G
gemtwin84
Guest
I had a former student come back to see me and ask me what I knew about a group called IHOP, short for International House of Prayer. Evidently, this student had spent 4 days at this facility in Kansas City and was blown away by the openness and ‘ecumenical nature’ of the services and prayer he experienced there. He was seeking my counsel as he wanted to return to complete and internship there. Exactly what the internship entailed and what he would study was kind of fuzzy. He is currently a music education major at the local community college so this took me by suprise. He is a Catholic but admitted that he has been finding excuses to miss Mass as he goes through college but knows he needs to address his faith in some fashion.
One thing I know about this student is that he was always the type to question everything about the Catholic faith. It droves some of the teachers nuts with his questions and desire to understand why Catholics do this or that and other questions of the meaning of faith belief. The thing he kept telling me was that he didn’t like structured prayer, like the Mass, the rosary, or Liturgy of the Hours, but liked the “Night Watch” at IHOP where people came and went in front of the microphone at random times and there was nothing structured or ritualized in their prayer. It sounded a little like the Charismatic worship services I’ve heard about in some parts of the Catholic Church but I don’t know enough about it to make any intelligent comparisons. I kept asking what was so ecumencial about Night Watch but never got a straight answer.
My chaplain said the place was to be avoided and thought it had some dangerous evangelical Protestant teachings being taught. I need to have him clarify what he means by dangerous…wacko was another term I heard. None of the other members of our theology department had heard of this school so had little opinion to offer other than be very cautious.
I gave the student the name of several other Catholic schools and monesterys to investigate for comparison as well as ways to increase his desire to learn other Catholic ways to pray . He was open to looking into the Catholic sources I gave him but seems to have had his mind made up that he was going to IHOP regardless of my opinion. His parents are supporting him checking it out but the rest of his family are very upset about him doing this.
I asked him to start going back to Mass, pray the Rosary and to spend time in front of the Blessed Sacrament to ask for guidance on this search of his. He had many questions about Adoration like “Why pray in front of the Eucharist when God is everywhere?” and other ones that helped me to see that he is struggling with some basic tenets of the Catholic faith. I also gave him a copy of The Imitation of Christ to read. I don’t know what else to offer him other than prayers and support to find answers to his questions while staying true to his Catholic faith.
Does anyone have any information about IHOP and it’s teachings? I found the website at www.ihop.org and am still going through it to see what else I can find to discuss with this student.
Any thoughts?
One thing I know about this student is that he was always the type to question everything about the Catholic faith. It droves some of the teachers nuts with his questions and desire to understand why Catholics do this or that and other questions of the meaning of faith belief. The thing he kept telling me was that he didn’t like structured prayer, like the Mass, the rosary, or Liturgy of the Hours, but liked the “Night Watch” at IHOP where people came and went in front of the microphone at random times and there was nothing structured or ritualized in their prayer. It sounded a little like the Charismatic worship services I’ve heard about in some parts of the Catholic Church but I don’t know enough about it to make any intelligent comparisons. I kept asking what was so ecumencial about Night Watch but never got a straight answer.
My chaplain said the place was to be avoided and thought it had some dangerous evangelical Protestant teachings being taught. I need to have him clarify what he means by dangerous…wacko was another term I heard. None of the other members of our theology department had heard of this school so had little opinion to offer other than be very cautious.
I gave the student the name of several other Catholic schools and monesterys to investigate for comparison as well as ways to increase his desire to learn other Catholic ways to pray . He was open to looking into the Catholic sources I gave him but seems to have had his mind made up that he was going to IHOP regardless of my opinion. His parents are supporting him checking it out but the rest of his family are very upset about him doing this.
I asked him to start going back to Mass, pray the Rosary and to spend time in front of the Blessed Sacrament to ask for guidance on this search of his. He had many questions about Adoration like “Why pray in front of the Eucharist when God is everywhere?” and other ones that helped me to see that he is struggling with some basic tenets of the Catholic faith. I also gave him a copy of The Imitation of Christ to read. I don’t know what else to offer him other than prayers and support to find answers to his questions while staying true to his Catholic faith.
Does anyone have any information about IHOP and it’s teachings? I found the website at www.ihop.org and am still going through it to see what else I can find to discuss with this student.
Any thoughts?