What do you miss being a convert from Catholicism to Protestantism?

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Esdra

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Hi folks,

as most of you know, I am a convert from Catholicms to Protestantism (to be accurate to Baptists).

I really like my new brothers and sisters in Christ. The community is just great. Everybody’s coming to you, talking to you (also if he doesn’t know you), asking you how you are etc.
This is one of the points, I really missed in Catholicism - the community.

But now to my question:
2 things I really liked and still do like from Catholicism is adoration in the real presence and praying the rosary - well simply just all meditative and a little bit mystic stuff…
You won’t find these two things in Protestantism (at least not at Pentecostals and Baptitsts!).
And actually I do miss that… I mean there is no meditation among evangelicals. It’s all about singing (worship - 'though I like that really very much!). - But I simply have the feeling that meditation is completely lacking among Evangelicals.

So, I’d like to start a sort of discussion here:
To the Evangelicals/Protestants, I’d like to adress the following question (First and for most Converts in this case. As I assume that “born Evangelicals” even don’t know Catholic practices):
What do you miss from Catholicism, which isn’t in your Church?

And to the Catholics the following:
What do you especially love in Catholicism? Without which pracitices “you couldn’t live”?

Hope my questions are clear! 😉

I am looking foreword to an intersting discussion,

Esdra
 
I really like my new brothers and sisters in Christ. The community is just great. Everybody’s coming to you, talking to you (also if he doesn’t know you), asking you how you are etc.
This is one of the points, I really missed in Catholicism - the community.
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I think you are absolutely right about the sense of community in the Baptist church. I have experienced it first hand.

But I could never leave Jesus in the Eucharist.

As a Catholic, I also feel it is vital to my spiritual health to worship God in the liturgy of the church. The prayers and responses involve us in the life of the liturgy, which is the heartbeat of the Church. The Baptist worship services usually just involve singing, maybe a prayer by the pastor, a short reading from the Bible, and a sermon. I feel like a spectator rather than a participant in worship. When the songs are unfamiliar, or you don’t like them, then “worship” is kind of a letdown.
 
Esdra said:
Hi folks,

as most of you know, I am a convert from Catholicms to Protestantism (to be accurate to Baptists).

I really like my new brothers and sisters in Christ. The community is just great. Everybody’s coming to you, talking to you (also if he doesn’t know you), asking you how you are etc.
This is one of the points, I really missed in Catholicism - the community.

But now to my question:
2 things I really liked and still do like from Catholicism is adoration in the real presence and praying the rosary - well simply just all meditative and a little bit mystic stuff…
You won’t find these two things in Protestantism (at least not at Pentecostals and Baptitsts!).
And actually I do miss that… I mean there is no meditation among evangelicals. It’s all about singing (worship - 'though I like that really very much!). - But I simply have the feeling that meditation is completely lacking among Evangelicals.

So, I’d like to start a sort of discussion here:
To the Evangelicals/Protestants, I’d like to adress the following question (First and for most Converts in this case. As I assume that “born Evangelicals” even don’t know Catholic practices):
What do you miss from Catholicism, which isn’t in your Church?

And to the Catholics the following:
What do you especially love in Catholicism? Without which pracitices “you couldn’t live”?

Hope my questions are clear! 😉

I am looking foreword to an intersting discussion,

Esdra
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with all due respect, I wouldnt trade the True Church, the Eucharist(the presence of Jesus in the Bread and Wine), the priesthood, the authority of the Church stablished by Christ, the obedience to Christ to persevere until the end so I can be saved, for anything specially for attention of other human beings. I thank God, I dont crave for attention from anyone. All i am concerned is that I remain on the One Church built by Jesus. the CC is where Jesus is recognized in the break of the Bread. where the prophecies of the Old are being fulfilled. In on those days, God says He will stablished a new, clean and pure Sacrifice. Every day, from east to west, from sun up to sun down, a new Sacrifice will be offered to my Name.
 
The Catholic Church (at least, as it’s practiced in my parish) feels like “Christianity for grown-ups” to me. I feel like that when I left my Protestant church to become Catholic, that I was finally graduating from Sunday School and getting to go to “real Church.” 🙂

Practices I couldn’t live without are: going to Confession, when I need to. Mass every Sunday morning. 24/7 Adoration available whenever I want to go. All the different cultures coming together in one place, to all thank God together in one voice. Being able to go to Mass any day of the week, if I feel like it. Praying the Rosary whenever I want to. 🙂
 
jmcrae said:
The Catholic Church (at least, as it’s practiced in my parish) feels like “Christianity for grown-ups” to me. I feel like that when I left my Protestant church to become Catholic, that I was finally graduating from Sunday School and getting to go to “real Church.” 🙂

Practices I couldn’t live without are: going to Confession, when I need to. Mass every Sunday morning. 24/7 Adoration available whenever I want to go. All the different cultures coming together in one place, to all thank God together in one voice. Being able to go to Mass any day of the week, if I feel like it. Praying the Rosary whenever I want to. 🙂
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This.
 
jmcrae said:
The Catholic Church (at least, as it’s practiced in my parish) feels like “Christianity for grown-ups” to me. I feel like that when I left my Protestant church to become Catholic, that I was finally graduating from Sunday School and getting to go to “real Church.” 🙂
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BINGO!, You hit the nail on its head!
 
I miss sitting in the pew with my family (I’m the only Catholic in my family) I miss being on the same wavelength with them concerning spiritual matters. I wish they could understand and experience fully the Mass…

But in terms of missing anything in the non-denominational evangelical church I used to attend? I’ve gone back there several times over the years at the invitation of my family for different events. It feels pretty foreign to me now. And for me, nothing compares to Christ present in the sacraments. Nothing compares to the gift of the Eucharist…
 
I am a convert. I could never go back. I have a hard time understanding why any Catholic would leave.

How can they give up the Eucharist? The Mass? Everything we need -that our soul needs- is in the Catholic Church.

I thank God every single day that I am Catholic. Catholicism is a gift, the most wonderful blessing we can ever receive.
 
If I may be so bold as to ask, why would you leave the true faith for some Baptist group? 🤷
 
rr1213 said:
Congregational hymn singing.
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I’m not at Mass to be entertained. There is a saying, “It’s not about me.” The Mass is all about Jesus, not just myself. The homily can be boring and the music annoying, but the grace comes to me anyway. Faith doesn’t always cause an emotional reaction, but it is real nonetheless. The sacraments do what they symbolize whether I feel they do or not. I don’t get anything out of it if I don’t put anything into it. I put my works, joys, and sufferings on that altar at the Offertory and unite them to the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Jesus, our high priest, will offer them to the Father for all of us. I can’t do that anywhere but at Mass. When I receive Communion, it can’t get any a more personal relationship with Jesus than that. His body, blood, soul and divinity is in my body. Wow! What a great, loving God He is!
 
bettyg51 said:
I’m not at Mass to be entertained. There is a saying, “It’s not about me.” The Mass is all about Jesus, not just myself. The homily can be boring and the music annoying, but the grace comes to me anyway. Faith doesn’t always cause an emotional reaction, but it is real nonetheless. The sacraments do what they symbolize whether I feel they do or not. I don’t get anything out of it if I don’t put anything into it. I put my works, joys, and sufferings on that altar at the Offertory and unite them to the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Jesus, our high priest, will offer them to the Father for all of us. I can’t do that anywhere but at Mass. When I receive Communion, it can’t get any a more personal relationship with Jesus than that. His body, blood, soul and divinity is in my body. Wow! What a great, loving God He is!
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You know, just because someone misses something, does not mean they are being critical. A question was asked and answered - nothing was implied about something being wrong with Catholic services, or that there was anything wrong with the Sacraments. Obviously this person is still a Catholic, so I am not sure why you feel the need to attack him or her for answering what was missed.
 
bettyg51 said:
I’m not at Mass to be entertained. There is a saying, “It’s not about me.” The Mass is all about Jesus, not just myself. The homily can be boring and the music annoying, but the grace comes to me anyway. Faith doesn’t always cause an emotional reaction, but it is real nonetheless. The sacraments do what they symbolize whether I feel they do or not. I don’t get anything out of it if I don’t put anything into it. I put my works, joys, and sufferings on that altar at the Offertory and unite them to the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Jesus, our high priest, will offer them to the Father for all of us. I can’t do that anywhere but at Mass. When I receive Communion, it can’t get any a more personal relationship with Jesus than that. His body, blood, soul and divinity is in my body. Wow! What a great, loving God He is!
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Congregational hymn singing is not for entertainment. It is a form of communal worship, which is an important part of Mass.
 
I think you are absolutely right about the sense of community in the Baptist church. I have experienced it first hand.
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I was a convert from Protestantism to Catholicism, and I saw inklings of the same thing. When you look at Catholic worship songs, the majority of the time they will say “we” instead of “I.” In evangelical protestantism, it is usually the other way around. It makes sense with their theological positions: Protestantism as a personal relationship with God, Catholicism as the church’s relationship with God.
 
Esdra said:
And to the Catholics the following:
What do you especially love in Catholicism? Without which pracitices “you couldn’t live”?

Hope my questions are clear! 😉

I am looking foreword to an intersting discussion,

Esdra
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Though have never been anything else other than being Catholic and have no plan to change that, what I couldn’t live without, would be the Holy Eucharist. Christianity means nothing, empty, and meaningless without the Holy Eucharist. It will only be an empty shell and has no meaning, having devoid of the most important aspect of worship that Jesus has gifted to us.

Perhaps I could do without the Rosary, but then again it would make my heart bleeds to abandon my Mother.
 
ciero said:
If I may be so bold as to ask, why would you leave the true faith for some Baptist group? 🤷
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Well, I have been looking for Jesus in the Catholic Church (this means “traditional Catholicism” with going to mass every Sunday ; praying to saints, rosary etc) But there I didn’t find what I was looking for. I did, however, among the Baptists.

But I guess I was simply very poorly catechised (as I know now from this forum).

And if I had known about the Charismatic Renewal and all those other parts imported from Evangelicalism the past 20 years into the CC (like bible study groups or even prayer evenings [also with free formulated prayers, this means not only rosary]), I probably would never have left.
I just got to know about this renewal wave in the CC when I was already a Baptist. But I guess, as I have found Jesus here as well, I won’t go back to the Catholic Church.

The Baptist congregation is a sort of family for me and actually I don’t miss anything ('xcept the rosary and odoration and some other contemplative, mystical things, I can’t name in English now!). And as I am living in a mainly Catholic dominated country (Austria, Europe for those who don’t know), it is rather easy to find the missing contemplative things in the various CC parishes. (I didn’t, by the way, officially leave/resign from the CC up to now.) [Apropros: It was rather difficult to find a “Church of Reborns” (= Baptists, Pentecostals, Mennonite and other “rebaptising communities” - don’t know which Churches else belong to that group!) - there are not many here in Austria…].

What I definitely don’t miss is confession, well actually also the Holy Eucharist (as for me “Last Supper celebrations” are the same); Well, and also not the priesthood, as I firmly believe that all people who belong to Christ are “priests”.

Last Sunday I was in a Pentecostal Church (I guess this was the German equivalent to the Assembly of God.) And I must say that there are differences to the Baptists (but this could also be because it was an “impact service”; I’m not sure): there was no sermon. Actually the whole service consisted of worship-singing and the impulses of the parishers. - But, as it was the first time I was here, I was greeted as a visitor form the “service leader” in the beginning of service. *.

Well, I like the Baptist’ services better. - I have always thought, I am more Pentecostal - especially, as my “Spiritual Mother” (= the one who taught me the first months in my new life after accepting Jesus as my saviour) was a Pentecostal - but I am definetly more a Baptist.

Well then,

in Christ,
Esdra*
 
Esdra

I can’t speak to converting from catholicism to protestantism. I can tell you why I would never switch back if that helps at all.If being a baptist is what you need to feel close to Jesus who am I to judge?

I WAS a Baptist and all I saw was shallowness and selfishness among the people my age and among a lot of the elders of the church. Maybe I’ve just had bad experiences. What can God do for ME ME ME. I have heard people say that they don’t like to go to church unless it makes THEM feel good. That makes me sick. They were more interested in Me, Myself and I and not the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

I’m not saying all Baptists are bad. All of my family members are protestants and are good God-fearing people. I am also not saying that you have to be Catholic to get to Heaven.

Personally though when I came to the Catholic Church I felt truly at home. There is NOTHING that I miss from being a Baptist. I’m still working on my selfish ways, however, the worship of the mass is Christ centered. I have never had the fullness of worship as I have had in the Catholic church.

It is wrong for the creation to feel that they need to be entertained and placated by the Creator. We are here to worship and thank HIM! He gave His life for us! So what if the music at Mass doesn’t make you feel all lovey dovey. You should be loving Christ not the music.

That is of course my personal opinion. God Bless you on your journey.
 
I converted from Catholic to Baptist and I have not missed anything
 
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