for reading forbidden books that was dropped sometime in the 1960’s.

However, changes regarding the penalty of excommunication typically don’t change the view of the underlying act. Attempting to ordain women was still a very bad thing prior to the new excommunication. And the notice that dropped the Index of Forbidden Books still warned that it wasn’t a good idea to expose yourself to material that went against the Catholic faith.

What is fairly unique about the change here is that attendance at Protestant services went from something that was viewed as utterly wrong and resulted in excommunication to somethings that was viewed as good for ecumenism and actually encouraged. This was because Vatican II ushered in a fundamental change in how the Catholic Church viewed the ecclesiology of non-Catholic Christians.
 
Thanks for your help, guys. I really appreciate it a lot!
 
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