Outside looking in--how Protestants see Catholicism

[Della]

So many of our discussions of Catholics with Protestants and vice versa seem to consist of us talking past one another because our worldviews and assumptions are so very different.

When I was Episcopalian, I thought of the Catholic Church as an exotic mix of ethnic peoples doing funny things in their dark churches filled with a scramble of art and statues only they understood. It seemed stuffy and pretentious but somehow I was attracted to it, like one is attracted to seeing Tokyo or Paris, but with no desire to live there.

And when we left the Episcopal church for the Assemblies of God and I learned just how far off from biblical Christianity the Catholic Church supposedly was, I was simply appalled. I used to pray quite earnestly for the salvation of those poor enslaved Catholics.

Just so, I think a good many Protestants are like people looking in through windows of a very large house and seeing the various rooms decorated in ways they never would do and filled with people dressed in bright colors whom they would never otherwise meet.

They look in and judge what the people are talking about and what they think the people must believe from their impressions of their own lives lived in very plain houses with colorless walls and drab clothing. It appears ostentatious and mysterious to them so they decide it can’t be the way most are meant to live. Never once considering that they too might live in such opulence and glory.

I don’t really know where I’m going with this imagery, but I do know that Protestants and Catholics have such basic and different worldviews that when Protestants ask us Catholics questions from their worldview (which to them is the only right and proper one) and we answer from ours (which seems overly complicated and fussy, like Catholic art, to Protestants) our Protestant brethren feel like telling us, “Can’t you see how simple it all could be if only you gave up the extras you don’t really need?” And we feel like saying to them, “But can’t you see that you can have it all? All the glory, all the holiness and all the richness–that these things aren’t extras but are essentials for a truly deep and holy union with God?”

Does anyone understand what I mean or am I being too obscure?

 

[Egg4christ]

Della:

Just so, I think a good many Protestants are like people looking in through windows of a very large house and seeing the various rooms decorated in ways they never would do and filled with people dressed in bright colors whom they would never otherwise meet.

They look in and judge what the people are talking about and what they think the people must believe from their impressions of their own lives lived in very plain houses with colorless walls and drab clothing. It appears ostentatious and mysterious to them so they decide it can’t be the way most are meant to live. Never once considering that they too might live in such opulence and glory.

I don’t really know where I’m going with this imagery, but I do know that Protestants and Catholics have such basic and different worldviews that when Protestants ask us Catholics questions from their worldview (which to them is the only right and proper one) and we answer from ours (which seems overly complicated and fussy, like Catholic art, to Protestants) our Protestant brethren feel like telling us, “Can’t you see how simple it all could be if only you gave up the extras you don’t really need?” And we feel like saying to them, “But can’t you see that you can have it all? All the glory, all the holiness and all the richness–that these things aren’t extras but are essentials for a truly deep and holy union with God?”

Does anyone understand what I mean or am I being too obscure?

Well, thank you for describing protestants as having lives lived in very plain houses with colorless walls and drab clothing.
However long you may have spent in the Protetant faith, i believe you missed the mark. While i cannot speak for all Protestant denominations, i can firmly say that you have reversed the picture of my church.
Here’s my perspective of the same worldview you have just projected. I’m probably going to end up meaner than i’ve ever been on this board.
My church preaches an exciting life with christ. Communication with Him is not tied down to a priest. Miracles of life are not restricted to some 20 minute process of eucharist once a week. There are no ridiculous rituals to follow. Sin is not held on some sort of supposed scale, where one is more evil than another. God loves us all, and is hurt by all sin, and there is NOTHING that we can do to lessen that, aside from cling to the Son. There is no Pope, a supposed all seeing human being, for whom scripture shows no purpose.
Life is just that, real life. The pastors at my church are simply average people, as they themselves will tell you. The people who are leading our different ministries are the same; ordinary people used by God. Our church is growing rapidly not only in size, but we are also seeing rapid spiritual growth, people coming alive to the truth in Christ.
I would, in no way, refer to this as a dull life, missing color or change. On the contrary, that is how i see the Catholic Church

DISCLAIMER: i know, that i have said many offensive things. And, I know the standard rebutles of most Catholics. I’ve spent enough time on these boards, i have recieved answers to these questions. Yet i remain unsatisfied with your answers.
All this to say, you can try and set me straight, but i’ve probably already heard it, and i probably already know it. If you still feel a need, feel free to PM me, so as to respect the nature of this thread.

 

[Della]

Egg4christ:

Well, thank you for describing protestants as having lives lived in very plain houses with colorless walls and drab clothing.
However long you may have spent in the Protetant faith, i believe you missed the mark. While i cannot speak for all Protestant denominations, i can firmly say that you have reversed the picture of my church.
Here’s my perspective of the same worldview you have just projected. I’m probably going to end up meaner than i’ve ever been on this board.
My church preaches an exciting life with christ. Communication with Him is not tied down to a priest. Miracles of life are not restricted to some 20 minute process of eucharist once a week. There are no ridiculous rituals to follow. Sin is not held on some sort of supposed scale, where one is more evil than another. God loves us all, and is hurt by all sin, and there is NOTHING that we can do to lessen that, aside from cling to the Son. There is no Pope, a supposed all seeing human being, for whom scripture shows no purpose.
Life is just that, real life. The pastors at my church are simply average people, as they themselves will tell you. The people who are leading our different ministries are the same; ordinary people used by God. Our church is growing rapidly not only in size, but we are also seeing rapid spiritual growth, people coming alive to the truth in Christ.
I would, in no way, refer to this as a dull life, missing color or change. On the contrary, that is how i see the Catholic Church

DISCLAIMER: i know, that i have said many offensive things. And, I know the standard rebutles of most Catholics. I’ve spent enough time on these boards, i have recieved answers to these questions. Yet i remain unsatisfied with your answers.
All this to say, you can try and set me straight, but i’ve probably already heard it, and i probably already know it. If you still feel a need, feel free to PM me, so as to respect the nature of this thread.

I’m sorry you took offense, I meant none I assure you. What I meant by plain, colorless, and drab is that a good deal of Protestantism is faith without perceived “frillies.” Look at Protestant churches. Most are homages to bareness and simplicity. They reject all the things you mentioned and for the very reasons I described–because you don’t understand them and see them as excessive. I did not say that Protestants must become Catholics in order to know and love God. I only meant to point out that Protestants feel we can do that with half the fuss and almost none of the things left behind when the reformers rejected them. It’s the very reason we talk past one another, you see, which is my point. Apparently I pushed some buttons or put in red flag words for you which I didn’t intend. Please reread my post without any tinge of criticism, because none was meant.

 

[ProudArmyWife]

Egg4Christ, I think you proved her point. I believe what Della was trying to say is that from where each person sits, each religion seems obscure and we wonder why each does what they do because their ways are just odd and full of misconceptions(whether Protestant to Catholic, Protestant to Judiasm, Catholics to Protestant, etc.). The thread wonders what it is like to live “on the other side” that is so different from the world that one knows - then in an irony, one becomes living in that world that was once so obscure and odd.

Oh to be 17 again and know all about the world . Perhaps, Egg4Christ, you may see this irony someday like I and Della have.

 

[ProudArmyWife]

Oops - must have been typing the same time as Della.

Hi Della!

 

[Della]

ProudArmyWife:

Oops - must have been typing the same time as Della.

Hi Della!

Hi PAF! I’m glad you did! I didn’t describe what I was trying to say half so well or as succinctly as you did. Apparently I offended where I intended to open dialogue.

 

[mercygate]

Egg4christ:

My church preaches an exciting life with christ.

So does mine

Communication with Him is not tied down to a priest.

Neither is mine.

Miracles of life are not restricted to some 20 minute process of eucharist once a week.

Neither are ours.

There are no ridiculous rituals to follow.

We don’t have ridiculous rituals either.

Sin is not held on some sort of supposed scale, where one is more evil than another. God loves us all, and is hurt by all sin, and there is NOTHING that we can do to lessen that, aside from cling to the Son.

There are degrees of evil and sin; check the First Letter of John, chapter 5.

There is no Pope, a supposed all seeing human being, for whom scripture shows no purpose.

Well, you may have heard a lot of answers on these boards but you never heard a Catholic claim that the pope is “all seeing” and that Scripture holds no purpose for him or for the Church. You come perilously close to bearing false witness.

Life is just that, real life.

Catholics lead an artificial life? A false life? An “unreal” life?

The pastors at my church are simply average people, as they themselves will tell you.

Ours will say the sam. But our pastors have been called by Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit to participate in the Priesthood which only Christ fulfills.

The people who are leading our different ministries are the same; ordinary people used by God.

Some of our lay ministers are ordinary, but many of them are extraordinarily gifted and talented.

Our church is growing rapidly not only in size, but we are also seeing rapid spiritual growth, people coming alive to the truth in Christ.

God bless them.

I would, in no way, refer to this as a dull life, missing color or change. On the contrary, that is how i see the Catholic Church

Reminds me of something Hillaire Belloc once said: Critics of the Church are like men outside Chartres Cathedral on a dark night, trying to see the stained glass windows by candle light, and wondering why people say that these windows are so beautiful.

DISCLAIMER: i know, that i have said many offensive things.

We’re used to it.

And, I know the standard rebutles of most Catholics. I’ve spent enough time on these boards, i have recieved answers to these questions. Yet i remain unsatisfied with your answers.

Likely because you have failed to listen.

PM? You’re the one responding in public.

 

[Shiann]

Della:

So many of our discussions of Catholics with Protestants and vice versa seem to consist of us talking past one another because our worldviews and assumptions are so very different.

When I was Episcopalian, I thought of the Catholic Church as an exotic mix of ethnic peoples doing funny things in their dark churches filled with a scramble of art and statues only they understood. It seemed stuffy and pretentious but somehow I was attracted to it, like one is attracted to seeing Tokyo or Paris, but with no desire to live there.

And when we left the Episcopal church for the Assemblies of God and I learned just how far off from biblical Christianity the Catholic Church supposedly was, I was simply appalled. I used to pray quite earnestly for the salvation of those poor enslaved Catholics.

Just so, I think a good many Protestants are like people looking in through windows of a very large house and seeing the various rooms decorated in ways they never would do and filled with people dressed in bright colors whom they would never otherwise meet.

They look in and judge what the people are talking about and what they think the people must believe from their impressions of their own lives lived in very plain houses with colorless walls and drab clothing. It appears ostentatious and mysterious to them so they decide it can’t be the way most are meant to live. Never once considering that they too might live in such opulence and glory.

I don’t really know where I’m going with this imagery, but I do know that Protestants and Catholics have such basic and different worldviews that when Protestants ask us Catholics questions from their worldview (which to them is the only right and proper one) and we answer from ours (which seems overly complicated and fussy, like Catholic art, to Protestants) our Protestant brethren feel like telling us, “Can’t you see how simple it all could be if only you gave up the extras you don’t really need?” And we feel like saying to them, "But can’t you see that you can have it all? All the glory, all the holiness and all the richness–that these things aren’t extras but are essentials for a truly deep and holy union with God?"

Does anyone understand what I mean or am I being too obscure?

Della, This was a beautiful, and insightful post on the differences in perspectives.

Protestants see tremendous beauty in the simplicity of their church and personal relationship with God. And I think you conveyed that very well in your post.

I can’t tell you how many debates I’ve endured from non-Catholic christians on the ‘opulence’ of the Catholic Church. Many of them truly see it as foo-foo and frivolous or “pomp and circumstance”.

But those same people do not bat an eyelash when witnessing the beauty of other ceremonies- (ie military, higher education ceremonies, funeral or memorial) because they understand the meanings or can appreciate the gravity of the parts of the ceremonies. We all get goosebumps when we see the riderless horse at a funeral, or the lone jet flying away from the squadron at a memorial, or even the simple ceremonies involved with education graduation ceremonies. Protestants understand that these “rituals” are meant to convey much deeper meanings. It is surprising to me that they have a hard time with the same “rituals” in Catholic ceremonies.

Maybe this is the root of much of the confusion between our faiths. The simple misunderstanding of the breadth and depth which is the Catholic Faith…

:clapping:

 

[mercygate]

Here is Hillaire Belloc’s reflection on how the Catholic Church looks from the outside in and vice versa:

There wholly escapes you the character of the Catholic Church … You are like one examining the windows of Chartres from within by candle‑light but we have the sun shining through . . . . For what is the Catholic Church? It is that which replies, co‑ordinates, establishes. It is that within which is right order; outside the puerilities and the despairs. It is the possession of perspective in the survey of the world … Here alone is promise, and here alone is foundation. Those of us who boast so stable an endowment make no claim thereby to personal peace; we are not saved thereby alone … But we are of so glorious a company that we receive support, and have communion. The Mother of God is also our own. Our dead are with us. Even in these our earthly miseries we always hear the distant something of an eternal music, and smell a native air. There is a standard set for us whereto our whole selves respond, which is that of an inherited and endless life, quite full, in our own country. You may say, “all that is rhetoric.” You would be wrong, for it is rather vision, recognition, and testimony. But take it for rhetoric. Have you any such? Be it but rhetoric, whence does that stream flow? Or what reserve is that which can fill even such a man as myself with fire? Can your opinion (or doubt or gymnastics) do the same? I think not! One thing in this world is different from all others. It has a personality and a force. It is recognized and (when recognized) most violently hated or loved. It is the Catholic Church. Within that household the human spirit has roof and hearth. Outside it is the night.

 

[AquinasXVI]

Egg4Christ:

Who said that all of our communication is funneled exclusively via a priest? There are some modes of our faith that necessitate the clergy (like the Levites of the OT). But as far as communicating with God, we have meditative prayer, mental prayer, vocal prayers, petitions, mortifications, genuflections, kneelers, holy water fonts, the sign of the cross, pilgrimages, processions etc.etc. It’s a riot! And a happy one at that.

Liken this to our relationships with spouses, they tickle, talk, send messages, flowers, notes, hold hands etc. We believe that we can talk to God in all these various expressions that make our life with Christ evermore real for we do all these different things to express our gratitude and love for him throughout the day.

And when you become wide enough to embrace the universal church not only do you keep all that you have that is good, noble and true; you inherit a family (communion of saints and not yet saints) 2000 years of Christendom and most of all the Most Holy Eucharist-the body of Christ himself inside of your own body, your addition will all the more make it more glorious, AD MAJORAM DEI GLORIAM-for the greater glory of God.

in Christ

 

[Joseph_Bilodeau]

It would seem that our perceptions of our own respective Churches may not be so very different. The way you describe your view of your protestant church, while not identical, does have quite a lot in common with the way I see the Catholic Church.

Egg4christ:

…Here’s my perspective of the same worldview you have just projected… My church preaches an exciting life with christ…

As does mine.

Egg4christ:

…Communication with Him is not tied down to a priest…

Same here, although I would go farther and say that not only is communication with Christ not tied down to a priest, but that it is greatly enhanced by the ministry of our priests acting in persona Christi.

Egg4christ:

…Miracles of life are not restricted to some 20 minute process of eucharist once a week…

Same here. We have the opportunity to receive Jesus in the Eucharist daily, and to adore Him in the Blessed Sacrament for as much longer than twenty minutes as we please. Many Parishes have Perpetual Adoration, 24/7. And yes, we also experience miracles of life apart from Mass and the Eucharist. In the Catholic experience of the world, nearly everything can be sacramental.

Egg4christ:

…There are no ridiculous rituals to follow…

Neither in the Catholic Church, as our rituals are not ridiculous.

Egg4christ:

…Sin is not held on some sort of supposed scale, where one is more evil than another. God loves us all, and is hurt by all sin…

God certainly does love us and certainly is offended by all sin. We do, however, accept the Biblical teaching that: “There is such a thing as deadly sin… All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly.” (1 John 5:16, 17, excerpted.)

Egg4christ:

…there is NOTHING that we can do to lessen that, aside from cling to the Son…

Here is one place where I’m not quite sure we see things quite so similarily. We do indeed cling to the Son, but I wouldn’t quite say that there is nothing we can do beside this. God has given us many gifts and talents and expects us to use them. Faith without works is dead. On the other hand, perhaps this is also consistent with your view of your church, but we just express this differently.

Egg4christ:

…There is no Pope, a supposed all seeing human being, for whom scripture shows no purpose…

There is no pope in the Catholic Church that matches this description either. The Holy Father is indeed a human being. He is not all seeing. His purpose, simply put, is to carry out in the present day Christ’s instructions to Peter, “feed My sheep.” (John 21:15, etc.)

Egg4christ:

…Life is just that, real life…

It is difficult to disagree with an proposition that a thing is equal to itself.

Egg4christ:

…The pastors at my church are simply average people, as they themselves will tell you…

Our pastors would probably tell you much the same thing if you asked them.

Egg4christ:

…The people who are leading our different ministries are the same; ordinary people used by God…

Lay and religous men and women serving in non-ordained ministries in the Catholic Church are also ordinary people used by God.

Egg4christ:

…Our church is growing rapidly not only in size, but we are also seeing rapid spiritual growth, people coming alive to the truth in Christ…

Ditto.

Egg4christ:

…I would, in no way, refer to this as a dull life, missing color or change. On the contrary, that is how i see the Catholic Church…

I would not expect you to see your own church this way. As to your perception of the Catholic Church in this manner, if that is what you see, that is what you see. If I might be so bold as to make a suggestion, though, you have indicated that a previous poster’s outsider’s perception of your church is wrong as you know from your own lived experience. I will not dispute this, but I would ask you to honestly consider if your outsider’s perception of the Catholic Church might not also be an inaccurate assessment of the lived experiences of Catholics.

Egg4christ:

…DISCLAIMER: i know, that i have said many offensive things…

Not at all. You have spoken plainly and bluntly, but not discourteously.

 

[scylla]

I can see how the many non-Catholics can see Catholicism differently from how Catholics see it.

Some see a Pope who they are told has power over us

We see a man who we take into our families as a spiritual father

Some see quiet boring kneeling

We see deep contemplative prayer

Some see paintings, statues

We see reminders of people we love, like pictures of our family

I love the fervent, faith of my non-catholic Christian brothers, yet I wish I could share more and they would see more of the beauty of the Catholic Church.

God Bless
Scylla

 

[Egg4christ]

Della, i first apologize, i seem to have stolen the show from you.

Della:

I’m sorry you took offense, I meant none I assure you. What I meant by plain, colorless, and drab is that a good deal of Protestantism is faith without perceived “frillies.” Look at Protestant churches. Most are homages to bareness and simplicity. They reject all the things you mentioned and for the very reasons I described–because you don’t understand them and see them as excessive. I did not say that Protestants must become Catholics in order to know and love God. I only meant to point out that Protestants feel we can do that with half the fuss and almost none of the things left behind when the reformers rejected them. It’s the very reason we talk past one another, you see, which is my point. Apparently I pushed some buttons or put in red flag words for you which I didn’t intend. Please reread my post without any tinge of criticism, because none was meant.

I’m sorry, my first response was a little rushed. I suppose my biggest objection is that i’ve never seen protestantism as “Bare”, or even “simple”. Not that you meant either of these with bad conotations. I suppose this may be the split you were referring to.
In another sense, protestants see something else in the “frillies” of the Catholic faith. Many fear that these “rituals” may become God themselves. That a good catholic may be defined by their attendence at mass, rather than their heart with God.
Now, i know that when Catholicism works as it is designed, this doesn’t happen. Rituals are means by which we can bring ourselves to Jesus in humility, when it works properly. Unfortunatly, many protestants end up coming out of bad experiences where faith IS defined by these pracitces. Wether these ideas are started by a wayward priest or a confused family member, the fact remains. Many Catholics end up getting the whole idea wrong. Unfrotunately for you, those people become protestants, and then begin to wage war against the evil of the catholic church. In this they are completely justified, only that they do not see the up side of Catholicism.
I’m sure the same is true for Protestants. The ones that end up in the crazy church switch to Catholic, and then wage war against the crazy Protestants, painting with too wide a brush and not realizing that there are those who get it right.
I like that i see hope in your post. At a cetain level, it assumes that the only things that seperate us are more a matter of style rather than a matter of right or wrong (or i’m reading you wrong again… i blame my english teachers. )

Shiann:

But those same people do not bat an eyelash when witnessing the beauty of other ceremonies-** (ie military, higher education ceremonies, funeral or memorial) **because they understand the meanings or can appreciate the gravity of the parts of the ceremonies.

Ironically enough, i find most of those pointless too…

ProudArmyWife:

Oh to be 17 again and know all about the world . Perhaps, Egg4Christ, you may see this irony someday like I and Della have.

Yeah, i know. My parents tell me that teenagers think they know everything. I guess i kinda see it like an accent. I may know that i am like that, but at this point, i see very little i can do to change it. Kinda just gotta ride it out.

 

[TNT]

Della:

I’m sorry you took offense, I meant none I assure you. What I meant by plain, colorless, and drab is that a good deal of Protestantism is faith without perceived “frillies.” Look at Protestant churches. Most are homages to bareness and simplicity. They reject all the things you mentioned and for the very reasons I described–because you don’t understand them and see them as excessive. I did not say that Protestants must become Catholics in order to know and love God. I only meant to point out that Protestants feel we can do that with half the fuss and almost none of the things left behind when the reformers rejected them. It’s the very reason we talk past one another, you see, which is my point. Apparently I pushed some buttons or put in red flag words for you which I didn’t intend. Please reread my post without any tinge of criticism, because none was meant.

No problem. If EGG believes that a 10yr old stealing a dime from his Mom’s dresser, and Josef Stalin killing 18 or so million people, are the same gravity, what could you ever say to convince him? Nothing.
Nevertheless, hanging out on the biggest Catholic forum on earth is a little strange if not hopeful.
It couldn’t be for proselytizing.

 

[Egg4christ]

TNT:

No problem. If EGG believes that a 10yr old stealing a dime from his Mom’s dresser, and Josef Stalin killing 18 or so million people, are the same gravity, what could you ever say to convince him? Nothing.
Nevertheless, hanging out on the biggest Catholic forum on earth is a little strange if not hopeful.
It couldn’t be for proselytizing.

Don’t get your hopes up TNT. But thanks for the consideration.

 

[mercygate]

Egg4christ:

Unfrotunately for you, those people become protestants, and then begin to wage war against the evil of the catholic church. In this they are completely justified, only that they do not see the up side of Catholicism.

The way I see this happening is that they leave the Church before they know anything other than their personal misconceptions and then they persist in them. They end up in places that reinforce and reward their anti-Catholicism and it grows and hardens. At some point I sincerely believe that they bear a certain culpability for persisting in bearing false witness.

I’m sure the same is true for Protestants. The ones that end up in the crazy church switch to Catholic, and then wage war against the crazy Protestants, painting with too wide a brush and not realizing that there are those who get it right.

Actually, I have not found this to be the case. Most Protestants, or even LDS’, JWs, and SDAs, who come to the Church cherish what was good in their past. They might rant a bit about the actual theology of their former denominations but they find that they have stepped into a bigger house and much of what they learned, loved and knew as Protestants can be retained. These Converts struggle with theology and are drawn to the Catholic Church for deep theological and spiritual reasons rather than because they didn’t like their pastor or their denomination took a distasteful turn.

I certainly brought everything good about my Protestant past into the Church – except that in the final stage of my journey, as a High Church Anglican, I DID have to leave behind much musical and liturgical beauty that originated in the Catholic Church but has been temporarily put in the attic by the Catholic Church in America.

 

[Shlemele]

TNT:

No problem. If EGG believes that a 10yr old stealing a dime from his Mom’s dresser, and Josef Stalin killing 18 or so million people, are the same gravity, what could you ever say to convince him? Nothing.
Nevertheless, hanging out on the biggest Catholic forum on earth is a little strange if not hopeful.
It couldn’t be for proselytizing.

I think maybe a better way to think about this is that to God is to sin as water is to oil; you may have one drop of it or a million gallons, the two just don’t mix. That is they can’t co-exist (hence the Catholic reasoning behind purgatory) thus in our eyes one is indeed worse than the other, however in both cases we need the blood of christ to forgive and bring us to the father. In the end Jesus died fpr the little Timmys and the Stalins of the world.

I hope that makes sense, sometimes I think we get hung up on the translation even though we understand the same truths.

 

[Shlemele]

mercygate:

I DID have to leave behind much musical and liturgical beauty that originated in the Catholic Church but has been temporarily put in the attic by the Catholic Church in America.

I was in choir for years (even sang and Ave Maria in St. Marks cathedral in Venice, that was quite an experiance!) and let me tell you the rich choral tradition of the Catholic church is powerfull. As we sang I felt the history and faith held in the Cathedral and got goosebumps! In all honsety that was about as close to the RC church as I ever felt.

 

[mellysue]

About simplicity and opulence…
Many protestants are simply ignorant of what Catholic church is like. I’m protestant, was raised Southern Baptist, but I have attended many masses. (Is that the right way to say it?)
Protestants simply don’t know anything about Catholism and they ‘fear’ the unknown. I really wish the two religions could find all the things they agree on. We really have more in common than you would think. And from what I have found… we agree on all the major issues… It’s not like we are worshipping different gods or anything. For some reason Catholics and Muslims seem to get along better than Catholics and Protestants. That’s just stupid.

Anyway… since I have attended mass many times. My favorite is Good Friday. My husband was a music minister at our church and his family is Catholic. We attended Good Friday mass one year and he (and I) were awed by the awesome symbolism that the mass portrayed. (The one candle representing Christ, etc…)
He loved it so much he incorporated it into our church service one Easter Sunday. We had a candle-light service. It was beautiful.

I like a little ritual from time to time. I think too much ritual and no relationship is stale religion, but no ritual is overgrown emotion. Too many times I’ve Catholics sit on one side, while Protestants sit on the other.

 

[Semper_Fi_1]

mellysue:

About simplicity and opulence…
Many protestants are simply ignorant of what Catholic church is like. I’m protestant, was raised Southern Baptist, but I have attended many masses. (Is that the right way to say it?)
Protestants simply don’t know anything about Catholism and they ‘fear’ the unknown. I really wish the two religions could find all the things they agree on. We really have more in common than you would think. And from what I have found… we agree on all the major issues… It’s not like we are worshipping different gods or anything. For some reason Catholics and Muslims seem to get along better than Catholics and Protestants. That’s just stupid.

Anyway… since I have attended mass many times. My favorite is Good Friday. My husband was a music minister at our church and his family is Catholic. We attended Good Friday mass one year and he (and I) were awed by the awesome symbolism that the mass portrayed. (The one candle representing Christ, etc…)
He loved it so much he incorporated it into our church service one Easter Sunday. We had a candle-light service. It was beautiful.

I like a little ritual from time to time. I think too much ritual and no relationship is stale religion, but no ritual is overgrown emotion. Too many times I’ve Catholics sit on one side, while Protestants sit on the other.

Hi mellysue,

We don’t belong to different religions, just different denominations. Well, I might even nit pick and say that the Catholic Church isn’t a denomination, but yours is since a denomination has to split apart from something… but we won’t go there

Anyway, awesome story.

God bless.