The Catholic Church Is Not Attractive

Crossed the Tiber ^ | 9/17/2010

[markomalley]

As Pope Benedict was heading to the British Isles he was asked if he thinks the Catholic Church needs to change to be more attractive to an increasingly secular British culture.
This is what he said:

“A Church that seeks to be particularly attractive is already on the wrong path.”

I appreciate these words of the holy father as he states very clearly what Jesus had told the disciples. You will be hated for my name sake and persecuted. The church that seeks to become more attractive to present itself in a "new and different" light to be more acceptable to the changing society is not what Jesus had in mind. The early church was cursed and persecuted and thought to be cannabalistic because of its strange and counter-culture beliefs. The early church fathers didn't change their theology or practices to fit into the secular culture of the Roman world. The modern Catholic Church continues to be maligned because of its counter-culture beliefs and practices such as anti-abortion, anti-contraception and hetero-sexual marriage.
I think of the seeker-friendly churches and the mega-churches in our country that have done everything they can to emulate the high-octane, American entertainment industry in an effort to make their churches more "relevant."
I'm sorry but I don't want to go to a "relevant" church.

As GK Chesterton has said: "I don't want to go to a church that changes with the culture. I want a Church that changes the culture."

He also said :

The Catholic Church is the only thing which saves a man
from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age."

[Natural Law]

"While in my experience we (protestants) focus more on the resurrection."

The Catholic Mass is a worship service centered upon the Real Presence of Christ. Protestant churches, for the most part, have done done away with the altar and tabernacle have replaced it with a lectern and a pastor.

[left that other site]

Good One!

[ThomasThomas]

Latin might be a so called dead language but it must translate it into the many different languages to be understood. The words themselves don’t have any power in them. Saying words most people don’t really understand can’t give a common experience. The common experience must come from God regardless of the language.

[Natural Law]

"The words themselves don’t have any power in them.I>

Exactly, so why have a Protestant service in which words replace the Real Presence?

[ichabod1]

We have Jesus right there, if you want to come join Him, come. If you don’t, that’s okay with us.

Well, if you're not Catholic, we prefer you don't take the Body and Blood. St. Paul said if you do it without believing in it you eat and drink damnation unto yourself. But come on down for a blessing anyway, and we're very happy to have you come to church with us! And we have classes if you want to join us. We make you reflect on it for a year or so before we let you in though.

[Chaguito]

FWIW, Chesterton is one of those Catholics who is beloved by a host of non-Catholics like me.

I do wish, though, that my Catholic brothers would cut the complaints that mega-churches are not changing culture. I’m no particular fan, even though I belong to one. But, we do what we can, like adopting entire sub-communities, mostly unbelievers, to help them maintain their houses and instill hope, while sharing the love of Christ. Know what I’m sayin’?

[ichabod1]

I wouldn't say "merely", since we think the pastor speaks in persona Christi." Then, we also have CCD for Sunday school, CYO for the youngsters, Knights of Columbus for male bonding, and plenty of other things as well.

[arielguard]

“I think of the seeker-friendly churches and the mega-churches in our country that have done everything they can to emulate the high-octane, American entertainment industry in an effort to make their churches more “relevant.”
I’m sorry but I don’t want to go to a “relevant” church.”

Here where I live a new protestant church was just opened...

www.cometorelevant.com

[ichabod1]

Our answer is, It’s A Mystery. We aren’t permitted to see beyond the veil. Jesus said blessed is he who sees and believes, but even MORE blessed is he who believes without seeing.

[ThomasThomas]

I guess this where we disagree. Protest churches do have the real presence of Christ. It is represent by the bread and the wine. Not the Latin phrase I can’t think of now.

[left that other site]

I sure do! :-)

[Salvation]

Amen!

[Salvation]

**“A Church that seeks to be particularly attractive is already on the wrong path.”**

More and more denominations are coming back to Rome because they have realized this error in their thinking.

Actually, perhaps I should say "people" from these denominations are coming back to Rome because they can see the error in their denomination's direction.

[BlackElk]

1. Because it is Mass;

2. Because you were capable of following the English translation in your permanent hardcover missal; and

3. Because Latin is not a "foreign" language but is the native language of Western Civilization.

That's three reasons for starters.

[netmilsmom]

>>I do not need to go to the Catholic church for Jesus. I have Him at all times.<<

Good, then why are you bothered with the whole Latin Mass thing? It’s not for you. No problem.

[netmilsmom]

>>Well, if you’re not Catholic, we prefer you don’t take the Body and Blood. <<

Actually, the poster was talking about the Latin Mass, not partaking in the Eucharist.

[BenKenobi]

Yes, that’s the best explanation. The format remains the same, the language is all that changes. It’s not that hard for anyone who’s been to one to know what’s going on.

I found that attractive myself when I was on the other side of the fence.

[BenKenobi]

I’m a new convert, per se, and I understand your concern.

There are missals which I found to be very happy, with the latin and the english side by side with one another. It’s the easiest way for someone who has little to no experience with the mass to pick up on things and understand what is going on.

I tried a latin service at first and became very intimidated. It was just too much for me at the time. But I had very good friends who helped me come to an understanding of the mass and what exactly was going on.

Now it is mostly second nature regardless where I go.

If you have any other questions, let me know, but I don’t think the language barrier is all that great.

[onedoug]

A priest once told me of being in China near the end of WWII, before he was ordained, and walking into a church and being almost perfectly able to understand the Mass then underway simply from its structure.

Both the exoticism and the practicality made an impression.

[Claud]

Yeah, that was probably a bad choice of words. I didn’t mean there wasn’t a lot of prayer and prep that went into it, I meant largely that the service varies greatly from pastor to pastor, year to year—it’s basically up to each person.

And believe me, there’s a lot of work that goes into following a calendar too....especially the old one!