Any of you guys ever hear of doing a "Feast" each month

[Midlodemocrat]

in church along with an assembly in lieu of religious education? We are doing it at my church and I have to tell you, it is painful. I feel like I am in a baptist church when these people start talking. And, to boot, they are all fundies.

They have stolen the church that I knew. :cry:

[elshiva]

1. What happened to your church, can you talk about it?

What is your church?

[DemBones DemBones]

2. What is this? Some sort of charismatic Catholicism?

Tell us more so we'll know it if we see it (as in if someone tries to bring it into our parishes!) Like that Irish prayer asking God to make our enemies love us, or if He can't make them love us, make them turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping. Let us know how to recognize this if it comes limping into our church. ;-)

[Midlodemocrat]

3. Well, this is the story

Every month they have a Feast where you eat terrible food and discuss your relationship with Jesus, etc. Now, I am a cradle Catholic, went to Catholic College, was a youth minister, so I have a pretty good background in Catholicism.

After we eat, the children are separated into groups according to their ages and the adults are left together in this big gathering room. They have an ice breaker question, usually something stupid, like when is the last time you went sledding? Then either this guy, or this woman, who promoted this ridiculous scenario gets up and starts talking about how you can have a better relationship with the Lord.

I personally find it very insulting. I feel as though I am back in eighth grade and a teacher is talking down to me.

The only reason I go is that it is mandatory for those kids who are receiving a sacrament and my little one is due to make her Holy Communion this spring.

I think this is awful. I grew up having pot luck suppers which were a great deal of fun and comraderie, but this is sickening. They have a powerpoint presentation and it is just not the church I knew.

Additionally, they all are did the walk for life in DC last week, so I had to listen to that. I am pro choice. I don't know if I can take it much more.

The only saving grace for me is the priest is a dem, voted for Kerry, but he has to keep that hush hush because the abortion issue is all people here think is important. Forget Iraq and those dead babies.

It is very, very hard to take. I don't think I will be able to return to this church after my little one receives the Sacrament.

[DemBones DemBones]

4. It sounds very Protestant, and I mean Protestant like Baptist not

Protestant like Presbyterian or Methodist. Have you talked to the priest about it? After all, if nobody complains, he won't know. Maybe there are others feeling the same way you do.

Since you like the priest, if you don't have to participate in this anymore after your daughter makes her First Communion, maybe you can just go back to going to Mass. It should die out before it's time for her Confirmation, don't you think?

I was looking at a traditional Catholic site the other day and one of the complaints there about Vatican II was that one particular Italian priest had been influential in changing a lot of things to be more Protestant, and in some cases Masonic. I have to admit I wonder about some of this stuff -- there is a certain disturbing trend toward Protestantizing the Catholic Church.

[Midlodemocrat]

5. I agree.

I think it is a direct result of the scandal in the Church. My perception is that these people are trying to de-catholic the Church to prevent more people from leaving.

What they don't seem to get is those of us that are still here, will always be here. I can't conceive of worshiping at a different church, because of the way I was raised and the communion issue.

I just hate what they have done to this nice Church. It always seems that some people are constantly reinventing the wheel.

[Matilda]

6. Perhaps it's a response to the success the fundies are having.

They're seeing what I call happy-clappy Christianity, and the numbers of people it's attracting, and perhaps they feel this is
what people are looking for.

What they're not seeing is how manipulative these fundamentalist
groups are (I hate calling them churches), and how they prey on the
lost and lonely in society.

[DemBones DemBones]

7. That's very true -- about the more fundamentalist groups,

including Jehovah's Witnesses, taking advantage of people who are going through a hard time in life.

[DemBones DemBones]

8. I missed seeing this reply when you first posted it. . .

Maybe it is a response to the scandals but how weird! I wasn't raised Catholic but I can tell you I don't know any converts who want the Catholic Church to become more Protestant. After all, if we'd liked what the Protestants do, we'd have stayed Protestant. Most of us would probably go back to Latin Masses and fish every Friday quite gladly. And cradle Catholics are not generally asking that the Church be de-Catholicized, either. Who IS driving this train?

Have you talked to others in your parish? What's your sense about how most people feel about it? I understand how annoyed you must be! It sounds as if someone bulldozed the priest into letting them do this to a captive audience. They've had one too many educational psychology courses, I'd bet. :eyes:

[Midlodemocrat]

9. Interestingly, last evening I went to a fundie 'church'

because one of my dear friends was being 'saved'. It so reminded me of these feasts, that I thought I would be sick. They have a Praise Team that sings about 6 songs and then each person who was being saved got in this little pool and the 'minister' dunked them.

It seemed almost pagan to me. I just don't get it. I did have two other friends there who attend my church, one of whom actually enjoys these feasts and she did seem a little shell shocked. I think perhaps it was her first time in one of these churches.

What I find disconcerting is that anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of the Bible can hang a shingle and open a church, and from there expouse whatever crap they want.

Prior to the 'saving', we had a little celebration at another friend's house and we were kind of light heartedly joking about Valentine's Day. I said, kidding, that I thought maybe my husband was having an affair because he has been so good to me lately, and this fundie 'preacher' and his wife were all offended. "Isn't he good to you all the time?" blah, blah, blah.

I had on my DU shirt, and did proclaim to the minister several times that Jesus was a liberal. I don't think he will be clamoring for my soul anytime soon.