Question about a tshirt

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Little_Katie

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I live on a military base overseas. Because of this I can’t practically attend an off base catholic church (language barrier). While our chapel does have a catholic mass, all other events and groups are “non denominational”. There is a CWOC (Catholic Women of the Chapel) and a PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) though…

I run CWOC, and right now our group is VERY inactive. I just can’t trigger any interest in the community. The women don’t seem to want to do anything outside mass on sunday. It’s just a dry community I think. But on the chance that I have not been doing a good job running it I started attending PWOC meetings to get ideas for CWOC.

Long story short- I ended up really connecting w/ a lot of the women in the group and because they keep it very generalized and non denominational and because I consider myself very well catechized I started attending the group not just for organizational purposes but as an active member. And it was always clear to the other women that my Catholic faith is important to me and that I am not a protestant. There are actually quite a few Catholic women in the group and I tried to get them to switch over to CWOC or attend both like I had been doing… but they didn’t seem interested because they already had a group they were close to and one was more than they already had time for.

And I think that is the main reason why I can’t get CWOC running… because the few women who would join are already active in PWOC.

Anyway I haven’t given up, but in the mean time I am still attending the PWOC meetings because I really have no other means to make friends over here (unless I want to go clubbing… and I don’t).

The question I have is…

I recently was given a PWOC t shirt. It’s a cute shirt, but I’m not sure if it’s entirely appropriate for me to wear. In a way I feel like the shirt labels me as a protestant when I am not… but then again it is just a shirt and doesn’t actually say “protestant” on it anywhere.

Just wanted your opinions…

I know it’s a pretty dumb question but it’s actually bugging me!
 
Hmmm that’s a tough situation… Personally, I wouldn’t wear the shirt, though. Do the other Catholics in the group wear the shirt?

Honestly, it seems a little isolating to have these broken up groups - why not just combine them and have a *CHRISTIAN *Women of the Chapel group? Or just a Women of the Chapel group? 🤷 I’m sure it’s a nice forum to exchange ideas on faith, and maybe even a way to bring positive images of Catholicism to those who may not fully understand - EVANGELIZE by just being yourself! 👍 Bring your Catechism along to bible studies, etc!

But I wouldn’t wear the shirt if it had the “P” on there…
 
A question from a non-military person… Is one automatically a member of these groups by nature of one’s Faith? Or do you have to formally join? Or do only leaders formally join and anyone else just attends when they feel like it?

Perhaps you need to make up some of your own t-shirts for CWOC. Maybe you could make up t-shirts for your military base and have both groups mentioned?
 
Em_in_FL said:
Hmmm that’s a tough situation… Personally, I wouldn’t wear the shirt, though. Do the other Catholics in the group wear the shirt?

Honestly, it seems a little isolating to have these broken up groups - why not just combine them and have a *CHRISTIAN *Women of the Chapel group? Or just a Women of the Chapel group? 🤷 I’m sure it’s a nice forum to exchange ideas on faith, and maybe even a way to bring positive images of Catholicism to those who may not fully understand - EVANGELIZE by just being yourself! 👍 Bring your Catechism along to bible studies, etc!

But I wouldn’t wear the shirt if it had the “P” on there…
Click to expand...
I completely agree. I think having seperated groups creates a sense of aggression between the catholics and protestants here. I think it is good to have a Catholic group that will do lessons and talks on specifically Catholic issues, but from what I have seen the protestant group (because it entails ALL protestant denominations) stays very generalized and could easily fit Catholic women as well. And the other ladies almost always ask me “what’s the catholic take” whenever we go over quesions in a bible study. They seem truely eager to make me feel welcome even though I am not protestant. They are very nice women.

I think I am not going to wear the shirt though. I really don’t like labeling myself as a protestant… it’s kind of like false advertising!
 
How about starting a Christian Prayer Group where you gather to pray an Our Father each day?
 
I wouldn’t wear the tshirt…You say you are overseas, do any of the churches off the base have Mass in english?, my church has a Spanish Mass once every Sunday, just wondering…
 
I do like the idea of combining the groups into a Christian Women’s group and then maybe creating a new shirt that would be appropriate for both. Even if you can’t combine the groups right away, perhaps you can plan 1 or 2 joint activities and be sure to personally reach out to any other Catholic women who do not usually attend the protestant group.

I wouldn’t wear the shirt. Give it to charity or to one of the protestant women who doesn’t have one.
 
You are setting the example for the Catholic women that there really is no difference between Catholic and Protestant, and that if they are having more fun with the Protestants that’s cool, just go there. So why would they want to leave? You have shown them by your own example that they don’t need a Catholic group.

Make your own cute shirts. Plan some events. Schedule a night to watch a good training video like something from Saint Michael’s Media and have a discussion about it. A friend of mine works for Chrysler and went through this exact problem at work with the Protestant group who pretty much said he was not a Christian - he started a Catholic Bible Study using these videos and his group is booming!!

People are lazy - they are going to take the easy road if there is no incentive for them to go elsewhere. GIVE them the incentive to have the desire to learn more about their Faith! They are NOT getting that hanging out with a Protestant group - all they are getting there is an opportunity to be social. They can do that at the bar.

YOU are the leader of this group - then lead it!! And wearing a Protestant shirt, regardless of the situation, is never ever appropriate for a Catholic. Wear a Catholic shirt for goodness sake!

EDIT: You can read about Tim’s efforts to promote his Faith here: Click To Read Me

~Liza
 
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