What Kind Of Church Is This?

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Hope1960 said:
Probably not very many. What does a priest have to do to become a priest? I do know that it involves much more than taking an online course.
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To be fair, however, a lot of Protestant ministers attend and receive masters and doctorate degrees at places like the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

I know there are ministers without seminary education but I donā€™t think thatā€™s a norm. It isnā€™t that easy to set up a religious congregation and get people to give you money- not that Iā€™ve tried. But Iā€™ve observed a number of ā€œchurch launchesā€ near me with backing of major denominations disappear. And without that money, or that cachet with the worshipping or giving population, what chance would some fool on the street with a bible have.
 
In our Diocese it is 4 year undergrad, at least 2 years grad school/Seminary, sometimes more, and then a year in a parish as a seminarian (sort of a paid internship), then a year as a transitional deacon.
 
TheLittleLady said:
Literally anyone can get ordained on line and rent a building and start a ā€œnon-denominationalā€ church.
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I donā€™t think most non-denominational preachers were ordained online. Thatā€™s more for people who just want to be able to officiate at a friendā€™s wedding.
Hope1960 said:
I wonder how many people who go to their churches know that their pastor was ordained online?
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Most non-denominational preachers would testify to a call from God to preach. Now, in responding to this call, they may or may not attend a seminary.

However, its not typical for someone to just decide out of the blue that they are going to be a preacher and start a church. What is more likely to happen is you become active in a local church and the leadership of that church begins to provide you with opportunities for ministry training. Depending on the church, the ordination process may be formal or informal, long or short. You might become the unpaid youth minister or assistant pastor or something.

At some point, you may want to attend a seminary, Bible college or some other ministry preparation program. Or you might just go straight into starting a new church or be called to pastor an existing church.

For background, my father was an ordained minister (never a pastor) in our non-denominational church. He was a textile factory worker. He was on our churchā€™s governing board, and taught the adult Sunday school at times. He would occasionally preach at our church or neighboring churches. However, he never went to seminary or Bible college. He essentially was self-taught.

He had at least one opportunity to pastor a church, but he passed. I think he felt called to ordained ministry, but not to pastoral ministry.
 
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Hmmm. I used to go to a church similar. They donā€™t use a name of a denomination because to this particular kind of church any form of tradition is not appropriate. This kind of church teaches that there is no Eucharist and that Christians just gather together to sing a few songs and hear a sermon. There are no recited prayers, they dont recognize saints. At the church I went to they considered Augustine (they refuse to use the title saint) as a heretic. They change the words of the Apostles Creed to leave out the word "Catholic.

The Virgin Mary is no more special than you or I so we should not put up her image or any image of any saint and rarely that of Jesus.

I could go on and on.
 
I stopped going to the Catholic Church for quite a few years, I am a cradle catholic. I checked out the other churches, wasnā€™t really looking but went with family and friends to their respective churches. The one my dad and step mom went to had really good music. Rock/gospel/Praise and worship bands. In fact one of my best friends was the bassist on that band. Anyway music is a large part of my life and I was really intrigued by the music. Then I found going that something was missing and I did not agree with a lot of the things the Pastor said, as far as his interpretation. I found out that while this man was a good holy guy and the people were definitely filled with the Holy Spirit and did a lot of good work in the community- they did not have Jesus. I am talking about the Eucharist, I realized we had the fullness of the Truth and Jesus is present in the Mass.

I mean at minimum, although you should do more than just that, it is an hour a week. I could put up with not having the rock music an hour a week.

I was also incarcerated for about a year. In that time I delved deeper into the Catholic Churchā€™s history and felt God calling me to return fully. I attended Mass at the correctional facility. We had our own little Parish, part of an outside one but we called our parish St John of the Cross. Anyway we had one of two regular Preist that would switch off doing the full Mass once a month and a Deacon that calibrated it every Sunday. He was also a very holy man filled with the Holy Spirit. He was also part of what brought me back to my faith.

I guess what I am trying to say, get to the point right- Haha, is that donā€™t give up on the Church just yet. If you donā€™t like the particular Catholic church you attend check out others. My Church, while we donā€™t have a praise and worship band, do have a very good music program.
 
Forgot to mention I also went through addiction. It is a day to day process. The Celbrate Recovery program is a good one. Doesnā€™t mean you canā€™t attend that and still be active in the Catholic Church. You have my prayers and love, God Bless you.
 
My dad and step momā€™s church is in my old High School. Their service is in the gym with bleachers and movable seats on the floor so they can still use it as a gym. It is a large building and it does have an auditorium with theater seats but the auditorium is not large enough for their service. They totally remodeled it and put a Cafe in it that is open to the public. But it still feels like my old high school when I went in there, lol.
 
Sorry for all these replies but there are a lot of good holy men and women (nuns/sisters) in the clergy that were not involved in the scandals. Yes these scandals are horrible and we need to address them and help the victims, but most of the priests are good men. My priest was very sad, angry and hurt about the scandal. One of his homely he addressed it. He broke down, even though he was not involved in anything like that, he still apologized for it. He is a great man. Every one in both Churches he serves loves him. He was originally a teacher at an Catholic orphanage in Columbia and loves the youth so it affected him. Father has only been a Preist for a few years now. He spends his time between two Catholic churches, one of them being very large. He inspires me to be a better Catholic, even though I do struggle with it at times.
 
Sounds like one of my best friends. He is not non denominational or from that college. He is a Baptist, but respected the Catholic Church. Even though we donā€™t pray the sinners prayer, he still says Catholics are saved like they are. He does not view the Catholic Church as the Church but sees us as brother and sister Christians. However he is not liberal when it comes to politics, he is the exact opposite, lol.
 
Thatā€™s what I callā€™em also. Not in a disrespectful way, just my sense of humor I guess, lol.
 
I respect their position on that but I donā€™t agree with it šŸ™‚

I believe infant Baptism is valid and once Baptized you should not have it done again. Now this is my belief and I respect other peopleā€™s beliefs, but to me it is kinda like I did not trust in the Holy Spirit the first time. You have that mark of Christ on you why would you do it again, kinda like you didnā€™t trust the first time. If that makes sense, sometimes I have a hard time trying to explain what I am thinking, Haha.
 
I heard back from someone at the church Iā€™d emailed but he wants to talk to me on the phone. I sent him my number and will probably hear from him tomorrow.
 
I didnā€™t care for C R because I was the only one with OCD and didnā€™t feel
like anyone could relate to my problems, plus I was the only Catholic there.
It was the second CR group Iā€™ve tried. The first one was held at a Baptist church and the guy leading it made a snotty comment against Catholics so I never went back.
 
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Well I can totally understand that, they are not the only recovery program out there either. You can check with your local community mental health agency to see if they can recommend a recovery group. Or if you are comfortable with doing so, you can ask if their is a Catholic one within your Diocese or a near by diocese. You could always call anonymously to the whomever would be appropriate within the Diocese or talk to a Priest within your diocese to see if they have any recommendations.
 
Iā€™ve tried so many things to deal with the OCD. Celebrate a Recovery, Obsessive Compulsive Anonymous, Recovery Inc. (I think it was called), talk therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, day therapy, medications, psychiatrists, psychologists, mental health social workers, psychiatric nurses, talked to my pastor, I thought rejoining church along with prayer would help, and whatever else.
Iā€™m pretty much at the point to finally accept what my psychiatrist said - I can get help but OCD wonā€™t ever go away.
 
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I appreciate you sharing that about yourself! It was so good to hear.

The Eucharist truly is the source and summit of our faith!
 
Go and attend a service. Seems you are very interested in this Church and like all things to curb that interest go and experience it FIRST HAND.
 
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If I go or not probably depends on what that guy from their church has to say about evolution and Baptism.
Iā€™m pretty much Lea I got toward staying put. Iā€™d miss the Eucharist.
 
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Augustinian said:
They say they are ā€œnon denominationalā€, but in actuality it is a denomination. They tend to be pretty strict bible thumpers, but with a bit of a different spin than Baptists or Methodists.
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The Church of Christ tends to be strict. The Disciples of Christ tends not to be. The Disciples are really a typical liberal mainline Protestant church these days.
 
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