Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: emory!dragon!cms@gatech.edu Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Question on Finding A Church Message-ID: Date: 29 May 90 07:28:39 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Computer Projects Unlimited Lines: 69 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , emory!dragon!cms@gatech.edu writes: > emory!dragon!cms > > [I'd be happy to add a paragraph on other traditions if someone would > like to supply it. But do Catholics and Orthodox really "church > shop"? This would seem antithetical to those traditions. --clh] Perhaps not, as a rule, but I'd like to say that over 60% of the married members of my church, Saint Bede's Episcopal, are "mixed marriages", i.e., Protestant-Catholic. One other addition: Certain Prostant groups are equally opposed to "church shopping" like die-hard Baptists and Church of Christ, among whom I'm personally acquainted with members. In fact, I know a former minister of the Church of Christ who was told to leave on the grounds that he suggested in his sermons that Christians of other denominations might be saved. Not even Catholics are *that* bad....:-). I married a Protestant myself whence my inclusion among Anglican Catholics (at least initially; I have more important reasons for staying now). Yet you included them in your list, if memory serves. Don't worry about posting this; just a personal reaction. I'll draw up some descriptions for you and e-mail them to you. I have friends who are former Protestants who have become Catholics; many of them love Mary as much as I do. In fact, a former Baptist leads the Rosary at a local Roman Catholic church every Sunday; she has a leadership role in the Legion of Mary. The implication in your posting seemed to me that, while Catholics sometimes become Protestants, the reverse is not true. Tell me: Since Catholics frown on Catholics becoming Protestants, is it not equally true that Protestants frown upon Protestants becoming Catholics? This isn't meant as a flame, but, this attitude reminds me of the shock a white father expressed on the television show "The White Shadow" upon learning that a black boy, who wanted to date his white daughter, was experiencing difficulty with his family and friends who looked down on him for dating a white girl as if doing so were beneath him. People were "talking" about him and it bothered him. Since you assumed she was Protestant, you also automatically assumed she would show no interest in a Catholic church. That kind of bothered me, that's all. Please don't take offense at my remarks. It something of a sensitive issue with me and I think I'm going to considerably tone down my recent fanning of the flames, which I'm not sure have been either useful or beneficial to the discussion. However, this is a Protestant nation and it struck me as kind of a majority-condescending attitude. Please forgive me if I'm mistaken. The Rev. Charles King once remarked: The first step in solving a problem is first to admit that the problem exists. I'm somewhat prejudiced against Protestants. I grew up believing Catholics were in the majority (which we are, worldwide) and it was something of a shock to me to learn that, in the United States, we're in the minority. Thus, many of my own remarks lately seemed to me to be somewhat majority-condescending towards Protestants. It's a common Catholic attitude (a belief and an attitude) that we are the True Church and, one day, all the little Protestant churches will return to the loving folds of the Mother Church. When Catholics pray for unity, that's often what we have in mind. Episcopal Ecumenism is much more attractive to me. -- emory!dragon!cms [Again, I certainly know that Protestants sometimes become Catholics. I know people who have done so. However realistically, I doubt that this is what the writer was interested in. People who change between the major families, i.e. Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox, normally have specific reason for doing so, and have thought about it for some time. I don't know of any cases where it's done as part of the typical "church shopping" which one does when moving into a new community. Furthermore, we've had discussions about specific Catholic and Orthodox views in this group. It's unlikely that any paragraph I would write would have given information about the Catholic church that wasn't already well known to our readers. However as a matter of principle I'll be happy to add a description if somebody writes me a brief one. --clh]