Going to Saturday Mass does not please my family

  • Thread starter Thread starter BVMFatima
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
In this case, your grandparents had a point. You should have gone especially considering the fact they went with you to mass. You don’t have to go every week, but to show respect to your family, you can go to mass on a Saturday and join the family on Sunday.

The Protestant churches are still Christian which means even though you no longer belong to that church, it doesn’t mean you can’t visit regularly. Time with family is precious and it’s not worth it to start family arguments over this. You don’t have to agree with everything that goes on inside the church but you still need to respect your family and your old church. Chances are your family didn’t agree with everything that happened inside the mass but because they loved you, they attended mass with you.

Your family is right: Jesus doesn’t live inside a religion. I would add a denomination but he lives in all things. I believe we need to love our neighbour which includes our family.

Becoming Catholic doesn’t mean, one has permission to judge or put down one’s old church roots, it simply means, one is expanding their Christian family by becoming Catholic. Like it or not, there are many areas where your old Christian roots have molded and in some cases might have prepared you for this new step. As a convert myself, I find this very true in my own life.

Enjoy the gifts you have been given and find some time to reconcile your differences with your family.

Family is special and be thankful they want to spend time with you. When some converts join the church, their decision can cause many rifts in the family.
 
SecretGarden said:
In this case, your grandparents had a point. You should have gone especially considering the fact they went with you to mass. You don’t have to go every week, but to show respect to your family, you can go to mass on a Saturday and join the family on Sunday.

The Protestant churches are still Christian which means even though you no longer belong to that church, it doesn’t mean you can’t visit regularly. Time with family is precious and it’s not worth it to start family arguments over this. You don’t have to agree with everything that goes on inside the church but you still need to respect your family and your old church. Chances are your family didn’t agree with everything that happened inside the mass but because they loved you, they attended mass with you.

Your family is right: Jesus doesn’t live inside a religion. I would add a denomination but he lives in all things. I believe we need to love our neighbour which includes our family.

Becoming Catholic doesn’t mean, one has permission to judge or put down one’s old church roots, it simply means, one is expanding their Christian family by becoming Catholic. Like it or not, there are many areas where your old Christian roots have molded and in some cases might have prepared you for this new step. As a convert myself, I find this very true in my own life.

Enjoy the gifts you have been given and find some time to reconcile your differences with your family.

Family is special and be thankful they want to spend time with you. When some converts join the church, their decision can cause many rifts in the family.
Click to expand...
The way I read the OP’s first post was that the only time the grandparents have been inside the Catholic Church was when the OP entered the Catholic Church, not at the Mass yesterday and not multiple times, just once and only once. So now the grandparents are using that one occasion to put pressure on the OP to attend her old church. Which I can certainly understand makes the OP uncomfortable.

Yes family is special, and doing things for and with your family is honorable. Going to a protestant church service with family is also acceptable, from time to time. Being pressured and to a certain extent manipulated to do so though is inappropriate. The grandparents should respect the decision of the OP to not attend their service.
 
I will note that Protestants do not have true Churches, but they are called instead “ecclesial communities” by the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church makes the distinction that true Churches are those which have the four marks of the Church: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. This includes the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Oriental Orthodox, and the Assyrian Church of the East. The Protestant, Evangelical, and other Christian ecclesial communities have lost one or more of these Marks of the Church. Take for instance the Anglican Communion. They lost Apostolic Succession quite a while ago. Not having the four Marks of the Church, they must be called an ecclesial community instead.

But don’t talk about this stuff to your family or they will go through the roof.
 
Can you change your habit to spend Saturday night with your grandparents? If you were there Friday night instead there would be no request to attend services and you could then go to whichever Mass you prefer.
 
Now my family is looking at me as a Church Hopper because I go to more then one Catholic church and I because I no longer go to their Church.
 
If you are going to serious discern a vocation, you are going to have to find a parish and become part of that community. You will need to be directed by a spiritual director and a parish priest.

Hope you find a parish that you can settle down into. It’s important 🙂
 
You don’t have to go, but if it would please your parents then I would. And maybe if you would go you would become closer, and you could explain the Catholic faith a little better to them. Most protestants are just ignorant about the Catholic faith. ArchBishop Fulton J. Sheen once said, “There are not more than 100 people in the world who truly hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they perceive to be the Catholic Church.” So maybe explain it to them in detail and the doubts they have about the faith. Then you will all go to the same church. 😃
 
Two things to worry about by attending their services.
  1. Being pulled away from the catholic faith or being taught error in the other services.
  2. By attending, implying that you believe that the other denomination is equal to or just as correct as the catholic church. You wouldn’t want to spread relativism that ‘our church is just like their church’, etc.
And even part 3 would be don’t receive communion there. I could see the next step as ‘Why don’t you receive at our church? It’s just as good as your church. What’s the problem?’

I understand the desire to be touchy feely and lovey dovey to every one, but we must also understand what we are saying in what we do by going to a protestant service and what we might be conveying to others, whether we mean to or not.

I for one do not go to protestant services, no matter who asks me to go.
 
thomasf said:
Two things to worry about by attending their services.
  1. Being pulled away from the catholic faith or being taught error in the other services.
  2. By attending, implying that you believe that the other denomination is equal to or just as correct as the catholic church. You wouldn’t want to spread relativism that ‘our church is just like their church’, etc.
And even part 3 would be don’t receive communion there. I could see the next step as ‘Why don’t you receive at our church? It’s just as good as your church. What’s the problem?’

I understand the desire to be touchy feely and lovey dovey to every one, but we must also understand what we are saying in what we do by going to a protestant service and what we might be conveying to others, whether we mean to or not.

I for one do not go to protestant services, no matter who asks me to go.
Click to expand...
Amen! This is exactly what I thought! But my family is now loosing respect towards me 😦 but I accept
 
Make your discomfort known but if they insist, I would go. It seems to mean something for your family. Sacrifice some TV time to make them happy.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top