How Important Is Fellowship

[Tietjen]

So at this point in my life fellowship within my parish community isn’t really a great need of mine.

What about those you might make feel more at home in your parish? Rayne, I’ve read several of your other posts and I know that you are a good Catholic. But not everything has to be about the one person. Someone very well may need YOU. Even if you don’t need them. God bless.

 

[Tietjen]

I thought the Knights were only for men. I am hoping to leave this area in the next 2 years and move to a large city where being anonymous is a positive instead of a negative.

Blessings to you as well.

The KoC is a male organization. But I used them as an example. There are groups for ladies as well. As well as groups for both genders (Legion of Mary, Room at the Inn, Theology of the Body, Crossroads, etc.) There are lots to do within many parishes and these groups are social and they do help many people. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to come off as being self-rightous or anything. Not everyone may have the time I suppose, but I’m just glad that there are still those around who consider being active in their parish is more than going to Mass once a week. I’ll stop my preaching and leave this thread now. If I ruffled any feathers I apologize; that was not my intention. The OPs original question was “How Important Is Fellowship.” When I read that, I didn’t interrupt it as “How Important Is Fellowship To Me” but how imprtant is it to the Church as a whole. I consider it very important.

 

[Sixtus]

This forum is also fellowship.

We have dialogue, often it is debate, but above all it is fellowship with ‘like minded people’. That is very good for the soul.

Thank you one and all.

Pax Christi

 

[Syele]

I put somewhat. Fellowship with good, strong believers is important. A person tends to behave like those around them. If you hang out with a bunch of Gossips and people who tell crude jokes, the likelyhood that you will begin to Gossip and tell crude jokes is very high. It works both ways, If you hang out with Strong believers who pray and memorize scripture and consider what God would think before making decesions, you may well pick up those habits as well.

We all learn from one another.

 

[JimO]

Christianity is a community faith and is not intended to be strictly personal and contemplative (although this too is an important element of our faith). In other words, God wants us to have relationships with others and not just Him. Therefore, in the broad sense, fellowship is absolutely essential to our faith. If you mean simply socializing, well, that might not be necessary, but the Mass is a community affair and a form of fellowship. Based on this understanding, I voted for it being very important.

I agree with Sixtus, these forums (or is it fora?) are a very real form of fellowship.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

How important do you think fellowship is within a congregation?

Of the highest importance imaginable - “It is not good for man to be alone” - & I can see absolutely no reason why that does not apply a thousand times over to the Body of Christ.​

I don’t think fellowship with God is separable from fellowshipping with our neighbour.

If I could put this more strongly, I would

 

[JimO]

Well said Gottle. I couldn’t have said it better…and I didn’t.

 

[glimmer]

Darn…I should have voted “important” instead of “very important”. I am hairsplitting, though. The reason I say that is because, while fellowship is important, sometimes God allows people to be in solitary confinement. But then the question is refined to “How important is fellowship in a congregation?” and that puts a whole new spin on it.

Let me offer another question: “What IS fellowship?” I believe fellowship is two people going through the normal course of their lives, sharing each other’s joys and struggles. Think of Frodo and Sam in “Lord of the Rings”. That was fellowship. Think of Idgy and Ruth in “Fried Green Tomatoes” (movie). Nothing overtly religious, but that’s what we should be to the people God puts in our path. And why is it that so many non-religious should do a better job of it than religious? Maybe because we get so hung up on the “oughts” and “shoulds” of religious behavior and ideals that we fail to see what’s obvious.

 

[aurora77]

I think it’s very important, in both senses of the word. I enjoy a good chat at our monthly breakfasts after Mass, but I get far more out of the relationships I’ve built through my involvement in PSR and our women’s group. We are all members of the Body of Christ and need that connection with other members, whether it’s one special person, or many.

 

[santaro75]

That’s very true, if you have no family it becomes very important I would imagine.

A little OT I’m not sure if it’s my Parish or not, but all the activities and volunteer opportunities are run by the same people and it’s kind of closed off. Does anyone else have that problem? They’re a private clique and others aren’t really welcomed into it. That’s the biggest problem I’ve seen with fellowship activities.

The church is supposed to be the family of God. a lonely catholic should be an oxymoron. anywhere you have a church there should be your family

 

[santaro75]

i wonder if the Gospels can answer the question about fellowship. How did Jesus act? Was he social and relational? What did Paul say about it?

 

[ALLFORHIM]

Hi,

I put very important because we should be in fellowship with fellow believers so they can encourage us and lift us up in prayer and rebuke us if needed. As we know, it is comforting to be with people who believe the same way in Jesus Christ.

 

[Saint_Michael]

The church is supposed to be the family of God. a lonely catholic should be an oxymoron. anywhere you have a church there should be your family

I understand that, but be realistic, the Catholic Church isn’t the warmest place. My wife and I have attended our Parish for over a year and so far as I can tell no one has even said hello to us. In a lot of large urban parishes you can attend every Sunday for ten years, and if you stopped showing up no one would even notice. If fellowship is very important to you, I don’t see how one can be satisfied in the Catholic Church.

 

[Dorothy]

I checked “very important”, because we need occasions where we can get to know one another. And, beyond that we need to get to know one another on a faith sharing level, not just social.

It is hard for me to understand when people say they have been with a parish for a long time and don’t know anyone. Surely there are occasions that can be attended where it is possible to get to know others? Coffee and donuts after Mass, adult education, bible studies, Knights of Columbus, Ladies Society, faith-sharing groups, and many others. Not every parish has all these things, but they do have some of them.

Help is needed in CCD and other areas of parish life. These are all ways to be in community with our fellow Catholics.

In my parish, those who are able to attend daily Mass together over the years have formed community. We all know about it when one is sick and may need a visit at the hospital, or a telephone call. Many stay for a Rosary after weekday Mass, and this is another way to form community and get to know people.

 

[santaro75]

In my parish, those who are able to attend daily Mass together over the years have formed community. We all know about it when one is sick and may need a visit at the hospital, or a telephone call. Many stay for a Rosary after weekday Mass, and this is another way to form community and get to know people.

my parents are retired and they attend daily mass. there is a lot of comaraderie in that group. they really care and know about eachother.

That is how the entire church should be. It is funny that when we give our prayers in mass, never recognaize the names given.

 

[Sixtus]

Some mystics have over the centuries lived as Hermits. But in the main I think that fellowship is crucial. The Lord said ‘when two or more are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them’.