sin to attend Protestant Sunday service?

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I agree with the Deacon here.
At some point you’ll have to man up and tell her the truth.
Tell her that what she has been taught about Catholics is, in fact, false.
She may not believe it because that’s all she knows. But tell her you have to account for your own soul, and you have chosen your path. Ask her if she still loves you.
You may be surprised. ***I’ll bet she says “of course”. ***
Good luck. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you the words.
If you lie about your conversion, or otherwise try to hide it, you will only reinforce whatever negativity they have about Catholicism. Like you are ashamed. No bueno. :nope:

Your faith should bring you joy. Not this.
 
7_Sorrows said:
May I ask what denomination she belongs to?
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A non-denominational Protestant church. From what I gather, a group of members from the old church (that I belonged to maybe 15 years ago) joined another existing church.

In her mind, she is doing a good thing by joining others in helping to grow the newer, smaller church. It’s church planting/sheep stealing depending on how you look at it. It’s a bit bizarre now that I’m Catholic…

They’re borrowing a church building from Seventh Day Adventists who don’t use the building on Sundays.
 
EIF5A said:
I haven’t told them I am Catholic yet. When I mentioned going to Mass, it was before I was Catholic “officially”.
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I am confused by your original post then? They don’t know you are STILL Catholic?
This post you say you haven’t told them you are Catholic yet. Could you give a little bit more background on your faith journey? Sometime the truth will have to come out.
 
EIF5A said:
A non-denominational Protestant church. From what I gather, a group of members from the old church (that I belonged to maybe 15 years ago) joined another existing church.

In her mind, she is doing a good thing by joining others in helping to grow the newer, smaller church. It’s church planting/sheep stealing depending on how you look at it. It’s a bit bizarre now that I’m Catholic…

They’re borrowing a church building from Seventh Day Adventists who don’t use the building on Sundays.
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I can understand that. I once joined a new Anglican parish after they broke
away from an Episcopal church. I felt like I was doing something good, but I also knew I couldn’t waste anytime being protestant and a month later I began my journey to be
Catholic. That was over 9 years ago!
So you think your mother might be ashamed to introduce you as Catholic or she is very
anti-Catholic?
 
7_Sorrows said:
I am confused by your original post then? They don’t know you are STILL Catholic?
This post you say you haven’t told them you are Catholic yet. Could you give a little bit more background on your faith journey? Sometime the truth will have to come out.
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Sorry for the confusion — I made a distinction between attending Mass before conversion (which is when I initially brought up the topic with my mother) and the time after conversion when it became “official” with confirmation/first Communion.

In my mind, even before Easter Vigil 2015, I was still Catholic, just “unofficially” and unable to partake in the Sacraments.

Long story short, I shouldn’t have said “still Catholic”, just “Catholic”, in the original post.

I do need to tell them at some point — but I’m hesitant to risk emotional damage until I know the situation is more stable.

Look, I get that people will judge me for being weak. If it only concerned my own welfare and well-being, I wouldn’t care. But it involves family and I can’t just brazenly act since even just saying I attended Catholic Mass made her psychologically distraught and unstable as if I abandoned her. It would be easier for her to stop talking to me or resent me – at least I’d know she’s still functional.

Sorry, I’m not a saint.
 
EIF5A said:
Sorry for the confusion — I made a distinction between attending Mass before conversion (which is when I initially brought up the topic with my mother) and the time after conversion when it became “official” with confirmation/first Communion.

In my mind, even before Easter Vigil 2015, I was still Catholic, just “unofficially” and unable to partake in the Sacraments.

Long story short, I shouldn’t have said “still Catholic”, just “Catholic”, in the original post.

I do need to tell them at some point — but I’m hesitant to risk emotional damage until I know the situation is more stable.

Look, I get that people will judge me for being weak. If it only concerned my own welfare and well-being, I wouldn’t care. But it involves family and I can’t just brazenly act since even just saying I attended Catholic Mass made her psychologically distraught and unstable as if I abandoned her. It would be easier for her to stop talking to me or resent me – at least I’d know she’s still functional.

Sorry, I’m not a saint.
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I understand you are concerned for your Mother’s emotional state, but you can tell her your shared faith in Jesus should bring you together.
 
7_Sorrows said:
I can understand that. I once joined a new Anglican parish after they broke
away from an Episcopal church. I felt like I was doing something good, but I also knew I couldn’t waste anytime being protestant and a month later I began my journey to be
Catholic. That was over 9 years ago!
So you think your mother might be ashamed to introduce you as Catholic or she is very
anti-Catholic?
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She has the usual Protestant bias against the Catholic Church. Maybe not as rabid as some people, but she said, “The Catholic Church…they have weird beliefs about Mary…”

But more than that, she thinks being Catholic would make me “depart” from the family, like I’m betraying them. She’s of the opinion that the family should have one faith…apparently, Catholics are not Christian enough…ironic. She was OK when I was attending Pentecostal church.

There’s a weird emotional thing going on beyond just theological differences.

(After the Catholic conversion thing, I’m going to have to tell them I’m gay…but that’s another matter…)
 
EIF5A said:
Sorry for the confusion — I made a distinction between attending Mass before conversion (which is when I initially brought up the topic with my mother) and the time after conversion when it became “official” with confirmation/first Communion.

In my mind, even before Easter Vigil 2015, I was still Catholic, just “unofficially” and unable to partake in the Sacraments.

Long story short, I shouldn’t have said “still Catholic”, just “Catholic”, in the original post.

I do need to tell them at some point — but I’m hesitant to risk emotional damage until I know the situation is more stable.

Look, I get that people will judge me for being weak. If it only concerned my own welfare and well-being, I wouldn’t care. But it involves family and I can’t just brazenly act since even just saying I attended Catholic Mass made her psychologically distraught and unstable as if I abandoned her. It would be easier for her to stop talking to me or resent me – at least I’d know she’s still functional.

Sorry, I’m not a saint.
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If your choice of faith makes her that unstable, maybe you shoudl take her to see a professional or a physician. She needs help rather than ignoring it.
Your eventual “sainthood” has nothing to do with it.
No one is judging either. People pull out the judgment card when they are defensive.
Pray about it. She needs help to sort out her emotions. As her son, you would be doing her a great service to see to her mental health.
 
7_Sorrows said:
I understand you are concerned for your Mother’s emotional state, but you can tell her your shared faith in Jesus should bring you together.
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My maternal grandmother was a convert to the Catholic Church. But my mother claims she renounced the Church before she died. Not sure if she’s making that up or not…I sure hope so… (She passed away long before I stepped into a Catholic parish.)
 
The issue is not really attending the service, but rather the reluctance to openly admit that you are Catholic.

It is one thing to be a Catholic that attends a non-Catholic service for family or ecumenical reasons,but it is quite another thing to lead others to believe that you have abandoned the Catholic faith in favor of another denomination. You don’t have to walk in an announce that you are Catholic, but at the same time it seems like you are trying to hide the fact unless asked point blank.

At best you are talking about a lie of omission, but it really is closer to the sin of prevarication (a sin against the Faith). A lie spoken even with the best of intentions is still a lie and must be accounted for before Christ. If you truly believe that the Catholic Church is the one established by the Lord then try to think how you will explain to Christ why you hid that from those closest to you at the judgement.
 
OP, it sounds like your mother is more manipulative than emotionally unstable. You keep defending her instead of sitting down with her and defending your faith. If, as you say, you are not afraid of hearing her yell, you should explain things to her, like why Catholics don’t have a weird thing about Mary, for instance.

As others have said, you can still attend her service with her, without participating, and you can reassure her that you will attend with your family.

But don’t make your Catholicism a secret, because that just sounds like you are denying the truth of your faith.
 
EIF5A said:
My maternal grandmother was a convert to the Catholic Church. But my mother claims she renounced the Church before she died. Not sure if she’s making that up or not…I sure hope so… (She passed away long before I stepped into a Catholic parish.)
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It is a difficult thing to be the first known converts to Catholicism from Protestantism in a family. I was that person in my family. (I later learned one of my cousins converted years ago. Her daughter & son-in-law were confirmed in the Catholic Church the same year I was but I didn’t know about until a couple of weeks before Easter that year.)

I also was a little afraid of the response I would get from family, fortunately it was mostly positive, especially from my immediate family. I can not imagine how it would be with a mother who has exhibited the kind of behavior you describe.

That being said, it is not a sin to attend a protestant service in the manner you describe as long as you fulfill the Sunday obligation and do not participate by taking communion. I would also avoid saying a creed or any other statement of faith but that is just me.
 
So long as you fulfill your obligation and do not take communion in that service of theirs you should be fin.

However, “ballistic conniption” not withstanding I hope you’ll not worry much about it and just live your faith without reservation of any kind. If you do not then it simply gives such people (regardless of who they are. :)) ammunition to seek to assert that our faith is lifeless and just makes her feel more justified in knocking your conversion. Walk it out in faith and joy and let the Holy Spirit handle everything else.

I’ll pray for you.
 
Can a mother forget her infant,
Be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget, I will never forget you.
 
EIF5A said:
Not in place of Catholic Mass of course.

I’m visiting my family in August, and I’m expected to attend their church on Sunday. They do not know I am still Catholic and would throw a ballistic conniption if they found out (mostly my mother).

If I attend Vigil Mass on Saturday, is it still sinful to attend Protestant ecclesial service on Sunday?
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Ignore the hostility here, and visit your parent’s church to avoid the hostility there if you wish.
 
EIF5A said:
Not in place of Catholic Mass of course.

I’m visiting my family in August, and I’m expected to attend their church on Sunday. They do not know I am still Catholic and would throw a ballistic conniption if they found out (mostly my mother).

If I attend Vigil Mass on Saturday, is it still sinful to attend Protestant ecclesial service on Sunday?
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Can you sleep late on Sunday and miss the family service? It would eliminate a lot of explaining. 🤷
 
No, it is NOT sinful to attend a protestant service, however, it WOULD be sinful if you were to receive their communion, so you should NOT receive their communion. Of course (as you yourself acknowledged) you still must attend a Catholic Mass either Saturday Evening or Sunday.
 
The sin would not that you would be attending a Protestant service, but the sin of omission. The Church has made reasonable permissions for you to attend-such as weddings, funerals, special events and ecumenical services. If you are not strong enough to stand up for your chosen faith…well, that is on you and not your mother or family. Remember that Peter denied Jesus three times because he was fearful of acknowledging his affiliation with Jesus. I can only think of the many Catholics that have died for their faith in the Middle East and the world over. Don’t be like Peter. Peace.
 
It’s been made abundantly clear asking this on an internet forum was a bad decision on my part.

But I did glean some lessons and observations. Something positive I guess.

(Is there a way for a moderator to delete this thread?)
 
Of course it’s positive.
You came looking for an answer, and you got one: no sin.
You also got advice (not aggressive either) to try your best to repair your relationship with your mother and tend to her personal issues as you have explained here.
Not helping her would be the sin. It never helps anyone to hide the truth.
All the best,
peace.
 
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