Have you ever heard of this?

[RHC]

I originally asked this in the Spirituality forum, and they referred me to this forum.

I’ve asked several Catholic friends about this (some cradle Catholics; some converts), but none of them seem to know what I am talking about. So I was wondering if any of you have heard of this:

My mom, who is Protestant, has cousins who are Catholic. When they were growing up, the cousins would come to visit their grandma and grandpa, and my mom would see them there. They were never allowed to attend a Protestant service (their grandma and grandpa were also Protestant), their priest had to bless them specially before each visit, and they wore little sacks around their necks for the duration of the visit. I don’t know what they were for, but my mom thought they were some sort of talisman against their non-Catholic family members.

I know the Church used to be more strict about Catholics attending Protestant services, but the special blessing and neck sacks confuse me. What are they? What are they supposed to do? The cousins are from a very traditional Italian Catholic family; is it perhaps a cultural thing?

 

[Nickkname]

What’d the sacks look like?

 

[rosebudsal]

What’d the sacks look like?

That’s my question too but I’m suspecting the OP is referring to Scapulars?

 

[CassiusLonginus]

Sounds like scapulars to me…

I know the Church used to be more strict about Catholics attending Protestant services

Really? Hmm…

 

[LilyM]

That’s ridiculous - the Church services is one thing, the behaviour on the visits are totally not church teaching and not something that ‘had’ to be done.

Since the earliest days of Protestantism Catholics have not just been free to visit Protestants but even to marry them - the arch-Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England had proposals of marriage from several Catholic princes, including her sister’s widower Phillip II of Spain.

 

[Rawb]

From a distance a scapular could look like a little ‘sack’, but wearing them just around non-Catholics isn’t what a scapular is for. Perhaps your mom didn’t know they wore them all the time.

It may also be that the children were blessed by the priest before any journey or time away from their parents, not just to visit protestant family, and that was miscommunicated perhaps?

 

[Phemie]

From a distance a scapular could look like a little ‘sack’, but wearing them just around non-Catholics isn’t what a scapular is for. Perhaps your mom didn’t know they wore them all the time.

It may also be that the children were blessed by the priest before any journey or time away from their parents, not just to visit protestant family, and that was miscommunicated perhaps?

It’s also quite possible that that particular parish priest had his own opinions about things and acted accordingly. It wouldn’t be the first nor the last time that something like that happened.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

It’s also quite possible that that particular parish priest had his own opinions about things and acted accordingly. It wouldn’t be the first nor the last time that something like that happened.

AMEN

 

[RHC]

Sounds like scapulars to me…

Really? Hmm…

I’m not sure what your last comment meant. My understanding was that occasionally attending a Protestant service (like when visiting family) was not against Church teaching so long as you also attend Mass that week. In fact, I read that in the Apologetics section of this site. Was my understanding incorrect?

 

[Phemie]

I’m not sure what your last comment meant. My understanding was that occasionally attending a Protestant service (like when visiting family) was not against Church teaching so long as you also attend Mass that week. In fact, I read that in the Apologetics section of this site. Was my understanding incorrect?

I’m not quite sure what he meant either.

I recall that attending a Protestant Church was grudgingly allowed for weddings and funerals but otherwise you were supposed to stay away. My mom was even told by a priest that she could go to a family friend’s funeral but she wasn’t to pray while in their Church. She found it rather difficult to not recite the Lord’s Prayer when they did.

Now we routinely have ecumenical services in each other’s Churches. OTOH, while it’s not a sin to attend Sunday services in other Churches, we are not encouraged to do so.

 

[CassiusLonginus]

All I meant was, if the church used to be more strict about attending protestant services, that was difinitely a good thing, and too bad it has changed (if, in fact it officially has).

 

[Rawb]

All I meant was, if the church used to be more strict about attending protestant services, that was difinitely a good thing, and too bad it has changed (if, in fact it officially has).

AMEN

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Not sure how I got attached to that quote. I was referring to another.

 

[SFD]

I’m not sure what your last comment meant. My understanding was that occasionally attending a Protestant service (like when visiting family) was not against Church teaching so long as you also attend Mass that week. In fact, I read that in the Apologetics section of this site. Was my understanding incorrect?

I don’t think you’d attend a protestant service just because you were visiting a protestant. It sounds like you’re saying that as long as you go to Mass on Sunday, you can go to any other non-Catholic religious service during the week.

Communicatio in sacris, i.e. active participation in non-Catholic religious functions, is on the whole unlawful, but it is not so intrinsically evil that, under given circumstances, it may not be excused. Thus friends and relatives may for good reasons accompany a funeral, be present at a marriage or a baptism, without causing scandal or lending support, to the non-Catholic rites, provided no active part be taken in them: their motive is friendship, or maybe courtesy, but it nowise implies approval of the rites. Non-Catholics are admitted to all Catholic services but not to the sacraments.

SFD

 

[CradleCath]

I originally asked this in the Spirituality forum, and they referred me to this forum.

I’ve asked several Catholic friends about this (some cradle Catholics; some converts), but none of them seem to know what I am talking about. So I was wondering if any of you have heard of this:

 

[I_Believe]

Scapulars are usualy worn under the clothes, next to the skin.

CradleCath is probably right. I was looking through my book on Sacramentals, and was going to guess the bags contained some herb.

 

[HollyDolly]

:tiphat: I was thinking along the same line as the asafoetida bags as well.
My dad had a Lutheran mother and a Catholic Father,grandma later converted to the Catholic Church.

Neither he nor Uncle Tom went through any special blessing or anything when they visited grandma’s side of the family.
It was just a family gathering is all. From what my dad said, grandma’s side really weren’t very devote lutherans,and really neither side made much of the difference of belief.
That sort of thing might be due to the culture of your relatives,where they come from,etc.
My dad’s side were Prussian and Bavarian.
I remember daddy saying when they moved into the old house in Hot Springs,Ark back in the 20s,grandpa found in a closet some blessed palms great grandma had saved. Grandpa threw them out saying they were a fire hazard. He also called my great aunt,Sister Mary Generose by her birth name,Eva. When my great aunts ,his sisters expressed horror at that, he told them “She’s been my sister alot longer than she’s been a nun”
and he continued to do so until he passed on.Certainly little superstion in this family.
It almost sounds to me as if your relatives thought that protestantism was like a diease they could catch, hence the bags and the blessing by a priest.

 

[Crys]

Well, it sounds like some sort of ritualistic talisman or something of that nature. But if you need protection from anything, whether evil or not, your faith in God should be enough. We’re not supposed to believe inr or practice those types of beliefs, right?

 

[northstar3]

While it may be “ok” (in some instances) to go to a non-Catholic worship service, one shouldn’t think it’s necessarily the best thing…ya know? These communities (to one degree or another) deny a number of dogmas of the Catholic Church, which are Eternal truth’s of God (just as I’ve said in another post). And, with all respect due to the Popes (all of them), one does not need to do what they might “encourage” (making a big distinction here, just so I’m not misunderstood ) if it goes against all the Tradition of the Church.

It’s better to stick with the Tradition of the Church rather than just going along blindly with what a Priest, Bishop, or even a Pope might say (or do)…unless it’s something a Pope says ex-cathedra of course

I mean, could one imagine St. Athanasius saying…ahh well, let’s not make a huge deal of this arian heresy thingy, I mean, they still believe in a lot of other things that are true , no biggie.

 

[puzzleannie]

I ), their priest had to bless them specially before each visit, and they wore little sacks around their necks for the duration of the visit. I don’t know what they were for, but my mom thought they were some sort of talisman against their non-Catholic family members.

There is nothing in Catholic law or doctrine about this, my guess the sacks were some ethnic custom, not tied to the faith, and supersitious to boot. Bear in mind we are getting this story about 10th hand from the memory of somebody far removed from OP.