Please, that is NOT offensive. Clearly I have a different feeling -- and even different thoughts about how seriously to take one's feelings! But I am not offended when you honestly report your reaction.
I am a little confused about talk of "sects" within the Catholic Church. I know there is some disagreement but when the "old Catholics" or the "Polish National Catholics" leave communion with the Holy See, there is, I think, some dishonesty in their calling themselves "Catholic." But that's minor.
I think a "full, rich" prayer life will include all sorts of prayer, some "free" or spontaneous, and other "set prayers."
The advantage of set prayers as PART of our prayer life is that they make communal prayer possible. The "Common Prayer Book" made possible by printing and cheap paper, means that the people can follow along, either aloud or silently, and that they can take the book home and study it. It also "covers a multitude of sins," and other inadequacies on the part of the leader of the congregation. Not all are eloquent, and very many very holy people are not given to much wordiness.
In the Catholic Church we give up a lot of spontaneity in our formal worship, but what we get in exchange is a lot of shared experience. The "set" words for the weeks before Christmas, the days during "Christmastide", and the days following point out new or forgotten aspects of the Coming of Christ in the past, in the future, and in our hearts right now, and remind us of the many ways that God has revealed and continues to reveal Himself.
For me this provides a kind of course of prayer which, as I age and go through the years again and again, deepens my wonder and joy at God's love AND means that I can talk about it with my fellow parishioners.
This is not to say that spontaneous or free prayer either alone or in small groups is not immensely important.
There is an undeniable difference between what a lot of Protestants and a lot of Catholics do in Church on Sunday. When we have "classes" we have them outside of our worship. And when you consider that at an average Sunday service there are 500 or so people of different interests and capacities, it's hard to imagine a Bible class that would appeal to all of them. In our congregation we have several small groups that are pretty much self-running and they meet during the week. Some are Bible studies, others have other directions.
I talk too much. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me.
I dearly love congregational prayer wherein most of the folks are praying earnestly outloud all at once.
Love it.
Guess we're "2 peas in the same talky pod"!!
Your explanation makes a lot of sense. I'm on my own here, so having these kind of conversations teaches me a whole lot. Thanks for that.
The different sects I was speaking of, perhaps sects is not the proper word, but there are different types (?) of Catholic churches...some have become more "loose" or "relaxed", some stayed "strict", etc.