(Methodist Protestant) This is my "protest" against the Catholic chruch!!!

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For me personally, I don’t ever tell anyone I am Catholic. I show them. I won’t deny that there are Catholics out there who don’t act Catholic or Christian, just as there are Methodist out there who don’t act Christian. One of the many great things about being Catholic is that that Church is bigger than her members.

Jesus loves us all, whether we acknowledge that or not.
He is present in the Eucharist, whether we acknowledge that or not.
Mary prays for us, whether we acknowledge that or not.
God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church, God grants us pardon and peace, and he forgives us from our sins, whether you acknowledge it or not.

Don’t forget that Satan would love nothing more than to keep you out of God’s church and the Holy Spirit would love nothing more than for you to be there.

The fact that you are here is very encouraging. I’ll be praying for you.

(so will Mary and Joseph and the entire communion of Saints)
 
kalt said:
According to Mother Teresa, she didn’t go around trying to find converts. She simply served the poor. If someone asked her about her religion, she answered their questions.
Preaching the Gospel is one thing. Living the Gospel is a more powerful thing.

If you’ve never come accross a Catholic, who did you know that there is a Catholic Church? Did you happen to find one while driving by? Certainly, the CC has a pressence where you live. Otherwise, you wouldn’t know the Church exists. Seems it’s not as icognito as you say. 😉

What made you attend a Mass?
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If you’ve never come accross a Catholic, who did you know that there is a Catholic Church?
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I went past on my bike one day and saw the only catholic chruch near my area, it said “Roman catholic diocese of Brentwood”. I’d never seen it there before! I didn’t even know it existed! Any way, I got really excited and thought to my self, “A catholic chruch, I wonder what that’s like!?”

Well, okay I’ll answer your question; ( VERY EXCITED! 😃 )
What made you attend a Mass?
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I was an athiest my whole life but only became a christian in a methodist chruch 8 months ago! When I saw the catholic chruch my mind ran wild about what difference it could possibly have to mine!

xxx zundrah xxx
 
Zundrah said:
If I had never walked into that catholic church a few weeks ago then I would never have met a catholic at all! Where are they! They don’t preach out of the four walls of their chruch!
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I guess you don’t frequent Speaker’s Corner much.

The Catholic Evidence Guild has been preaching there since 1918. The Catholic Evidence Guild is at Westminster Cathedral and also has a branch in New York. The Guild trains Catholics in street preaching.
 
I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. I note you are in London. I can’t speak to the Catholic Church there because I have never lived there. I can only tell you about the parish I belong to. We greet newcomers without asking them where they came from or why they are here. I always make it a point to speak to someone who I think is new and tell them that I hope they will come back.

The Church has a system of classes (RCIA) where inquirers can learn about the church and ask questions. There are also booklets available that tell you about the Mass (our service) and where the traditions expressed therein come from. I hope you will get such a book and read it. And then try another Catholic church. They are all as different, socially, as the people who attend them. May God bless you.
 
Zundrah said:
If I had never walked into that catholic church a few weeks ago then I would never have met a catholic at all! Where are they! They don’t preach out of the four walls of their chruch!
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Really?

EWTN is the largest religious broadcaster on the PLANET. www.ewtn.com

The Vatican preaches in every form of media every day.

There are countless orders, lay groups and apostolates preaching all over the world, (catholic answers, our gracious hosts being just one) maybe you are just ignoring them?
 
Trishie said:
Thank you for your (name removed by moderator)ut, though it does seem rather unfriendly! 🙂
You went “once” so it is perhaps a little unfair to judge all by one experience. :)Seeing a newcomer, the folk were probably curious, but not hostile…your interpretation because you felt strange! For all they knew initially you were a visiting Catholic anyway. And they may have felt a little surprised when you said you were Protestant…,but I like most people I know would smile and make you welcome, even if some wouldn’t be quite sure what to say, not knowing why you were there. They wouldn’t want to put their foot in it and say the wrong thing.

You’ve made your mind up, so it’s a little difficult to discuss with you…but remember that Jesus said, Judge not or you shall be judged, and you are judging a million million Catholics all in one. I think you will find that God finds a great many of us to be loving and kind, and generous.

And we don’t like to be discourteous to others and push our beliefs on others. We trust the Holy Spirit to lead when He wishes. A lot of churches, certainly here in Australia have data projectors showing the responses that we all give, and also the hymns…and of course, even for Catholics, it does take a time to get to know them.

Not all Catholic churches have lots of statues or writing on walls in Latin, many don’t, but these are no more than say a photo to remind you, to ask for prayer of holy people. There is no harm in anyone asking a friend’s or a pastor’s prayers, so with the holy people in heaven. The people aren’t kneeling to statues that have no life, they are kneeling because when they are used to kneeling when they pray. They are only asking these holy saints to pray. But always our true focus is Jesus, is God.

You are very cross, it seems! The way you wrote, you sound like you only want to think badly of Catholics. Ah well. You can if you want, that’s your free choice…but I know so many good, kind, welcoming Catholics, that I can’t get upset over anything you said…but I hope you feel happier soon! 🙂

God bless you, Trishie
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Trishie! No, I am not angry with catholics but with the running of their chruch! like I said in the OP;
I don’t protest against the covenant made to peter, the keys given to him or even the fact that the pope decends from him. But I think that the catholic church just hasn’t done its best with that covenant…
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I am angry with how I was given the cold sholder!
You’ve made your mind up, so it’s a little difficult to discuss with you…
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😦 No I’m not being stubborn nor have I made my mind up!
They wouldn’t want to put their foot in it and say the wrong thing.
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Can’t they just understand that I came into a catholic church for a reason! There is nothing that they could say that would be “wrong”!
I can’t get upset over anything you said…
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trishie… I am not trying to hurt you or any other catholic! Please understand this!

xxx zundrah xxx
 
mary_bobo said:
I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. I note you are in London. I can’t speak to the Catholic Church there because I have never lived there. I can only tell you about the parish I belong to. We greet newcomers without asking them where they came from or why they are here. I always make it a point to speak to someone who I think is new and tell them that I hope they will come back.

The Church has a system of classes (RCIA) where inquirers can learn about the church and ask questions. There are also booklets available that tell you about the Mass (our service) and where the traditions expressed therein come from. I hope you will get such a book and read it. And then try another Catholic church. They are all as different, socially, as the people who attend them. May God bless you.
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I AM IN BRITAIN!

The church of england is anglican! Not catholic, get it, there not many catholic chruches here!
 
kage_ar said:
Really?

EWTN is the largest religious broadcaster on the PLANET. www.ewtn.com

The Vatican preaches in every form of media every day.

There are countless orders, lay groups and apostolates preaching all over the world, (catholic answers, our gracious hosts being just one) maybe you are just ignoring them?
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…how can I possibly ignore what doesn’t even come to me! :ehh:
 
Zundrah said:
Where do I start? Hmm… with my experience…

I went to a catholic church once and it was so hostile, no one spoke to me, no one greeted me, no one explained anything to me and they all just kept giving me weird and very mean looks from the side because I was an “out sider”. This is not an uncommon experience, whether it be a Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, AoG, etc. It is not unique to the Catholic church.

When I got a quick word with a woman at the back of the church I mentioned that I was a protestant from a methodist chruch, then suddenly every one seemed on edge and gave me funny looks as if I should be in their church. This is essentially the same issue as above,

You have the cathechism and the book of cannons, communion, loads of different events during the week that aren’t even explained to you. What are they for? Why has your chruch made it so difficult or even impossible for a new commer to grasp!?
As a previous poster suggested, RCIA would be a great place to get this information, and is geared toward educating. It isn’t that we have made the Mass difficult to grasp, it is that we have kept many of the traditions that many other faiths don’t follow for one reason or another.

I don’t protest against the covenant made to peter, the keys given to him or even the fact that the pope decends from him. But I think that the catholic church just hasn’t done its best with that covenant…

You don’t go out to the lost sheep but instead you call them “outsiders”…
You stay in you church and look after each other but what happened to christ good words such as - “Do you love me? Go and tend to my sheep.” I don’t see the catholic chruch trending to lost sheeps do you? Have you heard of Catholic Charities? Mother Theresa? These are just 2 very powerful examples of tending to lost sheep don’t you think? Another great example would be Catholic hospitals (too many to list)

The chruch is just a museum of saints and a place of religious routine instead of a place of whorship.

Where is the whorship!? When I go there you are just going to one page to another with out even telling me where I should be in this “book” that I’ve never seen before by the way! There is this other book of hymms and even that has no direction… What is this and why does every body else seem to know what pages to go to but I don’t!? The entire Mass is worship. I understand that the Missal can be difficult to follow, but even caually flipping through it, you will see prayer from beginning to end. Also, did you know that if you attend Mass every Sunday for 3 years, you will hear the entire Bible read during Mass? Not to mention we have the Eucharist, where we do what Jesus commanded in John 6…This is my body, This is my blood, etc. How greater can worship be?

I didn’t feel like I was in a chruch, it felt more like a temple with images and statues that people were kissing and bowing to! Some of the catholics there even got down on their knees to a statue of joseph (Mary’s husband). Many churches will have kneelers in front of statues, It isn’t that the person is praying to the statue, the statue is there to remind us of that person and the virtue(s) they posessed while on Earth. This whole issue is addressed many places here on CAF.

Catholics seem to be like muslims - very religious but lacking in love and peace giving emotions!

And when do catholics even bother to go to protestants and try to convert them!? I’ll give you a big clue, never, that’s when! I’m not sure if you think that is good or bad? Many people don’t like to try and be converted. You know, alot of people don’t like the JW’s or Mormons knocking on their doors. Do you honestly think it would be greeted any differently just because we are Catholic?

Why is all the writings on the walls in a strange language!?

Why was jesus spelt as Jesvs? Why was Mary spelt as Maria? 🤷

I believe someone answered this already, that is LatinGasp… :snowing:

…and also I should mention that I’m not entirly bothered that there are books missing from my bible! There must obviously be good reason for that! So start on me about that issue!
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I believe there is a thread started on this about the Deuterocannonical books. Some believe they weren’t divinely inspired while others do.
 
fermat said:
For me personally, I don’t ever tell anyone I am Catholic. I show them. I won’t deny that there are Catholics out there who don’t act Catholic or Christian, just as there are Methodist out there who don’t act Christian. One of the many great things about being Catholic is that that Church is bigger than her members.

Jesus loves us all, whether we acknowledge that or not.
He is present in the Eucharist, whether we acknowledge that or not.
Mary prays for us, whether we acknowledge that or not.
God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church, God grants us pardon and peace, and he forgives us from our sins, whether you acknowledge it or not.

Don’t forget that Satan would love nothing more than to keep you out of God’s church and the Holy Spirit would love nothing more than for you to be there.

The fact that you are here is very encouraging. I’ll be praying for you.

(so will Mary and Joseph and the entire communion of Saints)
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:eek: Umm… you know that I am a protestant and yet you just said this to me;
I’ll be praying for you. (so will Mary and Joseph and the entire communion of Saints)
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Protestants view praying to saints as blasphemy… and I’m sure you know this!

I feel… all mushy! What you just said to me means alot to catholics, so this is how I know that you’re being nice to me! 😊

thank you… Fermat

xxx zundrah xxx
 
I always find it interesting when people say, what does the Catholic church do for the lost sheep. Well, look at the hospitals, orphanages and missionaries around the world. Hmmm, I wonder if all those wonderful nuns are Catholic? 🙂 Seriously, there are so many giving things that the Catholic church and individual parishes and people do to help others, I could be here typing all day. If you really want to learn about the Catholic church and its teaching, give an RCIA program a chance at a parish. It is an adult catechism program for people coming into the church and for people interested in learning about the church. Every single thing in Mass has a reason either based on the bible or Catholic tradition from the earliest of Catholic teaching. No, we don’t hand out guide books at each service like other denominations do but you can go to any Catholic church in the world, and the Mass will be pretty much the same. That is an important part of being Catholic and be part of a larger Catholic community. Even get online and Google about the parts of Mass and look at sites like this newadvent.org/cathen/09790b.htm. When I left the church and then came back, one of the most important books for me was The How-To Book of the Mass by Michael Dubruiel. It helped me to understand each part of the Mass and be more reverent in each part simply by understanding the meaning behind it.

I apologize if you did not feel welcome. I hope you will give another parish the opportunity or perhaps go with someone who is Catholic to help explain things to you. Once you understand what is happening, it is one of the most beautiful things you will ever see. Good luck in your journey.
 
headncloudz said:
I always find it interesting when people say, what does the Catholic church do for the lost sheep. Well, look at the hospitals, orphanages and missionaries around the world. Hmmm, I wonder if all those wonderful nuns are Catholic? 🙂 Seriously, there are so many giving things that the Catholic church and individual parishes and people do to help others, I could be here typing all day. If you really want to learn about the Catholic church and its teaching, give an RCIA program a chance at a parish. It is an adult catechism program for people coming into the church and for people interested in learning about the church. Every single thing in Mass has a reason either based on the bible or Catholic tradition from the earliest of Catholic teaching. No, we don’t hand out guide books at each service like other denominations do but you can go to any Catholic church in the world, and the Mass will be pretty much the same. That is an important part of being Catholic and be part of a larger Catholic community. Even get online and Google about the parts of Mass and look at sites like this newadvent.org/cathen/09790b.htm. When I left the church and then came back, one of the most important books for me was The How-To Book of the Mass by Michael Dubruiel. It helped me to understand each part of the Mass and be more reverent in each part simply by understanding the meaning behind it.

I apologize if you did not feel welcome. I hope you will give another parish the opportunity or perhaps go with someone who is Catholic to help explain things to you. Once you understand what is happening, it is one of the most beautiful things you will ever see. Good luck in your journey.
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… the hostility that I got will not put me off of going back there on sunday, or even saturday too! 😃

xxx zundrah xxx
 
Zundrah, maybe they didn’t get into talking with you in the church you visited, and they didn’t presume your intent,
but there are a lot of people here who are responding to you,
so you do have Catholics chatting with you now…
You will find people here in Catholic Answers who are quite happy to respond to your questions, and to make you welcome.

I’l remember you in prayer while I get ready for sleep, as here in Australia it’s past midnight again.

Warmly, Trishie
 
Zundrah said:
Where do I start? Hmm… with my experience…

I went to a catholic church once and it was so hostile, no one spoke to me, no one greeted me, no one explained anything to me and they all just kept giving me weird and very mean looks from the side because I was an “out sider”.

When I got a quick word with a woman at the back of the church I mentioned that I was a protestant from a methodist chruch, then suddenly every one seemed on edge and gave me funny looks as if I should be in their church.

You have the cathechism and the book of cannons, communion, loads of different events during the week that aren’t even explained to you. What are they for? Why has your chruch made it so difficult or even impossible for a new commer to grasp!?

I don’t protest against the covenant made to peter, the keys given to him or even the fact that the pope decends from him. But I think that the catholic church just hasn’t done its best with that covenant…

You don’t go out to the lost sheep but instead you call them “outsiders”…
You stay in you church and look after each other but what happened to christ good words such as - “Do you love me? Go and tend to my sheep.” I don’t see the catholic chruch trending to lost sheeps do you?

The chruch is just a museum of saints and a place of religious routine instead of a place of whorship.

Where is the whorship!? When I go there you are just going to one page to another with out even telling me where I should be in this “book” that I’ve never seen before by the way! There is this other book of hymms and even that has no direction… What is this and why does every body else seem to know what pages to go to but I don’t!?

I didn’t feel like I was in a chruch, it felt more like a temple with images and statues that people were kissing and bowing to! Some of the catholics there even got down on their knees to a statue of joseph (Mary’s husband).

Catholics seem to be like muslims - very religious but lacking in love and peace giving emotions!

And when do catholics even bother to go to protestants and try to convert them!? I’ll give you a big clue, never, that’s when!

Why is all the writings on the walls in a strange language!?

Why was jesus spelt as Jesvs? Why was Mary spelt as Maria? 🤷

Gasp… :snowing:

…and also I should mention that I’m not entirly bothered that there are books missing from my bible! There must obviously be good reason for that! So start on me about that issue!
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wctc.net/~mudndirt/Scripture%20in%20mass.htm
angelfire.com/ca3/rafaelmarie/ThePieta/athepieta.html
catholicforum.com/churches/cathteach/divinemercy1.htm
catholicfreeshipping.com/Products/cfs_gensym-154.html
our.homewithgod.com/divinemercy/
 
twopekinguys said:
I believe there is a thread started on this about the Deuterocannonical books. Some believe they weren’t divinely inspired while others do.
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Well, if they are not in my bible then I guess they don’t need to be there at all do they? 🤷

xxx zundrah xxx
 
First of all, it is always good to remember, the Catholic Church is FULL of sinners! 🙂 We aren’t exempt from being rude.

A couple of things. How big was the church you attended? Given that you didn’t even know it existed, it could be a very small parish. If that is the case, it could be that the same people are there all the time. Anyone outside that group could be seen as an outsider, including fellow Catholics! Believe it or not, there are some parishes that are very complacent and comfortable with their position and feel threatened when approached by an outside influence.

As to your point of evangelizing, that is the responsibility of all Catholics. However, not all are endowed with this gift. Like St. Francis is reported to have said, “Preach the Gospel always. Use words when necessary.” In other words, we are to LIVE the Gospel - not just speak it. The Catholic Church doesn’t impose itself on others. It exposes itself to all. It’s up to the individual, as moved by the Holy Spirit, to respond.

I strongly encourage you to find a parish where you can attend RCIA. The one you attended may not have the program. But that is the best way to understand the church’s teachings on Mass, liturgy, saints, prayers, etc. It’s way too much to try and cover all in this forum. Besides, the church is so rich in tradition and history that the best way to understand it is under the guidance of those who are best equipped to teach.

Reaching out to this forum is a great way to start. It appears to me that the Holy Spirit has called you to Christ already. He is still calling you to experience the fullness of Christ that can only be found in the Catholic Church. I pray that you have the courage and patience to respond!

Yours In Christ,

Jeff
 
headncloudz said:
I always find it interesting when people say, what does the Catholic church do for the lost sheep. Well, look at the hospitals, orphanages and missionaries around the world. Hmmm, I wonder if all those wonderful nuns are Catholic? 🙂 Seriously, there are so many giving things that the Catholic church and individual parishes and people do to help others, I could be here typing all day.
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