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Guest
For the first time I had the experience of touring one of these non-denominational “mega-churches” I used to hear about back east. I had never seen one but had heard that the seating is like a movie-theater and that they sell coffee at concession stands. I wouldn’t have believed it, but I saw one a couple of weeks ago and was fascinated by it.
There is a gym with a full-blown YMCA-like program, a nursery about ten rooms large, and reception rooms like you find in a hotel. They open their programs to the public, and are very nice.
There is over a DOZEN senior pastors, not including all the assistants.
Now I want to say first that these generous people lent our group an entire wing to meet in for nothing. They have been very gracious to us. ( I don’t know if they realize that we are Catholic).
However, I was taken aback. This is a church? There was a Scripture verse written on the front, and a skinny little cross positioned somewhere on the premises. Other than that, there was not one religious image. (Just a campy mural of a cartoon Jesus playing with cartoon kids in the nursery.) The “sanctuary” is a gray and black auditorium with a full band on stage and a big screen. No altar, no candles, nothing that would indicate that this is a Christian church. I assume from the Protestant services I have attended that they mostly play music and listen to preaching.
I’m sorry, but even when I doubted my Catholic faith, I would have felt offended by such a thing. That is no church. It is a community center! Yet, from those who attend these types of churches, they love it, and feel it is their home.
I realize that all the trappings do not give us our salvation. One would think, however, that a “biblical” church would at least try to look like a synagoge But, I get the feeling that there is an effort to avoid religious imagery. It is all so sterile and utilitarian.
I am beginning to understand the idea behind the icons, the candles, the incense, all the beauty. If only they had all that, with the beautiful imagery and holy objects. I would have been in heaven. Why can’t we Catholics have that level of community with the rest of our traditions? It would be great.
There is a gym with a full-blown YMCA-like program, a nursery about ten rooms large, and reception rooms like you find in a hotel. They open their programs to the public, and are very nice.
There is over a DOZEN senior pastors, not including all the assistants.
Now I want to say first that these generous people lent our group an entire wing to meet in for nothing. They have been very gracious to us. ( I don’t know if they realize that we are Catholic).
However, I was taken aback. This is a church? There was a Scripture verse written on the front, and a skinny little cross positioned somewhere on the premises. Other than that, there was not one religious image. (Just a campy mural of a cartoon Jesus playing with cartoon kids in the nursery.) The “sanctuary” is a gray and black auditorium with a full band on stage and a big screen. No altar, no candles, nothing that would indicate that this is a Christian church. I assume from the Protestant services I have attended that they mostly play music and listen to preaching.
I’m sorry, but even when I doubted my Catholic faith, I would have felt offended by such a thing. That is no church. It is a community center! Yet, from those who attend these types of churches, they love it, and feel it is their home.
I realize that all the trappings do not give us our salvation. One would think, however, that a “biblical” church would at least try to look like a synagoge But, I get the feeling that there is an effort to avoid religious imagery. It is all so sterile and utilitarian.
I am beginning to understand the idea behind the icons, the candles, the incense, all the beauty. If only they had all that, with the beautiful imagery and holy objects. I would have been in heaven. Why can’t we Catholics have that level of community with the rest of our traditions? It would be great.
They laughed at that…and thought I was kidding!