Does the church YOU attend talks about the Catholic Church?

[JonNC]

From what I have learned, it was a protest against the Holy Roman Empire. The HRE was lead by the Emperor who was coronated by the Pope. At coronation, he was to promise to undertake and protest in the presence of God and Blessed Peter the Apostle, that he would be the protector and defender of the Holy Roman Church in all ways. So in other words, it was a religious protest especially after reading what Speyer was about. Interesting subject though.

I think the point here, however, is that the “protest” was not in terms of protesting Catholic doctrine, at least not directly to be sure. It was a protest for the right of freely exercising their faith.

Jon

 

[Jessup]

At the Calvary Chapel in Melbourne Florida, I attended the Pastors there where quite vocal about their criticisms against the Catholic Church even in their closing prayers to the congregation. I think they use it to brain wash with suggestive comments combined with emotional black mail.
That being said; I’ve listened to Catholic Radio where the host bash the Mormons so I
don’t see us being any better in that sense.
I say people bash because they lack the talent to preach.

 

[Patavium]

At the Calvary Chapel in Melbourne Florida, I attended the Pastors there where quite vocal about their criticisms against the Catholic Church even in their closing prayers to the congregation. I think they use it to brain wash with suggestive comments combined with emotional black mail.
That being said; I’ve listened to Catholic Radio where the host bash the Mormons so I
don’t see us being any better in that sense.
I say people bash because they lack the talent to preach.

I see. So Pastors were vocal during service?, and this Catholic radio only during radio time, and not Mass?

 

[Jessup]

Yes only on the radio, not during mass times in a parish. Which reminds me of a conversation I had with my Ex, whom I attended Calvary Chapel with.
When she would confront me about the " Dead Catholic Church" and people’s
" Traditions"
I had replied that those traditions keep our worshiping centered around God and not someone’s arrogant opinion every week.

 But the greatest snigh comment from CCM I heard was when the pastor informed the congregation during an alter call that , " If you haven't been baptized feel free to come to our baptisms this weekend, then again some of you may have had a little bit of water sprinkled on your head, but we here at Calvary Chapel baptized the right way, the way that the bible teaches us. 

 However; what should I explain to my friends who are LDS when they can't understand why, when being on a mission they where cursed out by Brasilian Catholic Priest and told they where going to hell?

 

[JK8619]

One of our older members has a son who married a Catholic and brought up the kids as Catholics (I think he became Catholic himself but I’m not sure), and she’s very upset about the way her daughter-in-law’s mother treated her when she tried to receive communion at their Catholic parish. (She honestly didn’t know that the Catholic Church doesn’t allow this, and it sounds as if her in-law wasn’t very nice about it.) Catholic views on birth control also come up from time to time.

I have always been curious about how people would react if they knew a non-Catholic was receiving communion. My mother’s side of the family was all Catholic and my dad’s side was half Catholic and half Protestant (He was raised Protestant. Anyway not long after he started dating my mother he began to attend mass with her sometimes at a very conservative parish (My grandparents were also very conservative as well). Anyway, he ended up receiving communion one day, not knowing he was not supposed to. The Priest, knew my father was not Catholic, did not say a word. After the service my mother’s family politely explained to him that he wasn’t supposed to take communion.

I just wondered if that was the normal way to handle it.

 

[Patavium]

I have always been curious about how people would react if they knew a non-Catholic was receiving communion. My mother’s side of the family was all Catholic and my dad’s side was half Catholic and half Protestant (He was raised Protestant. Anyway not long after he started dating my mother he began to attend mass with her sometimes at a very conservative parish (My grandparents were also very conservative as well). Anyway, he ended up receiving communion one day, not knowing he was not supposed to. The Priest, knew my father was not Catholic, did not say a word. After the service my mother’s family politely explained to him that he wasn’t supposed to take communion.

I just wondered if that was the normal way to handle it.

Probably no. They should have said it before Mass, or before communion, but I guess now he knows.

 

[Patavium]

 However; what should I explain to my friends who are LDS when they can't understand why, when being on a mission they where cursed out by Brasilian Catholic Priest and told they where going to hell?

Telling them they are going to Hell? Sounds like the priest needs to read the Catechism of the RCC about salvation outside the RCC. Also, it is very uncharitable behavior. You could help by explaining what the Church teaches in a charitable way.

 

[JK8619]

Probably no. They should have said it before Mass, or before communion, but I guess now he knows.

Yeah, that would probably be ideal. Although, in cases like this, many Protestants may not know about this restriction, while the Catholics they attend with assume that they do. In a scenario like this, is it better to try to stop the person even if it may call attention and embarrass them, or should it just be explained afterwards? I know it would be best to explain before mass, but that doesn’t always happen.

JK

 

[Patavium]

Yeah, that would probably be ideal. Although, in cases like this, many Protestants may not know about this restriction, while the Catholics they attend with assume that they do. In a scenario like this, is it better to try to stop the person even if it may call attention and embarrass them, or should it just be explained afterwards? I know it would be best to explain before mass, but that doesn’t always happen.

JK

Don’t feel ashamed if you think it would insult them. Ask yourself this: “Are you going to allow them to commit sacrilege against the body of Christ?”.

Don’t be over dramatic or angry obviously, and just explain it in a peaceful manner.

 

[KathleenGee]

The pastor should be made aware of non-Catholics present at Mass. Sometimes my pastor knows, and if they do not practice our faith, they are however welcome to come up for a blessing with their hands folded over their chest.

Protestants are always hearing how we worship Mary.

But they never are taught our actual form of worship. The Eucharist is now taking the place of the Seat of Mercies, that was in the Ark of the Covenant and then the presence of God in the Mercy Seat in the Temple of Jerusalem, where only the one High Priest allowed once a year to enter. That yes, indeed, they commit a sacrilege upon receiving…

But if they are not fully aware of this, as they usually hear we worship Mary instead…then God alone can judge them. They are not to receive the Eucharist without faith as well as fellow Catholics who are in the state of mortal sin. This is a problem for the Church in regards to public personalities who are working for freedom to abort, and work for other things contrary to the faith.

 

[JonNC]

=KathleenGee;9533387]The pastor should be made aware of non-Catholics present at Mass. Sometimes my pastor knows, and if they do not practice our faith, they are however welcome to come up for a blessing with their hands folded over their chest.

Kathleen, how typical is it in a Catholic parish for the priest to mention the Catholic practice of closed communion prior to or during mass, or to post a written communion statement in the pews or narthex?

Jon

 

[Peter_J]

The pastor should be made aware of non-Catholics present at Mass. Sometimes my pastor knows, and if they do not practice our faith, they are however welcome to come up for a blessing with their hands folded over their chest.

Protestants are always hearing how we worship Mary.

But they never are taught our actual form of worship. The Eucharist is now taking the place of the Seat of Mercies, that was in the Ark of the Covenant and then the presence of God in the Mercy Seat in the Temple of Jerusalem, where only the one High Priest allowed once a year to enter. That yes, indeed, they commit a sacrilege upon receiving…

But if they are not fully aware of this, as they usually hear we worship Mary instead…then God alone can judge them. They are not to receive the Eucharist without faith as well as fellow Catholics who are in the state of mortal sin. This is a problem for the Church in regards to public personalities who are working for freedom to abort, and work for other things contrary to the faith.

I don’t want to speak for any protestants – especially since I have never been protestant – but if I thought a church worshiped Mary, then I would have absolutely no interest in receiving communion there.

 

[4Squarebaby]

Kathleen, how typical is it in a Catholic parish for the priest to mention the Catholic practice of closed communion prior to or during mass, or to post a written communion statement in the pews or narthex

Jon

My wife, the cradle Catholic who’s eldest brother left the Catholic Church for a church with an open communion, comes from a land that is over 80% Catholic and most of the non Catholics would not step foot outside of their own sect’s house under fear of discipline. When we first went to a Catholic Church she didn’t believe me when I told her that I was not allowed to share in communion and she didn’t know that she ws not supposed to share in an open communion.

 

[KathleenGee]

Jon,

If a visitor wants to, and out of common etiquette, should learn about the Mass. Every pew has missalettes that state for Holy Communion, that only believers are to receive the Eucharist.

And yes, to receive the Eucharist without faith, is indeed a sacrilege, and was the issue behind the Spanish Inquisition when Jews and Moslems were going to Mass and receiving without faith.

You hear plenty about Catholics allegedly worshipping Mary which is a falsehood – and for us a blasphemy against the Mother of God.

But you know very little about Catholic worship from those who actively work against the Church among their followers. The Mass brings us Jesus physically present to the world. When Our Lord died on the Cross, immediately the veil was torn in the Temple. There, prior, God Himself was physically present to the Jewish people, remaining with them at the Mercy Seat, the inner sanctuary of God, that was adorned by two statues of angelic cherubs. Jesus said the Temple would be torn down and rebuilt in 3 days.

Jesus Christ is the one now physically present among us in the tabernacle. There the sanctuary light next to the tabernacle informs us He is there in Eucharistic form. In ancient times, only once a year, the High Priest was the only one allowed by God to enter the inner sanctuary.

Jesus Christ Himself IS the Church. Jesus Christ is both High Priest and the Temple, His kingdom within. So just as the Jews hold the ancient Temple with greatest veneration along with the Torah as coming from God Himself, we know the Eucharist us God Himself.

We are not to approach God uncommonly. And, going back to the sense of sin, we are not to touch Him without faith in Him. It is as simple as that…Just as His words were at the Last Supper, and the foundation and form of worship for 2,000 years…‘This is my Body, This is My Blood’…the Mass is the Memorial, the new form of worship.

(BTW, one of my client’s relatives was a Muranno…this is a Jewish person who grew up in Spain, and have a very quirky inclination to hide their Jewishness to this very day in Spain. There are Murannos in the SW USA, who privately gather to meet to celebrate their Jewishness, but go to Mass and pray the rosary. Anyway, this relative was also a writer and has written several books. She wrote one about herself, where growing up and going to a Catholic girls’ school, she would go up to receive Holy Communion.

What she experienced receiving Holy Communion was that without even trying or thinking, she experienced God and all His goodness. Later she lost her faith in Catholicism…yes she had it as she said, and got caught up in the world. Later she wrote a book on ‘forgiveness’, and said she drew on the Catholic understanding of forgiveness that really helped her in the long run in life that she could not find in anything else, and then shortly later died of cancer.)

Pastors pick up on non-Catholics when they come into the church. From time to time, the priest, upon noting this, informs the attendees that they are welcome to come forward for a blessing by crossing their hands over their chest, but that communion is closed and allowed only for the faithful.

If you don’t believe, then why go up to attempt to do so?

What the priest informs is the same as the missalette.

If a priest gives communion to a non-Catholic, it is not allowed, or there is some extraordinary circumstance involved which is nobody else’s business.

Jesus Christ is now present among us. One must receive instruction and have faith to receive Him. A Protestant can convert, and depending on the time spent and Pastor’s discernment…after proper instruction, can receive the sacraments the very next day. Learning the Church laws is very simple.

And if you commit mortal sin, you must receive the sacrament of penance with true contrition before you can be restored to sacramental communion.

Any Catholic knows the depth and sacred presence of God…and as given here earlier, even a Jew practicing Catholicism has admitted experiencing God and all goodness.

 

[KathleenGee]

A little note on the side here, my family and I went to Salt Lake City and went to Mass at the beautiful Madeleine cathedral during the week. My family went up to receive, and my youngest went up, but this time he forget to cross his chest.

‘The little guy’, as he has been called for those who saw him as a baby and a preschooler, received the Eucharist by the elderly priest!

As he was going back to the pew, his eyes got so big. He was in shock. He told me, ‘mom, I experienced something so powerful!’

 

[JonNC]

Jon,

** If a visitor wants to, and out of common etiquette, should learn about the Mass. Every pew has missalettes that state for Holy Communion, that only believers are to receive the Eucharist.**
And yes, to receive the Eucharist without faith, is indeed a sacrilege, and was the issue behind the Spanish Inquisition when Jews and Moslems were going to Mass and receiving without faith.

You hear plenty about Catholics allegedly worshipping Mary which is a falsehood – and for us a blasphemy against the Mother of God.

But you know very little about Catholic worship from those who actively work against the Church among their followers. The Mass brings us Jesus physically present to the world. When Our Lord died on the Cross, immediately the veil was torn in the Temple. There, prior, God Himself was physically present to the Jewish people, remaining with them at the Mercy Seat, the inner sanctuary of God, that was adorned by two statues of angelic cherubs. Jesus said the Temple would be torn down and rebuilt in 3 days.

Jesus Christ is the one now physically present among us in the tabernacle. There the sanctuary light next to the tabernacle informs us He is there in Eucharistic form. In ancient times, only once a year, the High Priest was the only one allowed by God to enter the inner sanctuary.

Jesus Christ Himself IS the Church. Jesus Christ is both High Priest and the Temple, His kingdom within. So just as the Jews hold the ancient Temple with greatest veneration along with the Torah as coming from God Himself, we know the Eucharist us God Himself.

We are not to approach God uncommonly. And, going back to the sense of sin, we are not to touch Him without faith in Him. It is as simple as that…Just as His words were at the Last Supper, and the foundation and form of worship for 2,000 years…‘This is my Body, This is My Blood’…the Mass is the Memorial, the new form of worship.

(BTW, one of my client’s relatives was a Muranno…this is a Jewish person who grew up in Spain, and have a very quirky inclination to hide their Jewishness to this very day in Spain. There are Murannos in the SW USA, who privately gather to meet to celebrate their Jewishness, but go to Mass and pray the rosary. Anyway, this relative was also a writer and has written several books. She wrote one about herself, where growing up and going to a Catholic girls’ school, she would go up to receive Holy Communion.

What she experienced receiving Holy Communion was that without even trying or thinking, she experienced God and all His goodness. Later she lost her faith in Catholicism…yes she had it as she said, and got caught up in the world. Later she wrote a book on ‘forgiveness’, and said she drew on the Catholic understanding of forgiveness that really helped her in the long run in life that she could not find in anything else, and then shortly later died of cancer.)

Pastors pick up on non-Catholics when they come into the church. From time to time, the priest, upon noting this, informs the attendees that they are welcome to come forward for a blessing by crossing their hands over their chest, but that communion is closed and allowed only for the faithful.

If you don’t believe, then why go up to attempt to do so?

What the priest informs is the same as the missalette.

If a priest gives communion to a non-Catholic, it is not allowed, or there is some extraordinary circumstance involved which is nobody else’s business.

Jesus Christ is now present among us. One must receive instruction and have faith to receive Him. A Protestant can convert, and depending on the time spent and Pastor’s discernment…after proper instruction, can receive the sacraments the very next day. Learning the Church laws is very simple.

And if you commit mortal sin, you must receive the sacrament of penance with true contrition before you can be restored to sacramental communion.

Any Catholic knows the depth and sacred presence of God…and as given here earlier, even a Jew practicing Catholicism has admitted experiencing God and all goodness.

Thanks Kathleen. The bolded parts answered my question, but the rest of the information is appreciated. The last time I was at a Catholic mass, a few years ago at Belmont Abbey College, I did not notice these things (not saying they weren’t there, just I didn’t notice them), which is what prompted the question.

Jon

 

[pablope]

Kathleen, how typical is it in a Catholic parish for the priest to mention the Catholic practice of closed communion prior to or during mass, or to post a written communion statement in the pews or narthex?

Jon

Hi, Jon,

From my experience, not typical on an ordinary Sunday.

But I have been to several Catholic weddings with either the groom/bride not being Catholic, the priest would announce before the Communion (after the Lamb of God…)…that only Catholics are allowed to receive, and would ask those none Catholics to just receive a blessing and cross their arms if they wish.

 

[skigirl1689]

Hi, Jon,

From my experience, not typical on an ordinary Sunday.

But I have been to several Catholic weddings with either the groom/bride not being Catholic, the priest would announce before the Communion (after the Lamb of God…)…that only Catholics are allowed to receive, and would ask those none Catholics to just receive a blessing and cross their arms if they wish.

I have seen this done at funerals as well, which is helpful as it is rare for the entire gathering to be comprised of all Catholics.

I know in my church (Wisconsin Lutheran), there is always a statement of the practice of closed communion in the bulletin on communion Sundays, which explains the practice and an invitation to ask questions if anyone wants more information.

 

[JonNC]

I have seen this done at funerals as well, which is helpful as it is rare for the entire gathering to be comprised of all Catholics.

I know in my church (Wisconsin Lutheran), there is always a statement of the practice of closed communion in the bulletin on communion Sundays, which explains the practice and an invitation to ask questions if anyone wants more information.

That was another reason I asked. LCMS practice “close” communion (there is more discretion given to the pastor and elders than in closed communion), and a communion sstatement is always available, with the invitation to ask the pastor or elders about communion.

Jon

 

[skigirl1689]

That was another reason I asked. LCMS practice “close” communion (there is more discretion given to the pastor and elders than in closed communion), and a communion sstatement is always available, with the invitation to ask the pastor or elders about communion.

Jon

I think I mistakenly typed “closed” instead of “close.” It is “close,” and I think the statement also reminds members to explain to their guests our practice and why or why not they are allowed to receive the sacrament. I don’t think we’ve had any issues since our “new” pastor (he’s been here 4 years now) started printing the statement.