Any Catholics out there who "feel" Protestant?

[Anonymous]

17:20- which denominations did you try?

I know Baptists seen to hate Catholics. In fact, I hear much more antiCatholic stuff from Protestants than vice versa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cradle Catholic, feel myself eventually deciding to go Protestant in future (I'm in my 40s).

This isn't about scandals or anything, but rather realizing I believe the Eucharist is representative of Christ (not Transubstantiation), never been heavily into Mary, saying rosary, going to confession (although I do it). I feel I should be with God when and where I want, not necessarily each Sunday at Mass. Want to see different sides of Scripture and not what we're told by Rome, etc.

There's no anger, just my thinking there's no point in staying the course. DS has one year until confirmation and then I'd like him to decide if he wants to remain Catholic or come with me to a Protestant church, etc (DH was raised Protestant but doesn't really attend now).

Has anyone BTDT?

* It would be helpful if this didn't devolve into an anti-Catholic hateful thread, thanks.

OP, I used to feel the same way as you. Actually, a few years ago I stopped attending mass and I left the Roman Catholic Church. During my departure I spent time in various Protestant denominations. Honestly, it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I've seen and I have experienced some of the worst forms of evil through Protestant churches. The manipulation, guilt trips, draining my finances, and the constant negativity took its toll on me. I wish I could take back those years. I was truly lost and people took advantage of me. I'm not going to go in great detail about my experiences because they're pretty disturbing. Two years ago I even stopped going to church because I was so through with organized religion. To make a long story short I recently returned to Catholicism. Maybe finding another parish will be great for you. I wish that I would have just found another parish instead of dabbling into Protestant churches. The various missions and caring about human rights are the things that I love about the Catholic faith. Catholics generally care about the well-being of others. I didn't see that in many of the Protestant churches that I dabbled into. All I know is that if I'm sick, poor, and dying on the side of the road chances are the individual that would help me will more than likely be a Catholic. A Catholic will feed you, help you get medical attention, or get you off of the road. A Protestant will tell you that, "You deserved the punishment or that they will pray for you." They will never lift a finger to help you. That is the difference that I discovered between Catholics and Protestants. Also, I couldn't believe how segregated and racists some Protestant churches were. The level of hatred against Jews, Catholics, Muslims, and minorities were just too much for me to bear. I've heard way too many hateful sermons in Protestant churches. I attended a religious convention once that felt like a KKK rally. It was an eye opening experience for me.

Got that folks? Protestants are bad and Catholics are good

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cradle Catholic, feel myself eventually deciding to go Protestant in future (I'm in my 40s).

This isn't about scandals or anything, but rather realizing I believe the Eucharist is representative of Christ (not Transubstantiation), never been heavily into Mary, saying rosary, going to confession (although I do it). I feel I should be with God when and where I want, not necessarily each Sunday at Mass. Want to see different sides of Scripture and not what we're told by Rome, etc.

There's no anger, just my thinking there's no point in staying the course. DS has one year until confirmation and then I'd like him to decide if he wants to remain Catholic or come with me to a Protestant church, etc (DH was raised Protestant but doesn't really attend now).

Has anyone BTDT?

* It would be helpful if this didn't devolve into an anti-Catholic hateful thread, thanks.

OP, I used to feel the same way as you. Actually, a few years ago I stopped attending mass and I left the Roman Catholic Church. During my departure I spent time in various Protestant denominations. Honestly, it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I've seen and I have experienced some of the worst forms of evil through Protestant churches. The manipulation, guilt trips, draining my finances, and the constant negativity took its toll on me. I wish I could take back those years. I was truly lost and people took advantage of me. I'm not going to go in great detail about my experiences because they're pretty disturbing. Two years ago I even stopped going to church because I was so through with organized religion. To make a long story short I recently returned to Catholicism. Maybe finding another parish will be great for you. I wish that I would have just found another parish instead of dabbling into Protestant churches. The various missions and caring about human rights are the things that I love about the Catholic faith. Catholics generally care about the well-being of others. I didn't see that in many of the Protestant churches that I dabbled into. All I know is that if I'm sick, poor, and dying on the side of the road chances are the individual that would help me will more than likely be a Catholic. A Catholic will feed you, help you get medical attention, or get you off of the road. A Protestant will tell you that, "You deserved the punishment or that they will pray for you." They will never lift a finger to help you. That is the difference that I discovered between Catholics and Protestants. Also, I couldn't believe how segregated and racists some Protestant churches were. The level of hatred against Jews, Catholics, Muslims, and minorities were just too much for me to bear. I've heard way too many hateful sermons in Protestant churches. I attended a religious convention once that felt like a KKK rally. It was an eye opening experience for me.

Got that folks? Protestants are bad and Catholics are good

I can respect that this poster is sharing his/her experience. Nt everyone is going to have the same experience or opinion. So?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cradle Catholic, feel myself eventually deciding to go Protestant in future (I'm in my 40s).

This isn't about scandals or anything, but rather realizing I believe the Eucharist is representative of Christ (not Transubstantiation), never been heavily into Mary, saying rosary, going to confession (although I do it). I feel I should be with God when and where I want, not necessarily each Sunday at Mass. Want to see different sides of Scripture and not what we're told by Rome, etc.

There's no anger, just my thinking there's no point in staying the course. DS has one year until confirmation and then I'd like him to decide if he wants to remain Catholic or come with me to a Protestant church, etc (DH was raised Protestant but doesn't really attend now).

Has anyone BTDT?

* It would be helpful if this didn't devolve into an anti-Catholic hateful thread, thanks.

OP, I used to feel the same way as you. Actually, a few years ago I stopped attending mass and I left the Roman Catholic Church. During my departure I spent time in various Protestant denominations. Honestly, it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I've seen and I have experienced some of the worst forms of evil through Protestant churches. The manipulation, guilt trips, draining my finances, and the constant negativity took its toll on me. I wish I could take back those years. I was truly lost and people took advantage of me. I'm not going to go in great detail about my experiences because they're pretty disturbing. Two years ago I even stopped going to church because I was so through with organized religion. To make a long story short I recently returned to Catholicism. Maybe finding another parish will be great for you. I wish that I would have just found another parish instead of dabbling into Protestant churches. The various missions and caring about human rights are the things that I love about the Catholic faith. Catholics generally care about the well-being of others. I didn't see that in many of the Protestant churches that I dabbled into. All I know is that if I'm sick, poor, and dying on the side of the road chances are the individual that would help me will more than likely be a Catholic. A Catholic will feed you, help you get medical attention, or get you off of the road. A Protestant will tell you that, "You deserved the punishment or that they will pray for you." They will never lift a finger to help you. That is the difference that I discovered between Catholics and Protestants. Also, I couldn't believe how segregated and racists some Protestant churches were. The level of hatred against Jews, Catholics, Muslims, and minorities were just too much for me to bear. I've heard way too many hateful sermons in Protestant churches. I attended a religious convention once that felt like a KKK rally. It was an eye opening experience for me.

Got that folks? Protestants are bad and Catholics are good

I can respect that this poster is sharing his/her experience. Nt everyone is going to have the same experience or opinion. So?

PP is presenting a very narrow group of fundamentalist protestants as if they represent the whole of protestantism.

[Anonymous]

OP: I grew up in a very Catholic centered childhood to young adulthood and now in my middle age, I don't have the Catholic culture and friendships I once had. I actually had a hard time finding godparents for my son as all of our best friends were not Catholic.

I consider myself a Vatican II Catholic and was raised in a traditional yet open-minded church run by the Dominicans. I have found the cloying conservatism of the last twenty years in the American church ridiculously narrow. And the two local archdioceses here in the DC metro area have only made it worse.

However, I do believe in the Real Presence, but I find it spiritually unhelpful to my concentration to have Mass in what I call the "big suburban Protestant barn" architecture found in many churches. My faith has also been closely tied to my ethnicity. The rosary is just another form of prayer and one should find forms that work for you. I particularly like walking labrynths.

I finally - after much searching - found a parish that I like, much more reminiscent of the church I grew up in, both in physical style and with a priest who is less rigid than many that have come out of seminary in the last ten years.

My husband is actually a minister in another denomination and we spend a lot of time in churches. I think you might like the non-Missouri Synod Lutheran churches. I love Episcopalians, but unless you find a wonderful priest, I think the spiritual side of your life just doesn't develop in the same way as with the Catholics and Lutherans.

I love the warmth of the Presbyterians and the Methodists and their music, but there are two streams in Methodism - one fairly liberal and another extraordinarily conservative.

I have often just had to pick what sustains me in what I consider this dark time in the U.S. church and in light of the fact that I am so distant from the Catholic culture of my young life. In that sense, I feel very Protestant in developing my direct relationship to God. I need more the warmth of a Father O'Malley than the kind of bishops who seem to think the only things they can lecture us on sex topics and obedience. The church is so much more than that - there needs to be an infusion of joy and community that is just lacking today.

I am very happy at my parish now, but while out in the wilderness, I tried to develop my own prayer life, read some inspiring lives of saints (like St. Therese, St. Philip Neri) and tried to go to church during the week when it was quieter. (I know, I know.)

Good luck in your search for the right place. You'll come round right for you and your family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: I grew up in a very Catholic centered childhood to young adulthood and now in my middle age, I don't have the Catholic culture and friendships I once had. I actually had a hard time finding godparents for my son as all of our best friends were not Catholic.

I consider myself a Vatican II Catholic and was raised in a traditional yet open-minded church run by the Dominicans. I have found the cloying conservatism of the last twenty years in the American church ridiculously narrow. And the two local archdioceses here in the DC metro area have only made it worse.

However, I do believe in the Real Presence, but I find it spiritually unhelpful to my concentration to have Mass in what I call the "big suburban Protestant barn" architecture found in many churches. My faith has also been closely tied to my ethnicity. The rosary is just another form of prayer and one should find forms that work for you. I particularly like walking labrynths.

I finally - after much searching - found a parish that I like, much more reminiscent of the church I grew up in, both in physical style and with a priest who is less rigid than many that have come out of seminary in the last ten years.

My husband is actually a minister in another denomination and we spend a lot of time in churches. I think you might like the non-Missouri Synod Lutheran churches. I love Episcopalians, but unless you find a wonderful priest, I think the spiritual side of your life just doesn't develop in the same way as with the Catholics and Lutherans.

I love the warmth of the Presbyterians and the Methodists and their music, but there are two streams in Methodism - one fairly liberal and another extraordinarily conservative.

I have often just had to pick what sustains me in what I consider this dark time in the U.S. church and in light of the fact that I am so distant from the Catholic culture of my young life. In that sense, I feel very Protestant in developing my direct relationship to God. I need more the warmth of a Father O'Malley than the kind of bishops who seem to think the only things they can lecture us on sex topics and obedience. The church is so much more than that - there needs to be an infusion of joy and community that is just lacking today.

I am very happy at my parish now, but while out in the wilderness, I tried to develop my own prayer life, read some inspiring lives of saints (like St. Therese, St. Philip Neri) and tried to go to church during the week when it was quieter. (I know, I know.)

Good luck in your search for the right place. You'll come round right for you and your family.

Sounds like you've developed a personal Catholicism that works for you -- based on your background, your personality/spirituality and your current options. I'm not criticizing the concept, at all, just commenting that this is how it appears to me. And I'll add that in my opinion, if this is turns out to be a trend among thoughtful Catholic adults, looking for a comfortable place for themselves within the faith of their childhood, the institution of the church will shrink even more in the future

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: I grew up in a very Catholic centered childhood to young adulthood and now in my middle age, I don't have the Catholic culture and friendships I once had. I actually had a hard time finding godparents for my son as all of our best friends were not Catholic.

I consider myself a Vatican II Catholic and was raised in a traditional yet open-minded church run by the Dominicans. I have found the cloying conservatism of the last twenty years in the American church ridiculously narrow. And the two local archdioceses here in the DC metro area have only made it worse.

However, I do believe in the Real Presence, but I find it spiritually unhelpful to my concentration to have Mass in what I call the "big suburban Protestant barn" architecture found in many churches. My faith has also been closely tied to my ethnicity. The rosary is just another form of prayer and one should find forms that work for you. I particularly like walking labrynths.

I finally - after much searching - found a parish that I like, much more reminiscent of the church I grew up in, both in physical style and with a priest who is less rigid than many that have come out of seminary in the last ten years.

My husband is actually a minister in another denomination and we spend a lot of time in churches. I think you might like the non-Missouri Synod Lutheran churches. I love Episcopalians, but unless you find a wonderful priest, I think the spiritual side of your life just doesn't develop in the same way as with the Catholics and Lutherans.

I love the warmth of the Presbyterians and the Methodists and their music, but there are two streams in Methodism - one fairly liberal and another extraordinarily conservative.

I have often just had to pick what sustains me in what I consider this dark time in the U.S. church and in light of the fact that I am so distant from the Catholic culture of my young life. In that sense, I feel very Protestant in developing my direct relationship to God. I need more the warmth of a Father O'Malley than the kind of bishops who seem to think the only things they can lecture us on sex topics and obedience. The church is so much more than that - there needs to be an infusion of joy and community that is just lacking today.

I am very happy at my parish now, but while out in the wilderness, I tried to develop my own prayer life, read some inspiring lives of saints (like St. Therese, St. Philip Neri) and tried to go to church during the week when it was quieter. (I know, I know.)

Good luck in your search for the right place. You'll come round right for you and your family.

Sounds like you've developed a personal Catholicism that works for you -- based on your background, your personality/spirituality and your current options. I'm not criticizing the concept, at all, just commenting that this is how it appears to me. And I'll add that in my opinion, if this is turns out to be a trend among thoughtful Catholic adults, looking for a comfortable place for themselves within the faith of their childhood, the institution of the church will shrink even more in the future

I don't really agree with this.

The universality of the Church makes it an awfully big tent. For two millenia there has been room in the church for both good soldiers and pacifists, contemplatives and social activists, rich and poor, the simple minded and the intellectual giants, the skeptics and the nondoubters, . The variety one sees in Catholic saints reminds us how welcome this diversity is. We each find our own path toward God based on our gifts, interests, and circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: I grew up in a very Catholic centered childhood to young adulthood and now in my middle age, I don't have the Catholic culture and friendships I once had. I actually had a hard time finding godparents for my son as all of our best friends were not Catholic.

I consider myself a Vatican II Catholic and was raised in a traditional yet open-minded church run by the Dominicans. I have found the cloying conservatism of the last twenty years in the American church ridiculously narrow. And the two local archdioceses here in the DC metro area have only made it worse.

However, I do believe in the Real Presence, but I find it spiritually unhelpful to my concentration to have Mass in what I call the "big suburban Protestant barn" architecture found in many churches. My faith has also been closely tied to my ethnicity. The rosary is just another form of prayer and one should find forms that work for you. I particularly like walking labrynths.

I finally - after much searching - found a parish that I like, much more reminiscent of the church I grew up in, both in physical style and with a priest who is less rigid than many that have come out of seminary in the last ten years.

My husband is actually a minister in another denomination and we spend a lot of time in churches. I think you might like the non-Missouri Synod Lutheran churches. I love Episcopalians, but unless you find a wonderful priest, I think the spiritual side of your life just doesn't develop in the same way as with the Catholics and Lutherans.

I love the warmth of the Presbyterians and the Methodists and their music, but there are two streams in Methodism - one fairly liberal and another extraordinarily conservative.

I have often just had to pick what sustains me in what I consider this dark time in the U.S. church and in light of the fact that I am so distant from the Catholic culture of my young life. In that sense, I feel very Protestant in developing my direct relationship to God. I need more the warmth of a Father O'Malley than the kind of bishops who seem to think the only things they can lecture us on sex topics and obedience. The church is so much more than that - there needs to be an infusion of joy and community that is just lacking today.

I am very happy at my parish now, but while out in the wilderness, I tried to develop my own prayer life, read some inspiring lives of saints (like St. Therese, St. Philip Neri) and tried to go to church during the week when it was quieter. (I know, I know.)

Good luck in your search for the right place. You'll come round right for you and your family.

Sounds like you've developed a personal Catholicism that works for you -- based on your background, your personality/spirituality and your current options. I'm not criticizing the concept, at all, just commenting that this is how it appears to me. And I'll add that in my opinion, if this is turns out to be a trend among thoughtful Catholic adults, looking for a comfortable place for themselves within the faith of their childhood, the institution of the church will shrink even more in the future

I don't really agree with this.

The universality of the Church makes it an awfully big tent. For two millenia there has been room in the church for both good soldiers and pacifists, contemplatives and social activists, rich and poor, the simple minded and the intellectual giants, the skeptics and the nondoubters, . The variety one sees in Catholic saints reminds us how welcome this diversity is. We each find our own path toward God based on our gifts, interests, and circumstances.

Well, the Catholic church I was involved in for a small portion of those 2 millennia had no room for "diversity." There was one set of rules and it applied to all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Well, the Catholic church I was involved in for a small portion of those 2 millennia had no room for "diversity." There was one set of rules and it applied to all.

Yes, Catholics have a core set of beliefs and practices we are asked to follow. But those in no way dictate how you live your day to day life in service to God and the saints do provide examples of some of the infinite ways that can be done.

I am sorry you found the church you went to stultifying--it should be the opposite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Well, the Catholic church I was involved in for a small portion of those 2 millennia had no room for "diversity." There was one set of rules and it applied to all.

Yes, Catholics have a core set of beliefs and practices we are asked to follow. But those in no way dictate how you live your day to day life in service to God and the saints do provide examples of some of the infinite ways that can be done.

I am sorry you found the church you went to stultifying--it should be the opposite.

I didn't find it stultifying I was a kid and didn't mind going with the family. It's just nothing I'd continue as an adult - even a diverse kind of church, which still apparently assumes living one's life "in service to God and the saints."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Well, the Catholic church I was involved in for a small portion of those 2 millennia had no room for "diversity." There was one set of rules and it applied to all.

Yes, Catholics have a core set of beliefs and practices we are asked to follow. But those in no way dictate how you live your day to day life in service to God and the saints do provide examples of some of the infinite ways that can be done.

I am sorry you found the church you went to stultifying--it should be the opposite.

I didn't find it stultifying I was a kid and didn't mind going with the family. It's just nothing I'd continue as an adult - even a diverse kind of church, which still apparently assumes living one's life "in service to God and the saints."

Catholicism does teach adherents to live life in service to God--which can be done in many, many ways. It absolutely does not teach to live life in service to the saints. The saints do, however, provide examples of the many ways one can live a Godly life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Well, the Catholic church I was involved in for a small portion of those 2 millennia had no room for "diversity." There was one set of rules and it applied to all.

Yes, Catholics have a core set of beliefs and practices we are asked to follow. But those in no way dictate how you live your day to day life in service to God and the saints do provide examples of some of the infinite ways that can be done.

I am sorry you found the church you went to stultifying--it should be the opposite.

I didn't find it stultifying I was a kid and didn't mind going with the family. It's just nothing I'd continue as an adult - even a diverse kind of church, which still apparently assumes living one's life "in service to God and the saints."

Catholicism does teach adherents to live life in service to God--which can be done in many, many ways. It absolutely does not teach to live life in service to the saints. The saints do, however, provide examples of the many ways one can live a Godly life.

Some of the saints have pretty gruesome or silly stories

[Anonymous]

1:39 here. I am puzzled by the next poster's reaction. Of course I have developed a personal Catholicism. You don't spend 13 years with the Dominicans and not develop a spiritual practice and relationship with God and its institution. I was taught to have a flexible approach to how to practice my faith which is why I am still a Catholic. Are there core beliefs? Yes. But as PP wrote, we each find our own path to God based on our gifts, interests and circumstances.

If Catholics today only receive 26 hours of instruction a year for 4 years (1st, 2nd, 7th and 8th grades), all you are going to learn is a few core concepts and some "rules".

I really do believe that the American Catholic church today is being led by a male hierarchy that has misguidely idealized some notion of 1950s narrow and frozen Catholicism - a church that can never be recreated in a highly mobile, ethnically and economically diverse society which is struggling to find common values as a culture. These leaders reinforce rules and not the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

This lack of "diversity" is not only seen in the current Catholic church, but in the many evangelical churches that exist. My adult niece who was not raised Catholic has become a fundamentalist Christian and she is happy with the black, white, frozen and Bible-based dogma. I have a much more difficult and complex faith which does not come with such easy anwers. Catholicism also evolves. This is why I love the UCC message: God is still speaking! Revelation is not closed and the human-God relationship is not fixed for all time. The Catholics explain this evolution through the presence of the Holy Spirit, but it gets shortchanged in many classes.

OP: I do hope you find a faith and a place to enrich your whole family. Wherever you go, it takes time and effort if you want to embrace it.

[Anonymous]

OP again; I continue to thank all of you for your time and opinions. Very helpful. Happy New Year!