I really am trying to Return to Catholicism BUT!

[Maxply]

RedSox: I’d like to humorously say that if the Red Sox can forgive Bill Buckner, then perhaps that old crotchy woman can get forgiven, too!

I’m just kidding. I AM kind of surprised by the Buckner thing, though.

Catholics don’t evangelize. This is a problem the Church is trying to remedy, I think. People in the pews, too, are asking for more than a one-hour mass a week. The “friendliness” issue is a big one, especially since in so many other places in life, we’re treated with great attention, albeit informally, for the most part.

I’d like to see more warmth, too, although the Protestant services I’ve been too have been too (for me, folks) creepily over-nice or competitively nice. I used to get a bit paranoid about what gossip might possibly get said about me, even though folks smile at you.

Part of this, too, is that Protestants have to support a minister and family outright. So everyone needs to be on the boat to keep overall contributions up. It’s in the pastor’s interest to make people happy. And in the membership’s interest to expand the base of contributions.

 

[jmcrae]

So how can He use and be involved with protestant churches if He isn’t there???

God can use any organization or group of people to bring someone to Himself. It doesn’t mean that He founded it or that He is the main source or well-spring of its doctrines.

So we are back to the question… how can you separate God and Truth? It can’t be done.

You’re right - it can’t.

If God is there and He has led you where you are, then you are where you are supposed to be. Are you going to stay there? Maybe, maybe not. But that is between you and God.

Why would someone not stay with God?

 

[Singinbeauty]

God can use any organization or group of people to bring someone to Himself. It doesn’t mean that He founded it or that He is the main source or well-spring of its doctrines.

Well, this is where we differ. God is our MAIN source and the well-spring of everything we are and do.

You’re right - it can’t.

I am glad we can agree…

Why would someone not stay with God?

Exactly my point. If I know I am where God wants me and I know I am with Him then why would I leave???

 

[CatherineJones]

To the original poster:

Can i suggest PRAYING for the Holy Spirit (the breath of life, the sanctifier) to indwell your church & praying for the binding up of The evil one? It takes a lot of love to build a church–and you are the church.

Also, consider attending both churches & enjoying the things each do well.

 

[CatherineJones]

PS: It’s a sign of maturity to want more godly things than you find in the local parish church. Go for the sacraments & whatever else good may be there. But don’t STOP there.

 

[jmcrae]

Well, this is where we differ. God is our MAIN source and the well-spring of everything we are and do.

Who founded your Church? (If it was Christ, then you’re good to go. Christ founded the Catholic Church. If it was Martin Luther, John Calvin , John Smythe, Simons Mennos, or other man or woman aside from Christ, then your well-spring is that person’s ideas about God; not Christ’s ideas about God.)

 

[Singinbeauty]

Who founded your Church? (If it was Christ, then you’re good to go. Christ founded the Catholic Church. If it was Martin Luther, John Calvin , John Smythe, Simons Mennos, or other man or woman aside from Christ, then your well-spring is that person’s ideas about God; not Christ’s ideas about God.)

God.

He is the first, last, and only in my church. You may want to believe that we are of someone else’s ideas because we differ from your idea of what a church should be but I don’t worry about what you think… thankfully, it’s only what GOD thinks…

 

[wisdomseeker]

God.

He is the first, last, and only in my church. You may want to believe that we are of someone else’s ideas because we differ from your idea of what a church should be but I don’t worry about what you think… thankfully, it’s only what GOD thinks…

This does not bother you? i know that is what you want to believe ,(that it does not matter where i am as long as i believe that God is there). do you trust yourself that much?

 

[Singinbeauty]

This does not bother you? i know that is what you want to believe ,(that it does not matter where i am as long as i believe that God is there). do you trust yourself that much?

Thankfully it is not me that I trust but God.

 

[MementoMori3283]

I don’t want to derail this thread at all but I have a question,

Why would someone attending a protestant church mean they were being led by the devil? Does this mean you think protestants are led by the devil?

I would have to STRONGLY disagree with that!

One thing that I have learned, RedSox. Don’t let someone else block you from God. Whether family, friends, or the old lady who wants to touch up the grey. If you feel you should be in Mass then by all means, that is where God wants ya, so that is where you are. He is all that matters. But if you experience the Holy Spirit (who is also God) in the protestant church then perhaps that is where He wants you. Go where God wants you, not where others may dictate you should be.

and there won’t be any grades given in school-don’t want to lower anyone’s self esteem. Also, don’t bother passing moral judgements on abortion or adultery or whatever, because everyone has their own morality. Yes, I spoke to God and he said I should be at the airport passing out flowers, give me a break.

Has anyone ever read, “many will say here I AM or I AM in the desert, but do not be deceived.” Why is it so difficult to espouse intelectual honesty and understand that the Catholic Church wrote the Bible. Saying otherwise is like saying in 1000 years that JK Rowling didn’t write the Harry Potter series?!?

Faith and reason.

 

[canne]

Im in a dilema .After months of attending Protestant service I returned and went to confession .I felt so graet I could’nt help but smile and feel myself praising the lord.Then as I stepped out of the confessional an older woman snarled at me and said I took to long in the confession and I made her late for her appointmaent with her hairdresser .It was then I became angry and the following day returned to the Protestant Church ,where I felt the Holy Spirit .It’s the attitude of these old “coots” that profess to be Catholics but have no sympathy for fellow sinners please tell me me what to do. When I leave Sunday Service I feel great when I leave Mass I dont .The people at Mass can’t wait to get out of there me I’m not pleased with such un christian acts .Sorry but you must convince me otherwise …Did not Jesus say " By their fruits you shall know them"…Peace
“So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

I have never attended a protestant service but I am a fan of Contempory Christian music and
I have attended many “protestant” Christian music festivals. There is a wonderful praise and worship that happens there. I feel the Holy spirit and I beleive that the Holy Spirit is indeed moving hearts at these events…I know that the Holy Spirit moved me at such an event… to dive further into faith and to know Christ more fully… I wanted to know the Christ that saved me and the world by his sacrifice at calvary and I wanted to know Christ & follow him and know him as the early Christians knew him…

Only five out of the twelve wrote down anything at all that has been preserved to us; and of that, not a line was penned till at least 10 years after the death of Christ, for Jesus Christ was crucified in 33 A.D., and the first of the New Testament books was not written till about 45 A.D. You see what follows? The Church and the Faith existed before the Bible; that seems an elementary and simple fact which no one can deny or ever has denied. Thousands of people became Christians through the work of the Apostles and missionaries of Christ in various lands, and believed the whole truth of God as we believe it now, and became saints, before ever they saw or read, or could possibly see or read, a single sentence of inspired Scripture of the New Testament, for the simple reason that such Scripture did not then exist. How, then, did they become Christians?

I wanted to know more about these early followers, who
would risk their lives for Christ and die brutal , horrifing deaths for Christ based on the teachings of Twelve men. I wanted to know these early Christians because they were as close to Christ as any could ever be. So I researched and I read …and

the more I knew about the history & orgins of Christanity , the realization came that Christ himself did indeed found a Church and that Church was the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic. Knowing that if one of the apostles or any of the early Christians were to walk into the Mass at a Catholic Church and the services at a local “protestant or bible church”, he would recognize the former as his own was more than enough to convience me that, that is where I belonged.

chnetwork.org/converts.htm

amazon.com/One-Holy-Catholic-Apostolic-Church/dp/0898708028

catholicapologetics.info/apologetics/protestantism/wbible.htm

God bless and may your journey bring you home.

 

[puzzleannie]

I just heard this on the radio it was an evangelical speaker talking about how people sometimes react when someone who professes to be Christian behaves in an unchristian manner, but it could have been said as well by a Catholic preacher.

never thought of this way and will try to paraphrase and get his thought tho I don’t remember his exact words.

I think he was talking about notorious televangelists who have been arrested for fraud or other irregularities, and the fact that some people who became scandalized use this as an excuse to give up religion and worship of God altogether, because this person proved Christians are hypocrits. But being scandalized because I have been the victim of an unchristian act could also be an example.

Anyhow he said this reaction is actually a form of idolatry, a sin against the 1st commandment. If I understand his thinking, by putting the words, remarks, actions, sins of a human person on a level or par with God’s goodness, our duty of religion owed to God in justice, is idolatry, because we are giving undue weight to that human person, and making his action proportionate to God’s goodness, which it is not and cannot be. No matter how evil that human person is or how evil his actions, he is not God, and that person or act can never outweigh God and all God’s goodness. To allow that person to separate me from God, and from my duty of religion, is to give that person the authority of God–idolatry.

very interesting take on things. we could develop that idea and apply it to the situation of leaving the Catholic Church because of scandal caused by abusive priests.

 

[onetruechurch]

. Yes, I spoke to God and he said I should be at the airport passing out flowers, give me a break.
QUOTE]
That reminded me of the pagan convention that meets in the Nevada desert for a week every Labor day…“Burning Man” where everyone “feels the spirit” day and night…with or without clothes! Dancing to drum beats around a fire does not mean the Holy Spirit is present even though to some of the pagans they are convinced the spirit is there.
If you want to make friends…the dancing pagans are very friendly!! I don’t think you would want their kind of friendship, however! Choosing a place of worship because the members are friendly sometimes could be a deadly choice.

 

[Michael96]

We need grace, and we receive it through the Sacraments in turn through the Church.

I have also experienced grace outside of the sacraments and outside of the visible catholic church.

I agree 100% that the sacraments are a source of grace. I would totally disagree though if you therefore concluded grace cannot exist elsewhere.

 

[Like]

I must say I agree with you. I am a very conservative Catholic and most Catholics don’t like me because I am conservative. But instead of making me run away, it makes my resolve to fight the good fight even stronger. I realize that God gave me a special “talent” he gave me a father and mother who have taught themselves and me and my siblings all about the faith. I realize that since God gave this knowledge to me, and the strength to stand up for my faith, I must use this. I just graduated from high school last June and I spent all 4 years of high school witnessing my faith. I tried my best to show non-Catholics, and cafeteria Catholics what the word Catholic really means. I am a Roman Catholic. I am not afraid to tell people that I am a Roman Catholic. I am not afraid to defend my faith no matter what the cost to myself. God gave me this courage and knowledge because he wanted me to use it, and by golly I am going to do my best.

I am sorry that those two women were not nice, but don’t let the devil keep you from the Truth. Someone said that the Devil can’t come into Church because it is too close to God, Well, the Devil talked with Christ in the desert, he had to be pretty close there, so he can be in a church too.
The Catholic Church is the place that he wants to be most of the time because the Catholic Church is the one true Church and if he can get people out of the CC then he can destroy their souls more easily. So he is trying his hardest in the Catholic Churches, and maybe that is why Catholics are less friendly, because we have to fight harder. I don’t know, but I know that the unfriendlyness of some people, though it may make me very sad and lonely, it will never drive me from Our Lord. I am his and I hope that I will be like St. John, I will not leave his side, even when he is crucified. I pray that I will continue with this fight, that I will not hide, that I will not give in to the tempter.
I also pray that you will find the strength and courage to join the fight for Our Lord, let us be his guardians against the powers of evil in the world. Come Home and join the uphill fight to heaven and your reward will be beyond your wildest imagination.

May Our Lady Guide you on your path home.

WOW Margarite! You are what I (IMHO) would call a TRUE devoted Catholic! God bless you for your beliefs ! It is so refreshing to hear a young conservative Catholic such as yourself standing up for what you know is right!
Well, you got to this OLD cradle Catholic, who all week was thinking about changing parishes because I’m being ostracised for trying to correct some of the abuses at my Church. I will stay and FIGHT now. THANK you VERY MUCH!
[SIGN]God bless you![/SIGN]

 

[po18guy]

Im in a dilema .After months of attending Protestant service I returned and went to confession .I felt so graet I could’nt help but smile and feel myself praising the lord.Then as I stepped out of the confessional an older woman snarled at me and said I took to long in the confession and I made her late for her appointmaent with her hairdresser .It was then I became angry and the following day returned to the Protestant Church ,where I felt the Holy Spirit .It’s the attitude of these old “coots” that profess to be Catholics but have no sympathy for fellow sinners please tell me me what to do. When I leave Sunday Service I feel great when I leave Mass I dont .The people at Mass can’t wait to get out of there me I’m not pleased with such un christian acts .Sorry but you must convince me otherwise …Did not Jesus say " By their fruits you shall know them"…Peace
“So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

In the Catholic Church, you have the greatest gift ever given to man in the Eucharist. How on earth could you ever go anywhere else? Work on your faith and belief in Christ’s presence in the Eucharist and you will not care how you are treated. Have you been to Adoration? No other church has it, but they all need it. It’s Christ. He’s there, waiting.

If you need entertainment, I’ll buy movie tickets! As to the parishioner with no patience, you could stare into her eyes intently, tell her that you murdered someone, then walk away slowly and confess that lie next week. (CAUTION: Do not try this at home, or in your Parish)

Seriously, the Lord has placed her before you because she is in need of prayer. Her life is not as spiritual as it could be, since she appeared to equate a Sacrament with a hair style. Pray for her knowing that she needs your prayer.

Ask for patience and it will be granted you. This encounter was just one way in which that is being taught to you. Cars pulling out in front of you are another case in which a person needs prayer. Those who express impatience everywhere are in need of your prayer, just as I am. Ever notice that impatience is only a problem in others?

Christ’s peace.

 

[kalt]

I’m right with ya Redsox. The old coots are keeping people from entering the Church. It happened to me when I converted with my evangelical children 3 1/2 yrs ago. It was our first Christmas Midnight Mass, and my 3 yr old daughter was squirmy. The old coot gave me the dirtiest look. As if to say: “How DARE you bring your squirmy child to MIDNIGHT MASS, when I am dressed up to the hilt looking my most beautiful self, and want to be entertained with the best Mass of the year.”

Satan is going to pull out the big guns to do what is necessary to keep you from being in full communion with the one, holy and apostolic Church, and the FULLNESS OF FAITH.

My daughter is 3 yrs older, still squirmy and not well-behaved, but I rarely encounter the old coots anymore. I really do think there was something in the spiritual realm going on in that encounter.

Come back, remember there will always be tares growing alongside the wheat in our churches until Jesus comes again.

Please come back, and Stay!!!

First, I want to say that what I’m posting here isn’t in defense of rude people who enjoy chastising people at church, even if it’s just with “the look”.

But I think we have to give some of the old people some leeway on the squirmy/loud kid thing. I’m a little olde now myseld. Not elderly, but not a spring chicken. I’m having a hearing test done next month, because, although I can hear as far as volume goes (I know you’re talking. I can hear your voice.), hearing what you’re saying isn’t as easy as it used to be. And competing noises make it that much worse.

Parents of toddlers are usually pretty young themselves, and they have no problem picking out what the priest is saying over what their kids are saying (or banging, or humming, or singing, or eatign (!), or playing with). The older people at church can’t do that as easily.

It may seem that the elderly are annoyed because the toddler is ruining her “show”, but I don’t doubt that a lot of the time, the elderly person is missing much of the readings and the homily.

I know that I’ve been a seat in front of or back of an uruly toddler, and I just can’t hear what is being said on the altar.

The elderly generally don’t go to the family Mass, so when they get to the “old folks” Mass and can’t hear a darned thing because kid is making a racket in the next seat, I think they have a point. They don’t have the right to be mean, but they do have a valid point.

I think the elderly need to be nice. And I think parents of young kids need to keep in mind that the elderly can’t hear as well as they used to, and that their kids are not ruining the show for the elderly, they’re making it very difficult to hear.

Of course some elderly people go to the family Mass and then complain that people bring kids. Grumpy old men/women. What can you do?

 

[Hesychios]

I disagree. I have never felt unwelcome in a Catholic Church…

Your mileage may vary.

But to clarify I was referring to the sense of anonymity, and the very probability of sojourners ignoring each other. People in very tender spiritual stages (like new converts, for instance, and those experiencing a “dark night”) can really use the support of a community. (To some people this is one of the big benefits of joining a monastic community, BTW). The callousness the OP refers to just make it that much worse, but there is often very little else on the balance sheet to make a bad incident seem isolated and less significant.

We may tend to forget the early church had a very strong sense of community, and that contributed greatly to it’s growth. People were impressed by it and attracted to the message of Christ through the example of those who believed.

Like I mentioned, today one can miss Mass and usually no one notices, not even one phone call. But those envelopes keep coming. That’s how so many slip away year after year…unnoticed. The ranks of the unchurched are legion and we all have a pretty good idea where many of these people originated.

This is really a housekeeping issue, not a theological concern or an argument about ecclesiology, and I am only suggesting that some attention needs to be directed toward it. Especially if the church is serious about the Great Commission and wants to spread it’s joy over the Good News.

I for one am pleased and greatly encouraged by your report of a welcoming environment in the places you have been. This will be a good trend if it continues and spreads to the places I have been

Michael

 

[rick43235]

Oh wahhhh… how did you ever survive the third grade if one person being rude to you causes you to go crying out the door never to return?

Oh wahhh?? Real nice. I think it’s obvious who’s stuck in third grade.

 

[happygal]

Im in a dilema .After months of attending Protestant service I returned and went to confession .I felt so graet I could’nt help but smile and feel myself praising the lord.Then as I stepped out of the confessional an older woman snarled at me and said I took to long in the confession and I made her late for her appointmaent with her hairdresser .It was then I became angry and the following day returned to the Protestant Church ,where I felt the Holy Spirit .It’s the attitude of these old “coots” that profess to be Catholics but have no sympathy for fellow sinners please tell me me what to do. When I leave Sunday Service I feel great when I leave Mass I dont .The people at Mass can’t wait to get out of there me I’m not pleased with such un christian acts .Sorry but you must convince me otherwise …Did not Jesus say " By their fruits you shall know them"…Peace
“So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Hi There

We are all sinners, that’s why we need God. Do not get upset with pple around you. Most often pple will get shunned by others (common) but we do not go church for these group of pple, we go church for God. Therefore let God direct your path. If he really wanted you to go back to CC, then go, otherwise stay put to where you are. Pray for direction