P
pristine2
Guest
Despite my best efforts over the past 18 months or so, I’m still not Catholic, nor are my children, and after tonight I suppose we may never be.
We live in Hong Kong, in a small village in the mountains. We aren’t Chinese. I’m American, my wife is Indian. My eight-year-old son has tuberous sclerosis complex, a congenital disease that affects development. His six-year old sister is a normal, healthy child. We’ve been attending Catholic Church on Sunday mornings since Dec 2010. My wife does not object, but neither does she wish to attend.
There are Sunday school classes for the kids, although these are irregular. Sometimes the teacher does not appear for weeks. But when the classes happen, the children enjoy them. The routine is very nice. The school lets out about halfway through the mass. When the children come in, they are invited to come up to the front to hold hands and recite the Lord’s prayer.
Early last year I emailed the Church to ask them about bringing my family into the Catholic Church. I was told I first need to convert myself, and to do that I should attend the "Alpha’ classes. I’d just missed the classes, though, and would have to wait until September. In August I emailed again, and was told they had not found anyone to teach the classes, but they would start in February. Alas, when I contacted the church in February, I was told the classes had begun in September after all.
So last Sunday I approached a man who had been friendly with the children and me, and asked him if there might be some other way to start bringing my family more formally into the Catholic community. He suggested that I bring the children to Saturday evening mass. It is was smaller and cozier, he said, with more westerners, and easier to meet people who might be interested in sponsoring us.
So I brought the children to church this evening, It was crowded. First there were some baptisms. Then the woman at the podium said “will the children please come up to the front with their sponsors”. I figured this was like the Sunday ritual, and the children would stand in the front near the priest, hold hands and say the Lord’s prayer.
So I bring the children up, and everyone is staring at us. Then people started hissing at us. Seriously. Finally the woman who had made the announcement approached us and asked us to sit down. We did not realise we had crashed a confirmation.
We tried to recover our seats as soon as possible, but no one wanted to let us through. We literally fled the church.
Definitely one of the worst, most humiliating experiences of my life. Fortunately my son has the cognitive age of a three year old, and my daughter is too young to understand what happened.
But I now dread the thought of ever going back into that church.
We live in Hong Kong, in a small village in the mountains. We aren’t Chinese. I’m American, my wife is Indian. My eight-year-old son has tuberous sclerosis complex, a congenital disease that affects development. His six-year old sister is a normal, healthy child. We’ve been attending Catholic Church on Sunday mornings since Dec 2010. My wife does not object, but neither does she wish to attend.
There are Sunday school classes for the kids, although these are irregular. Sometimes the teacher does not appear for weeks. But when the classes happen, the children enjoy them. The routine is very nice. The school lets out about halfway through the mass. When the children come in, they are invited to come up to the front to hold hands and recite the Lord’s prayer.
Early last year I emailed the Church to ask them about bringing my family into the Catholic Church. I was told I first need to convert myself, and to do that I should attend the "Alpha’ classes. I’d just missed the classes, though, and would have to wait until September. In August I emailed again, and was told they had not found anyone to teach the classes, but they would start in February. Alas, when I contacted the church in February, I was told the classes had begun in September after all.
So last Sunday I approached a man who had been friendly with the children and me, and asked him if there might be some other way to start bringing my family more formally into the Catholic community. He suggested that I bring the children to Saturday evening mass. It is was smaller and cozier, he said, with more westerners, and easier to meet people who might be interested in sponsoring us.
So I brought the children to church this evening, It was crowded. First there were some baptisms. Then the woman at the podium said “will the children please come up to the front with their sponsors”. I figured this was like the Sunday ritual, and the children would stand in the front near the priest, hold hands and say the Lord’s prayer.
So I bring the children up, and everyone is staring at us. Then people started hissing at us. Seriously. Finally the woman who had made the announcement approached us and asked us to sit down. We did not realise we had crashed a confirmation.
We tried to recover our seats as soon as possible, but no one wanted to let us through. We literally fled the church.
Definitely one of the worst, most humiliating experiences of my life. Fortunately my son has the cognitive age of a three year old, and my daughter is too young to understand what happened.
But I now dread the thought of ever going back into that church.
:console::imsorry: There is no excuse for such behavior. May I ask, how long will you be living in this village? If you are truly stuck there, I would suggest that you continue to try to get an appointment with the priest. I’m sure there must be some compassionate people there, and will pray earnestly that they come forward to treat you as Christ’s beloveds.