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truthseeker1
Guest
…absence of Christ’s loving Spirit???
What do Protestant denominations do well that we as Catholics can learn from?
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Archbishop_10-K
Guest
Unfriendly Catholics?
I’ve never actually experienced that before.
I’ve never actually experienced that before.
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Makerteacher
Guest
Kevin Cassidy:
We’re POOR, at our school, and we know it. Our parking lot desperately needs repaving. There are multiple divets in the linoleum floor of my classroom, leaky faucets in our bathrooms, missing roof tiles in our gymnasium. Our building is over 100 years old. The school is not glitzy or attractive like those “megachurches” you mention, with spiffy new carpeting and color co-ordinated wall art in the front office. (But we do have a glorious Grotto, and our school kids have planted and now maintain roses along the front wall of the office building.) I use second hand furniture in my classroom, much of which I bought myself on a teaching salary easily $12,000 a year less than what I could earn in the public schools. My student desks do not all match: I have five or six different kinds of desks, all of them second hand. I buy my own reams of paper to use in the Xerox machine because our “stinky” parochial school budget is so tight that we cannot afford enough blank paper to go around.
But what we DO have is far more important: the majesty, the beauty and the Truth of the Catholic Faith, which we as teachers strive to impart to our students in EVERY class, not just during religion period. We offer daily Mass, regular confession, and Eucharistic Adoration in our “stinky” little tiny chapel, (which is furnished with cast-off carpeting and plastic chairs because that’s all we can afford.) Our teachers provide a role model to the kids in that we are all as adults constantly going to new classes, seminars, and studies about the Faith, and bringing back what we have learned to the school. Education must NOT end when you finish Confirmation classes.
I think spending the parish money on good solid Catholic education is THE BEST way to prevent furutre adults from falling away from the Faith. A solid foundational understanding of Church doctrines and history will serve these kids far better than nicely polished marble entry floors. Making sure the education your particular parish offers IS both academically solid and throughly Catholic is a topic for another thread. All the money we raise is going not to matching sets of attractive office furniture, but to “stinky” little kids’ education. Give me a “stinky” parochial school over an “upscale presentation” or a “megachurch” anyday.
I am deeply saddened by this comment, which strikes home to me because I teach at one of those “stinky” Catholic schools. Our “presentation” is not about image: it’s not about being "attractive: it’s far deeper than that.
We’re POOR, at our school, and we know it. Our parking lot desperately needs repaving. There are multiple divets in the linoleum floor of my classroom, leaky faucets in our bathrooms, missing roof tiles in our gymnasium. Our building is over 100 years old. The school is not glitzy or attractive like those “megachurches” you mention, with spiffy new carpeting and color co-ordinated wall art in the front office. (But we do have a glorious Grotto, and our school kids have planted and now maintain roses along the front wall of the office building.) I use second hand furniture in my classroom, much of which I bought myself on a teaching salary easily $12,000 a year less than what I could earn in the public schools. My student desks do not all match: I have five or six different kinds of desks, all of them second hand. I buy my own reams of paper to use in the Xerox machine because our “stinky” parochial school budget is so tight that we cannot afford enough blank paper to go around.
But what we DO have is far more important: the majesty, the beauty and the Truth of the Catholic Faith, which we as teachers strive to impart to our students in EVERY class, not just during religion period. We offer daily Mass, regular confession, and Eucharistic Adoration in our “stinky” little tiny chapel, (which is furnished with cast-off carpeting and plastic chairs because that’s all we can afford.) Our teachers provide a role model to the kids in that we are all as adults constantly going to new classes, seminars, and studies about the Faith, and bringing back what we have learned to the school. Education must NOT end when you finish Confirmation classes.
I think spending the parish money on good solid Catholic education is THE BEST way to prevent furutre adults from falling away from the Faith. A solid foundational understanding of Church doctrines and history will serve these kids far better than nicely polished marble entry floors. Making sure the education your particular parish offers IS both academically solid and throughly Catholic is a topic for another thread. All the money we raise is going not to matching sets of attractive office furniture, but to “stinky” little kids’ education. Give me a “stinky” parochial school over an “upscale presentation” or a “megachurch” anyday.
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DianJo
Guest
I think it would be great if more of our parishes did something like “Sunday school.” We worship at Mass, but rarely have opportunities to grow intellectually in our faith as a part of our parish ministries.
***Our parish is getting ready to do the “Little Rock Scripture Study”. We have a “test” group going now, which I’m part of, and it’s going very well. See if your parish would look into it. Also see if your parish has a person or groop in charge of Adult Formation that could look into this.***
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space_ghost
Guest
Donations to their parish…
Being not afraid to experience other faiths celebrations…
Being not afraid to experience other faiths celebrations…
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CatholicNerd
Guest
Hehe… most of them can sing better, tooWell the Lutherans seem to have better donuts at their socials. Other than that, I can’t think of much
Hehehe. I’ll admit that there are times when I really do miss the nice German chorales we used to sing at church when I was Lutheran. Sometimes I would stop playing and just let the congregation sing certain verses unaccompanied. They could harmonize… four-part, six-part, eight-part… you name it. Why? Because the hymnals printed the harmonizations, and people took off from there.Most OCP misalettes and music issues (pieces of trash, but that’s another thread…) just print the melody line. It’s boring, the texts aren’t theologically sound half of the time… yeah, you get the picture. I’ve heard more Catholic music performed in protestant churches than Catholic parishes and that’s just got to change!!!
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CatholicNerd
Guest
Oh, now that burns. NOT. I have never once encountered a parish that’s been stand-offish to me, even when I was a protestant just investigating the faith. I will say, however, that the warmest receptions I have received have been at Eastern Catholic parishes. They’re one big parish family. There’s nothing better than being rushed to the parish hall after Divine Liturgy by little old Russian ladies who put large plates of food in front of you. The priests are quick to notice visitors because the parishes are so small, and they give you communion BY NAME. It’s great.
If you really don’t believe me, go visit an Eastern Catholic parish for yourself. You’ll love it. Latin parishes are usually much bigger so it’s harder to get that level of intimacy. Not saying it’s impossible, but it certainly is harder. So it’s not fair to say that all Catholics don’t have Christ’s loving spirit. Remember, we believe that when we receive communion we receive ALL of Christ, His body, His blood, His soul, and His divinity. And that mystically mixes with ours if we are open to it. Give folks a chance, will ya?
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SpiritualSon
Guest
What can the Catholics do well from the Protestants.
What the Protestants do well: They very good at not repenting and changeing their lives.They do well in believing that God pays no attention to man’s behavior.To them faith alone is all that matters.They believe that God will hand heaven down to them on a silver platter without doing on their part. They have sex before marriage,which means they have no respect for their marriage partner.
They hate Swedenborg with a passion. I have been banned from their forums many times after posting good works.
They do works of charity before repenting their sins,which should be done before the doing the works of charity.Look to the Lord and repent,and than do the works of charity.
Not all Protestant churches believe in the three Divine persons. Some don’t believe Jesus is God.They believe He the Son of God,but not God.
Harry:thumbsup:
What the Protestants do well: They very good at not repenting and changeing their lives.They do well in believing that God pays no attention to man’s behavior.To them faith alone is all that matters.They believe that God will hand heaven down to them on a silver platter without doing on their part. They have sex before marriage,which means they have no respect for their marriage partner.
They hate Swedenborg with a passion. I have been banned from their forums many times after posting good works.
They do works of charity before repenting their sins,which should be done before the doing the works of charity.Look to the Lord and repent,and than do the works of charity.
Not all Protestant churches believe in the three Divine persons. Some don’t believe Jesus is God.They believe He the Son of God,but not God.
Harry:thumbsup:
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Psalm89
Guest
I haven’t been to a Catholic Mass in a long time, but I know a couple of things that Protestants do well.
- Greeters at the door. There is always a cheeful face to see you on the way in.
- Cheerful people at the church in general. A real love for the Lord, is found in most faithful Protestants I know.
- Simple services, especially the contemporary ones. Powerpoint words for the hymns, up to date music selection, in fact at some contemporary services you never have to look at the bulletin to see where you are. The screen lets you know.
- Faithful preaching of the Gospel. For all of our faults, the vast majority of Protestant churches preach the Gospel regularly.
- Success equated with size. Protestant church leadership is commonly made up of successful businessmen, who then try to run the church like a business. Bigger is better, more mettings, money and committees. Grand plans and huge buildings filled with people is what success is. Unfortunately you have to water down your theolgy for the really big tent.
- Excessive small group ministry. It divides up the body of believers into small sects that become insular at times and without good leadership can teach bad theology. Also, sets up the idea of the “real believers” versus the carnal Christians. The “real” Christians attend small groups, we aren’t sure about the others…
- Revivalism. This kills belief and churches. People get emotionally charged and then the next day the same problems are right there and they dispair.
- Culture wars. Young earth creationists, Christian copies of everything (WWE is too violent, but the Power Team tears phones books for the Lord!), everytime the Christian culture copies pop culture it does it badly.
- Non-Denoms. Truly the bane of Protestantism. I never ever send a new believer their. The pastor’s theology is based on the popular Christian book he read the week before.
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