Practicing two faiths

[Deborah_Kloos]

I go to mass everyday at the Catholic church, but I also like attending the Church of the Nazarene, especially their bible studies and prayer groups. I love the people there at the Nazarene church because they are like a big family to me and they have taught me a lot about the bible. There are very few Catholic bible studies where I live, but I really want to study the scriptures, especially the Catholic books of the bible because it is important to have the word of God on our heart as well as the Eucharist. Are there any good books on the Catholic books of the bible? Is it acceptable for Catholics to attend nonCatholic churches if they hold the Catholic beliefs in their heart, but purely go for bible study and fellowship? I love the Catholic church because they are the first church and I love the traditional way we worship God using all our senses. Every colour means something. Every song is based on biblical scripture. Everything we do in our church has a special meaning and we have the gift of the Eucharist being the Body of Christ. I love kneeling and praying to God. It is beautiful and I don’t miss mass, but at the same time I love the genuine fellowship of the Nazarene church. They are like my family. If I am not at church the pastor calls me to make sure everything is okay. We have been at the pastor’s home for dinner and the church sends us personal cards on our anniversary, birthday, and other special occasions which really personalizes things. I love them. When I had surgery, women from the Nazarene church brought our family food. When I had a memorial service for my mother, the women of the church cooked food for a reception free of charge. I don’t know where I could have a more personal relationship with people than at the Nazarene church. I can’t choose between the two unique , beautiful ways of worshipping God so I attend both. My primary faith is Catholicism because I attend mass every day and no faith can replace the sacraments. I tithe at both churches. I look forward to going to both churches. The reason I started attending the Nazarene faith in the first place was that due to being sexually abused by a 65 y old priest at age 17, I became separated from the Catholic church because of mistrust. I renewed my faith to the Catholic church at the altar last year and have been dedicated, but I could not let go of my Nazarene church family because I missed the intimacy unique to the Nazarene church. It sounds confusing, but I do feel blessed for having two beautiful faiths. I am very dedicated.

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

Somebody will come along with the canons and the like later. My understanding: While you might attend a non-Catholic denomination for a Bible study here or there, you are not supposed to be tithing to the Nazarene church, and you must not receive any sacraments (sometimes called ordinances) in the Narazene church.

My experience with Nazarenes is that they are very anti-Catholic, but hey, you never know.

As far as your molestation when you were 17- I’m sorry that happened to you. Is the priest at your current parish the same priest who molested you? Have you been to confession or talked with your current parish priest about this, also discussing your two “churches”? He is certainly a good place to start. If you do not feel safe, bring along a non-Nazarene buddy or girlfriend when you do.

I have never heard of Catholic parishes or a rite within the Church called “Renewing Faith At the Altar”. Are you talking about a Profession of Faith? I’m not triyng to be snotty, just confused.

I know we Catholics are not always the best when it comes to fellowship, but maybe you are being called to introduce some of that into your parish.

 

[GerardP]

The main problem with non-Catholic bible study is two-fold.

First, they don’t have the authority to teach the Scriptures, while they may stumble onto a lot of useful and interesting tidbits. Odds are there are Catholic scholars who have plumbed deeper. Particularly the saints and Fathers and Doctors of the Church approved magisterially by the Church.

Second, the non-Catholics will more than likely miss an awful lot of the Catholic elements of the Bible. For example, so many types of Our Lady are present in the Old Testament.

This is an excellent book reprinted from TAN

Bishop Knecht’s Practical Commentary on the Scriptures.

tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/618/

Ultimately, you are enjoying the time of calm being in the eye of a storm.

Catholic truth will ultimately reveal a conflict in beliefs. You can’t morally hide the truth from people. Eventually, you will have to point out some doctrine or passage from Scripture that they are getting wrong.

One question: Would any of them be willing to pray a Rosary at your non-Catholic church? Or, do the Catholic elements have to be jettisoned for you to belong comfortably?

With regards to the crime committed against you, I suggest you read books or listen to recordings of Bishop Sheen on good and evil, suffering, forgiveness and the Church. Learning to distinguish between Holy Mother Church and the human and sometimes very evil men in charge of parts of the organization will be essential. I would also suggest the recorded interviews of Fr. Malachi Martin with Bernard Janzen in order to understand the corruption in parts of the Church without losing love for the Church.

 

[ABiii]

Power to you my friend.

I know that it isn’t exactly catholic to do so, but in regards to living a loving and healthy Christian experience, I personally find that you are happy.

It is also good to know about other Christian religions, not as to convert, but to get to know your own better, and to discern and judge for yourself the truth. Hopefully, it strengthens your Catholic faith.

I myself have been traumatized, as at my last confession, the priest started to ask wierd questions about my sex life that seemed to be to his interest… and I am not being paranoid. I have switched parishes since.

 

[belgianwaffles9]

I go to a protestant bible study every week at college. You’re right; they are nice people, and are sincerely trying very hard to follow jesus. Thats why its important for them to have someone to show them the truth. You should look at this as an oppurtunity to show them the Truth of Catholicism. You have to becareful at a Protestant bible study, because they hold fundamentally wrong beliefs about the bible from the very get-go.

I’d buy “Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic” by David B Currie and bring that with you every time you go, so that you are always ‘spirritually armed,’ so to speak. Its an amazing book. Not only will it protect you from unwittingly believing one of their untruths, but it will help you show them the correct way of doing things.

 

[marymonde]

Deborah,

The Church of the Nazarene is what Pope Benedict XVI talked about as not being “proper Church”.

timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2056515.ece

Bearing this in mind, it cannot have “proper worship” to Our Lord, since the Catholic Church is the only True and Proper Church where God is adored and worshipped as He deserves.

I know how difficult it is to meet nice people like you have met, but if you want to be a practicing Catholic it is a sin against faith to go to a protestant Church.

Lastly, Holy Mother Church always held catechism classes for the faithful, not just bible study. I have been to bible studies and there always ends up being an arguement as to how someone interprets scripture. The children’s Baltimore Catechism is a good place to read what Traditions the Church teaches AND where to locate those traditions in the bible. IMHO, this is the best course of action to take to get the proper meaning of what the bible is teaching. These catechisms are very inexpensive. You can find them at:

www.allcatholicbooks.com

God bless…

 

[marymonde]

I go to a protestant bible study every week at college. You’re right; they are nice people, and are sincerely trying very hard to follow jesus. .

I truly am not trying to be arguementive, but how sincerely can a protestant be, many who read the bible daily, if they read what Our Lord says and do not follow His teachings? I think Our Lord is very clear when He commands,

John6: 54 Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say unto you: Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. 55 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.

or

Luke 13: 3 No, I say to you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish.

or

James 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

The Truth is plainly in front of them, DAILY, and they reject it. I use to belong to 3 different prot assemblies and they relied heavily on St. Paul and didn’t really delve into the gospels too much. They reject penance, they reject the Holy Eucharist, they reject faith and works, etc. This is one thing that had me scratching me head with them all, they never could explain these verses. I knew something wasn’t right. Not to mention the fire and brimstone sermons AGAINST the Catholic Church.

Regards…

 

[belgianwaffles9]

I truly am not trying to be arguementive, but how sincerely can a protestant be, many who read the bible daily, if they read what Our Lord says and do not follow His teachings? I think Our Lord is very clear when He commands,

Somehow I don’t quite buy that you weren’t trying to be argumentative.

Honestly, your post made me laugh. You say protestants cant possibly be very sincere in trying to follow Jesus… But, if that were true,why would they be at bible study to begin with if they werent sincerely trying? And if no protestants are searching, faithfully and dilligently, how did YOU, a protestant, come to see the truth? Is every other protestant but you incapable of sincerely searching for Christ?

No man is an island; Protestants have been raised to believe certain things their entire life, and have been showed twisted and contorted biblical evidence to support those untruths. And unless someone goes to them and shows the the truth, most of them will never see the light. If they weren’t sincerely searching, there would be no conversions back to Catholicism. Your own life story proves you wrong.

 

[palmas85]

Somehow I don’t quite buy that you weren’t trying to be argumentative.

Honestly, your post made me laugh. You say protestants cant possibly be very sincere in trying to follow Jesus… But, if that were true,why would they be at bible study to begin with if they werent sincerely trying? And if no protestants are searching, faithfully and dilligently, how did YOU, a protestant, come to see the truth? Is every other protestant but you incapable of sincerely searching for Christ?

No man is an island; Protestants have been raised to believe certain things their entire life, and have been showed twisted and contorted biblical evidence to support those untruths. And unless someone goes to them and shows the the truth, most of them will never see the light. If they weren’t sincerely searching, there would be no conversions back to Catholicism. Your own life story proves you wrong.

Interesting. How do you show them the truth?

 

[belgianwaffles9]

Interesting. How do you show them the truth?

i can’t quite tell if you’re genuinely curious about how i share my catholic face, or if this is some sarcastic attack, and you doubt i do much of that at all. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you’re genuinely curious.

How do i show them the truth? Sometimes I remind them that this coming sunday (or whichever day, as it were) is an important feast day, and i explain its relevance to the Church, and what it means.

I once took the leader of the youth group upstairs and showed her how to pray a rosary, and what a scapular was.

Once, i asked if i could supply the music, instead of their banal guitar folk songs. They graciously allowed me to, and i played Allegri’s ‘Miserere’ from my computer and explained its history and the importance of Gregorian Chant.

I’ve also explained the importance of reading the Church Fathers and the deuterocanonical books, since many protestants love to talk about the ‘original Christianity’ or the ‘orignal greek,’ yet many of them don’t realize that the original was catholicism!

I remember one time when i had to say (quite a few times) “Holy Mary” ever time the leader said “Jesus’ mother.”

We’ve been studying the book of John, so i explained the Catholic symbolism at the beginning of that book. I explained the eucharistic foreshadowing when Jesus feeds the crowd with just a few loaves of bread and some fish. I explained how when Jesus speaks of being ‘born again’ he speaks of baptism and confirmation, not of being ‘born again’ the way evangelicals think of it. I’ve also explained how important it is to Catholics that Jesus is still physically with us, both because we as a Church are the body of Christ and due to his continued physical presence in the Eucharist.

And, very simply, I make the sign of the cross before and after our prayers, because they do not do that.

These are all simple things, yet highly effective. Most protestants, especially at this age, are sincerely trying to follow Christ. There’s no other reason college kids would give up one of their nights to show up and read the bible. Many of them are also extremely curious about Catholicism. For most of them, it was one of those ‘alien’ things that they never really came into contact with. They ask lots of questions, and even if they don’t quite believe everything i say in reply, there is always that ‘oh, then there is a real reason for that’ sort of moment.

Its slow work, requires lots of compassion and a willingness to wait. But thats the sort of evangelism we are all called to do. Our Church fathers were martyred for it, and its our cross to take up and carry.

• Andrew