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Faithdancer
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Interesting that closed communion keeps coming up. Every Anglican Church I’ve been to practices open communion for all baptized Christians. That’s a rather Christ-like approach, IMHO.
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GKC
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Are you familiar with the term “motley”?Interesting that closed communion keeps coming up. Every Anglican Church I’ve been to practices open communion for all baptized Christians. That’s a rather Christ-like approach, IMHO.
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Credo_in_Deum
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This may work for you, but it does not work for Catholics. Protestant Churches are places of false worship for Catholics.
Again, it is a sin against the First Commandment for a Catholic to go to/participate in, a Protestant service.
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Irishgal49
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The children will understand what you tell them. You can gently explain the differences before and after the service and invite questions. I think that’s a great idea. It’s good for children to see that there are differences. I sing, pray, and participate politely. Don’t let the screamers scare you off–your child probably has friends at the school and would like to know more about what the friends believe. It’s normal and freaking out and going all “cult” on the children doesn’t explain to them the theological differences and why things are done in certain ways by certain people.It’s perfectly okay to take your pre-school children to an Episcopal service if you don’t neglect your Sunday obligation to do so and don’t receive their communion. I’d only wonder if, at their age, they would be able to discern why we don’t worship with/like the Episcopalians. Is that kind of discussion at bit beyond them at their age? And you don’t want them thinking that if they like the Episcopal service better than Mass that it would be all right for them to skip Mass for it. We don’t judge truth by what pleases us, after all. Of course, only you can judge how your children would react and what the consequences might be.
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GKC
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Peter_J
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Nice to know that there are still good Catholics out there. (Pardon my sarcasm.
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Faithdancer
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On another point- I don’t see how anyone who professes the Trinity, declares that God is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient, worships Jesus Christ as God, believes in His Resurrection, etc- which just about all Protestants do- can be sinning against the First Commandment, but whatever…
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GKC
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Irishgal49
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I checked with a great friend and priest who is very orthodox in his beliefs and he said it was NOT a sin to attend a service simply as an instructional tool for your children. If you are church shopping or leaving the faith, that may be a different matter. Whacking people with “sins” is not our job…only an examination of conscience and a priest should be telling someone what’s a sin or not. That being said, go ahead and do it. My friend feels it would be a great way to explain why we are different and what we believe. He did say to abstain from receiving communion but after the service you can explain why we don’t take communion at Protestant churches.Nice to know that there are still good Catholics out there. (Pardon my sarcasm.
In real life we have friends of different faiths. Your children will attend weddings and funerals of other faiths and hopefully this will help them better understand what Catholics do and don’t believe. It also strengthens them against people trying to convert them. Also if they are in an Episcopal school they have, most likely, made friends and they should learn the differences in beliefs and be taught to be respectful and not rude and nasty. That way maybe they can positively influence others…they could also invite their friends to come to a Catholic Mass sometime. Who knows what seeds might be planted.
Be rest assured, if these are your true intentions, it’s NOT a sin to attend church for that reason. You may want to catch Mass on Saturday to fulfill your obligation and then go to an Episcopal service on Sunday as most I know have no services on Saturday.
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Della
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This is outdated information. One priest’s examination of conscience from the 1920’s is not the same thing as current canon law, after all. What may have been forbidden under the old canon law may be permissible under the new.
We may attend Protestant services with limitations. We cannot participate in their communion and we cannot miss Masses of obligation in order to attend Protestant services. Otherwise, it’s fine.
We also need to avoid indifference or the hint of indifference if we attend a Protestant service, and we cannot act or teach others to think is no difference. Catholics usually attend Protestant services for baptisms, weddings or funerals within their families. But visiting for the sake of education is all right. The Church has moved into a more ecumenical stance on participating in Protestant services, but this does not mean we are to neglect our own liturgies in favor of them.
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EvangelCatholic
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What is interesting is that Catholics make up the highest number of converts to the Episcopal Church, so I understand.
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Della
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If you are trying to say something here, I’m not following you. Many Protestant bodies have a large number of “former” Catholics. It only means there are a large number of uninformed Catholics or ones who simply don’t want to adhere to practicing the faith they were brought up to practice. Sounds like a need for better education for our Catholic young people rather than a preference for truly greener pastures, but that’s just my take on it.
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EvangelCatholic
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My guess is that some Catholics convert to Anglican over the issue of homosexuality.If you are trying to say something here, I’m not following you. Many Protestant bodies have a large number of “former” Catholics. It only means there are a large number of uninformed Catholics or ones who simply don’t want to adhere to practicing the faith they were brought up to practice. Sounds like a need for better education for our Catholic young people rather than a preference for truly greener pastures, but that’s just my take on it.
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Della
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That may be, and a few others I can think of, as well. That is up to them, but as I said, it’s often because they don’t want to practice Catholicism because it goes against what they want to believe/do.
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Butaperson
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When I was a kid, the denominations were very confusing to me. I remember we used to drive half an hour out to a Catholic church when there was a Presbyterian church literally down the street. I never understood why we didn’t just go to the Presbyterian church - to me, all churches were the same. I asked my dad once, and I think he explained to me that Protestantism isn’t the same as Catholicism, but I didn’t really get it. This was when I was 7 or 8 years old.
Now, I was very young, so I don’t remember if this was because nobody explained to me the difference between the churches very well, or if I just couldn’t understand the difference.
I think it’s ok to take them to the service for comparison purposes, but just be sure they understand just why you don’t go to that church regularly. When I was 14 (many years after my dad dropped off Catholicism), I began regularly attending that very Presbyterian church. I was pretty much a radical non-denominational - the way I saw it, a church was a church was a church. It was only by pretty much a miracle that I ended up back in the Catholic Church, and finally being able to understand exactly why I cannot participate and regularly attend that Presbyterian church.
It can be really confusing to kids. I think that depending on what your kids are like and the ways you are able to explain it, this can either be the experience that makes them see exactly what makes the Catholic Church distinct from all others, or it could blur the lines between the churches.
Now, I was very young, so I don’t remember if this was because nobody explained to me the difference between the churches very well, or if I just couldn’t understand the difference.
I think it’s ok to take them to the service for comparison purposes, but just be sure they understand just why you don’t go to that church regularly. When I was 14 (many years after my dad dropped off Catholicism), I began regularly attending that very Presbyterian church. I was pretty much a radical non-denominational - the way I saw it, a church was a church was a church. It was only by pretty much a miracle that I ended up back in the Catholic Church, and finally being able to understand exactly why I cannot participate and regularly attend that Presbyterian church.
It can be really confusing to kids. I think that depending on what your kids are like and the ways you are able to explain it, this can either be the experience that makes them see exactly what makes the Catholic Church distinct from all others, or it could blur the lines between the churches.
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seanman611
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I’m with you on your post until this paragraph. I have been to many churches in many dioceses and I have never seen an Episcopal Church that doesn’t reserve the Holy Eucharist in a tabernacle. Furthermore, I’ve never been to an Episcopal Church that doesn’t elevate the Body and Blood during consecration. I’ve also only seen unleavened bread and self-intinction is fairly rare and generally discouraged. I’m not saying that these things don’t happen in the Episcopal Church, however, I don’t see it as being most.
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Credo_in_Deum
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