I'm Catholic and wife is Pentecostal

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herbalt

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I am wondering how the Church would look upon me if I go to Mass and still go to my wife’s Pentecostal Church at the same time?

My wife is about as close to converting to the True Church as a dog is to a cat.

I actually anjoy the Pentecostal worship when it is moderate and when the preaching is theologically neutral it is o.k. as well.

So does anyone know of anyone that is in a similar situation? How is it working for them or if you are in this same situation how is it working for you?

What does the Church think about this?
 
Nothing would prohibit it, but what if your wife attended with you, and you attended with her. She might do as my wife did, and find the fullness of truth.
 
Gene_Church said:
Nothing would prohibit it, but what if your wife attended with you, and you attended with her. She might do as my wife did, and find the fullness of truth.
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That would be great if that would happen, and maybe it will in the futures, but as of right now she is steeped in her pentecostal beliefs.
 
Since you’ve posted on the Traditional Forum, I assume you want the traditional answer.

My traditional examination of conscience lists visiting protestant places of worship as a sin.

The Church has traditionally forbidden it as harmful to the faith and displeasing to God on the principle that God cannot be truly worshipped except within His Church. In the past, people have been excommunicated for attending protestant services without a dispensation.
 
Hi
I am in a similar boat. It is important for me that I go with my wife to ensure that I dont drive a wedge between us by me being Catholic.
Our faiths have only come on in the last 4 years or so, so be being Catholic is more of a personal journey back home rather than this is who I already was.
For us it is a work in progress. We dont try to bash each other up about our Faith. My wife listens to me and I to her. She does the old “I don’t believe in …” routine every now and then and I have to bite my tounge because arguing about matters like these can only make matters worse. I learnt that from Scott Hahn from reading Rome Sweet Home.
If I ever stand any chance of bringing her to the Catholic Church it wont help if I am not there with her at the Protestant Church.
Our children attend both as a result to. So Sunday morninings involve Mass at 830 followed by Chruch at 1030. Home in time for lunch.
On Church teaching make sure you dont participate in the Lords Supper though as it is a no no if you are a Catholic. It is a bit awkward mind you but necessary.
Thanks to Catholic Answers and EWTN I am growing in my faith all the time.
Good luck and God Bless!
 
herbalt said:
I am wondering how the Church would look upon me if I go to Mass and still go to my wife’s Pentecostal Church at the same time?

My wife is about as close to converting to the True Church as a dog is to a cat.

I actually anjoy the Pentecostal worship when it is moderate and when the preaching is theologically neutral it is o.k. as well.

So does anyone know of anyone that is in a similar situation? How is it working for them or if you are in this same situation how is it working for you?

What does the Church think about this?
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as far as i know the church is not ok with you attending the pentacostal services…by being there you are in effect saying that their whorship is equal to that of the true church…do not take part in their version of communion that much i know for sure…it sounds as if your wife doen’t attend mass with you,if that is the case in no way would (if i was in this situation) i attend the pentacostal service…even if my wife did attend mass with me …myself i would never ever step foot again into any other “church” than the catholic church for whorship of God…sorry i can’t offer any advice other than to be firm in your faith and don’t let it get polluted with pentacostal errors…
 
It is perfectly fine to worship with other denominations as long as you first attend Mass. It is a great way to debunk the falsehoods that many have concerning Catholicism. I have heard prayers at Assembly of God meetiings calling for the conversion of Catholics. In discovering that I was Catholic, they have reacted with “I didn’t know Catholics believed that” regarding the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The one caveat I would make is the same as an earlier poster who admonished against taking communion at the Pentecostal church. Receiving communion makes a statement of unity that does not exist. It is a statement of submission to the authority of what that particular church teaches.
Does your parish, or a nearby parish, have a Catholic Charismatic prayer group? These gifts are indeed accepted by the magisterium as authentic outpourings of the Holy Spirit. One of the differences between Pentecostal churches and the Catholic Church is the emphasis placed on these gifts. With the Catholic Church, the gifts are meant to be placed at the service of the Church for the building up of the Body of Christ. For many Pentecostals, this outward sign of God’s grace is seen as assurance of a person’s salvation. Many follow a “once saved, always saved” theology that differs from the Catholic teaching of salvation as a process.
As Catholics, we were saved at Calvary with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and we continue to be saved each and every time the Mass is celebrated anywhere in the world until the end of time.
 
My wife was an anti-catholic (Calvary Chapel) and I was a lapsed Catholic when we got married. I rarely attended her place of worship as I knew it was a waste of my time as a Catholic. I was a bad Catholic but I knew enough to know that sitting there listening to a guy give his interpretation of the Holy Bible was blasphemy and wrong.

I would go with my kids to the play room and wait until it was over.

The only worship of God that is worthy of God is Catholic worship as we offer to God the Body and Blood of Christ, the one Perfect Sacrifice for God. All other worship is an insult to God and a waste of time. No non-catholic can justify their worship other than saying it makes them feel good or by contradicting their belief in works for Salvation.

I would gently help your wife go to her service and go to your Mass at the same time. Now you can bring your rosary and pray for their conversion during their service, quietly. Don’t disrupt them or be rude but do not participate in their worship as it is wrong and an insult to Christ’s one Holy Sacrifice on the Cross for our salvation.

Be a better Catholic and support your wife in following Christ, as she comes closer to Christ she will eventually have to become Catholic or lie to herself for the rest of her life. Be a faithful Christian and you will sanctify your wife.

I would also get that Tim Staples CD and listen to it with your wife. Michael Cumbie is very good, great stuff for Pentacostals.

In Christ
Scylla

My wife is now a faithful and strong Catholic, I am a much better Catholic also.
 
herbalt said:
I am wondering how the Church would look upon me if I go to Mass and still go to my wife’s Pentecostal Church at the same time?
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If you are going to uphold the truth and not give them the impression that what they are doing and the way they are living is ok with you then you can. You may yet convert your wife and some of her penticostal friends.
My wife is about as close to converting to the True Church as a dog is to a cat.
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No offence intended but that means you need to pray especially hard for her. If you love her, I mean really love her, you should not be complacent in letter her go to hell for rejecting Jesus when you were right there to show her the way. I suggest you start praying the liturgy of the hours and offer up those prayers for the conversion of your wife. Remember, since you are the believer you have to be holy for her benifit. You have to sanctify her. This is your cross and I will pray for your success.
I actually anjoy the Pentecostal worship when it is moderate and when the preaching is theologically neutral it is o.k. as well.
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This is not a good sign. They are working on you to try to get you to reject Christ. Don’t fall for it. You must stand up for the truth. I don’t know how you feel about this but I used to carry a notebook with me to protestant nonworship services so that I could document all the errors and sins that the preacher was telling the congregation to commit. This kept me grounded to Christ and allowed me to point out to the preacher in charity later that he was very wrong.
What does the Church think about this?
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Your goal in this is to convert them. You are like a prophet of old to tell them to repent from their iniquity and come back to Christ. God is waiting to forgive them but they don’t know it. You can save some of them. Again I will pray for your success.
 
You’ve not said if your wife is Trinitarian or Oneness.

If the latter, do NOT GO!
 
You’re a brave man posting this in the Traditional Catholicism forum 😃

I believe that, as some have said, it is O.K. to go, as long you do not participate in the Protestant service, but just sit and watch. The way I see it, it can’t hurt to see what the “enemy” is up to - if you are strong and knowledgable enough in your faith, then you should be able to pick out and dismiss the heresy/blasphemy.

However, the “Traditional” view does take a more strict view on this issue (remember, the post V-II ecumenism is one of the SSPX’s remaining “beefs” with the Church), which is reflected well by some of the above posters - you shouldn’t go.

That is my :twocents: anyway. At the very least, you cannot participate in their “sacraments.” If they are anti-Catholic, too “out there” theologically, or follow a “Unitarian” view of God, I would recommend staying home.
 
herbalt said:
I am wondering how the Church would look upon me if I go to Mass and still go to my wife’s Pentecostal Church at the same time?

My wife is about as close to converting to the True Church as a dog is to a cat.

I actually anjoy the Pentecostal worship when it is moderate and when the preaching is theologically neutral it is o.k. as well.

So does anyone know of anyone that is in a similar situation? How is it working for them or if you are in this same situation how is it working for you?

What does the Church think about this?
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One of my younger sisters is in exactly this same situation. Her husband is a evangelical pentecostal and in true pentacostal fashion loathes the Catholic Church and everything about it. Their marriage is not a pleasant one and has not improved over the years. At first she tried the we’re all the same type of response and went to the services with him. He and the other members of the community took her attendance as a sign of either disbelief or not being satisfied with the Catholic Church and took great and I do mean great pains to “save” her. It eventually got to the point that she stopped going as she couldn’t take the pressure being put on her any longer…

Her husband then forbade her to attend Mass because of the “idolatry” involved in Catholic worship and pagan worship patterns, whatever that means.

She now has to sneak out in order to go to Mass and if he finds out that she has gone he has taken it upon himself to try to physically remove her from the Church.

I would think that going to these services would probably create the same sort of situation for you. Pentecostals love to **“save” **Catholics.

But, I already know that you will attend anyway so just be careful.

As an aside I think that the Church was very wise in forbidding these unions in the past. Usually, they lead only to a watering down of the faith and do absolutely no good to anyone, particularly if children are involved.
 
herbalt said:
Oneness
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If I am not mistaken, the oneness movement denies the Trinity as we understand it to be, does it not? That would place them clearly outside of mainstream Christianity and in the past would have earned them the title of Heretics.

Of course we don’t use such judgemental phrases any longer but I am now more convinced then ever you have no business going any where around this group.
 
herbalt said:
Oneness
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I was once invited to a Pentecostal Holiness church. I accepted the invitation as is acceptable, having already attended Mass. The person who invited me did not understand how I could simply observe and not participate. She did indeed refuse my return invitation to attend Mass. I found ways to avoid the pressure that was subsequently put on me to consider “conversion” and being “baptized in the name of Jesus.”
There were a number of things that I found troublesome when I observed the service at her church, not the least being the baptism of a young boy manifesting the gift of tongues. There was no consent in his baptism.
The teaching she received about the trinity was that of different aspects of God rather than separate persons. She had difficulty accepting that Catholics are baptized “in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”
I did not have the same discomfort attending an Assembly of God church. As stated in my earlier post, many of these churches believe in “once saved, always saved” rather than salvation as a process. The focus is on the manifestation of the gifts themselves instead of the gifts of the Holy Spirit being meant to be used in service for the upbuilding of the Body of Christ. This is a major difference between what they teach and what the Catholic Church teaches. I still recommend that you find a Catholic Charismatic group that is faithful to the magisterium for personal growth and for dispelling the falsehoods your wife may hold regarding the Catholic Church.
 
(a) My traditional examination of conscience lists visiting protestant places of worship as a sin. The Church has traditionally forbidden it as harmful to the faith and displeasing to God on the principle that God cannot be truly worshipped except within His Church. In the past, people have been excommunicated for attending protestant services without a dispensation.
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(b) It is perfectly fine to worship with other denominations as long as you first attend Mass.
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(c) I believe that, as some have said, it is O.K. to go, as long you do not participate in the Protestant service, but just sit and watch.
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That is quite a range of opinion.

I was always taught that (c) is correct - it’s alright to go as a passive visitor. I’ve CERTAINLY never heard of anyone being excommunicated for so doing, nor have I ever been told that a dispensation is required.
 
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