How involved are you with your neighborhood church?

[Anonymous]

DH and I have 3 kids and were both raised catholic, and all 3 kids have been baptized as such. But my local catholic church is not fulfilling - we had my K son take CCD there this year and the parents we came across when dropping him off and picking him up seemed so, well, stuffy. We've not been actively engaged in the church either, it just seems so formal (the few masses we've attended). Now that the kids (6, 4, 1) are getting older, I think it's important to become more active in a community church, and I visited a Methodist church today that seems very nice. It's much more laid back than my catholic-church experience, and everyone I met was very nice. They have infant care for the younger one, and Sunday School for the older ones, which was a huge plus - I was able to listen to the sermon and relax, unlike my catholic church experiences.

So, I guess my question is, are you involved in a church and, if so, has it been of benefit to your family? I have catholic guilt also going on here, what can I do to ease that guilt if I'm considering joining a Methodist church instead? I think it's important for my kids to become acclimated to the teachings, but I also want a family-friendly environment that has us wanting to go to church and it's activities, rather than feeling a guilt-ridden need to do so otherwise. TIA!

[Anonymous]

We are very involved in our Catholic parish. We attend Mass weekly as a family so we have gotten to know the priests and the people over time. We actually registered with a parish that is not geographically ours because this one seemed more comfortable.

When the kids were tiny we made it a point to go to the children's liturgy and the Mass where the children's choir sang so my kids could see them. We volunteer for the offertory procession and my husband is a lector once a month. The one thing that helped us feel at home is to reach out and make ourselves part of the parish. The first thing I started was making a dish for the monthly food collection and that helped me make ties to one of the volunteer groups right away.

When the time came, my kids started at the parish school and that made an even bigger difference. Now we recognize even more people and feel connected. My kids are in the choir and are altar servers. We made the choice to attend the school over the CCD program because we didn't want the kids to feel that their religion was an extra duty to be rushed to on what is considered their free time.

Has it been a benefit to our family? Absolutely. My kids know they are part of a larger faith community and they know their roles are important too. We all have jobs at church that are our own way to "give back." I guess my attitude has been that we will get more out of it if we put ourselves in to it.

I think the key for you is to investigate why you want to be part of a church from a theological standpoint as well as a social standpoint. There are pretty specific differences between the Methodist and Catholic faiths. What do you fundamentally believe? That should be what ultimately what steers you to a church. Good luck. Finding a church home can be a wonderful thing for a family.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in the Catholic Church but now attend a Methodist Church.

It's nice to recognize people but so what? I can recognize people at the local grocery store too.

I have come to realize that the Catholic Church view is that Church is something you do by rote and there really isn't anything more to it. Church occurs on Sunday in a building. Other denominations are be far more actively involved in actual creating a community amongst their members as well as actually wanting to live out their faith by being actively involved in community efforts. There are far more "Christian" community efforts in the area then there are "Catholic" community efforts. I mean besides picketing abortion clinics, I can't think of one time I have seen the local Catholic Church actively do anything in our communit.

[Anonymous]

When I lived on Capitol Hill, I was very involved in my neighborhood church (mainline Protestand denomination). It taught me a lot about the true meaning of community. Now that we live in teh suburbs, we are very active in a nondenominational chruistian church that is about a half hour from our home. Even though it is not in the neighborhood, there are many church members who live near us. We get a lot out of it, as do our kids. People often complain that it is hard to make friends in DC, but most of the close friends I have made in my 20 years in this area ahve been people I met at church.