Yes, it really was awesome the way God worked it all out… My Catholic friend was a bit leary about coming as well and I don’t think she ever intended to speak up about being Catholic - I knew of course because I was the leader & got a profile on everyone in my “group.” During one of our first meetings together one woman in the group spoke up & asked for prayer for her neighbors. Someone asked if they were Christian & she replied, “NO, they are Catholic.” I thought… oh brother… this isn’t going well! I didn’t want to embarass the only Catholic in the group & I didn’t want it to turn into a bash Catholics free for all so I said nothing & changed the subject. (wimpy way out, I know) When I got home I called the Catholic woman to tell her how sorry I was that the comment was made. She was very understanding and we talked that day on the phone for like an hour about mothering & our common interests. Our friendship just sort of grew from there. She never pushed her faith on me… I was very curious as to what Catholics believed and although maybe initially I felt that I should be “leading her to the Lord” - it became so crystal clear to me that she had a deeper relationship with God than MOST Chrisitans I knew. Eventually she invited me to mass - introduced me to other Catholic women and just stood by me as I wrestled with “OMIGOSH Catholics are right but I sooooooooooo don’t want to BE ONE!!!” (A panic only another convert can appreciate) Oh, and this is the strangest thing… the woman in our group who asked for the prayer for her Catholic neighbors - she NEVER came to another MOPS meeting again. I sometimes wonder if God used her to get the ball rolling because I’m not sure that my friend & I would’ve become such good friends had I not had to phone her that day??? God works in mysterious ways.
CM
Try www.mops.org - look down on the left - there’s a search (click on local group) and type in your zip code.How does one find a MOPS group? They used to be advertised in the local paper when I lived in a small town outside Chicago, but now I live in a large urban area, and needless to say I don’t visit Protestant churches much anymore.
The MOPS group I went to was at a nondenomonational church and it was miserable for me, I tried to like it but it just felt very “wrong” to me. They were all very much into a program called “Growing kids God’s Way” which was not at all compatable with my parenting. Sure, some of it was ok, but it involved too much spanking with what they referred to as a “rod” and they held the concept that after punishing a child you must leave them in their room and allow them to feel abandoned because Jesus was abandoned on the Cross. This was what bugged me the most. It killed me to think that they all thought Jesus was forsaken by God, they looked quite puzzled when I talked about he Trinity and that Jesus couldn’t abandon Himself he could have gotten down and ended it all anytime he wanted but chose to stay for the ultimate sacrifice for us. I pointed out the Psalm Jesus was referring to and everything. They looked “suspicious” of the Catholic woman. I was constantly in a position where they were trying to convert me and had to defend the Catholic Church on many occasions. The all wanted me to take teh "growing kgw seminar and after going for a year, I realized that it was not enjoyable for me, it was more stressful than anything. I wish there were a “Catholic Friendly” MOPS group around here.
It would have been great if the ladies had listened to my explanations of my Catholic faith with an open mind. At first I was trying to look at it as a positive thing but it became quite defeating and I felt like all they wanted to do was gang up on me and convert me. I wish I had this great experience.
You hit the nail on the head, that was my experience with it, but maybe they are not all like that. At first I felt like it was positive and that maybe it was a good thing to “clear up” the misunderstandings, but after a year I realized it was not very positive or relaxing for me. It was more frustrating, and made worse that I started wondering if these ladies were saying these things to me, was there a possibility they could be (not with malice) undermining my children’s Catholic education while they were apart from me in their own classes.
It’s my understanding that Calvary is very anti-Catholic and the Baptists, well forget about it!
Now, looking back, I am glad that I learned some hard but valuable lessons. I invested alot of time in friendships with some of the ladies and had my heart broken (the story is in other posts) One of my friends in particular followed Growing Kids to a tee and even taught a class. I breastfed my newborns on command until they regulated themselves on whatever schedule worked for them. She was always giving me “helpful” advice (which I would ignore) and talked about how she used to intentionally put her babies to bed hungry so they could learn to fall asleep hungry. She had a discipline “flow chart” on her fridge and it said things for various levels of misbehavior like chastize, scold, abandon I can’t remember all of them but they were all these horrible sounding verbs! She also had her daughter potty trained at 14 months and her son by 17 months. All three of mine potty trained just before or right after their 3rd birthdays. She made it clear what she thought of this. I dont’ know how I managed to be friends with her for 3 years! (even after the MOPS fiasco. The worst part is that as a newcomer to the area I was trying to meet friends and so invested alot of time and effort.carol marie said:Peace-bwy,
Oh your experience with MOPS sounds horrible. I am familar with that Growing Kids God’s Way - I think it’s the WORST !!! They believe so rigidly (IMO) even to the extent that babies should be put on a strict breastfeeding schedule and if the baby is crying & hungry but it’s not “time” for it’s feeding - too bad.
You know, I was speaking from MY vantage point that MOPS was wonderful for ME because it’s what led me to the Catholic Church - but now that you mention it, my friend who was Catholic who shared her faith never came back after that first year. Maybe it was stressful for her as well? I don’t know… I never thought to ask her? At any rate, MOPS is supposed to be a fun, relaxing time and it so sounds like that wasn’t the case for you.
yeah, I had that vibe too
