Interreligious events in Catholc Churches-- licit?

[Phemie]

I think of Military or Prison Chapels. They are used by various Faiths.

Yes, but they are not consecrated Catholic churches.

We could also mention military chapels. Canada traditionally has 2 chapels on a Base, one Catholic, one Protestant. Perhaps more now that we have Chaplains of non-Christian faiths. The American military chapel I’m familiar with served both Catholics and non-Catholics. The sanctuary had both a crucifix and a large cross, flanked by velvet drapes. A crank moved the cross sideways so that the crucifix could be visible for Mass then moved behind the drape revealing the cross for the non-Catholic service.

 

[TheLittleLady]

In/on US Bases, it is not uncommon for one chapel to be used by every Faith.

Church buildings are used for graduation ceremonies, our Cathedral hosts concerts. Different Bishops likely use different criteria.

 

[Trying2overcome]

Thank you lol. I don’t know how many times I would’ve had to say “non-Christian”

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Some years back I worshiped at an “Interfaith Center” that contained worship spaces for Catholics, a couple of different Protestant denominations, and Jews. It was all one building with different rooms. I would presume that each denomination used its own worship space. I cannot recall for sure right now if the Catholic portion contained its own tabernacle but it probably did, and I doubt the other groups were using that particular space when the Catholics weren’t using it, but they used other parts of the building.

 

[OddBird]

That would be different, I think. The aim of the Assisi meetings was to beg God (or at least the Divine) for peace and mutual understanding. Black Masses aim at desecrating the Blessed Sacrament and are a purposeful travesty of the Holy Mass. That’s not really the spirit of sincere interfaith dialogue.

 

[annad347]

Common participation in worship which harms the unity of the Church or involves formal acceptance of error or the danger of aberration in the faith, of scandal and indifferentism, is forbidden by divine law.

Not sure of any religion except Judaism… but if the common unity of other religions is the belief in One God, then praying together wouldn’t be harmful.

I think, not positive, but Judaism and Christian believe in the same One God, just not the fact that Jesus Christ is the Truth and our Savior. So would they be welcomed to pray together?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I think , not positive, but Judaism and Christian believe in the same One God, just not the fact that Jesus Christ is the Truth and our Savior. So would they be welcomed to pray together?

It depends on the type of prayer. There’s a big difference between “praying together” at, for example, a wedding, a funeral, a cultural landmark (like the Wailing Wall), or an ecumenical service, and “common worship”.

Catholics “pray together” with Jews, Muslims and other non-Christians all the time. We just don’t do common worship.

 

[annad347]

Common participation in worship which harms the unity of the Church or involves formal acceptance of error or the danger of aberration in the faith, of scandal and indifferentism, is forbidden by divine law.

I don’t know it says if a common participation in worship which harms the unity of the church… so a common participation in worship that doesn’t harm the unity of the church would be God.

Judaism and Christian have the same God. God came to them. Jesus came to them. They didn’t accept Jesus, but they didn’t deny God. So wouldn’t God be a common participation in worship that doesn’t harm the unity of the church?

or is the Church in the paragraph @Genesis refers to is the Church formed by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit? But then technically that is still the same One God.

 

[Pitcairn17]

Genesis315:

Common participation in worship which harms the unity of the Church or involves formal acceptance of error or the danger of aberration in the faith, of scandal and indifferentism, is forbidden by divine law.

Not sure of any religion except Judaism… but if the common unity of other religions is the belief in One God, then praying together wouldn’t be harmful.

I think, not positive, but Judaism and Christian believe in the same One God, just not the fact that Jesus Christ is the Truth and our Savior. So would they be welcomed to pray together?

The fact that 50% of the readings at a weekend Mass come from the Jewish Scriptures should answer your question.

 

[TheLittleLady]

Hyberbole does not do a lot to forward the conversations.

Of course, any person of any belief system is allowed to attend Mass, we don’t check your Catholic credentials at the door.

For an interreligious service to take place, there needs to be Pastoral approval.

 

[OKComputer]

I should hope so. I invited Jewish and Muslim people to my Catholic wedding which included a Mass, it was perfectly okay to invite them, and it is my hope that they said some kind of a prayer for me in their own tradition while they were sitting in the church for an hour and a half.

Beautiful post. God bless you.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

He specifically says “non-Christians”. I don’t think Methodists fall in that category. I know we let non-Catholic Christians use our churches if there is a need. Would we let our churches be used by members of the Muslim, Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon, or Bahá’i faiths for their services? I’m not sure about that. I’ve never seen it done.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses would never ask. The others, maybe. It’s my understanding that relations between Catholics and LDS in Utah are actually pretty good — you wouldn’t have common worship, but I have to imagine they would allow use of one another’s worship spaces (in the case of LDS using Catholic facilities, it would probably be some non-sacral space such as a gymnasium or social hall) if something happened that LDS or Catholics couldn’t use their own.

I wonder if satanists are allowed to perform black masses in Cathllic Churches? In the name of “interreligious dialogue?” Im not being snarky im genuinely curious. If all religions are allowed in churches why not devil worshippers?

That’s just a little different… no, it’s a lot different!

Worship of the evil one (though Satanists insist that their quasi-deity is not the evil one as described in Christian theology) would be the one kind of worship that Catholics could never allow in their churches or other facilities.

Not sure about enabling worship of Ganesha (the elephant-faced deity) or Krishna by Hindus. You’ve seen Ganesha if you’ve ever paid at the checkout of an Indian restaurant. You will also see him sometimes at a motel front desk.

 

[Trying2overcome]

I don’t think the actual praying together happened inside the church though. I think it was the speeches that were given in the church.

 

[Trying2overcome]

Are there any official guideline from the Church about interfaith gatherings? Sorry if it seems like I’m asking too many questions. I’m just trying to clear some things up with someone who thinks that the Catholic Church doesn’t truly believe in Christ or that the Catholic Church is the true Church. All this because popes, bishops, priests always seem to be praying with non Catholic Christians and Non Christians (the assissi gatherings and various other interfaith and interdenominational gatherings).

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Our willingness to pray with others, generally in a form of ecumenical prayer that is mutually acceptable to both parties, does not mean we have doubts about the Catholic Church being the “true Church”. It means we’re trying to build bridges in order to promote peace AND evangelize people.

Frankly, if someone is bound and determined to assume that ecumenical prayer means we doubt our faith, I don’t think it’s worth trying to convince that person otherwise, because you probably won’t be able to. Just tell them they’re wrong and then pray that the Holy Spirit enlightens their mind.