Visiting other parishes... treating the church like entertainment?

[somecanadian]

When I first converted I was not alone. My cousin, and roommate at the time, converted as well. We were both from rather insular faith traditions. The kind where your church is your church and it exists only in that one little community/building where you live.

After we converted we were opened to the great big world of Catholicism where almost every town has a Catholic parish and we BELONGED to that parish via the community of the Catholic Church.

We were excited, newly converted and in LOVE. We started making a habit of traveling every other month to a parish that was not our own. Little parishes nearby and big parishes far away. We even started visiting Eastern Catholic parishes (Ukrainian, Melkite, etc). We were respectful and reverent but also we were partaking of our new larger family.

This stopped, however, when a priest heard what we were doing and scolded us for ‘treating the Church like entertainment’. I think, perhaps, he got this impression because of our excitement and enthusiasm when we spoke of it.

This was never what we INTENDED to do but since that day I have not visited any parish but my own.

Now, all this time later I am wondering … did we actually do something wrong? Or was this priest mistaken?

Thoughts?

 

[Mtatum1958]

It doesn’t sound like you were treating it as entertainment. That might have been the priest’s assumption. I can imaging there could be reluctance to respond and correct his view, however. No you were not doing anything wrong.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

Look up the definition of a pilgrimage. You weren’t visiting for entertainment (and I wouldn’t see anything wrong with it even if you were) but you were making a pilgrimage to other Catholic churches.

 

[somecanadian]

Oh, what a nice way of looking at it!

 

[Joe_5859]

I think, perhaps, he got this impression because of our excitement and enthusiasm when we spoke of it.

That seems very possible to me. There is nothing wrong with what you have described, but I can picture a priest hearing a small group talking excitedly about visiting this parish and that parish and then getting the wrong idea.

 

[somecanadian]

Yes! At first I honestly did feel bad about it but I examined our intentions and it didn’t FEEL like that’s what we were doing but then I was left feeling conflicted between: was it wrong? Or was it okay?

I know we were just enamored with and enjoying the university of the church.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

Something else occurred to me.

When I go on a trip part of my planning involves where I will go to Mass. Will I attend Mass at whatever church is closest to my hotel? If I’m in a big city maybe I’ll go to the cathedral and see what it’s like. Or maybe there’s a historical or other noteworthy church in the area. By looking at questions like that, am I merely turning Mass into another tourist site? I don’t think so. I have wonderful memories of the Masses I’ve attended while far from home.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

There is no Church requirement that we attend at our own parish all the time.

There is a Church requirement that we financially support our own parish. In the old days,this meant throwing money in the basket in person, usually, unless we had it together to mail a check. Nowadays every parish has a magical “donate” button on the web. I have three parishes where I have addresses set up for monthly donations at the time I pay my bills. I don’t need to be there for them to get their money. Also, if we need some kind of sacrament, we are supposed to go to our own parish to start the process for that, although in some cases it may be possible to get permission to hold the baptism or the wedding in another parish for reasons of being close to relatives, etc.

I attend Mass on Sundays and on many weekdays. I travel a lot. I go to churches that are convenient for me in terms of location and Mass times, and also to churches that I want to see because they are old and beautiful, have a special type Mass such as a TLM or a Flame of Love event Mass, are attached to a shrine, have the name of a saint whose feast day is that day (allowing for an indulgence if I visit on that day), etc.

I started this practice because a priest pointed out to me that we didn’t need to go to Europe to see beautiful churches; he lamented the fact that there were so many right in his diocese that no one was visiting. Also at that time there was a local group called Catholic Mass Mob where a bunch of people would all meet each Sunday, attend Mass at a different church, and post a blog about it with pictures. When I looked into the Mass Mob, I found it had disbanded, or ended, or visited all the parishes, etc. So I just made myself a one-person Mass Mob. I’ve been doing this for about 2 years and it’s been awesome. I’ve seen all kinds of wonderful churches and so many more to see.

Of course, there are a good many weekdays or weekends when I end up at one of the three or four parish churches that I regularly visit and support with my online donations.

It’s the same Mass at all these places; no different from when I go traveling and see churches in other parts of the country and the world.

Any priest who would throw cold water on people going to Mass, no matter where they were going, has got a problem in this day and age when so many people don’t bother to go at all. I would not worry about that.

 

[BartholomewB]

At the time I converted to the Catholic Church, in the nineties, we were living within walking distance of two churches. One was our parish church, the other was the neighboring parish. We used to attend Mass sometimes at one, sometimes at the other, but the priest who handled my conversion was the pastor at the church in the neighboring parish. He knew where we lived, but never once did he suggest that I ought to have been talking to the other pastor instead.

 

[7_Sorrows]

When I converted 10 years ago, I lived in a large city with many Catholic churches.
I did the same thing, but on a smaller scale. I think once you are Catholic and received into the church you are curious about other parishes and perhaps Latin Masses and you are just so happy to be Catholic and you are excited for new Catholic experiences.
I still like visiting different Catholic churches to see the architecture, decorations (artwork and the Stations of the Cross) and the statues of saints they have. Walking inside a Catholic church awakens so many of our senses.
I think the priest misunderstood your excitement of being “new Catholics” and wants you to know you need to settle in one parish for your church family, but there is nothing wrong about wanting to learn more about being Catholic.