To all Roman Catholics in exile

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I agree with you very strongly… Judas betrayed Jesus…I am thankful that the other apostles did not leave. Instead they all gave their lives totally to the Lord.
 
I think you are being unfair to assume Jesus’ presence is not at Protestant services, especially if you’ve never attended one. As you probably know, not all Protestants and Protestant churches are the same, but I have attended a few Catholic Masses in my day and a multitude of evangelical/liturgical Protestant services and I felt Our Lord’s presence at each, although perhaps manifested a little differently. I’m not saying there aren’t real differences in certain beliefs/dogmas, but to say Jesus’ presence is not in Anglican, or in my case — a conservative Methodist congregation, is an unfair and prejudiced way to look at things, in my opinion. If your viewpoint is typical of Catholics on CAF, I will no longer participate on CAF or entertain Catholicism any longer because I thought I was having a dialogue with Catholic Christians who consider me a fellow Christian, not someone who thinks that Jesus’s presence doesn’t even manifest itself at my worship service.
 
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I’ve been struggling. I realize Christ founded the Church, but humans have destroyed it. I know that there are good priests, but the Church seems determined to turn more blind eyes on the evil.
 
I didn’t respond earlier because the title of the thread confused me. I assumed the thread was aimed at Catholics who for some reason cannot attend Catholic Mass.

I was baptised, raised and schooled Catholic, but I never really believed what the Church taught. It was literally all I knew, but I thought it was like Aesop’s fables or fairy tales, stories meant to teach a lesson or moral. I was shocked when I was about 8 and heard my mother and eldest sister (15 years older than me) discussing the faith as if they believed it.

I said, “You don’t actually believe that do you?” and they basically went wacko on me because I did not. So I didn’t say much more about my personal beliefs and lack of Catholic beliefs until it came time for confirmation prep. The teachers repeated over and over that it was very important that we NOT receive the Sacrament unless we were dead sure we believed and were willing to die for our faith. I said I was not and did not believe…but no one took me seriously and they said I had to participate etc. I suspect that was because my family was kind of prominent and my mom worked for the Catholic School etc, so it was like…don’t cause any problems. Do what you’re told.

I was not going to get married in the Church and told the priest I was not going to raise my kids Catholic because I did not believe the faith, he said make your mother happy, sign the paper saying you’ll raise the kids Catholic and get married in the Church. So I figured if he didn’t care I wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it.

I did not have my three children baptized. I am a very religious person (I am grateful to have been raised in a faith and learned the importance and beauty of having one) I am a pantheist and follow a calendar that includes various holy days and seasons of spiritual emphasis.

All five of my siblings remained in the Catholic Faith. I don’t want people blaming my parents for doing a poor job, or the school etc. I simply never believed.
 
We’re a small Anglican parish. The sacrament of the Eucharist is offered, on average, 4 times a week, more on occasion as required, presenting the Body and Blood of our Lord to the faithful.

Readers opinions on parts of this may vary.

I may have said this above.
 
I left the Roman Catholic Church in 2013, when I was received into a small mission church affiliated with the Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod. I was involved in a godless marriage and I was drifting from place to place, a very small distance away from despairing of any faith at all. I moved down to Florida and tried to get involved in the Catholic Church down there, yet I wasn’t able to grasp the faith that once burned very brightly in me, indeed.

I wanted to include my wife ( at the time) in my journey, so we together attended first a Presbyterian Church ( USA) congregation and later a Presbyterian Church in America congregation. We found very cool receptions in both congregations, but I wanted to see if my wife’s childhood faith might be compatible for both of us. I began to pray to God to put me in a church where I could do His people the most good. That was certainly an upside- down type prayer, as the church God led me to was the church that literally saved my life after my marriage disintegrated.

I prayed between the Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod and in way of answer, I discovered that Hope Lutheran Church ( LCMS) in Jacksonville was the closest to the condo I was living in at the time. I was very quickly assimilated into the life of the parish and early in 2013, I was received into the LCMS.

There are times when I miss the Catholic Church, but I get a lot more out of Confessional Lutheranism than I ever got out of the Catholic Church. I still have the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist and Holy Absolution declared to me after Private Confession. I also feel embraced as part of a living, vibrant community. Jacksonville or Manassas, the Church remains consistent in her teachings and I rejoice in that God has led me to such a vibrant part of His Church.
 
At my Methodist church, holy communion is offered weekly at the early service, and about twice a month at the other two services. We believe that Jesus is present at our services even when communion is not offered. He is present is the singing of hymns, the genuine love shown to one another and strangers in and out of the church setting, in the adult fellowship classes, and in the sermon by the pastor.

We believe in Matthew 18:20, which says, "For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
 
GKMotley said:
We’re a small Anglican parish. The sacrament of the Eucharist is offered, on average, 4 times a week, more on occasion as required, presenting the Body and Blood of our Lord to the faithful.

Readers opinions on parts of this may vary.

I may have said this above.
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And you’ll likely keep saying it, when you go really, above.
 
Tommy999 said:
I thought I was having a dialogue with Catholic Christians who consider me a fellow Christian, not someone who thinks that Jesus’s presence doesn’t even manifest itself at my worship service.
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There most certainly are Catholics on CAF who consider you a fellow Christian, with Christ present whenever you gather! Keep in mind RCs are stressed out lately. Part of this is our own fault, much of this a concentrated attack by the forces of secularism. There is no doubt who is in their bullseye.
 
Anglican and Episcopalian are the same thing, I believe. Just opposite sides of the pond?
 
I made that mistake a year ago till Motley straightened me out.
After the Anglicans opened a new church in my US hometown competing with the Episcopalian church that had been there forever, I did some research and it’s apparently not the same thing any more.
 
@Tommy999, of course, you’re a Christian! My mother (before she converted and became Catholic) and her late mother were both Methodists. And both definitely Christians.

The only thing I’m aware of that separates us as brethren are our beliefs about Communion. Catholics believe that we truly receive Jesus Himself in the Eucharist (Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity). Do Methodists believe this also? Or do you believe that what you receive is a symbol of remembrance only?

When Mama was a Methodist, she said Communion was given once a month. And while she believed Jesus was present with them in the church, He wasn’t literally in the bread and didn’t become the bread. Their Communion was “symbol only.” Has that changed over the years?

Thank you in advance for your response.
 
I see I’m making progress, but that’s a common error, there. Crue, I mean. When I first began to use the phrase, motley crew, I invariably got corrected to “crue” and often got pics of some poorly coiffed and massively unattractive somethings. No idea why.

Onward.

In the context used in the question above, it is more accurate to say that Anglican would be the genus and Episcopalian the species. And even that is subject to qualification. As used above, I take the attempt to be to distinguish the Church of England, across the water, from the United States based Episcopal Church, one being denominated Anglican and the other Episcopalian. Passing over some nit picks, one could say that both are Anglican, and both are episcopalian, one referring to the historical genesis, of the general breed, the other to the ecclesiastical polity both employ. What I think was being attempted was to point out that Anglican would be the word for the CoE, and Episcopalian for the sort of thing the CoE is, in the US. In that “Anglican” is etymologically grounded in England, yes. But in that the term is more broadly applied, no.

Anglican is a term for those Churches that trace back to Henry and his dust-up in the 1530s., wherever they may be found. Episcopalian is the term for the polity employed by Anglicans, and in some cases, as in the US, as the name of a specific Anglican Church. Not all Anglican Churches in the US are part of the Episcopal Church. Some are properly called Anglican, in the generic sense, ne’er the less. So, some Anglicans on this side of the pond are properly called by the specific name of Episcopalian, and some eschew that, for proper reasons, and are called Anglican. I’m one such.

We will pass over the Communion/Continuum distinction. I seem to be veering toward the verbose. I thank you for your attention.

Motley. The crew is motley.
 
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No. For many reasons, it isn’t the same thing any more. Though parts of it are more like the same thing than other parts.
 
But so it is. OTOH, you may call the (analogous) Church of Scotland “Episcopal” and confuse the brethren on this side of the pond.
 
If a guitar, other than a 12 string acoustic, for classical concerts, appears in our parish, it will never see the light of day again.

Further, deponent sayeth not.
 
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