The mormon church is the best social church there is. That is why people have good feelings when praying about it.

[excaliber]

People are asked to pray over the book of mormon and pay attention to there feelings.
It is not the BOOK that effects feelings, it is the INSTANT friends and social fun gatherings and thinking your wife is sealed to you forever etc…

The Catholic church has the history and tradition, there is no way around that which is why mormonism focuses on feelings.

 

[pianistclare]

 

[johnnyc176]

What the op is saying is that mormonism has to focus on something other than the Truth of which the fullness can only be found in the Church that Jesus Christ founded, the Catholic Church.

 

[PietroPaolo]

People are asked to pray over the book of mormon and pay attention to there feelings.
It is not the BOOK that effects feelings, it is the INSTANT friends and social fun gatherings and thinking your wife is sealed to you forever etc…

The Catholic church has the history and tradition, there is no way around that which is why mormonism focuses on feelings.

I agree with you 100%, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the Church adopt some of that “INSTANT friends and social fun gatherings.” Of course the whole sealing thing is false and couldn’t be adopted, but building (rebuilding) a Catholic subculture where faithful Catholics can become friends, have fun, and build each other up in Christ? Yeah, I’d take me some of that.

 

[Marie5890]

People are asked to pray over the book of mormon and pay attention to there feelings.
It is not the BOOK that effects feelings, it is the INSTANT friends and social fun gatherings and thinking your wife is sealed to you forever etc…

The Catholic church has the history and tradition, there is no way around that which is why mormonism focuses on feelings.

I wouldnt call it the best social church there is as they dont have the corner market on strong fellowshipping skills.

Many a Protestant megachurch is well known for it’s fellowshipping skills as well.

 

[zaffiroborant]

I wouldnt call it the best social church there is as they dont have the corner market on strong fellowshipping skills.

Many a Protestant megachurch is well known for it’s fellowshipping skills as well.

And these megachurches don’t require you participate to the extent the leadership dictates. I would go crazy as a member of the LDS church, I prefer to socialize on my on own terms, not those imposed by others. I detest the INSTANT friend thing, it is so false.

 

[WildCatholic]

I do think that in all honesty, Catholics kind of suck at fellowship. We’re getting better but we aren’t exactly the best at it. I honestly don’t know why but its not like fellowship is bad or anything. It just seems to me like Protestants and Mormons do it better. Maybe its because we don’t use our events to try and proselytize (which is what it is plain and simple. I remember being a part of Campus Crusade for Christ activities and it was always seen as like a way for me to get to join their church. I always joked with a few of them that I was just there for the fun and food.)

I think part of it is too that a lot of people keep their Catholicism private. For some reason we’re all about fitting in rather than being our own distinct culture. I mean in looking at Mormons its almost as if they are a separate society in a sense. Catholics need to go back to having their own culture and values rather than conforming to society which I feel has led us to have so many lukewarm Catholics.

 

[esieffe]

I am a little confused. I am not being sarcastic here, but my church has all manner of social activities and over 100 ministries.

We also have in the way of fun:

Bridge nights
KOC events
Taco Tuesdays
All sorts of sports activities and a gym
Fun events during virtually every holiday [In October, hay rides and corn maze events for example]
Holiday dinners for those who live by themselves and others
Retreats galore

I could go on.
I feel good after every mass. Our services are wonderful. Granted, I have visited other Catholic churches that were a little mundane, but that is true of any religion / denomination. Some folks do not have the luxury of multiple choices. I have to cross Parish boundaries to attend the church I go to now… but so does 50% of the congregation.

Who says the Catholic church is no fun?

www.transfiguration.com

 

[boomerang]

I had a friend years ago who left the Catholic Church and joined the Mormons because “They support me”, she said. She meant socially. I attended one of her functions at her church, and it’s true, they are very social. The Catholic Church could use a shot of that.

 

[Weejee]

I agree with you 100%, but I wouldn’t mind seeing the Church adopt some of that “INSTANT friends and social fun gatherings.” Of course the whole sealing thing is false and couldn’t be adopted, but building (rebuilding) a Catholic subculture where faithful Catholics can become friends, have fun, and build each other up in Christ? Yeah, I’d take me some of that.

So would I. If parishes built themselves up, there might be more solidarity so they could join up with other parish units, go out there and help the poor and evangelize to people.

 

[katy]

I will have to agree that the Catholic Church comes up short in reaching out to newcomers and strangers. It is puzzling why I’ve gone to several parishes before finding one where people are actually friendly.

 

[RebeccaJ]

Growing up LDS, I believed the tightknit Mormon community myth, but that facade crumbled when I was in my early teens. It works, as long as you maintain the mold that Mormonism puts you into. One size fits all. Or, you are non Mormon and are experiencing the over friendliness, as a means to pulling you from your Catholic faith.

 

[iepuras]

Growing up LDS, I believed the tightknit Mormon community myth, but that facade crumbled when I was in my early teens. It works, as long as you maintain the mold that Mormonism puts you into. One size fits all. Or, you are non Mormon and are experiencing the over friendliness, as a means to pulling you from your Catholic faith.

This ^^^

Mormon friendships tend to be superficial. Your friends are the people you work with in your callings. If your friend gets a new calling, you don’t go out of your way to socialize with them anymore. Also, if ward boundaries changes, friendships change.

I also never had many real friendships with Mormons because I didn’t fit the Mormon mold. I had some decent friendships when I was single because there were other women in my situation. But as some of us got married and moved away, the friendships went away too. As a married woman, I didn’t have real friendships in my ward because I was a working mom and didn’t fit the mold of a stay at home mom. No friends for me because I couldn’t meet at the park for the unofficial ward play group. When I left the LDS church, a couple of people tried to be friends with me, and we actually socialized with some couples in the ward for the first time (in 4 years). However, when it became clear that I was not coming back, these “friends” disappeared.

 

[Horton]

Growing up LDS, I believed the tightknit Mormon community myth, but that facade crumbled when I was in my early teens. It works, as long as you maintain the mold that Mormonism puts you into. One size fits all. Or, you are non Mormon and are experiencing the over friendliness, as a means to pulling you from your Catholic faith.

It is a myth. It only works IF you are a mild little lamb that never asks questions and keep your blind faith in the con men who run the LDS church. I’ve been a member of a large protestant church with a good social community and am now Catholic. Both parishes I’ve lived in have strong socialization & ministry opportunities.

I think the biggest difference in the issue of choice. Mormans have no choice in “joining” in the social activities & ministries. They are told their salvation is dependent on it. Christian churches allow members the choice to join.

 

[Brandall]

From my experience, Catholic Churches are not very friendly and it is a solvable problem. I have no background with the mormon church but I did grow up in a Baptist Church that was of a moderate size (certainly no mega church). If you went to church there on Sunday, you would probably meet 4-5 people before you got in the building and several more before you got to the sanctuary. It isn’t a false friendliness, these people really are that way. Maybe it’s a southern thing.

 

[WildCatholic]

This ^^^

Mormon friendships tend to be superficial. Your friends are the people you work with in your callings. If your friend gets a new calling, you don’t go out of your way to socialize with them anymore. Also, if ward boundaries changes, friendships change.

I also never had many real friendships with Mormons because I didn’t fit the Mormon mold. I had some decent friendships when I was single because there were other women in my situation. But as some of us got married and moved away, the friendships went away too. As a married woman, I didn’t have real friendships in my ward because I was a working mom and didn’t fit the mold of a stay at home mom. No friends for me because I couldn’t meet at the park for the unofficial ward play group. When I left the LDS church, a couple of people tried to be friends with me, and we actually socialized with some couples in the ward for the first time (in 4 years). However, when it became clear that I was not coming back, these “friends” disappeared.

Apply this statement to your evangelical churches as well. Other than a few people who truly respected me for my Catholic faith, a lot of folks I knew from Cru weren’t too good of friends after they found out I stayed in the church and actually am pretty involved in it. Not to dismiss these people’s intentions but I think they become “friends” in order to win someone to the church. To me that’s kind of a crummy way and missing the point of evangelization.

 

[excaliber]

They have a church just for singles. That alone is beyond anything I have seen ANY church do.

 

[JaminB123]

People are asked to pray over the book of mormon and pay attention to there feelings.
It is not the BOOK that effects feelings, it is the INSTANT friends and social fun gatherings and thinking your wife is sealed to you forever etc…

The Catholic church has the history and tradition, there is no way around that which is why mormonism focuses on feelings.

Good point. The BoM is really pretty bland and the only beautiful parts are those plagiarized from the King James Bible. But… the social network is impressive. My wife is Mormon and when she went through her surgery, we had Mormons stopping by every day for 2 weeks with dinner and other support. They really do reach out to those in need. My current Catholic church has a plethora of programs and an outreach program for those in need, but the LDS are definitely better at the social and support aspect.

If my only criteria for joining a church was quick friends, good feelings, and building a strong social network… the Mormons probably win. But I prefer truth over the con of Joseph Smith, so it’s really not an option.

 

[zaffiroborant]

Good point. The BoM is really pretty bland and the only beautiful parts are those plagiarized from the King James Bible. But… the social network is impressive. My wife is Mormon and when she went through her surgery, we had Mormons stopping by every day for 2 weeks with dinner and other support. They really do reach out to those in need. My current Catholic church has a plethora of programs and an outreach program for those in need, but the LDS are definitely better at the social and support aspect.

If my only criteria for joining a church was quick friends, good feelings, and building a strong social network… the Mormons probably win. But I prefer truth over the con of Joseph Smith, so it’s really not an option.

They are also good at controlling many aspects of their members lives that have nothing to do with church, for example telling a woman she is not allowed to form a book club. While I could understand a leader being reluctant to have members off on their own doing bible study, not that I’ve ever seen that discouraged by a Catholic priest, but I just don’t see that a bishop forbidding members to form hobby clubs is anything other than controlling and abusive.

 

[iepuras]

They have a church just for singles. That alone is beyond anything I have seen ANY church do.

From the outside it sounds good, but the singles wards are not all they are cracked up to be. With the exception of about 3 years, I attended an LDS singles ward from the time I started attending BYU at age 18 to age 30 when I (finally) got married.

Do you want to know how many boyfriends I had that I met in a singles ward? I had one for about 4 months during my time at BYU. I was the instigator of that relationship as he was quite passive. It didn’t last because I didn’t want to be with a man I could walk all over. Other than this boyfriend, I never was asked out or had any kind of positive male attention that was more than just friendship during my time at BYU.

After I graduated, I had all of two dates with LDS men in the 5 years I attended a singles ward and neither was due to the man being remotely interested in me. The first was a blind date because a friend from the singles ward had a friend who was coming to Houston for a formal dance and needed a date. My date came from College Station and I actually had a good time. I would have gone out with him again and even would have driven out to College Station if he was remotely interested, but he wasn’t. My other date was the result of my bishop telling one of the men to ask me out. He was pushing the men to have lots of first dates to get to know the women. So I had a date. I had a nice time, but that was it. LDS men in the singles wards I attended never found me attractive, or if they did, they never acted like it.

Compare this to all the positive male attention I received outside of the LDS church. I would have random men stop me at the grocery store to tell me how beautiful I am. (I do not think I am all that beautiful. I have really beautiful red hair, but that’s about all I really have going for me). I had male co-workers who were shocked that I never dated or had a boyfriend, especially given the fact that I attended a singles ward where the male/female ratio was 1:1. I even had an older man hit on me while in line to vote and ask if he could take me out sometime. (I declined because he was at least as old as my father and I didn’t want to date a man that much older than me). It was unfortunate that I limited my social life outside of work to the LDS church.

The funny thing is that I knew that if I attended pretty much any other church that had a young singles ministry, I probably would have dated quite a bit and found a husband in a relatively short period of time. For a long time, I was too obstinate of a Mormon woman to date anyone outside of the LDS church. I was fortunate to find the man who became my husband when I did.

I was not the only single woman in my singles ward who was dateless. It was pretty much the norm for most women, especially those who do not meet the mold of a good Mormon woman. I would say in a Mormon singles ward about 80% of the men pay attention to 20% of the women. It was rather depressing, and I had resigned myself to being a plural wife after death. It is soul crushing and I really feel bad for my friends who won’t date non-LDS men because they are holding out for their priesthood holder who can take them to the temple.