Easter from the Perspective of a Convert

[Brian_C]

I swam the Tiber about 5 years ago, coming into the Church on the Easter Vigil in 2006. I was raised Baptist though I had some Catholic family members. This past Easter, my wife and I went back to our hometown with our 3 kids to visit both sets of parents (all of which are Baptist and attend the same church).

We knew our parents would want us to go to our childhood Baptist church on Easter morning, so we planned to attend the vigil at the main local Catholic Church. Though we’ve gone there several times for Christmas mass, we’d never been for Easter. It was an AMAZING mass! The priest was wonderful and the mass was very reverent. I hadn’t felt so close to Christ in a long time.

The next morning, we attended the Baptist service. I felt empty on many levels. First, the service was, well, no mass. Without the Eucharist, it really felt pointless. I’ve attended services there a couple of times since converting, but this time the contrast was glaring! Second, it just didn’t feel like the same church. Though often we complain about how this church or that one doesn’t follow the GIRM, that’s nothing compared to the wholesale changes that many Evangelical churches seem to have undergone in the last 20 or so years. Reverent little blue hair ladies in their Sunday finest had been replaced with a very casual crowd. Where a wonderful choir once sat, there was now a band with guitars, drums, and twin projectors for the words. The music director was even backed on both sides by women swaying to the beat.

I left the service saddened and shocked. This is not meant to be an indictment. Just, well, I don’t know. I’ve not posted much lately, though I have lurked. But I’ve been thinking about this since Easter. Just had to say something to someone that might understand…

 

[MarkThompson]

We knew our parents would want us to go to our childhood Baptist church on Easter morning, so we planned to attend the vigil at the main local Catholic Church. Though we’ve gone there several times for Christmas mass, we’d never been for Easter. It was an AMAZING mass! The priest was wonderful and the mass was very reverent. I hadn’t felt so close to Christ in a long time.

I’m glad to hear that! And it’s worth praying for converts who, for instance, come from a reverent high-church Anglican congregation and wind up at a slack, praise&worship Catholic parish. That can’t be easy. Happy to hear your experience was the opposite!

 

[Mark77]

**While our protestant brothers & sisters have a true love for Jesus, we must do a better job of witnessing to them.

They are missing the most perfect & beautiful gift Jesus gave us, the Eucharist & are therefore sadly incomplete!**

i was raised Catholic, drifted away for over 20 years & initially, when i returned to Jesus Christ, i attended Baptist & Pentecostal services. They had many good things, a fervent love of Jesus & a particular emphasis on reading the Sacred Scriptures, which i took for granted as a Catholic!

But i too realized that something crucial was missing. The Real Presence of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, found only in the Most Holy Eucharist given to the Apostles & their successors, only in the One, Holy, Catholic & Apostolic Church!

"And he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mk 16:15)

Sancta Maria,Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

mark

 

[angelic06]

I’m glad to hear that! And it’s worth praying for converts who, for instance, come from a reverent high-church Anglican congregation and wind up at a slack, praise&worship Catholic parish. That can’t be easy. Happy to hear your experience was the opposite!

Yeah, that’s what I wonder about too, as a cradle Catholic, since I think it is possible that some people who see what kind of worship we Catholics offer will start to think that the Catholic church can’t possibly be serious about believing they have the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ since our worship is most often banal at best and sometimes downright horrid at its worst—I’m speculating that from their perspective it does not seem at times that we are offering our best to the Lord. I’m hoping that the increased availability of Anglican style worship in the Latin Church as well as the TLM will motivate pastors and directors of music and/or liturgy to improve greatly the quality of worship in Novus Ordo parishes…we could also use a little pressure and inspiration from our fellow Catholics in the venerable Eastern churches.

Provided that they are congruent with the Catholic Faith which we believe to be handed down from Christ our Lord through the Church, we could enrich our repertoire of prayers and prayer services with contributions from our separated brethren with things like Solemn Choral Evensong, Nine Lessons and Carols, and the like. We could also profit immensely from their love for scholastic activity and especially for scholarly study of the Church Fathers. In addition, even from the Evangelicals we can be strengthened by their zeal to spread the Gospel, though naturally I disagree with some of their methods and ideas
(including their ideas, at least among some, that Catholics are automatically damned).

I’m glad that the OP had a wonderful Vigil Mass----so did I. (Hopefully this forum won’t turn into another posting about the banality of English Novus Ordo-there are plenty of threads for that purpose.)

Now, back to the OP’s post…

I wish you all a blessed Eastertide to the OP and to all Christians of East and West.

Paul R. Viola

 

[Brian_C]

(Hopefully this forum won’t turn into another posting about the banality of English Novus Ordo-there are plenty of threads for that purpose.)

Then don’t turn it into one.

See, that was exactly my point. In here there’s so much fretting about every step the priest makes in mass. And I don’t want to diminish those concerns. But when you put it up against some Evangelical services, at this point I’d still have to go with even a “banal” (your word, not mine) Novus Ordo. I just sat through the whole service (the Baptist one) wondering “What is the point?” Sure they love Jesus. As a Baptist, I took my faith serious enough to convert to Catholicism (if that makes sense). perhaps the difference was especially stark since, although a Novus Ordo mass, it was presided over by a priest who also offers the TLM.

And then, having been away from my old church so long and to see the changes (so might say innovations?) that have occured in the 15 or so years since I was a member there…I mean, when I was growing up and attending services there, it was a very reverent atmosphere. I guess, very Puritanical… You came in, sat down, sang a few hymns (hymns you might hear on Andy Griffith or something), then listened to a 30+ minute sermon very quietly and intently. But the service I witnessed other day was something out of my worst nightmares. Everything was happy clappy. I sat (well, stood) through at least 6-8 guitar and drum-laden “songs of praise.” The sermon wasn’t bad. But instead of the quiet listening that I was accustomed to, the congregation peppered the pastor with “amen!,” “that’s right!” and “yeah!” And then, after the sermon, the climax of the service was an alter call in which no one came. I felt like I’d stepped out of my personal comfort zone and put my work week, anthropologist hat back on. Lol, brotherhrolf would have appreciated that last statement.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

Interestingly, I’ve seen the same thing. There are certainly huge evangelical churches with big crowds, but it seems more like a country club gathering (coffee, casual clothes) than a church service of any kind. The more traditional churches, especially the main line ones, that try to change to that model just don’t do it very well and seem to lose members faster. Pray for our Christian beothers and sisters that they come to truly embrace the faith and not water it down to nothing!

 

[puzzleannie]

thank you for the testimony, it really helps believe me

I too am convinced that anyone who can attend an Easter Vigil will get a capsule course on what the Church believes and teaches in the most immediate way

I notice the larger churches in our town–Methodist, Baptist, and non-denom–offer both a “traditional” and “contemporary” service each weekend–some are going to Saturday evening services. and all also offer not only Sunday School (or Wednesday classes) for all ages but separate children’s and teen services as well. Only the pentecostals seem to have one service for families but they do have separate classes and social activities by age group.

The best traditional liturgical music around that would appeal to most of those on the TLM forum is at the Episcopal Church in the next town. Best organ in the valley, best organist, best choir, and almost the only place you can hear what my generation thinks of as “church music” including Gregorian chant. There are some exceptions including the EF parish on the other side of town, but the Episcopalians still have the most competent musicians.

 

[angelic06]

***Then don’t turn it into one. ***

See, that was exactly my point. In here there’s so much fretting about every step the priest makes in mass. And I don’t want to diminish those concerns. But when you put it up against some Evangelical services, at this point I’d still have to go with even a “banal” (your word, not mine) Novus Ordo. I just sat through the whole service (the Baptist one) wondering “What is the point?” Sure they love Jesus. As a Baptist, I took my faith serious enough to convert to Catholicism (if that makes sense). perhaps the difference was especially stark since, although a Novus Ordo mass, it was presided over by a priest who also offers the TLM.

And then, having been away from my old church so long and to see the changes (so might say innovations?) that have occured in the 15 or so years since I was a member there…I mean, when I was growing up and attending services there, it was a very reverent atmosphere. I guess, very Puritanical… You came in, sat down, sang a few hymns (hymns you might hear on Andy Griffith or something), then listened to a 30+ minute sermon very quietly and intently. But the service I witnessed other day was something out of my worst nightmares. Everything was happy clappy. I sat (well, stood) through at least 6-8 guitar and drum-laden “songs of praise.” The sermon wasn’t bad. But instead of the quiet listening that I was accustomed to, the congregation peppered the pastor with “amen!,” “that’s right!” and “yeah!” And then, after the sermon, the climax of the service was an alter call in which no one came. I felt like I’d stepped out of my personal comfort zone and put my work week, anthropologist hat back on. Lol, brotherhrolf would have appreciated that last statement.

My bad!

Anyway, I’ve been to a Baptist church a few times in high school (I was in band, and musicians from the band were sometimes asked to play for their services, namely the Fourth of July—or whatever Sunday is closest to it). I grew up in a town where there were more Baptists (at least 10 or more Baptist churches) than anything else combined----since it was close to the high school, I also went over for their $2 lunches. I’ve never been to any of the “specials” such as Christmas and Easter, and I was never there when they had their Lord’s Supper ordinance. OP (or anyone else): Do you know how often the Baptists do the Lord’s Supper?

I’ve also been to a Presbyterian church when I was in middle school for a family friend’s wedding. I am quite interested in seeing what their worship is like—and maybe that of the Lutherans.

Anyway, that are my brushes with Protestant worship.

 

[OraLabora]

This sort of reminds me of the homily last Sunday by a monk-priest at our abbey.

He remarked that he has been told by a lot of Catholics that they are “spiritual, not religious”, or “I believe in God, but I don’t practice”.

He qualified them as anorexic Catholics as they are depriving themselves of the Bread of Life.

It was a humorous way of putting but so true.

Our separated brethren suffer from the same anorexia I think.

 

[Brian_C]

Yes, I believe that my former childhood church offers both the contemporary and a more traditional service as well. The service we attended was the 11 am, which is traditionally the main Sunday service. My mother told me that the more traditional service is at 8 am. What I found ironic was that I can remember, in my last years there at that church, that there was a segment of boomers that were arguing for a more contemporary service and many of them left that church because it didn’t offer it. Yet I did not see a single one of those folks there that I remember leading the charge.

 

[desertPavel]

My bad!

Anyway, I’ve been to a Baptist church a few times in high school (I was in band, and musicians from the band were sometimes asked to play for their services, namely the Fourth of July—or whatever Sunday is closest to it). I grew up in a town where there were more Baptists (at least 10 or more Baptist churches) than anything else combined----since it was close to the high school, I also went over for their $2 lunches. I’ve never been to any of the “specials” such as Christmas and Easter, and I was never there when they had their Lord’s Supper ordinance. OP (or anyone else): Do you know how often the Baptists do the Lord’s Supper?

I’ve also been to a Presbyterian church when I was in middle school for a family friend’s wedding. I am quite interested in seeing what their worship is like—and maybe that of the Lutherans.

Anyway, that are my brushes with Protestant worship.

I was raised as a Baptist. The church’s interior looked like a court room and the pastor was dressed like a judge. They had communion once a month in which pieces of Saltine crackers and Welsh’s grape juice in “shot glasses” were passed around on trays. It wasn’t really considered “communion” but a “memorial”. The Lutheran liturgy is a little closer to the Catholic mass; they have communion every Sunday but they don’t believe in transubstantiation but in “consubstantiation”. I have never attended a Presbyterian service.

 

[Brian_C]

At my Baptist church, we had Lord’s Supper sometime around Easter and Christmas and them seemingly randomly interspersed throughout the year. There may have been a schedule of some sort but I never knew it if there was. They always used grape juice and the bread looked like a bread form of a Chiclet or something. It was a little square tab about the size of a fingernail. Ditto on the “shot glasses” of grape juice. Our pews even had a holder for these glasses flanking each side of the hymnal holders on the back of every pew. I can remember hearing “This is my Blood” followed by light slurping and then the tinkling of the glasses being placed into these holders on the pew.