M
montanaman
Guest
Religious vocations are beginning to boom with an influx of new young people, not to mention a general trend of conservatism among younger generations.
We can play this game all day long.
- Status
We can play this game all day long.
P
peary
Guest
**I once played organ for a Baptist church. The pastor was really nice to me, even knowing that I was Catholic. He said to the congregation, “Everyone is welcomed here, even our Catholic brother.” The congregation applauded. It was a nice feeling. 
**
**
W
WindyHair
Guest
M
montanaman
Guest
Lol. Ain’t that the truth.
M
mesl4
Guest
I like hearing the Catholic perspectives on Protestant church visits. Thanks for sharing. I’m a Protestant, go to a Baptist church that incorporates many non-traditional Baptist practices (wine w/communion, praying outloud sometimes Pentecostal style, raising hands in singing, healing/annointing w/oil, etc.) I’ve been considering converting to Catholicism because I’ve been reading church history and Early Church Fathers, so visited 2 Catholic churches recently. I’ll say, I felt the same as many of you Catholics feel at Protestant churches. I felt very out of place since I didn’t know the routine. I felt like an observer rather than a participant like I feel at my church. I had a really hard time following the “sermon” (is that the word?). Our sermons dig into the scripture and spend the majority of the services studying the history of it, their culture, and then how it applies to our lives today. We pray our hearts to GOd, sing our hearts to God and it feels like a very intimate experience between us and God. In the Catholic church, since everything was read, the prayers, etc. it felt impersonal and dry. But, I think the difference for all of us is, that whatever we’re not accustomed to, will feel more foreign and impersonal. If I knew the Catholic service well enough, I think I could make it “my own” and personal w/the Lord.
P
peary
Guest
**Come to Mass more often. You’ll get the hang of it sooner or later.
**
A
Adam14
Guest
I stand out like a sore thumb at Catholic services…I don’t know if it’s the not taking of the communion, or if it was me breaking out in dance holding venemous snakes…just joking of course!
I do imagine that it’s hard to get a “feel” for most protestant services since there are so many different variations.(I’m not protestant-bashing, since technically I’m a protestant right now)
I do imagine that it’s hard to get a “feel” for most protestant services since there are so many different variations.(I’m not protestant-bashing, since technically I’m a protestant right now)
P
PaulDupre
Guest
translation: entertainment value
E
Eden
Guest
Considering the fact that WYD (World Youth Day) in Sydney next week is the largest event Australia has ever hosted:
wyd2008.org/
And that the closing Mass at World Youth Day in Manila in 1995, with 5 million in attendance, was the largest Papal crowd in history, the youth who remain Catholic certainly know how to be noticed!
M
Mannyfit75
Guest
I agree with the last sentence. They lack the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Eucharist… That is what I find lacking in all Protestant Churches…Well, it wasn’t so much “undercover” as it was an exploratory journey. And I blew my cover pretty quickly, too. After one of their MANY intercessory prayers for members of the congregation, I made the sign of the Cross. Lol. You can take the Catholic out of the Church, but you can’t take the Catholocism out of the Catholic.
Or something like that…
Anyway, I don’t have much to say about it. I was invited by a nice fundamentalist co-worker friend and I thought it’d be interesting. It certainly was, but for a Baptist church, it was amazingly laid-back.
Some notes:
No crosses, crucifixes, nothing. But some of the stained-glass windows had bibles in them. Conclusion–images of Christ is verbotten, but they raise the Bible to a fourth member of the Trinity, apparently.
They opened with four hymns, then basically had a “meeting.” Missionaries spoke about their experiences, and the pastor assigned people to pray for their intentions. I SO wanted to talk to someone about Marian intercession. lol.
A nice, sharply angled marine and I had a decent conversation later. He was amazed that I admitted many Catholics were drawn away by fundamentalists who knew their Bible better. He also later called Rome a “fever swamp” of bad ideas.
Other than that, it was pretty uneventful. My overwhelming impression was of emptiness. They were all sincere, zealous, but there was something missing. I guess it was the Eucharist…
J
JoeBlow
Guest
Never heard of a Baptist church without a cross but, yes, we do revere God’s word.
That’s Biblical, but usually things like that are reserved for the PM service, not the AM service.
P
peary
Guest
And the celebration of the Eucharist is…when?
J
JoeBlow
Guest
Typically in the morning service.
C
Cairisti
Guest
But not every Sunday morning.
At my old Baptist Church, they had the Lord’s Supper once in 2007. Once. (Ok, they had an excuse. Pastor Ron retired.
Usually it was two to four times a year.)
J
JoeBlow
Guest
Really? I’ve never been in a Baptist church that had the Lord’s Supper that rarely.But not every Sunday morning.
At my old Baptist Church, they had the Lord’s Supper once in 2007. Once. (Ok, they had an excuse. Pastor Ron retired.
C
Cairisti
Guest
Must be a different flavor of Baptist.
I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church. And alot of the other baptist churches around there were about the same in their frequency - well the SBC were. Don’t know about the others. (Maybe some of the smaller ones around Baylor did, but doubt it.)
B
Bill_G
Guest
Not being catholic I liked how you said that and was like a light went on.My sister-in-law (exCatholic turned Baptist) was trying to convince my wife (her sister) how such a waste of time it was to pray to Mary when you could go right to Jesus. She turned to me and said, “If I wanted a favor from you wouldn’t it be more effective if I just went straight to you instead of asking your wife to ask you for me?” Without hesitation, I didn’t even have to think about it, I said, “It would be better if you asked my wife to ask for you. I can’t say no to her. I can say no to you.” -- That’s all it took. She understood.
Who is Jesus more apt to say yes to? Me, with sin; or Mary, full of grace. I’m glad I have Mary on my side.
M
mesl4
Guest
My Baptist church has communion available every week. There’s an altar/table at the front, and in back that we are welcome to whenever we want. Once a month there is a formal communion passed around for all, or on Holy Days.
To the last poster’s quote about praying to Mary, I’ve been brought up to understand that having believe in the gospel, we are sealed w/the Holy spirit (Eph 1:13-14)and when we confess our sins, we are forgiven and made holy/pure/righteous. (Rom 3:22-24, 5:11) I’m pretty sure the NT teaches that throughout. So, why would I have any reason to believe my prayers would be less effective or worthy or meaningful to God than Mary’s? She was full of grace, but he has poured out his grace on all of us as well so we are like her, aren’t we?
I was happy to read up a bit on the current Pope and sounds like he’s really encouraging the Church to become better friends w/Jesus. Make him more personal. I feared w/Catholocism, there was always a distance between the people and the Father, but this reassured me that that is not the teaching of the Church…or at least the current teaching.
To the last poster’s quote about praying to Mary, I’ve been brought up to understand that having believe in the gospel, we are sealed w/the Holy spirit (Eph 1:13-14)and when we confess our sins, we are forgiven and made holy/pure/righteous. (Rom 3:22-24, 5:11) I’m pretty sure the NT teaches that throughout. So, why would I have any reason to believe my prayers would be less effective or worthy or meaningful to God than Mary’s? She was full of grace, but he has poured out his grace on all of us as well so we are like her, aren’t we?
I was happy to read up a bit on the current Pope and sounds like he’s really encouraging the Church to become better friends w/Jesus. Make him more personal. I feared w/Catholocism, there was always a distance between the people and the Father, but this reassured me that that is not the teaching of the Church…or at least the current teaching.
F
FCEGM
Guest
No.
mes, what you express here reflects the discomfort some have with the thought of anyone, including the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Divine Savior and hence Mother of God, being at an advantage - by God’s predilection - in the Trinitarian life. Everyone in their eyes is equally a saint and a sinner, with no one able to be so transformed by grace past a “Jesus and me” moment as to be the true and fully human person he or she was created to be in Christ and the individuality of each soul’s response that this entails.So this discomfiture appears when there is a diminished understanding of what the grace flowing from Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit accomplishes in the faithful soul as he or she progresses (hopefully) in this Christ-life; they do not understand that we are being divinized (which is a process of growing in likeness to Christ ), but, instead, see grace as something that covers rather than transforms our human nature. A Catholic, otoh, knows that Mary’s participation in the life of the Trinity (a life to which we are all called) is of a higher “status” or “role” than ours or any of the Saints in heaven, canonized or not. The Catholic says, “Yes, this is what we have by grace and since these is what we have the Blessed and Ever-Virgin Mary - by grace - has it in spades!”
There has been no change in the Church’s teaching; she has always taught that deep intimacy with Our Savior must be at the forefront of our lives.
H
hosemonkey
Guest
i went undercover to a catholic church
Poor thing. You need to crawl back into your crypt.
- Status