Why are Protestant Churches more friendly, helpful, and community oriented?

[StMarkEofE]

I would say that most, but not all, Catholics tend to keep their faith to themselves. I was on the Adult Education team at our Parish for several years, and time after time, the same 20 - 30 people would attend the talks we sponsored, and you would recognize these people because they all went to daily Mass. When the Parish would send out forms asking what the Parish really wanted, adult education was always one top thing the parishioners’ wishes. Why didn’t they ever show up? I don’t know. When we had Roslyn Moss speak, there were about 600 people there, but when we had a local priest or deacon speak, only the same 20 - 30 people would show up.
But then again our parish has several bible study groups that have been meeting weekly for 10 or more years, so there is the community spirit around.
My guess to the apparent difference between Catholic and Protestant churches is that in the Protestant churches the only the people who want to be there show up, while with Catholic’s, there is the quilt factor, you get a lot of people showing up to Mass, either out of fear of hell, or just because they know that they should show up, that if they were not Catholic, I think that they would not be showing up at all. But that is my opinion for what it is worth. (Not much)
I have attended different Protestant churches, both denominational and non-denominational, they had great music, great preaching, everyone seems to be very sociable, I could sense that their praise and worship was real. But for me, when they had their communion, I personally feel something missing. I missed Jesus being really present in the Eucharist. (I did not partake in their communion) It is a very strong feeling in me, and it made me feel sorry for them, for even though they have so much, they do not know what they are missing

As an Eastern Orthodox Christian we love the environment of the church. Any time we are there be it Vespers, Bible study, food festivals, Liturgies, we just hang out there and talk shop (religion and such). Its great and it is also a learning tool and a reinforcement of faith.

 

[Denise_Shae]

Wow, I didn’t realize how blessed I was until I read through this thread.
I think it’s more of a parish problem, rather than the CC as a whole.
Our parish has many actiities:

• Coffee and Doughnuts in the parish center after the 9, 10:30 and 12:00 Masses. I’ve been to each, at one time or another, and the crowds are rather large.
• Children’s Liturgy
• “Seeds of Faith Evangelization” Program
• “Formed in Chirst…Sent as Disciples” Program
• “ALPHA” Program
• “Mom’s Group” (Spirituality)
• Men’s Bible Study
• Women’s Bible Study
• Scouts
• Bethesda Project Homeless Shelter Casserole Program
• Elizabeth Ministry
• St. Vincent DePaul clothing drives
• Volunteers for the Aged, Shut-ins & Hospitalized
• Charismatic Prayer Meetings
• Grief counceling (for parents and widows/widowers)
• RCIA

I know there’s are few more, but I can’t think of them right now.

You guys really don’t have these programs at your parishes?
I thought all parishes had them.

Have you thought about mentioning these types of activities to your pastors? Just a thought.

God Bless!

 

[aj830]

A parish in my area is probably more community oriented than most the protestant churches in my area. They offer stuff for everyone and there is almost always something going on at the parish. They don’t lack in orthodoxy either.

They offer things like:
Bible Study, Divine Mercy Hour, Filipino-American Ministry, Hispanic Ministry, Korean Prayer Group, Parents Faith Group, Middle School Youth Group, Lifeteen, Young Adult Group, Friday Night Talks, Soc. of St. Vincent de Paul, and a ton more.

Most were started by people suggesting where there was a need. Another thing to remember if you live in a area with a small amount of priests they also have to go to prisons and hospitals more often and maybe have to go to mission parishes so it is more up to the laity to get things going, with the priest’s permission of course.

 

[Disheartened]

Lots of good comments here. It sounds as if it’s alot of factors. Some of it is just the way it has always been. The mandatory Mass factor makes sense. I’ll have to think about all this. Maybe I’ll start by joining YLI. My parish is not very big, that’s about all there is except for altar society. There’s a larger parish a half hour drive from here that offers more, but I don’t want to leave the kids anymore than I have to. It’s too far to drive just for a Bible study. A friend of mine who goes to that church complains about the lack of stuff too, so I guess there’s not much going on there either.

 

[Deus_Vult]

One of my complaints about the Catholic Church is that it’s unfriendly and not a very good community. I read posts here that say that Protestants are phoney and have just as many problems, and that you don’t go to church to feel good. But I think that Protestants have a lot on the ball. They offer more youth activities and church socials. We should be socializing within the Church. That feeling of community is an important thing, more important to some than others obviously. It’s also a big reason why people like myself are tempted to leave the church, because it’s not the greatest social support system.

I see my fellow Catholics getting involved in all sorts of other activities outside of church, but nothing’s happening in the church. Small Baptist churches will have a church van or bus and everyone takes field trips together. They have vibrant youth groups where kids can have wholesome fun and give the parents a break too. I wish the Catholic Church provided things like that more.

I used to think this as well…but I feel differently about it today. My parish has over 85 different ministries and I am involved with five of them. In one of them we discussed this very issue with our Priest…we all agreed there was a social support system but you really had to ask. We all agreed we would try to make this change including our Priest. I would suggest becoming involved and get others involved to make a change. I am involved in two different Bible studies, Teams of our Lady, Knights of Columbus, and a Eucharistic Adoration group. And we have alot of trips and retreats to get involved with. We have to make the change!

 

[Denise_Shae]

Wow, I didn’t realize how blessed I was until I read through this thread.
I think it’s more of a parish problem, rather than the CC as a whole.
Our parish has many actiities:

• Coffee and Doughnuts in the parish center after the 9, 10:30 and 12:00 Masses. I’ve been to each, at one time or another, and the crowds are rather large.
• Children’s Liturgy
• “Seeds of Faith Evangelization” Program
• “Formed in Chirst…Sent as Disciples” Program
• “ALPHA” Program
• “Mom’s Group” (Spirituality)
• Men’s Bible Study
• Women’s Bible Study
• Scouts
• Bethesda Project Homeless Shelter Casserole Program
• Elizabeth Ministry
• St. Vincent DePaul clothing drives
• Volunteers for the Aged, Shut-ins & Hospitalized
• Charismatic Prayer Meetings
• Grief counceling (for parents and widows/widowers)
• RCIA
• Youth and Adult Choir
• Bingo & Pizza Night (Families)
• Dances - Adults & Teens

I know there’s are few more, but I can’t think of them right now.

You guys really don’t have these programs at your parishes?
I thought all parishes had them.

Have you thought about mentioning these types of activities to your pastors? Just a thought.

God Bless!

 

[Denise_Shae]

I can’t believe I forgot “Small Faith Communities”. They’re pretty nice. We take turns meeting at different homes to discuss our Faith and to support each other. I love it!

God Bless!

 

[runandsew]

My wife and I use to that the Bible study group at our house, because we had young children, and didn’t want to use a baby sitter, or have them stay up real late. Our Priest would come to the Bible study, I think that he loved the company. We would take his overcoat and hat and put them on our bed, to get them out of the way, well one night I happened to look down the hallway, and saw my 4 year old son walking down the hallway with Our Priests hat and coat on. It was really cute.
So I would recommend that if you have children at home, that you might want to have a Bible study in your home. My wife would always have a dessert for afterwards, and we would all sit and chat for along time afterwards.
It was great small community that we enjoyed for several years.

 

[McKevin]

Hi,

I have to be honest with you guys. I know I never say anything mean on this forum because that is not Christ-like, but Im a little angry and I feel I have to speak up. Please bear with me

I am so sick of catholics saying the protestant or non-denoms services are only focused on entertainment and that we do not focus our worship on God. That is SO FAR FROM THE TRUTH! So we sing praise music so what! We are being joyful in our worship to the Lord. Worship does not have to be solemn and quiet to be worthy of praising the Lord. We are to be joyful and what better way then to sing to Him with clapping if one so chooses. We are showing God how much we love and worship Him. Both styles of worship are fine.

I have seen this said SOOOOO many times on this forum that I just couldnt take it anymore.

I would appreciate it if you guys would understand that we do focus our worship on God we just do it in a more vivacious way. I dont see that worshipping in our style is any less of a way of worshipping then the CC way.

Ok my rant is over

As a former protestant, I can relate. I found the truth in the Catholic Mass, but miss the geniune fellowship and spirit-filled praise of my former protestant church, to the extent that I want to attend both - but I continue to choose the real presence of Christ over emotional and spiritual highs each week - but the protestant church I grew up, where my dad was the preacher, is full of good people who aren’t showboating but love the Lord and do everything for Christ!

God bless you,

<>
Mick

 

[jmcrae]

There is YLI, maybe I’ll join it. Most of the women are older than me, the name of it is a big joke actually.

Yes, we have one of those in our Diocese - they used to call it the “youth group” (even though there were people in their 90s attending the meetings) - someone invited me to join, and I said, “You’re kidding me? I quit Youth Group when I was 17 - that’s kid stuff.”

They changed the name to the “Active Adults” now - and I don’t have time to go, because I’ve gotten in way over my head on other stuff.

 

[Mommyof02green]

I am so sick of catholics saying the protestant or non-denoms services are only focused on entertainment and that we do not focus our worship on God.

I share your frustration in the sense that I’m tired of hearing how Catholic do not have youth activities and church socials!!!

The truth is that there are parishes that do these things:
This is a small list of what My Catholic Parish does outside of Mass:

**Super Saturdays:**The whole family comes to the church 1 Saturday Morning a month to play games, make things for those that are homebound, story hour etc. (It’s really arts and crafts for the family)

Parish Picnic/Block Party: This happens once a year in the fall… we block of the whole block and have picnic and games

Parish Golf Day: Once a year a golf course gets rented out for the parish, and where we can go play golf then have dinner afterwards.

Once a Month Men’s Breakfast/Mass: The men come for Mass and after Mass have breakfast and a guest speaker

Coffee n’ donuts after Mass: Everyone comes and eat donuts talk, laugh, the kids run around in the gym and play ball or tag.

Also: Various youth retreats, bible studies for Men and Women, Religious Ed for the kids, Father/Son weekend retreats, Mother/Daughter weekend retreats, High School lock-ins,

Our parish also does sports and boy/girl scouts that are open to ALL of the families. (Even those families whose children go to public schools). There is more that I can list…

Why does my parish does or has so much?? We the parish members are willing to do more. We VOLUNTEER our time to organize and run things.

I do know that there are parish that don’t do these kind of things… However has any one stop to think that maybe it’s because the parish members, the people, don’t want to VOLUNTEER to do it, to help run it, to help organize it!!!

You can’t have programs if you don’t have anyone willing to 'plan it". If you as a Catholic are not happy with your parish because they don’t have these “extra activities” then volunteer to organize something. Or if you don’t have the kind of time then maybe consider go to another parish that does have these kinds of activities. Just remember your home parish is only a small part of the WHOLE Catholic community.

 

[ALLFORHIM]

I share your frustration in the sense that I’m tired of hearing how Catholic do not have youth activities and church socials!!!

The truth is that there are parishes that do these things:
This is a small list of what My Catholic Parish does outside of Mass:

**Super Saturdays:**The whole family comes to the church 1 Saturday Morning a month to play games, make things for those that are homebound, story hour etc. (It’s really arts and crafts for the family)

Parish Picnic/Block Party: This happens once a year in the fall… we block of the whole block and have picnic and games

Parish Golf Day: Once a year a golf course gets rented out for the parish, and where we can go play golf then have dinner afterwards.

Once a Month Men’s Breakfast/Mass: The men come for Mass and after Mass have breakfast and a guest speaker

Coffee n’ donuts after Mass: Everyone comes and eat donuts talk, laugh, the kids run around in the gym and play ball or tag.

Also: Various youth retreats, bible studies for Men and Women, Religious Ed for the kids, Father/Son weekend retreats, Mother/Daughter weekend retreats, High School lock-ins,

Our parish also does sports and boy/girl scouts that are open to ALL of the families. (Even those families whose children go to public schools). There is more that I can list…

Why does my parish does or has so much?? We the parish members are willing to do more. We VOLUNTEER our time to organize and run things.

I do know that there are parish that don’t do these kind of things… However has any one stop to think that maybe it’s because the parish members, the people, don’t want to VOLUNTEER to do it, to help run it, to help organize it!!!

You can’t have programs if you don’t have anyone willing to 'plan it". If you as a Catholic are not happy with your parish because they don’t have these “extra activities” then volunteer to organize something. Or if you don’t have the kind of time then maybe consider go to another parish that does have these kinds of activities. Just remember your home parish is only a small part of the WHOLE Catholic community.

Hi,

See— we ought to stop picking on each other Im sure God is shaking His head at us saying–shame on you(meaning all of us)

 

[havemercy]

Because they’re trying to make up for what they can’t replace: the Eucharist (etcetera). But of course, we have something to learn from our Protestant bretheren in this respect…When their Churches aren’t constantly splitting in two.

Hurts almost as much as having a Bible fall on your head. The Truth hurts, even moreso when its a Catholic Bible (that’s seven books more!).

 

[Augustine22]

I think havemercy has a point. I think it also may have something to do with the fact that most Protestant Churches are much smaller and they are very focused on KEEPING those with them, too. Catholics tend to be a little more “if you want to stay, then stay. No one is going to force you or chase after you.”

 

[Tonks40]

I think it’s important to show that various parish communities DO have many fruitful activities outside of Mass. My parish has over 60 ministries, groups and organizations. Tonight, for example, the Knights of Columbus are having their annual Pasta Dinner in the parish hall. Some of things that we also have are:

• Mama Dee (Sr. Dolores) Social Outreach ministry
• Scripture Study - Monday nights & Thursday mornings
• Youth Group
• Young Adults
• Italian Catholic Federation; Filipino-American Association; Peruvian Community; Hispanic Community
• Faith & Light (group of physically/mentally challenged parish members)
• First Fridays “Mass & Class” (an apologetics class after the First Friday evening Masses)
• Disciples in Mission (scripture faith-sharing group for Lent)
• ACTS Prayer Group; Spirit in Life group (charismatic groups)
• Seniors
• Alter & Rose Society
• Ecumenical Council

…and many, many others I don’t have time to name.

And it’s true what another poster said - it is really up to us to help build up the Kingdom of God here on earth through His Church. If there is a need that you feel might be beneficial to others in your parish, approach your pastor to see if you can start a group that addresses that need.

As members of the Body of Christ, the needs of those on earth are many, no only isolated in our individual parishes, but also outside the parish bounderies. We are all priestly, prophetic and kingly people - we must do all we can to reflect that, and if it brings life to your parish, graces are bound to flow from that!

Peace & God Bless!

 

[Kevin42]

One of my complaints about the Catholic Church is that it’s unfriendly and not a very good community. I read posts here that say that Protestants are phoney and have just as many problems, and that you don’t go to church to feel good. But I think that Protestants have a lot on the ball. They offer more youth activities and church socials. We should be socializing within the Church. That feeling of community is an important thing, more important to some than others obviously. It’s also a big reason why people like myself are tempted to leave the church, because it’s not the greatest social support system.

I see my fellow Catholics getting involved in all sorts of other activities outside of church, but nothing’s happening in the church. Small Baptist churches will have a church van or bus and everyone takes field trips together. They have vibrant youth groups where kids can have wholesome fun and give the parents a break too. I wish the Catholic Church provided things like that more.

Well I’m not sure about your Church, but the Church that I go to has numerous social and community activities (over 75 ministries) for both children and adults. We just started construction on a seperate building to accomadate the space that all the activities require. I’m not sure how well off your Church is financially, so I don’t know if that’s an issue. All I can say is look at other Catholic Church’s around you, or just be the change that you want to see and take initiative of starting something yourself.

 

[Indyann]

Because they’re trying to make up for what they can’t replace: the Eucharist (etcetera). But of course, we have something to learn from our Protestant bretheren in this respect…When their Churches aren’t constantly splitting in two.

Hurts almost as much as having a Bible fall on your head. The Truth hurts, even moreso when its a Catholic Bible (that’s seven books more!).

I was just thinking the same thing.
When you have the Truth, nothing else is really needed. If the children were properly catechized, I don’t think they would be so “bored”.

 

[havemercy]

I was just thinking the same thing.
When you have the Truth, nothing else is really needed. If the children were properly catechized, I don’t think they would be so “bored”.

I wish I had Stephen Colbert as my Catechist. Maybe I wouldn’t have left the Church in order to return.

I’m only half-kidding.

 

[lak611]

It all depends on the particular church. My Catholic parish has adult Sunday school (Bible study). We also have coffee and donuts after Mass once a month. Maybe those of you who belong to Catholic churches that do not seem friendly need to volunteer to organize some of those types of activities. That would be something that a layperson could do; it would not be necessary for a priest or deacon to do those types of things. My previous parish did not have those types of things. I love my parish because we do have activities and events for people. We also have a youth group, a senior citizens’ group, a parish nurse, and a vacation Bible study for the children in the summer. :dancing:

 

[Denise_Shae]

I wish I had Stephen Colbert as my Catechist. Maybe I wouldn’t have left the Church in order to return.

I’m only half-kidding.

True, but then again, you would never have had that sweet ( and most likely, once in a lifetime ) experience of returning Home. Talk about “Amazing Grace”!

[SIGN]Welcome Home, Brother in Christ[/SIGN]

I came Home in 96. When did you return?

God Bless!