This might not even need to be said, but I’ll say it anyhow: there are some parishes that would understand welcoming/olive branch to mean seeking your conversion to RCism. (Maybe I should say “Be careful what you wish for.”
)And to that I’d say, “why would one need to convert to be welcome or does the olive branch need to be conversion”, honestly, that expresses my point.This might not even need to be said, but I’ll say it anyhow: there are some parishes that would understand welcoming/olive branch to mean seeking your conversion to RCism. (Maybe I should say “Be careful what you wish for.”
This is a particular example of the idea that education is indoctrination and indoctrination is bad. Education is in fact indoctrination but indoctrination is not bad. It is what everyone does and what any system, even yours would do.
Short of receiving communion, what needs to change in the Catholic mass that would make the outsider feel more welcomed. My husband is also not catholic, but when he attends mass with me I truly dont see how he is excluded. He participates in the same prayers, he hears the same readings, gives the same sign of peace that everyone else in the church is also participating in. After the mass he also welcomed to the same coffee hour that other catholic families are also participating in. This is a legitimate question, short of receiving communion…how are outsiders excluded from the Catholic mass?
I know that question isn’t for me, but from what I’ve read here and on another thread, I believe the complaint is about the people, not about the mass.
That’s a fair question, but you’d have to ask those parishes I guess.
I agree, both my husbands were converts. My first husband 6 years after we were married and one year before he died in an accident. When we had our 3rd baby baptized, he asked Father what he would have to do to become Catholic. He never felt excluded but he did want to join us in our faith so we would be a “whole family” as he put it. My second husband converted before our marriage. If anyone “feels” excluded in any way I think it is because they know they cannot receive Communion. Sometimes that is what draws them into the Faith, the desire to receive Our Lord. My sister-in-law is from Spain and when her family was visiting her and I was there, they could only speak Spanish. I could not understand them at all so I “felt” excluded. It wasn’t their fault and they were all very nice but unless my sister-in-law told me what they were saying I just sat there listening. Feeling excluded, does not mean you are getting a cold shoulder. Sometimes the situation isn’t the time or place for socializing, such as during Mass. God Bless. Memaw
Well, to start with the bolded, I was not. My wife and children are invited by name to our Parrish’s and past Parrish’s activities/events, but I am not. In the directory and in Church communication the names of non-Catholic “members” are asterisked to indicate such. IMHO, that is pretty exclusionary so I don’t feel welcome at the Church.
, but that’s the kind of person I am.Not even people, but some certain practices that I’ve experienced. Seems like they may be more specific to the Parrish my family goes to in the predominantly Catholic city I now live in. By my experiences laid out in the post above, some of those non-theological practices would be something that I would change.
When in your initial post you mentioned the Catholic Church service my mind went to the Catholic mass…it was my confusion and I apologize, that is why I replied about the catholic mass.
No, I don’t think that’s a sensible suggestion. Did you think it was, or were you trying to make some point? If so, it eludes me.
No worries. I think it’s more some of the opinions I’ve received that make me feel uneasy at Mass, more than the Mass itself.
No more so than decisions made by any other committee of education professionals answerable to the representatives of the electorate. And, incidentally, there should be women on the committee too.
I think that the majority of catholic families send their children to catholic school to supplement the catholic teachings that they are teaching their children at home. That is top on my list as to why I send my child to catholic school…to be immersed in our catholic culture and grow in our faith, otherwise I’d might as well send him to a public school. Your suggestions sound counterintuitive as to what Im deciding as a parent, what I want for my child.
Wow. I would not go to a parish that did that to any family (whether I knew the family or not).
Continuing my above thought, if this forum were a parish (if you’ll pardon me for bending reality a little bit) I wouldn’t go to it either.TBH, some of the comments I’ve read on here about/towards non-Catholics while I was lurking to do some research didn’t really give me warm and fuzzies about going to Mass either
Ya, it took me a year or two to figure that one out. We had a Parrish festival and the handful of us non-Catholics weren’t included in the bulleten where everyone else (even people that go to Mass 2-3 times a year) were included w/ a responsibility. That’s the same Parrish that gave all the non-Catholics the scarlet asterisk.
You could be right; but just for the record, I’ve attended a large number of PNCC masses – and a fair number of Orthodox liturgies, not to mention Anglican and Lutheran – and have never converted.
Why can’t you be part of it? I’ve seen many times during first communion where a parent appears to be either non-Catholic or unable to receive for some reason (can’t tell from where I sit). There doesn’t seem to be any attempt to exclude those parents/family members.Not even people, but some certain practices that I’ve experienced. Seems like they may be more specific to the Parrish my family goes to in the predominantly Catholic city I now live in. By my experiences laid out in the post above, some of those non-theological practices would be something that I would change.
TBH, some of the comments I’ve read on here about/towards non-Catholics while I was lurking to do some research didn’t really give me warm and fuzzies about going to Mass either
Honestly, this is a tough time right now as my oldest prepares for first communion next spring and I (and my family) can’t be a part of it.
I have little doubt that you are right about the motivation for sending children to Catholic schools. The difficulty I see is with what you describe as the desire for the child to “grow in our faith”. In my view, a child cannot have true faith until they are old enough to understand it properly. Children will have faith in many things, but it is blind faith until they are able to properly employ reason.