What is a Contemporary Catholic Church vs Roman Catholic Church?

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I am considering converting from Protestant and the closest church to me claims to be a Contemporary Church and I do not understand how this differs? I thought all Catholic Churches are Roman.

Was hoping for some clarity. I’m trying to decide where I would like my first Mass experience to be.
 
It sounds like a liberal invalid parish that denies several facets of church teaching. In my experience, the only “contemporary” church I’ve heard of was an invalid church that ordained women. If I were you, I would stay away from it, and find the nearest Catholic Church that is in full communion with Rome. Personally I’m biased towards the Roman rite (the form most are familiar with). But you might also be interested to look into an Eastern Catholic rite (Byzantine, Maronite, Malabar, etc.). These rites (as long as the parish defines as Catholic) are in full communion with the Holy See.
 
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Brittany said:
that they ordain women priests.
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To be clear, they purport to ordain women priests; they don’t actually ordain them.

Anyway, there are all kinds of odd organizations that call themselves “Catholic”. Some come from laicized priests, others just declared themselves into existence, and some few actually have orders, typically from the “Old Catholic Church” (but they have given up their episcopacy in the last few years, as they lost the sacramental understanding needed to ordain).

Most but not all of these purport to ordain women. At least one has the laity vest and purport to celebrate Mass, adds open communion, and (I am not making this up) purports to quickly consecrate all the bread in a restaurant when they enter, so as to inflict the Eucharist on non-believers for their own good.

Most reject one or more sacraments in form or totality…

hawk
 
I found reviews for it on Yelp and reviewers are saying things like how they don’t feel judged at all and they are welcoming to LGBT and they seem very lax in regards to what I thought were certain beliefs in Catholicism.

It’s not the site the poster Brittany found. It’s HERE

I will definitely check out the link from Cor_ad_Cor to determine legitimate churches. Thank you for that info. I did not know there were different rites and I definitely did not know there were some that weren’t actually Catholic.
 
If the parish isn’t in communion with the local diocese, don’t bother. Even be wary of some that are nowadays.
 
So, I looked up the Diocese according to the website linked here by Cor_ad_Cor but does that mean I should only go to the Diocese and not find somewhere closer? I live in Northern Virginia (Near Washington, DC) and the local Diocese is in Arlington, VA which is certainly doable, but definitely closer to DC than to me. I’m sorry if it seems like a silly question.
 
While your at it, feel free to look up and see if there is an FSSP parish in your area. Fully Catholic, in communion with Rome, and very traditional. If there isn’t an FSSP parish, some churches do have the Latin mass as well as the normal mass. Just type in “Latin mass” and your location. God bless! 🙂
 
You don’t have to go to Church in a particular diocese. A diocese is basically a group of Churches in a geographical area run by a bishop who is under the Pope. I don’t know how big the Diocese of Arlington is but there are some dioceses that cover an entire state. For example New Hampshire.
 
I found through the Diocese of Arlington’s website where it lists all the places for Mass, but there are SO many! I have no idea how to choose.
 
If you want some advice, I would just tell you to go to the closest one and see what it’s like. If you don’t like it, go to the next one. You will find churches that celebrate the Latin Mass as misstherese said. Apparently there is a Melkite Catholic Church in McLeon, VA. All Catholic and under the Pope but have a different twist to them. See what you like!
 
Some apparently “Catholic” churches are ultra liberal. Others fixate on a given year in the past, for instance 1960. But what they have in common is they reject the current Magisterium. They are not bringing people into the Catholic Faith, they use the well known label to draw Catholics.
 
Hehe, that website was very entertaining. 🙂

Seriously, though, poor people who are part of that modernist cult.
 
This is definitely making me feel like… woah… that was close! heh I definitely want to make sure I go to an actual Roman Catholic Church. I’m glad I posted about it and received your advice! Thank you everyone so much 🙂
 
The church that you were looking at is a schismatic sect, the “American National Catholic Church”. That means it is not in communion with Rome and you should avoid it. It appears it was founded as a haven for those who want married clergy, same-sex marriage etc under a “Catholic” name. The website for it is very misleading, as is often the case.

Here’s the Wiki article on said church:

American National Catholic Church - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

If you stick to the churches on the Diocesan website you will avoid any of this sort of thing.
 
Thank you for that Tis_Bearself. I was not sure when I saw them referred as ‘contemporary’ and then when I saw ‘American National Catholic Church’.
 
In effect these churches are Protestant. The only difference is that they were not started in the 16th century. But the Methodists, and Disciples of Christ were not started in the 16th century either, and both are universally recognized as Protestant.

Their beliefs may be good or bad, not for me to say. But misleading advertising?
 
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Others fixate on a given year in the past, for instance 1960. But what they have in common is they reject the current Magisterium. They are not bringing people into the Catholic Faith, they use the well known label to draw Catholics.
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SSPX would fit that description, but other churches such as those I mentioned would not fit into that category.
 
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To be clear on my previous post (@QwertyGirl had some thoughts about it):

I am not denigrating the people who are part of this “Contemporary” church. Rather, I was actually making a precise observation regarding the church itself. The website makes very clear that they are deeply mired in the heresy of Modernism, which some have called the “synthesis of all heresies”.

Modernism is distinguished by a focus on using “self” as the standard of judgement instead of God, and is extremely harmful to Christian faith.
 
misstherese said:
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commenter:
Others fixate on a given year in the past, for instance 1960. But what they have in common is they reject the current Magisterium. They are not bringing people into the Catholic Faith, they use the well known label to draw Catholics.
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SSPX would fit that description, but other churches such as those I mentioned would not fit into that category.
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I agree. The FSSP, for instance, is fully in union with the living Magisterium (pope and their local bishop). I sometimes attend a diocesan Latin Mass which is also fully approved by the bishop, in union with the Magisterium. But other groups that use the Latin Mass are not in union with the Magisterium, nor are the many liberal denominations that have the word “Catholic” in their name.They appear to appeal to “Vatican II” but reject the Magisterium, which means they really reject Vatican II.

Eastern Catholic Churches are fully in union with the Magisterium (I know you know that, but maybe not everyone). The term “Roman” Catholic is vague, people use it to mean different things. The question to ask is whether a group is in union with the living Magisterium. The Anglican Ordinariate is also fully in union with the Magisterium.
 
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