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To: Cold Heat
Actually, the rejection of Catholic tradition has zero to do with the founding of the Methodists.

The Wesley brothers (or as my husband's family calls them, "Chuck and Jack" ;-) ) were Anglican ministers in England in the eighteenth century. You cannot imagine a church that had more thoroughly rejected Catholicism than the Anglican church at that time. The Oxford Movement (which gave rise to the Anglo-Catholic tradition) was not to occur for almost another century. Mothers scared children with tales of Jesuits (see Charles Kingsley's Westward Ho! for details.)

The Wesley brothers never intended to start a new church - their movement was referred to as "Enthusiasm" before it became a separate church. They sought to bring new life into what they perceived as a hidebound, fossilized Anglican tradition, but the conflicts and the class warfare between the Enthusiasts and the regular Anglicans resulted in a split. But they never even THOUGHT about any Catholic traditions - that was light years off their radar screens.

For Methodists to be doing this is very strange though. I think it's clear from the quotes that a number of this congregation are cradle Catholics who seem to be having second thoughts.

8 posted on 12/12/2004 3:46:40 PM PST by AnAmericanMother (. . . Ministrix of ye Chace (recess appointment), TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary . . .)
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To: AnAmericanMother
Mothers scared children with tales of Jesuits (see Charles Kingsley's Westward Ho! for details.)

Now Catholic mothers scare their children with present day tales of the 'Sandino' Jesuits. Although, I understand Sandino wasn't a half-bad chap.

10 posted on 12/12/2004 3:57:25 PM PST by AlbionGirl
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To: AnAmericanMother
Well, I am not a historical buff when it comes to Methodist history, but today the UMC is not as far from Catholicism as some may assume.

I have attended Catholic mass and find myself quite comfortable, except for the differences in rituals and the elevation of Mary rather than Jesus.

If fact, in the Methodist ritual, the "Holy Catholic Church' is given a lot of praise.

It was my opinion that the Methodist's do have a Wesleyan branch that I frankly am not at all familiar with.

But really, I see only these aforementioned differences between what I experience in todays UMC and todays Catholic Mass. At least the ones I have attended.

12 posted on 12/12/2004 3:58:43 PM PST by Cold Heat (What are fears but voices awry?Whispering harm where harm is not and deluding the unwary. Wordsworth)
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To: AnAmericanMother
True enough, the Methodists rejected many Anglican (read "Catholic") customs, but they retained infant baptism, the march to the altar for communion, and the BISHOP!

All of those things make them marginally Protestant.

13 posted on 12/12/2004 3:59:16 PM PST by muawiyah
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To: AnAmericanMother
"Mothers scared children with tales of Jesuits "

My high school basketball coach did the same thing to us. They were the only team to consistently beat us.

105 posted on 12/13/2004 2:28:23 PM PST by bayourod (Our troops are already securing our borders against terrorists. They're killing them in Iraq.)
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