Friends at Mass

[CatholicHero]

Hello.

First off I am brand new to the forum and I would like to thank all of you for reading this and allowing me to join the community.

My friend is a lapsed catholic and no longer practices. However recently he has expressed a desire to get back in the church. His parents were very religious and he was involved heavily with the church in his teenage years. However for some reason he strayed away and doesnt believe in God. His mother recently passed away and I think thats why he wants to get back in the Church. He still doesnt believe in God but still comes to mass with my family every sunday. He does not recieve communion, but is it acceptable for him to still come to mass every week even though he does not believe in God? I think he really wants to convert back, but is having a real tough time doing so. I am glad that he is going to mass with me I just do not want to unknowingly be committing a sin by bringing him to mass.

Thanks.

 

[Oneofthewomen]

No, you are not sinning by bringing him to Mass.

In fact, you are doing a wonderful thing! Keep it up, and keep showing him the love of Christ through your actions and don’t push him to do anything he is not ready to do. He will get there eventually.

Peace & prayers!

 

[LaetenturCaeli]

Bringing your friend to Mass is a wonderful, wonderful act of mercy. There is nothing more that your friend needs than to return to a fully Sacramental life, and you are helping seeds to be planted.

 

[Joe_5859]

Welcome to CAF!

As the previous posters said, bringing your friend to Mass is laudable and is certainly not a sin! It is good that he acknowledges and respects the need to refrain from Holy Communion for the time being.

Conversion takes time. Your friend is on a journey. Continue to pray for him that Jesus may fling wide open the door of his heart that he has opened now a crack by coming to Mass.

God bless!

 

[Mintaka]

Anybody can attend Mass, and it’s a good thing for most souls. It’s Communion that we have to be careful about.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

Hello.

First off I am brand new to the forum and I would like to thank all of you for reading this and allowing me to join the community.

My friend is a lapsed catholic and no longer practices. However recently he has expressed a desire to get back in the church. His parents were very religious and he was involved heavily with the church in his teenage years. However for some reason he strayed away and doesnt believe in God. His mother recently passed away and I think thats why he wants to get back in the Church. He still doesnt believe in God but still comes to mass with my family every sunday. He does not recieve communion, but is it acceptable for him to still come to mass every week even though he does not believe in God? I think he really wants to convert back, but is having a real tough time doing so. I am glad that he is going to mass with me I just do not want to unknowingly be committing a sin by bringing him to mass.

Thanks.

Oh my goodness. You are not doing anything wrong but everything right. Grace is already at work. Sometimes it can happen instantly, from one moment to the next. Sometimes it is a long process. He is welcomed to attend Mass. He is welcomed to come and sit in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament at any time the church is open, should he wish.

Have you suggested to your friend that he just have a friendly chat with your priest? We never pressure anyone, like a salesman, but sometimes a little talk can help to open and cleanse old wounds or work through some block or impediment…and voilà. Perhaps it might help him to talk to a priest, since he had such a devastating loss recently.

It can be funny how, without even planning it, such a talk undergoes a metamorphosis as it unfolds and ends up being a confession…totally unplanned and therefore free of apprehension since it was unforeseen.

I will pray for your friend. It’s the month of Our Lady, you know.

 

[1ke]

I am glad that he is going to mass with me I just do not want to unknowingly be committing a sin by bringing him to mass.

A. You cannot “unknowingly” commit a sin.

B. What sin do you think you would be committing?

 

[CatholicHero]

A. You cannot “unknowingly” commit a sin.

B. What sin do you think you would be committing?

A. You can unknowingly commit a sin, 1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest…

B. I have had several friends scold me for bringing him to Mass. and told me not to bring him anymore since he did not believe in God and that his type were not welcome and his very presence insulted God. This is why I made an account and posted this question. I was very upset at my friends for those disgusting statements but i needed to make sure.

 

[InThePew]

B. I have had several friends scold me for bringing him to Mass. and told me not to bring him anymore since he did not believe in God and that his type were not welcome and his very presence insulted God. This is why I made an account and posted this question. I was very upset at my friends for those disgusting statements but i needed to make sure.

I can just imagine Pope Francis banging his head against his desk in frustration at your friends’ attitudes! As others have said, he his most welcome at mass and, if anything, the fact that he wants to go to mass is clear evidence of a belief of some sort in God. doing exactly what you’re doing is beneficial for him and likely to lead him back to God and the faith. Turning him away will almost certainly have the opposite effect. The Church is a home for sinners and we sinners are all at home in the Church.

 

[zab]

I pray that some of my adult children with find friends like you.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

A. You can unknowingly commit a sin, 1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest…

B. I have had several friends scold me for bringing him to Mass. and told me not to bring him anymore since he did not believe in God and that his type were not welcome and his very presence insulted God. This is why I made an account and posted this question. I was very upset at my friends for those disgusting statements but i needed to make sure.

A. You can unknowingly commit an act that is objectively sinful…but you cannot unknowingly acquire the subjective moral guilt associated with a serious sin. That is fundamental to moral theology and what 1ke was saying.

B. Your friends are wrong…very wrong. While it would be wrong to bring someone to Mass who would come to perpetrate evil, disrupt the Mass, or in other ways act in a blasphemous way, it is not wrong to bring someone who is struggling with their relationship with God. It is not even for us to determine whether or not they are “worthy” to come…they are the child of God!

Being in the presence of the Eucharist may be an occasion of even extraordinary grace for your friend…as it was for Saint Elizabeth Seton when she was visiting Italy at the time of her husband’s passing.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

I can just imagine Pope Francis banging his head against his desk in frustration at your friends’ attitudes! /…/ Turning him away will almost certainly have the opposite effect. The Church is a home for sinners and we sinners are all at home in the Church.

YES!

 

[brad90956]

No, you are absolutely not sinning. You are doing a very wonderful thing.

 

[1ke]

A. You can unknowingly commit a sin

You can unknowingly commit an act that is objectively wrong, even grave matter. You cannot unknowingly commit a sin– sin requires knowledge and will in addition to the objective nature of the act.

B. I have had several friends scold me for bringing him to Mass. and told me not to bring him anymore since he did not believe in God and that his type were not welcome and his very presence insulted God.

You need some new friends.

This is why I made an account and posted this question. I was very upset at my friends for those disgusting statements but i needed to make sure.

Talk to your pastor.

 

[ProVobis]

B. I have had several friends scold me for bringing him to Mass. and told me not to bring him anymore since he did not believe in God and that his type were not welcome and his very presence insulted God. This is why I made an account and posted this question. I was very upset at my friends for those disgusting statements but i needed to make sure.

Unless you’ve introduced him as an atheist, how would your friends know? One can’t blame them if someone flaunts that he is an atheist even outside church.

 

[babochka]

You can unknowingly commit an act that is objectively wrong, even grave matter. You cannot unknowingly commit a sin– sin requires knowledge and will in addition to the objective nature of the act.

.

Actual sin is subdivided into material and formal. Formal sin is both wrong in itself and known by the sinner to be wrong; it therefore involves him in personal guilt. Material sin consists of an act that is wrong in itself (because contrary to God’s law and human moral nature) but **which the sinner does not know to be wrong **and for which he is therefore not personally culpable.

 

[zab]

Unless you’ve introduced him as an atheist, how would your friends know? One can’t blame them if someone flaunts that he is an atheist even outside church.

Not everyone moves away from their local town after they graduate. Being that his parents were very active in the parish, it is likely that the OP’s friends knew his friend or about him. But really that doesn’t matter. The friends mother died and he has shown some interest in returning and probably needs his friend to help him. I pray for such a friend to help some of my sons and daughters to return to church. Maybe CatholicHero is an answer to someone’s prayer.

 

[Don_Ruggero]

Not everyone moves away from their local town after they graduate. Being that his parents were very active in the parish, it is likely that the OP’s friends knew his friend or about him. But really that doesn’t matter. The friends mother died and he has shown some interest in returning and probably needs his friend to help him. I pray for such a friend to help some of my sons and daughters to return to church. Maybe CatholicHero is an answer to someone’s prayer.

This was exactly my sentiment as to how the friends might know something of the reputation of the one presently attending Mass. The mindset that these “friends” demonstrate, however, is utterly repugnant. It reminds me of the mindset of many years ago when I was young and it is that mindset, frankly, which should be condemned and expelled from the Church – and in the strongest terms available. In this Year of Mercy above all, such a mindset has no place…except in the dustbin of history.