"Fake" Catholic Church?

[Chatter163]

Hmm, my parish does not have anything of this sort. I am sure there are many, many parishes that do not.

The point is not to take the parish’s word for it, but check above their heads. The place you should be looking is the diocesan website or chancery phone. Look them up - shouldn’t be hard to find, and check whether the parish in question is listed there. If it is, then nothing to fear.

I agree that the diocesan website is the best place to look, but this may be overwhelming to some novices.

I have never seen a parish bulletin or website that does not at least mention diocesan news or similar functions of interest around the diocese.

 

[ccmcmg]

…I looked at their Mass schedule, there are no daily masses. A real CC parish would have daily mass. For a cathedral, they do not have a Saturday Vigil mass and Sunday evening (5 pm or after) mass.

FYI, many ‘real’ Catholic parishes do not have daily Mass, or Saturday Vigil or Sunday evening, even ‘Cathedrals’. The membership might be small and fewer than other parishes in the area. I live in the ‘big’ city, and many parishes do not have daily Mass; some only have Sunday morning Mass. So, even in the city, those are not the standards for all Catholic parishes. I could refer you to a few, and these are real Roman Catholic parishes. Growing up, we sometimes only had Saturday evening, some only Sunday morning. It also has to do with the limited number of priests.

Blessings,
Christina

 

[bcuster]

This is disturbing because it can lead many astray. Here is one possible association for the church you are speaking about.
cacina.org/whoweare.html (Catholic Apostolic Church in North America)

"CACINA is a vibrant, faith-filled Catholic church that came to North America from Brazil in 1949. For the past 63 years, CACINA members have sought to proclaim and authentically live the Gospel of Jesus Christ with all of God’s people. We are Catholic, sharing our history and traditions with other Catholic communities, but are not part of Roman, Orthodox, or other independent Catholic churches. "

The best think I can think of is to contact the archdiocese and see what is already being done to let the Hispanic community know that they are not attending a real Roman Catholic Church. You may be called to volunteer to help.

 

[Brigid34]

How very shrewd of them.

Keep in in mind, assuming that this is an Anglican/ Episcopalain Church, the Baptism might still be valid.

To the Roman Catholic Church even a lay person of any/no denomination can effect a baptism if the intention and trinitarian formula are there and the Episcopalian church and most protestant churches use the trinitarian formula for baptism so yes, it would probably be valid.

 

[EvangelCatholic]

I agree with you, and a lot of the things on the website indicate that they are not a Catholic church, however most believers in this area are very low income and not very well educated. Those who have the Internet likely do so for their children and do not use it. A quick google of the church shows that they have a few different websites as well and other stories which are definite red flags.

A LOT of the Hispanic population in the area goes to this ‘church’ because that is where their friends and family go. They see the word “Catholic” on the outside, walk inside and everything looks, and everyone acts Catholic so they assume that it is Catholic. They move to the United States from Mexico and this is where they end up. If nothing can be done about the Church (which seems to be the case) I wish there was a way to tell the people who go there without seeming angry or turning them off of church all together.

I am Catholic, go to mass every week and I had NO idea that this was not a real Catholic church because the traditions, customs, mass, liturgy, etc. are all the same. (I saw the female cleric on the website, but I never saw one in person).

I do agree with previous posters who said that the building does not ‘look’ Catholic, but because it is a low-income area, I just assumed that the church bought the building from an older church or something and didn’t really give it that much thought.

It seems that not only does the local church know, but according to another Houstonian who posted on here, they are TRYING to do something about it already which is great. I wish I could help get the word out too.

Lutherans easily accommodate Hispanic Catholics but the individual knows fully well that Catholic also means Lutheran. This is a LCMS parish in New York City: