We all need to step up and use our gifts in the church, however small, especially in the case of reaching out to our youth. There is so much about Catholicism which is misunderstood because it was never clearly presented.
In this our Protestant friends have far surpassed us in many instances with their sunday school, youth groups, and bible studies.
I’m so glad you’ve started something with this site! ” title=”Smile” />

Sorry, I know that this is a month or so behind the times, but, hey, I’m new.

I wonder if it is like I find here. It is funny that I can barely find a topic in my Christian Pipe Smokers page that don’t have a recent entry (very similar in appearance to this, btw), yet I find so many topics haven’t been addresses or haven’t been addressed in a long time. Is the Catholic church experience similar? I am asking legitimately, not rhetorically. Has Mass attendance taken the place of relationships in the church? Or the fact that you live in a largely protestant culture, and many of your neighbors aren’t Catholic?

The discussion about Protestant sunday schools, etc., is about socializing, koinanea (sp?), which has always been part of the Protestant church experience. It was our entertainment, for goodness sakes!

But, to the original question — I attend a Presybyterian church, and we don’t use words like Salvation. Embarrassingly emotional, don’t you know. Much easier to call us the Elect, than the saved! (I’m being only partly facetious.)

I think that it’s like the old joke — if you ask a Baptist and a Methodist and an Pentecostal for an opinion, you’ll get four answers — and one of them will be in tongues. I think that just might be true about Catholics, too.

You know, now that I’m thinking about it, I’ve never been invited to attend Mass by a Catholic friend. Never. Billy, whom I knew when I was very young, used to give me his Catholic comic books — guess that counts for something.

I attended Mass a few times, at different parishes. The first was in a swank and very modern building. I couldn’t tell the difference between it and a Baptist service, until they asked someone going through RCIA to leave the service during the grape juice and ritz cracker portion of the proceedings (can you tell I come from a Baptist background?)

I left, too, before they found me out. I never did figure out who the priest was — the roly poly Santa Claus looking guy, or the lady who did most of the talking. She was one of those folks that sound really soothing when she talks, only later you can’t remember what she said. You can’t even remember any of the words you promised yourself you’d look up.

The second one was a large Cathedral and it was much more conservative in its liturgy. I admit that it was beautiful and struck a chord.

One of the earlier posts said something about the difference of denominations, and I wonder if you’ve grasped yet that different churches of the same denomination will give you a vastly different experience.

I attend a PCUSA church, and, according to a local Presbyterian magazine, less than 6% of PCUSA pastors believe the Bible is the word of God, compared to over 50% of the laypersons of the denomination.

That’s why it is becoming (has become?) an inconvenient social club, like the Episcopalians. Inconvenient because you have to get up so early to attend the meetings. Shoot, they can barely afford to keep up the organ. I got in trouble for lifting my bic lighter in the air after one particularly florid and finger-flailing rendition of The Old 100th…

(I was married in an Episcopalian country clu…I mean, church, and we left because we didn’t want to contribute money to fund a pilot of a cable teevee show they wanted to produce called, ‘Episcopalian Eye for the Straight Guy.’)

Do I know many Catholics? Who knows? Most never mention it, at least around here. You could jeapordize your career and social standing, I think.

You’re from ‘up north,’ I see, so you might not be aware that the south is still a land of suspicion and intolerence. Not that this is necessarily bad, but it’s true. I have a friend who is a charismatic and attends one of those ‘blab it and grab it’ churches. Never get sick or have a check bounce if you know Jesus, kind of thing.

She’s an EMT, and likes to tell a story about confronting a young man who was into Dungeons and Dragons (aren’t they always?) and had consequently become demon possessed. The demon recognized her Christianity but not that of her Catholic co-worker.

Most of the RC’s I have known are no longer believers or now in Protestant churches. Of course, given the locally prevalent mind-set, that makes sense.

I’m fifty, and my friend, Billy, used to pass along the comic books he got from Church when we were pre-teen, until my mother found them and made me take them back. I don’t remember what they were called, sorry. They were pretty cool, I remember.

Yes, I know — what can you do? That particular lady is a big C. S. Lewis fan, but almost becomes violent if you mention that he believed in Purgatory — or was attracted to the notion, in any event.

The same person is big on the so-called Toronto blessing, so, she has her own problems!

I attend a Presbyterian Church, solidly in the reformed tradition, big on Barth and John Leith (his daughter attends our church).

Most of the membership doesn’t attend, but that’s par for the course in a mainline denomination these days. I used to attend a PDI church. Those people all home school their kids and hit the place like double coupon days at the grocery store.

There is a group of Christians who believe that God is miraculously transforming old fillings to gold. Put it in a search engine if you don’t believe me. There are supposedly other manifestations, but that is the one that sticks in my memory.

Now, personally, I’d like to see the incredulous look on the face of your average Sudanese believer if someone tried to explain this phenomonon.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/SPIRIT/TORONTO.HTM

PDI is a semi/charismatic, Reformed doctrine “non-denomination” denomination that I used to attend. I think they’ve changed their name. It’s a home-schooling, child bearing, early thirties kind of group that I was completely out of place in. I think you can also still find them under PDI church on Google.
http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/