communion is about me and God...the sacrament is personal and communal all at once...i wouldn't let anything come in the way of that, i don't think...i wouldn't have a problem taking communion in a church where i didn't agree with how it was done...
Ha ha....I always wondered what kind of chicks Billy Joel knew when he sang, "You Catholic girls start much too late...."
This is a great thread...and hits really close to home. My wife is Catholic and I'm (an non-attending) Baptist. We both attend St. Claire of Assisi on El Dorado in Clear Lake on occasion, but not frequently. We have never really participated within the "church family", but as a non-Catholic, I have never felt a cold shoulder from the Church. As a matter of fact, before my wife and I were married, we were required (by the Catholic church) to attend marriage counseling classes taught by one of the deacons. During these meetings, the deacon (who was a Catholic convert from Baptist) explained some of the inner workings of this particular church. He said that the church recognized "acceptance of Jesus Christ as your personal savior" from all other Christian religions and that if you had been previously accepted into God's kingdom that is was wholly accepted that a non-Catholic could participate in communion. While many may see this act as a sacred sacramental act, these guys apparently recognize that it is a representative act and it's OK for others to also express their belief and celebrate the message that is being displayed. My wife is by no means a devout Catholic. She attends church, repeats the words when everyone else repeats to scriptures, partakes of Communion and such. I often question her (partly to see how devoted she is) why the Catholic religion works in certain ways, and I've come to the conclusion that (in her case) a lot of it is repeated sequences that probably have lost their meanings due to the repetitiveness. Now I suppose that is somewhat her fault for not trying to find more in the message, but I see other people doing the same thing throughout the service. Another thing I constantly question is the high level of regard given to the Pope and Mother Mary. I understand to some extent why Mary is a central church figure, but it is almost to the extent of worship. I also see the Pope as treated like a semi-deity....I guess from my background in a Baptist church, we were always taught that everyone is a common man who was born a sinner. As a sinner, we are responsible for either accepting or rejecting the basis that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. It is our responsibility to accept this and to maintain a personal relationship with God/Jesus. I don't get the same feeling from the Catholic church. It seems like everything has to go through the church. You must confess to the church or else your sins won't be forgiven. I'm somewhat confused on this...if anyone is Catholic and can give an insightful explanation, I'd appreciate it. Finally, the Catholic church as a whole is almost like the IRS...when I was preparing to get married and was taking the marriage counseling classes, my wife and I ended up filling out paper after paper after paper that was supposedly to go to the Vatican for "official" filing. I'm not sure what all of that was about...maybe they could come up with TurboCatholic for faster filing. BTW...if any of my tone came off as anti-Catholic, I didn't mean it that way. There's just several things that have never been clearly explained to me and I'm unsure as to how things work within the Catholic church.
boomboom Go here for a good explanation regarding the Catholic act of Penance: http://www.catholic.com/library/forgiveness_of_sins.asp In addition, go to the www.catholic.com for answers/explanations to articles of the faith.
