My liberal parish

tadoflamb

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The parish where I was confirmed, received first Holy Eucharist, and said my first confession is a liberal parish. They don't do anything right.

For one thing, not only does the church look more like a gym than a church, it's turned around sideways. People stop by mistaking it for the school down the street.

Our liturgies are sloppy. We've got an army of Eucharistic 'ministers' most of whom demonstrate a slim grasp of the mystery they are encountering.

The Holy Week liturgies for the past four years have been a travesty.

One of my pastors never preaches on sin, but love, love, love. I can't stand it!

The other pastor is always preaching on the rights of immigrants. He's a liberal activist. No wonder people are abandoning the pews!

Out of the three masses each weekend, two are guitar masses. Sweet and folksy, but terribly distracting.

I was cheated out of my first confession. "Oh, we'd never give that to you as your first sacrament", I was told.

Both our pastors openly advocate for women priests.

They're seems to be a large number of 'irregular' relationships.

To their credit, the charity coming out of this parish is commendable. I haven't seen or experienced anything like it. In spite of their lack of orthodoxy, I really love my pastors and the people of my parish. I don't it's a mistake that this where God put me for my first Catholic community.
 

introverteen

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The parish where I was confirmed, received first Holy Eucharist, and said my first confession is a liberal parish. They don't do anything right.

For one thing, not only does the church look more like a gym than a church, it's turned around sideways. People stop by mistaking it for the school down the street.

Our liturgies are sloppy. We've got an army of Eucharistic 'ministers' most of whom demonstrate a slim grasp of the mystery they are encountering.

The Holy Week liturgies for the past four years have been a travesty.

One of my pastors never preaches on sin, but love, love, love. I can't stand it!

The other pastor is always preaching on the rights of immigrants. He's a liberal activist. No wonder people are abandoning the pews!

Out of the three masses each weekend, two are guitar masses. Sweet and folksy, but terribly distracting.

I was cheated out of my first confession. "Oh, we'd never give that to you as your first sacrament", I was told.

Both our pastors openly advocate for women priests.

They're seems to be a large number of 'irregular' relationships.

To their credit, the charity coming out of this parish is commendable. I haven't seen or experienced anything like it. In spite of their lack of orthodoxy, I really love my pastors and the people of my parish. I don't it's a mistake that this where God put me for my first Catholic community.

I know Jesus said the church would grow cold in the last days so we should be prepared for it but it still stings when it is right in front of us!!

What will you do?

Stay and be the light in the darkness and ask Jesus to come back into the church or leave and shake the dust from your feet as a sign?
 
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Fantine

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Protestants choose their church homes. Catholic tradition is to be assigned to churches by geography.

We all need to be spiritually fed--and sometimes that can only happen if there is more flexibility in parish assignments.

When we lived in NY, I really disliked the parish in our geographical boundaries--and loved the parish 2 miles away...the parish in our geographical boundaries was all about money and prestige--SOOOO stuffy. The parish 2 miles away was warm and welcoming and more progressive.

Years later, I knew God had led me there when I learned that one of the priests in St. Stuffy's was a sexual predator, and one of his victims was a founder of SNAP. Since one of my sons was an altar server when we lived in NY, I really dodged a bullet by following my heart. Our guardian angels must have been whispering to us to stay away from St. Stuffy's.

If your instincts are telling you that another parish is a better spiritual fit for you, forget geography.
 
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Tigger45

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They're seems to be a large number of 'irregular' relationships.

:muahah:Sorry but that one actually cracked me up.

But seriously that's what I like about my particular congregation also. I'd prefer a more traditional liturgy and they practice a fairly open communion disbursement but they are a very friendly bunch and have many charitable programs running at any given time. And when they preach on sexual sin they throw them all in there and not just pick on a specific type. Although they did announce they don't do same sex marriages which I was glad to hear.
 
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Shiloh Raven

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I know Jesus said the church would grow cold in the last days so we should be prepared for it but it still stings when it is right in front of us!!

What will you do?

Stay and be the light in the darkness and ask Jesus to come back into the church or leave and shake the dust from your feet as a sign?

Well, Tad is definitely a light in the darkness because he speaks up for marginalized people who are discriminated against and mistreated, like immigrants, refugees, and Indigenous people. He has repeatedly shown compassion and concern for these people, who are typically ignored or criticized by certain sects of Christians and even from within Catholicism too. I personally think he is a good example of Christian charity. In fact, his Christian demeanor is one of the main reasons why I now respect Catholicism, why I am seriously looking into the Catholic Church as a consideration for returning to the Christian faith, and why I have hung out in this Catholic sub-forum for so long. I also regained some respect for the Christian faith too because of his charitable Christian demeanor. I really admire how he demonstrates his Catholic beliefs.
 
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introverteen

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Well, Tad is definitely a light in the darkness because he speaks up for marginalized people who are discriminated against and mistreated, like immigrants, refugees, and Indigenous people. He has repeatedly shown compassion and concern for these people, who are typically ignored or criticized by certain sects of Christians and even from within Catholicism too. I personally think he is a good example of Christian charity. In fact, his Christian demeanor is one of the main reasons why I now respect Catholicism, why I am seriously looking into the Catholic Church as a consideration for returning to the Christian faith, and why I have hung out in this Catholic sub-forum for so long. I also regained some respect for the Christian faith because of his charitable Christian demeanor and his character. I admire how he demonstrates Catholic beliefs.

I try not see 'catholic' or 'protestant' just 'christian' we all have the light and as humans we can all be misguided. Jesus was a 'jew' but HE did not proudly boast it over 'gentiles' like humans did then and still do today.

When 'catholics' have a dig at me because my profile identifies as 'protestant' it is their own soul that is damned by their pride.
I am but a walking corpse their jibes are ineffectual towards me but GOD keeps count and the insults are effectual towards HIM.

I have been raised and exposed to both sides so that has helped to see it objectively.
 
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Shiloh Raven

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I try not see 'catholic' or 'protestant' just 'christian' we sll have the light and as humans we can all be misguided. Jesus was a 'jew' but HE did not proudly boast it over 'gentiles' like humans did then and still do today.

Is that why you have a Protestant faith icon then? I only used the Christian faith icon when I first joined this site, but obviously, I have since deconverted. Anyway, Tad does not boast. I just think he deserves some credit for his many contributions to Christian charity and his part in helping me rediscover the Christian faith and also helping me not despise it so much. The truth is, he is one of the very few Christians whom I have come to respect and admire.
 
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introverteen

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Is that why you have a Protestant faith icon then? I only used the Christian faith icon when I first joined this site, but obviously, I have since deconverted. Anyway, Tad does not boast. I just think he deserves some credit for his many contributions to Christian charity and his part in helping me rediscover the Christian faith and also helping me not despise it so much. The truth is, he is one of the very few Christians whom I have come to respect and admire.

Fear is a horrible thing especially when it comes down through generations!

I have no idea why I picked the protestant icon over the generic christian icon I just went with what felt right at the time :) If they had provided a unicorn faith icon I would have selected that.
 
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Shiloh Raven

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When 'catholics' have a dig at me because my profile identifies as 'protestant' it is their own soul that is damned by their pride.
I am but a walking corpse their jibes are ineffectual towards me but GOD keeps count and the insults are effectual towards HIM.

I have been raised and exposed to both sides so that has helped to see it objectively.

I am not sure what you are going on about here, but I am not a Catholic and as far as I know, no Catholic on this site has taken a dig at you because your profile says Protestant.
 
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introverteen

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I am not sure what you are going on about here, but I am not a Catholic and as far as I know, no Catholic on this site has taken a dig at you because your profile says Protestant.

Stand down and be at peace it was a generalisation.
Labels are fickle things.
We cannot take ourselves so seriously all the time!
 
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Shiloh Raven

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Stand down and be at peace it was a generalisation.
Labels are fickle things.
We cannot take ourselves so seriously all the time!

I did not have a chance to thank you for your previous explanation of why you have a Protestant faith icon rather than a Christian one. No big deal though. Back to the OP.
 
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Fish and Bread

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The parish where I was confirmed, received first Holy Eucharist, and said my first confession is a liberal parish. They don't do anything right.

For one thing, not only does the church look more like a gym than a church, it's turned around sideways. People stop by mistaking it for the school down the street.

Our liturgies are sloppy. We've got an army of Eucharistic 'ministers' most of whom demonstrate a slim grasp of the mystery they are encountering.

The Holy Week liturgies for the past four years have been a travesty.

One of my pastors never preaches on sin, but love, love, love. I can't stand it!

The other pastor is always preaching on the rights of immigrants. He's a liberal activist. No wonder people are abandoning the pews!

Out of the three masses each weekend, two are guitar masses. Sweet and folksy, but terribly distracting.

I was cheated out of my first confession. "Oh, we'd never give that to you as your first sacrament", I was told.

Both our pastors openly advocate for women priests.

They're seems to be a large number of 'irregular' relationships.

To their credit, the charity coming out of this parish is commendable. I haven't seen or experienced anything like it. In spite of their lack of orthodoxy, I really love my pastors and the people of my parish. I don't it's a mistake that this where God put me for my first Catholic community.

I wish I had a parish like that near me! I have to admit, the liturgy stuff would bother me (I tend to like a very precise formal high-church liturgy with incense and bells), but the rest of it sounds like great. :)

Although, that said, I do like some of the Dan Schutte songs. I grew up with stuff like "Though the Mountains May Fall", "City of God", "Here I Am Lord", "Sing a New Song", etc., and some similar songs by other composers like "Eagle's Wings" and "One Bread, One Body". Those were some of my favorite hymns growing up. Granted, I didn't like church growing up, so it's kind of weird that I'm nostalgic for some hymns and whatnot, but sometimes that's how that kind of thing works, years pass and suddenly you long for some aspects of a past that you didn't like. ;) It sounds weird, but I hear a lot of people express feelings like that.

I'm be equally or more at home in some ways with a parish that was really high with billowing clouds of incense and Latin and whatnot. However, I have noticed in Roman Catholicism (And, interestingly this is not the case in a lot of other churches), the formality and traditionalness of the liturgy seems to often have a correlation with the conservativeness or the liberalness of the homilies and the parish as a whole. I think the reasons go back at least as far as Vatican II where progressives pushed liturgical changes and theological changes at the same time, and traditionalists pushed back on both, and the subjects began to be tied together. And I do see how liturgy can reflect theology- how we pray has an affect on what we believe over time- it's an expression of existing belief but also something that leads us to belief. But my ideal parish would seem really weird to a lot of people- like it was meshing a lot of things that just don't go together. :)
 
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tadoflamb

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I know Jesus said the church would grow cold in the last days so we should be prepared for it but it still stings when it is right in front of us!!

What will you do?

Stay and be the light in the darkness and ask Jesus to come back into the church or leave and shake the dust from your feet as a sign?

If I've learned anything from the protestant revolt it's that it's impossible to reform the Church from the outside. I'll continue to be an altar server at my parish, but unless I'm serving I tend to be at other churches on Sunday. My wife prefers the big traditional churches and solemn liturgies as well.

God is still present there, we have a valid Eucharist, it's just a little hard to hear his voice among the chatter.
 
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