Issue with church being a little too welcoming - in Diocese of Arlington
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Anonymous
| Diocese of Arlington is literally the MOST conservative in the entire country. Maybe try Holy Trinity in Georgetown. |
Anonymous
Yeah, the people who told you have nothing to worry about are not well versed in the actual rules of the Catholic Church, I don't think. It isn't like a protestant church where you can pick and choose and there are often lots of locally-governed methods of leadership. The RCC is a top-down organization who has strict rules about which parish you are a member at. While you are always welcome to attend Mass at any church, at any time - that doesn't make you registered in that parish. The Mormon church is similar - you go where you are assigned. |
Anonymous
I go to St. Ann in Arlington. It has a school and a new-ish pastor. He doesn't do the whole boundary thing. If you are comfortable there, you are welcome. No pressure, but if you'd like, come check it out. Have a doughnut. |
Anonymous
There are also the envelopes a lot of people use during the offertory. Your name and address are on them. I give cash, no envelope, during the offertory. They can't track me. |
Anonymous
They don't have blank envelopes in the pews? Or just allow cash not in an envelope? How do they reconcile that with Matthew 6:3 and the like? |
Anonymous
| St Charles in Arlington doesn't seem overly concerned about boundaries as far as I can tell...they have my mailing address and know it's OOB. |
Anonymous
| Have you tried an Opus Dei church? They seem very friendly. |
Anonymous
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I would definitely contact the committee chair, or better yet the pastor. Lifelong Catholic and I've never run into anything like that. Mormons at my door, Jehovah's Witnesses at my door, but never a Catholic welcome wagon.
With regard to the boundary thing, as others have said you can attend church anywhere you like. However, most dioceses that I have known do have boundaries for each parish. Some dioceses are more lax than others in enforcing them. Others are more stringent. |
Anonymous
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I was raised Catholic and you absolutely had to go to the church in your boundary. Even though I now go to an Episcopal church, I still find the idea of church shopping a little weird, and Catholic Church shopping completely bizarre. Although I have been to several in Arlington and some made me flat out uncomfortable and felt like I'd been transported to 1963.
And of course the Catholic Church tracks the envelopes. Look at all the rules and regs on school attendance. |
Anonymous
+1 There or St. Agnes. St. Ann the more calmer of the two, but both are good. My kids go to St. Agnes but for proximity reasons we go to St. Ann. I've never heard of this kind of pushiness that you are describing, but I'm from the west coast. It doesn't "feel" Catholic--the proselytizing (omg try and spell that word on the first try grr!) |
Anonymous
| Will someone please explain this boundary thing? I never knew that and it seems very strange. What's the purpose? To keep people segregated by where they live. |
Anonymous
Catholics just like rules. Doesn't matter how insane they are. |
Anonymous
It dates back to before people have cars and there was a church in every neighborhood. Catholics are slow to change. |
Anonymous
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Seriously this diocese is creepy conservative. Rank is literally how many kids you have. Yuk. Find another church. There are more relaxed ones and they don't mind if you attend. I don't think you mis-read the welcoming committee at all.
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Anonymous
You know how a public school will only allow you to attend the school for which you are zoned so they make sure the resources are divided appropriately and each school has what they need (teachers, books, etc.) for the year, including enough physical space for each child? People register at a parish based on where they live. That way one church is not over-crowded or under attended. I parish in a more densely populated town might have 3 or 4 priests, where as one out in Appalachia might have 1 visiting priest for 25 parishioners. Priests have to hear confessions, visit the sick, provide counseling, manage the funds..etc. That being said, a lot of Catholics parish hop. My clue for a parish which I would feel comfortable is to listen to the intentions during mass (Where they say, "Lord hear our prayer" after a list of issues.) If it is all about politics or a cause about which I am less passionate, and they forget about a cause that is important to me time and time again, I feel like it isn't a good fit and I probably would not be a great part of that community. Some pastors will say, "I notice you live closer to St. Somebody Else. Why are you not attending there?" My friend is a priest and he's pretty cool. I could see people coming to mass with him because he's entertaining. He's aware, as a priest, that the money in the collection plate goes to pay for things like cancer treatments for retired members of the clergy, so he feels pressure to keep his parish "in the black." When you register, you get envelopes with your name on them. When you pay taxes, they send a receipt re: what you donated based on your envelopes. If people are going somewhere else, they are probably financially supporting that other parish instead of their home, but when they need something (funeral, wedding, counseling) they are more likely to rely on the church that is like a home. You can also drop $1 or $20 in the basket when it comes around. You don't have to put your name on it. If you do, though, you can claim it on your tax refund. You probably have heard this, but Our Lady Queen of Peace is in Arlington, but does not answer to the Diocese of Arlington. Very social justice oriented place. I loved it. My family did not. My husband and kids like the structure of a more traditional mass. |