Why dont we use the word Church anymore?

[shadrach]

**“A Church”- **The place where we used to offer the sacrifice of the Mass.We would wear our Sunday Best not to impress eachother but to respect the House of God.We would smell the incense wafing in the air as we genuflected before a tabernacle located front and center.We would see large families sitting together whose children would never go off separately for a separate reading. We would see old women piously fingering their Rosary beads their heads covered out of respect.The priest would offer the sacrifice of Christ before an actual crucifix.We would proceed to the altar rail and stand before the Almighty God whom we dared not receive in our weak sinful hands and we would kneel afterward in silent devotion.

Also known as the Good Ol’days

 

[Cristiano]

I was, I admit, a bit dramatic.

Wow! this is the first post that I have read in a long time where the poster instead of becoming defensive or legalistic just admitted to pushing the envelope to express his opinion.

You gained brownie points with me.

 

[anamchara]

Wow! this is the first post that I have read in a long time where the poster instead of becoming defensive or legalistic just admitted to pushing the envelope to express his opinion.

You gained brownie points with me.

Ya! I was very impressed with this as well Cristiano What to go Franscico

I tried looking up anything changing the parishes name but couldn’t find anything.

 

[introibo]

It is obvious to anyone that isn’t looking for something to criticize that “Catholic Community” = Parish. To automatically take a stance against a church that chooses to call itself a “Catholic Community” rather than a “Parish” SOLELY BECAUSE of the semantics of the title is completely ridiculous.

 

[maryalene]

I don’t think we have any Catholic “communities” around here. At least I haven’t run across any yet with that name on their sign.

As for dropping the Roman in Roman Catholic, quite a while ago I heard (on this forum I believe) that the term Roman Catholic originated as an insult by Protestants who said we were Roman Papists. Does anyone else remember hearing that?

 

[Kielbasi]

As for dropping the Roman in Roman Catholic, quite a while ago I heard (on this forum I believe) that the term Roman Catholic originated as an insult by Protestants who said we were Roman Papists. Does anyone else remember hearing that?

I don’t think it was an “insult” but just a way to distinguish Catholics from English Anglicans who considered theirselves to be “catholic”.

 

[Caesar]

Caesar: Are those strangely named parishes in union with the Holy See and the local ordinary or are they “autocephalous” or “independent?” If they aren’t, then that is truly odd.

In my diocese, we have two “communities,” all the rest are “churches.” I think it’s a silly trend that’s dying out, you know, “we’re SPECIAL!”

No, they were all in union with Rome and part of the respective Dioceses that I was in. In fact, my family went to the Front Street Catholic Church once, then even my parents had to admit the absence of kneelers in that church/auditorium (comletely lacking in anything that looked remotely Catholic) the evangelical-style music was rather distressing, so we went to another parish with the classic 1920’s church that looks very Catholic on the exterior, but was stripped-down inside in the 1970s and has the choir sing all the nice folk music that you get at an average parish

 

[lak611]

As for dropping the Roman in Roman Catholic, quite a while ago I heard (on this forum I believe) that the term Roman Catholic originated as an insult by Protestants who said we were Roman Papists. Does anyone else remember hearing that?

I’ve noticed at least where I live that all of the Eastern Catholic Churches have the name of the rite on the church sign. Byzantine Catholic, Ukranian Catholic, Maronite Catholic appear on the sign, so I don’t think there would be anything offensive about putting Roman Catholic on a Latin rite church sign.

 

[mnowlin1]

The sign on the outside says St. Xxxxx Catholic Community.

This not my old parish just some examples:
saintstephencommunity.com/

saintanne.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi

saintedward.com/

Sadly I note that the third reference above also calles its Mass a Eucharistic Celebration.

 

[Veritas41]

I think I might have misunderstood the OP, are these Catholic Churches being completely renamed, officially? Or are they being referred to as Communities? I’d like to get the full story on this.

I’ve attended several Catholic parishes in the Houston-Galveston Archdiocese that are officially (the name is on their signs) “Catholic Communities” and all of the ones I’ve attended, without exception, have been rather liberal

 

[Caesar]

Sadly I note that the third reference above also calles its Mass a Eucharistic Celebration.

Funny, thats what the Anglican church down the street from me calls their “Masses”.

 

[jay29]

Goodness, by your definition, the Church Universal, the Church Militant, has ceased to be the Church, since She does not Herself insist on the marks that you seem to insist on (the tabernacle is to be prominent, not front and center; no one, male or female, old or young, is required finger their rosary beads at Mass; head coverings for women, a disciplinary matter, are not required; the Church allows Communion in the hand, etc). Are we then to assume that Jesus failed in His Promise and the Church has ceased to be the Church?

However, the Church can live without “liturgical” dancers and hippy rock bands in the US.

 

[MusicMan]

Funny, thats what the Anglican church down the street from me calls their “Masses”.

I am aware of some Episcopalian Churches that refer to their principal Sunday worship as the Holy Mass.

My town’s ELCA Lutheran Church occassionally hires me to play the organ for their Sunday worship. The pastor has often referred to Sunday worship (with Communion) as the Mass.

 

[anamchara]

I’ve attended several Catholic parishes in the Houston-Galveston Archdiocese that are officially (the name is on their signs) “Catholic Communities” and all of the ones I’ve attended, without exception, have been rather liberal

But as you witness them, was there any liturgical abuses? You say liberal but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a reverent NO. Just curious Veritas

 

[Orogeny]

I’ve attended several Catholic parishes in the Houston-Galveston Archdiocese that are officially (the name is on their signs) “Catholic Communities” and all of the ones I’ve attended, without exception, have been rather liberal

Well, I personally invite you to Christ the Redeemer Catholic Community in Houston. If you consider us liberal, you have a standard well beyond the GIRM.

Peace

Tim

 

[aixia]

Well gee, I go to a “Catholic Center,” I wonder if that’s even more eeeevil than a Catholic Community!

 

[Jamie_Burns]

But as you witness them, was there any liturgical abuses? You say liberal but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a reverent NO. Just curious Veritas

One of the websites cited above is my home parish. Liturgical mistakes? Yes, sometimes. Liturgical abuses? I do not think so.

 

[Veritas41]

But as you witness them, was there any liturgical abuses? You say liberal but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a reverent NO. Just curious Veritas

Yes, there were liturgical abuses (it’s a rare parish that doesn’t have any) but none that I haven’t seen in Catholic parishes that don’t use the term “Community” to describe themselves. The music, while well performed, is always of the contemporary variety found in missals, with anemic theological content --“us-oriented” rather than “God-oriented” (and to be fair, I’ve seen this in parishes that don’t call themselves “Communities”). The majority of people I observed did not receive Holy Communion properly, and often the congregation stood at the wrong times – after the Sanctus, after the Agnus Dei, etc. None of the churches had a tabernacle in the sanctuary proper but were off in another room, and all had a Risen Christ above the altar, not a crucifix (one of these churches has since placed the tabernacle in their sanctuary however). They are also (with one exception) very auditorium-like, with few if any statues, stained glass windows or other indications that the building is a church. There is little silence before Mass–mostly talking and visiting in the pews. Some of the homilies I have heard at these churches have had some bad theology, with the thrust of most of them being mostly a pep talk rather than something challenging and convicting (again, to be fair, I’ve seen this in Catholic parishes that don’t call themselves “Communities”). As a former Protestant, these churches have given me a feeling of being more Protestant in outlook and practice than Catholic (and this was reaffirmed to me when my mother and sister went through RCIA at such a parish and were told that purpose of the RCIA program was to convert them to God, not Catholicism, as if the two were mutually exclusive–and that’s not the only thing time they encountered that kind of attitude in RCIA). I’m not a traditionalist Catholic, and I’ve attended some very beautiful and reverent Novus Ordo Masses, and none of the ones I attended at “Catholic Communities” came even close to those.

 

[Angels_Watchin]

I think there is truth to what Franciscan posted. Our outside signs here do not yet say ‘community’ but our mission statements say things like we are a diverse catholic community who gathers…" The few times I went to a place that did officially call itself a community were VERY bad experiences. I have no wish to be a part of those communities. Yes, we have a round church so as to ‘see Christ in everyone’ but mostly it is just distracting.

Today the penitential rite, Kyrie, Gloria and Creed were omitted from the Sunday Mass but as we heard last week that Mass is a gathering of the community to give thanks, I suppose that happened?

I just wish to be able to attend the HOLY SACRIFICE of the Mass and not leave upset. Is it asking too much?

Round Church with altar in the middle - write the nuncio
nuntiususa@nuntiususa.org
and the Pope benedictxvi@vatican.va

Write the priest and the bishop and send a copy to the nuncio and pope - request a reply - then send the reply (or a letter about the lack of one) to the nuncio and the pope. Videotape the next mass and post it on www.youtube.com and send the link to CRCOA (email address is on their site)
and they will publicize it. That’s what it takes to get errant priests and bishops to comply.

Need any help - pm me

Angel

 

[blessedtoo]

Here in the great Northwest we have lots of Catholic Communities! And I can second everything that Veritas has reported about his/her experience in these Parishes. If I see a banner on the outside of the Church saying “Catholic Community”, I drive right on by.