If you had to choose a different religion

  • Thread starter Thread starter edtaylor51
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Being Jewish, I expect I that pretending to accept Islam would be the easiest but Sikhism might be more interesting.
 
I’d be Orthodox. It’s the closest to Catholicism.

I’d rather be nothing than be Anglican/ Episcopal due to all the bad blood that drove my ancestors out of Ireland, Scotland and England.

If Orthodox was also not possible, I would be a Messianic Jew.
 
Last edited:
I’d remain Catholic. I’d live as many of our ancestors did (and as many Catholics today still do) when there were no priests around- make an ultimate effort to avoid mortal sin and trust in God’s mercy at death.
 
Hasn’t the Church itself said that the Orthodox have valid sacraments, though? And that if we are in an area with no Catholic Mass, but there is an Orthodox liturgy available, we may go there on Sunday?
I think I’ve heard or read this somewhere, but can’t find the source.
 
I wouldn’t leave the Catholic Church because it has the fullness of the Truth. But if in this fantasy scenario somehow the Church isn’t there (which can never happen anyway because of Matthew 16:18) then I would be Byzantine Orthodox because they also have the True Presence. Why would I go to any other faith that doesn’t have the True Presence?

But once again, this entire fantasy is moot because of Matthew 16:18
 
I like the way people defend the Church and Faith, and thats all nice, but the question was more relaxing and forgiving than the responses- speaking for myself, if I had to choose different Christianity branch, (or if i could) I would go for Oriental Orthodoxy- Protestantism does not make sense to me, Eastern Orthodoxy ecclesiology makes less sense to me than Oriental Orthodox (Constantinople being Primus Inter Pares because of practical stuff cus of how Empire worked? Fine. Remaining so because of Tradition when its unpractical? Uh.). Only problem with Oriental Orthodoxy would be that they reject Chalcedon, but they do kind of uphold same meaning. I just wouldnt be able to access them from my country ever _D

If I had to go for non-christian I guess I’d go for Judaism because of lack of better choices. Interesting question!
 
This is the spirit of the question, yes 🙂 it was just a random thought.

If I had to pick a non-Christian religion, I’d think I’d pick Jainism. Another interesting set of beliefs and a philosophy I respect.
 
OrbisNonSufficit said:
I like the way people defend the Church and Faith, and thats all nice, but the question was more relaxing and forgiving than the responses
Click to expand...
Right. It’s a thought experiment: a chance to say what other religions you admire (if only partially) and why. It’s not an apologetics exercise. People should relax. Great idea for a thread!

Assuming that the Eastern Catholic rites also do not exist in the hypothetical, I’d choose Eastern Orthodox, as many above have said.
 
Well this is pretty hysterical. You would pick Eastern Orthodox, however there is plenty in EO that would be closer to Protestant and some points that are so far from RC. This is very interesting. If you were simply going by doctrine and liturgy those closest as in Protestant they would be

Anglican
Lutheran
Presbyterian Church USA/ Methodist tied
Reformed/ UCC
Disciple of Christ
Baptist
Pentecostal/ Holliness
Seventh Day Adventist
 
Not “hysterical”. Canon law (Can. 844 section 2) specifically provides that
Whenever necessity requires it or true spiritual advantage suggests it, and provided that danger of error or of indifferentism is avoided, the Christian faithful for whom it is physically or morally impossible to approach a Catholic minister are permitted to receive the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick from non-Catholic ministers in whose Churches these sacraments are valid.
Click to expand...
The Catholic church considers the Orthodox church to have “valid” sacraments. Therefore if there was no Catholic priest available in some part of the world, a Catholic could approach an Orthodox minister to receive the above sacraments, provided of course that if a Catholic priest showed up the next day and a Catholic could reasonably go to him instead, then the Catholic should do so. (It’s possible that the Orthodox minister would refuse to give the sacraments to a Catholic, because many Orthodox aren’t fans of Catholicism, but that’s a different issue.)

The Catholic church does NOT consider the Anglican, Lutheran and so on down the list churches to have valid sacraments. The Church does NOT permit Catholics to just go to the Anglican or Lutheran or Presbyterian clergy if your Catholic priest is not available. Also, by the time you reach the level of Presbyterian on your list, they have diverged quite far from Catholicism in “doctrine and liturgy”, much farther than the Orthodox.

Furthermore, a large number of my grandparents and great-grandparents had to leave the Anglican-controlled countries of England, Scotland and Ireland and emigrate to USA to get away from anti-Catholic discrimination. Although that was over 100 years ago now, I still have great difficulty stepping foot in an Anglican or Episcopal church. I don’t care how much their services “look like” Catholic Mass, they aren’t Catholics, they persecuted my ancestors, and I don’t want to go to their church.
 
Last edited:
SFJoseph said:
Well this is pretty hysterical. You would pick Eastern Orthodox
Click to expand...
Not really because EO have valid sacraments and the apostolic succession.
SFJoseph said:
there is plenty in EO that would be closer to Protestant and some points that are so far from RC.
Click to expand...
What do you think are the teachings in the E Orthodox Church that are so far from RC? I am interested in those EO teachings that are mandatory, not optional things like toll houses. Recall that RC has some teachings which are optional also, such as the Marian apparitions, and whether or not the fire in purgatory is the same as the fire in hell.
The EO make the sign of the cross from right to left, but so do Eastern Catholics.
SFJoseph said:
If you were simply going by doctrine and liturgy those closest as in Protestant they would be

Anglican
Lutheran…
Click to expand...
Anglicans and Lutherans allow women priests or ministers and I am not sure if they allow devotion to the Mother of God to the extent that RC and EO do.
 
Last edited:
So long as two baptised professing Catholics exist the Catholic Church cannot cease to exist. Where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name…
I believe the Church in Korea? was discovered to have survived 100s of years despite the absence of priests.
 
I find that intriguing so if you have more info on that I am interested.
 
[quote="Tis_Bearself,

Furthermore, a large number of my grandparents and great-grandparents had to leave the Anglican-controlled countries of England, Scotland and Ireland and emigrate to USA to get away from anti-Catholic discrimination. Although that was over 100 years ago now, I still have great difficulty stepping foot in an Anglican or Episcopal church. I don’t care how much their services “look like” Catholic Mass, they aren’t Catholics, they persecuted my ancestors, and I don’t want to go to their church.
[/quote]
I believe Tis that you no doubt thought about this before stating it and I feel no malice in your words but rather just stating the bare facts of reality.

Hopefully, Catholics can also realize that the actions their Church has taken over the centuries at times has produced the same feelings in the descendants of other non-Catholic churches. I personally have learned to appreciate some aspects of Catholicism as well as individuals within the CC but I know that many other NC’s also just “do not want to go to their church” for the same reasons. Peace.
 
Last edited:
My PP devoted a homily to it.
It was an Asian country, I am not sure exactly which one.
 
Yes, well they’re free to make that choice not to attend the Catholic church as well. This thread is specifically asking Catholics where they would go to church if the Catholic church disappeared, not asking Anglicans or any other Protestants any questions at all. So where an Anglican might or might not go to church is a topic for another thread.

The reason I am making the point I did about Anglicans is that the author of the post to which I was responding has his religion listed on his profile as “PCUSA”. If I am not mistaken, that means, “Presbyterian Church of USA”.

My late husband was Presbyterian and early in our dating relationship, he made a statement to me that “Episcopalians are practically Catholics.” I had to correct him on that before he said anything like it in front of my family which would have caused an uproar. Apparently the poster to whom I was responding thinks the same thing because the doctrine and services look similar.

I am pointing out to him that for a lot of us - and I would presume that includes some Anglicans as well as many Catholic Americans of UK Ancestry - it’s not the same thing at all, in addition to the fact that the Catholic Church does not recognize Anglican sacraments as valid.

I am happy to attend Anglican Ordinariate services, which are Catholic.
 
Last edited:
“Tis_Bearself said:
Yes, well they’re free to make that choice not to attend the Catholic church as well. This thread is specifically asking Catholics where they would go to church if the Catholic church disappeared, not asking Anglicans or any other Protestants any questions at all.
Sure enough, when I go back to the OP I can see what you are saying in that NC’s are not welcome to respond to this thread. Maybe it should be recatagorized. Sorry.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
The Church in Japan survived for several hundred years underground, from the 1600s until about 30,000 Catholics came out of hiding in 1873. They’re called the “Hidden Christians”.

These Catholics presumably did not have any other Christian church options such as Orthodox or Protestant church, as all forms of Christianity were outlawed.

 
edtaylor51 said:
If an extreme event occurred and the Catholic Church disappeared, what religion would you become, if any?
Click to expand...
A saint. When the Catholic Church “disappears”, it means that it’s the eschaton and we’re in the “new heavens and new earth”. 😉
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top