Wishing to be Protestant again...

[CMatt25]

I hope this does not get me in trouble with the site authorities.

I most certainly will not encourage you to cease to be Catholic.

I am going to make an add suggestion to you: have some of both.

I am 100% committed to the Christian Church/Disciples of Christ. From early 2007 to the end of 2008, I attended a congregation that had only morning services. However, I missed the strong, expository, `dig deep into the Bible’ approach of the Churches of Christ. Getting both was no problem: the Disciples congregation met only in the mornings, and the Church of Christ congregation I chose met in the evenings and in the middle of the week.

It was a wonderful arrangement. I was right in the middle of children’s ministry at the Disciples congregation, and the Church of Christ congregation also involved me in congregational life as a `second home.’

Fact is, many Catholic congregations have services on Saturday evening, and/or late Sunday morning. What if you attended another congregation in the evenings, or early mornings? Find you a nice congregation that will not try to `steal’ you; I bet you would not have too much difficulty with that.

I really think that with some creativity, you can probably have both.

Some Catholic parishes not only have Sat evening and late Sun morn or noonish. But also Sun evening. So that keeps early Sun morn open.

 

[tweetymom]

Hi, I chose that title to be somewhat provocative to hopefully garner people who could reply to this thread. I converted from Protestantism more than 10 years ago and I am happy to be Catholic. However, having said that I do miss much of the social aspects of a Protestant church. There were programs and bible studies for every age group; there were many ways of connecting to different people in your church–I had lots of friends in church and we would call each other up and do things together. There would be family picnics and other outings the church would sponsor.

In my 10 years of being Catholic my knowledge of truth has increased but at the cost of fellowship. I’ve been around 4 different Catholic churches in 10 years and all of them seem to be not much more than ‘Eucharist factories’ where you shuffle the people in, give them a boring homily, the Eucharist and shuffle them out until next week when you can do it again. The earliest youth group starts at high school.

I have brought some of my brothers and sisters in to the Church, but we all are beginning to pine for the days when going to church was enjoyable.

It does really appear to me that the Catholic Church, as an institution, does not foster fellowship anywhere near as much as the Protestant churches do. Am I wrong?

And before you say to me, “Well then, you get something started at your church!”, I’m trying to make the point that as an institution the Catholic church does not foster fellowship. I don’t want to be one person trying to roll a rock up hill, I want to be part of a Church that encourages fellowship.

As I mentioned before, I helped bring others to the Catholic Church, but now I’ve got a dilemma. My two kids, ages 12 and 13 are really complaining about going to our ‘boring church’ when their Protestant friends do all these really fun activities their churches sponsor. And I have an older son who may be considering becoming Catholic, but he has 4 children ages 1-6. I wince at the prospect of telling him he can’t put his children in Sunday School while he and his wife go to mass, but instead he has to keep four children under control for an hour while having to listen to a boring sermon. These are not show stoppers, but they really detract from giving incentives to joining the Church.

Any thought are welcome. But does anyone else see this lack of fellowship problem?

Yes i want to go back too. lots more o feverything at my Protestant churh. But oh well just deal with the hand that you are dealt.

 

[mikeledes]

Many Anglicans and Orthodox already feel they have both. From a Catholic perspective the Eucharist is invalid in the AC, but Anglicans feel quite different. The Old Catholic Utrecht “Dutch Touch” consecrations reinfused valid apostolic lines into the Anglican apostolic succession; Anglicans believe they have a valid Eucharist. So do the Orthodox. They both have outstanding fellowship and usually great pastoral care as well. They don’t see it as an either-or.

Not all Anglicans and Orthdodox have outstanding fellowship. Its not only the Eucharist. It’s the fact that the Catholic Church is the Church founded by Christ and possesses the fullness of truth. I want to be where Christ wants me to be, in the Church He founded. No one is saying it has to be an either-or. But when there is an either-or, that’s when you have to set your priorities straight. Am I Catholic because I believe that the Catholic Church is the church founded by Our Lord or because I’m looking for good fellowship. Again, your experience with fellowship has been negative. Other Catholics feel differently. My point is that when we see that there is something lacking, then we should do something about it, despite the obstacles and the difficulties that may lay ahead.

God Bless,
Michael

 

[T_More]

Yes i want to go back too. lots more o feverything at my Protestant churh. But oh well just deal with the hand that you are dealt.

Tweetymom, I’m confused. I asked you not more than a month ago if you are Catholic and you said yes. I take it you have left the Church?

 

[Carlan]

So many of you on the search for the perfect mix of worship and fellowship and non boring preaching. Don’t you see what’s up??? It is so hard to find it amongst a world of sinners looking for perfection in life! Have you ever read what Jesus said about the ‘Doctrine of the Cross’ in Matthew and in Mark? I believe more peace will be found in less Church hoping and more persevering in your growth in Holiness than in looking for perfection in Church fellowship. God bless us and give us peace. Carlan

 

[tweetymom]

Tweetymom, I’m confused. I asked you not more than a month ago if you are Catholic and you said yes. I take it you have left the Church?

Don’t be confused. I am Catholic and have not left the church, just liked my Protestant Chuch a lot.

 

[Martyr225]

Thanks for all the posts. I just want to clarify that I am happy to be Catholic and have absolutely no plans of ever leaving. I know that it is the true Church.

Some have commented that I (or we) are supposed to choose between worship or fellowship. I think that is a false dichotomy. The early Church “gave themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” The true Church should have it all! We need good teaching, fellowship, the Eucharist and prayer if we are to grow to our full stature in Christ.

I am happy to hear there are parishes that do have it all, I hope those parishes can serve as role models and other parishes will follow suit. But I humbly submit that the Church will not move if the laity does not make it happen. The priests have enough to do, and I’m sure they have their own set of friends amongst themselves.

This is going to be more of a laity thing if it is ever going to be done at all. Which leads me to my second point: if there was a problem in our Protestant church, someone would take it upon themselves to correct the situation. If there was a need for childcare during service, someone would start a sign up sheet and people would volunteer which Sunday they would take. Name a problem and it was usually the laity (although we never used that word to describe ourselves) who would fix it.

Perhaps this was because we never considered our pastor to be any different than ourselves. He was one of us and we just as often called him by his first name as we would call him pastor.

In the Catholic Church we give more deference to our priests, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but it seems to foster a docility where we tend to ‘let the professional do it’. The Catholic is not as apt to try to change something as their Protestant counterpart.

Maybe this is good, maybe not, I don’t know. I think culturally the Catholic has been more conditioned to be docile and in the area of learning the faith, that is good.

But there has to be some middle ground where a good, sincere Catholic can help his Church become better without causing dissensions, etc. I would like to think that a good junior officer can still offer a good supporting role to his superior officer and make the platoon a better place.

Hope I’m not offending anyone. It does look like I’ll have to roll up my sleeves and try to make something happen in my parish. But beyond that, as I said before, I don’t want to be the only person rolling a rock up the hill. Am what I’m saying make sense to anyone? Culturally, are Catholics more docile than their Protestant brethren? Or is there something in the Catholic culture that does not foster fellowship and should be looked at?

Thanks

 

[Reuben_J]

My parish has a big cathedral that can accommodate about 1500 people at any one mass. It is bustling with activities just about for anyone, catering for anyone. The cathedral is always full at every mass, one has to come early, at least half an hour, if one wants to be assured of a seat in the pews otherwise it would be standing room only at the back.

Every Sunday there is always food sale at the parish center; you don’t have to eat out. There’s lot of fellowship; the place practically vibrant.

There are many movements – more than seventy at the last count; spiritual, social, prayer groups, Bible studies, youth, children, senior parishioners, women, cultural and art. Retreats, seminars and prayers gatherings are available every week organized by any of the movements. Very often there are big do, with international speakers/priests giving talk during major conferences.

I have two growing up children. The younger one, my boy, usually goes out on Saturday with his friends but always end up in the church by nights. There is so much fellowship; I couldn’t believe it that the boy finds the church a more exciting place than the shopping malls. Similarly for the elder child, a girl. All her friends are church girls and they have so much going together.

My wife very often gets caught up with the (church) women; there are gatherings, parties for church’s occasion, church bazaar and food sale. Sometimes I am asked to tag along as they meet the Archbishop to celebrate his birthday.

As for me, most of the nights of the week there are fellowshipping, prayer gatherings, and elders meetings; sometimes it would be ministries or helping the seminars by speaking to the participants.

There is so much life in my parish, I am surprise it is a Catholic parish.

I can only say for those who lack in the things you want in you parish – it is you who makes things happen. The priests are not going to do that. They have enough work in saying the mass and administering Sacraments. At least in my parish.

 

[LindaSK]

Thanks for all the posts. I just want to clarify that I am happy to be Catholic and have absolutely no plans of ever leaving. I know that it is the true Church.

Some have commented that I (or we) are supposed to choose between worship or fellowship. I think that is a false dichotomy. The early Church “gave themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” The true Church should have it all! We need good teaching, fellowship, the Eucharist and prayer if we are to grow to our full stature in Christ.

I am happy to hear there are parishes that do have it all, I hope those parishes can serve as role models and other parishes will follow suit. But I humbly submit that the Church will not move if the laity does not make it happen. The priests have enough to do, and I’m sure they have their own set of friends amongst themselves.

This is going to be more of a laity thing if it is ever going to be done at all. Which leads me to my second point: if there was a problem in our Protestant church, someone would take it upon themselves to correct the situation. If there was a need for childcare during service, someone would start a sign up sheet and people would volunteer which Sunday they would take. Name a problem and it was usually the laity (although we never used that word to describe ourselves) who would fix it.

Perhaps this was because we never considered our pastor to be any different than ourselves. ** He was one of us and we just as often called him by his first name as we would call him pastor.
**
In the Catholic Church we give more deference to our priests, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but it seems to foster a docility where we tend to ‘let the professional do it’. The Catholic is not as apt to try to change something as their Protestant counterpart.

Maybe this is good, maybe not, I don’t know. I think culturally the Catholic has been more conditioned to be docile and in the area of learning the faith, that is good.

But there has to be some middle ground where a good, sincere Catholic can help his Church become better without causing dissensions, etc. I would like to think that a good junior officer can still offer a good supporting role to his superior officer and make the platoon a better place.

Hope I’m not offending anyone. It does look like I’ll have to roll up my sleeves and try to make something happen in my parish. But beyond that, as I said before, I don’t want to be the only person rolling a rock up the hill. Am what I’m saying make sense to anyone? Culturally, are Catholics more docile than their Protestant brethren? Or is there something in the Catholic culture that does not foster fellowship and should be looked at?

Thanks

“** He was one of us and we just as often called him by his first name as we would call him pastor.**” I was involved in a number of Protestant churches. Never would I speak to or of the pastor without calling him “Pastor…” or “Reverend…”! Never! It was a matter of respect taught to me at a very young age.

I think the social aspect is a personal one. Those who want it will find it, or create it. I have made some friends at church, but don’t really socialize, or care to. I know I am not alone. But, I would help anyone who needs it. As I have said before, I have seen too many church ‘social’ events turn into gossip sessions, so, I tend to steer clear, and deal with people one-on-one - a few conversations after Mass. I love Daily Mass, RCIA, and Bible Study. I am on a newly formed Evangelization Committee at our church. The main focus seems to be on being more welcoming, and giving opportunities for fellowship, but, with the effort to keep it faith-based. It is important to remember that the Church is first and foremost a place of worship. Church youth groups should also be faith-based, not just entertainment oriented. I agree that they should be exist for different age groups. I strongly feel, though, that families should attend Mass together. Sunday School or CCD should **not **be at the same time Mass or services are going on.

Our church does sponsor some trips, and fellowshjp after special occasions - First Communion, Easter Vigil, Divine Mercy Sunday, etc, dinners (mostly attended by non-Catholics!), and an annual picnic. There is also a faith-sharing group, health committee, and prayer groups. These are fellowship opportunities that are faith-based. The apostles came together, with others, for Christian fellowship, teaching, and prayer.

If your church seems unfriendly, there are certainly issues that need to be addressed. Our church bulletin always has words of welcome, and encourages people to smile and share the joy of their Faith with others attending Mass, as well as with those we meet every day. Our pastor also incorporates this in his homilies (which I never find boring!), and greets people after Mass. He often attends the Evangelization Committee meetings. I don’t equate being friendly with being social.

God bless

 

[Reuben_J]

I am happy to hear there are parishes that do have it all, I hope those parishes can serve as role models and other parishes will follow suit. But I humbly submit that the Church will not move if the laity does not make it happen. The priests have enough to do, and I’m sure they have their own set of friends amongst themselves.

This is going to be more of a laity thing if it is ever going to be done at all. Which leads me to my second point: if there was a problem in our Protestant church, someone would take it upon themselves to correct the situation. If there was a need for childcare during service, someone would start a sign up sheet and people would volunteer which Sunday they would take. Name a problem and it was usually the laity (although we never used that word to describe ourselves) who would fix it.

Perhaps this was because we never considered our pastor to be any different than ourselves. He was one of us and we just as often called him by his first name as we would call him pastor.

In the Catholic Church we give more deference to our priests, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but it seems to foster a docility where we tend to ‘let the professional do it’. The Catholic is not as apt to try to change something as their Protestant counterpart.

Most priests would welcome suggestion that caters for the church’s need. I don’t see any problem there. The rector is in charge of the parish and he has the final say. It’s a good thing to defer to him as it will bring orderliness; there may be bickering among the church members/leaders, it’s an advantage if the priest makes the final decision and the others abide by it.

There is no problem with regards to activities in my parish. I don’t speak about it in this forum as it seems many Catholic parishes lack the atmosphere.

But there is so much to do, so many opportunities to make friends. I would say as starters, offer oneself in service to the church. What talent or ability that you may have? Do you like to be involved in the Liturgy? Then becoming a lector or commentator is a possibility. Do you like children? The Sunday school probably would need more teachers. What about giving catechism classes? Then the RCIA, Bible classes would need such help.

Or are you more incline to social activities? Food sales, organize parties for your priests – their anniversaries and birthdays. Help builds old parishioners home; raise fund.

Are you by tendency, spiritual? Join the devotional groups like Marian, Charismatics, Neo-catechumate, apologetics, etc.

One would make friends by working and meeting together. I have mentioned how my family evolves our life around the church and it’s beautiful.

 

[mikeledes]

Thanks for all the posts. I just want to clarify that I am happy to be Catholic and have absolutely no plans of ever leaving. I know that it is the true Church.

Some have commented that I (or we) are supposed to choose between worship or fellowship. I think that is a false dichotomy. The early Church “gave themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” The true Church should have it all! We need good teaching, fellowship, the Eucharist and prayer if we are to grow to our full stature in Christ.

I am happy to hear there are parishes that do have it all, I hope those parishes can serve as role models and other parishes will follow suit. But I humbly submit that the Church will not move if the laity does not make it happen. The priests have enough to do, and I’m sure they have their own set of friends amongst themselves.

This is going to be more of a laity thing if it is ever going to be done at all. Which leads me to my second point: if there was a problem in our Protestant church, someone would take it upon themselves to correct the situation. If there was a need for childcare during service, someone would start a sign up sheet and people would volunteer which Sunday they would take. Name a problem and it was usually the laity (although we never used that word to describe ourselves) who would fix it.

Perhaps this was because we never considered our pastor to be any different than ourselves. He was one of us and we just as often called him by his first name as we would call him pastor.

In the Catholic Church we give more deference to our priests, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but it seems to foster a docility where we tend to ‘let the professional do it’. The Catholic is not as apt to try to change something as their Protestant counterpart.

Maybe this is good, maybe not, I don’t know. I think culturally the Catholic has been more conditioned to be docile and in the area of learning the faith, that is good.

But there has to be some middle ground where a good, sincere Catholic can help his Church become better without causing dissensions, etc. I would like to think that a good junior officer can still offer a good supporting role to his superior officer and make the platoon a better place.

Hope I’m not offending anyone. It does look like I’ll have to roll up my sleeves and try to make something happen in my parish. But beyond that, as I said before, I don’t want to be the only person rolling a rock up the hill. Am what I’m saying make sense to anyone? Culturally, are Catholics more docile than their Protestant brethren? Or is there something in the Catholic culture that does not foster fellowship and should be looked at?

Thanks

Hello! It´s not about chosing worship over fellowship. It´s remembering what is the priority when you find yourself in the unfortunate situation of being in a parish that lacks good fellowship. Ideally, we shouldn´t have to chose, we should have both. But the reality is that not every parish has good fellowship and hence we have to remind ourselves why we go to church in order not to be disheartened.

God Bless,
Michael

 

[distracted]

instead he has to keep four children under control for an hour while having to listen to a boring sermon. These are not show stoppers, but they really detract from giving incentives to joining the Church.

=Martyr225;6567334]Hi,

Any thought are welcome. But does anyone else see this lack of fellowship problem?

for one thing… hate to sound argumentative… dont mean to but… personally i have only heard ONE boring homily in my entire life and it was when this normally very good preist went on and on about $$ probs in the Church… i woudnt have minded if he had spoken for a few min on the subj but he went on & on and there was no spiritual aspect to the homily weird cuz this is a very good priest…

I’v been to literally thousands and thousands of Masses in my life… heard a few hereticical sounding ones… but those are far from boring cuz they get me riled up… wheels start turning in my head about wht to do about the problm etc…

why can’t u just join the Protestnat social gatherngs and continue to be Catholic… why does it have to be either/or???

i have noticed the same thing, tho… and can sympathize… but i’ve found those seemingly friendly protestants aren’t always so friendly when/if they discover you are devoutly Catholic and cannot be lured away from the Church (permanently)

 

[tweetymom]

for one thing… hate to sound argumentative… dont mean to but… personally i have only heard ONE boring homily in my entire life and it was when this normally very good preist went on and on about $$ probs in the Church… i woudnt have minded if he had spoken for a few min on the subj but he went on & on and there was no spiritual aspect to the homily weird cuz this is a very good priest…

I’v been to literally thousands and thousands of Masses in my life… heard a few hereticical sounding ones… but those are far from boring cuz they get me riled up… wheels start turning in my head about wht to do about the problm etc…

why can’t u just join the Protestnat social gatherngs and continue to be Catholic… why does it have to be either/or???

i have noticed the same thing, tho… and can sympathize… but i’ve found those seemingly friendly protestants aren’t always so friendly when/if they discover you are devoutly Catholic and cannot be lured away from the Church (permanently)

Never had a problem with your last paragraph:shrug:

 

[choy]

Hi, I chose that title to be somewhat provocative to hopefully garner people who could reply to this thread. I converted from Protestantism more than 10 years ago and I am happy to be Catholic. However, having said that I do miss much of the social aspects of a Protestant church. There were programs and bible studies for every age group; there were many ways of connecting to different people in your church–I had lots of friends in church and we would call each other up and do things together. There would be family picnics and other outings the church would sponsor.

In my 10 years of being Catholic my knowledge of truth has increased but at the cost of fellowship. I’ve been around 4 different Catholic churches in 10 years and all of them seem to be not much more than ‘Eucharist factories’ where you shuffle the people in, give them a boring homily, the Eucharist and shuffle them out until next week when you can do it again. The earliest youth group starts at high school.

I have brought some of my brothers and sisters in to the Church, but we all are beginning to pine for the days when going to church was enjoyable.

It does really appear to me that the Catholic Church, as an institution, does not foster fellowship anywhere near as much as the Protestant churches do. Am I wrong?

And before you say to me, “Well then, you get something started at your church!”, I’m trying to make the point that as an institution the Catholic church does not foster fellowship. I don’t want to be one person trying to roll a rock up hill, I want to be part of a Church that encourages fellowship.

As I mentioned before, I helped bring others to the Catholic Church, but now I’ve got a dilemma. My two kids, ages 12 and 13 are really complaining about going to our ‘boring church’ when their Protestant friends do all these really fun activities their churches sponsor. And I have an older son who may be considering becoming Catholic, but he has 4 children ages 1-6. I wince at the prospect of telling him he can’t put his children in Sunday School while he and his wife go to mass, but instead he has to keep four children under control for an hour while having to listen to a boring sermon. These are not show stoppers, but they really detract from giving incentives to joining the Church.

Any thought are welcome. But does anyone else see this lack of fellowship problem?

are any of the parishes you have attended not have any groups? most large parishes would have different groups that have fellowship, bible studies and other extra curricular activites. i now attend a smaller parish that doesn’t have a lot of those, but the previous parish i attended was huge and would have a lot of social activities, both religious and casual. if your current parish doesn’t have this, perhaps you can go look for a bigger parish even just to attend such gatherings. i’m sure they’ll be more than happy to welcome you

 

[T_More]

This thread for some reason reminds me of something I read in one of Peter Kreeft’s books.

“Fact, Faith, and Feeling are three men walking along the top of a well. As long as Faith keeps his eyes on Fact, ahead of him, all three keep walking. But when Faith takes his eyes off Fact and turns around to worry about how Feeling is doing, both Faith and Feeling fall off the wall. (But Fact never does.)”

 

[distracted]

This thread for some reason reminds me of something I read in one of Peter Kreeft’s books.

“Fact, Faith, and Feeling are three men walking along the top of a well. As long as Faith keeps his eyes on Fact, ahead of him, all three keep walking. But when Faith takes his eyes off Fact and turns around to worry about how Feeling is doing, both Faith and Feeling fall off the wall. (But Fact never does.)”

so why do you want to be Catholic?

what are you now?

just curious… love converson stories…

 

[romesweethome]

well it sounds like God has revealed what he wants you to do. He wants you to start bible studies for every age group, and make new ways to fellowship.

peace, david

 

[distracted]

I’ve been involved in Catholic groups that study scripture… and they are VERY uplifting…

felt the presence of God SO strongly there…

even despite the fact that some members are kinda… well… fill in the blanks… but there’s always a few…

 

[Catholicnow]

Any thought are welcome. But does anyone else see this lack of fellowship problem?

Yes I have for a long while, I too miss my Protestant days

 

[Catholicnow]

No need for a provocative thread title, just be honest. The thread is fine without it.

I completely hear you, OP. My wife and I were reverts to the Catholic Church from the Anglican Church back in 2002. In the last 8 years we’ve struggled with not only the theology of the Church, NFP, indulgences, purgatory, and papal supremacy, but we’ve really hated the way the congregation is treated by the pastor, music ministry leader, and generally the culture of the entire parish stinks. Our town had two Catholic parishes. One of them had a priest come out and admit that he’s openly gay now and fought for gay rights and he left the priesthood. After that debacle, that northside ghetto/barrio church is now part of our church, so now our priests are over there as well. Then they also took on a parish outside of town and other mission parish that only speaks Spanish. So now in our entire city has not only the two in town but two outside of town and our pastor runs them ALL. So if you aren’t a fan of the pastor or the music ministry head honcho who likes to cuss-out his musicians with profanity and literally throw punches at them (I kid you not), and if you’re burned out on no fellowship, being lectured on how inadequate we all are each week, lots of crying babies, no Bible studies, and retreats that are so expensive Donald Trump wouldn’t want to sign on, then you have no recourse.

My wife and I missed our old Anglican parish. It had a priest who not only was definitely not gay or an odd ball, but he was pastoral, caring, active, and very conservative. The bulletins and signs and everything at our old parish weren’t in Spanish, no pandering. Coffee hour was great, the people ultra friendly, reverent worship with much better liturgical language than the Novus Ordo stuff, mid-week Wonderful Wednesdays with dinner fellowship, Mass, and book studies as well as kids activities, etc. Childcare at every Mass, wonderful music ministry with a guy who is just great (doesn’t throw punches or cuss like a long-shorman either!), and generally just a great place to be.

You are not weird for feeling the way you do. Prepare in this thread to get a million guilt trips about how you’re making it all about YOU and not God and the typical low expectations that “it is what it is” type arguments. You’ll also get replies that say things like, “if you want more fellowship, why don’t YOU make it happen!?” when in reality one needs to ask, why after 100 years of being a parish in my town has nobody else thought of childcare, fellowship, Bible study, greeters, or overall friendliness? Are you really the first person to want fellowship at that parish? It’s institutionalized the whole lack of fellowship and it shouldn’t be up to just you to organize.

Great post!