Most ‘open’ Catholic Church in the DMV?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you can attend any you want, but you can't pick or choose for sacraments. We learned this the hard way when we weren't allowed to be godparents because we weren't tithing to the correct church. We also couldn't get our own babies baptized because we attended the wrong church

I will always feel Catholic in my heart, but they clearly didn't want us so we became Episcopalian

I've never heard of such a thing. What is the "wrong" Catholic church? Or do you mean you didn't attend a Catholic church and so were not a practicing Catholic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St. Matthew Cathedral

+1

Lots of the members are from Dupont Circle. You may not know, but Dupont Circle has a a community of LGBTQ and a lot attend this parish.

I loved it and it's so beautiful.

This was the recommendation from HRC staff!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:you can attend any you want, but you can't pick or choose for sacraments. We learned this the hard way when we weren't allowed to be godparents because we weren't tithing to the correct church. We also couldn't get our own babies baptized because we attended the wrong church

I will always feel Catholic in my heart, but they clearly didn't want us so we became Episcopalian

I've never heard of such a thing. What is the "wrong" Catholic church? Or do you mean you didn't attend a Catholic church and so were not a practicing Catholic?

So, the old rule is that people are supposed to attend the church they are "assigned" to. Meaning geographically in the catchment for.

If you attended mass at a Shrine or somewhere outside of the district it wasn't following the rules or didn't count. It meant you couldn't choose your own Parish. I didn't grow up in a diocese that "enforced" this, but apparently some did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:you can attend any you want, but you can't pick or choose for sacraments. We learned this the hard way when we weren't allowed to be godparents because we weren't tithing to the correct church. We also couldn't get our own babies baptized because we attended the wrong church

I will always feel Catholic in my heart, but they clearly didn't want us so we became Episcopalian

I've never heard of such a thing. What is the "wrong" Catholic church? Or do you mean you didn't attend a Catholic church and so were not a practicing Catholic?

So, the old rule is that people are supposed to attend the church they are "assigned" to. Meaning geographically in the catchment for.

If you attended mass at a Shrine or somewhere outside of the district it wasn't following the rules or didn't count. It meant you couldn't choose your own Parish. I didn't grow up in a diocese that "enforced" this, but apparently some did.

Its true of the Arlington diocese that (absent a waiver) sacraments must be completed at the home parish you are assigned to even if you typically choose to attend Mass at a different church. In no way, however, would they ever they ever tell you you couldn’t baptize your baby- just potentially that you couldn’t do it at your preferred church. There is also definitely not a tithing requirement to be a godparent.

[Anonymous]

I really like St. Augustine's in DC and St Camillus in Silver Spring. Compared to where I reside now I think most of the Catholic churches inside of DC are open and welcoming. It seems like the further you get from the city (in Maryland and in Virginia) the less welcoming a Catholic church becomes. I am not sure why that is the case. I find that Catholic churches that have a large percentage of Latinos, immigrants, or people of African descent tend to be more open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy Trinity in Georgetown.

The Jesuits and sermons are great but attending mass here feels like attending mass with a bunch of people at their country club.

Agreed. They are all too good to interact with the normal folks who in their actual parish so they drive to Georgetown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy Trinity in Georgetown.

The Jesuits and sermons are great but attending mass here feels like attending mass with a bunch of people at their country club.

Agreed. They are all too good to interact with the normal folks who in their actual parish so they drive to Georgetown.

Sorry we aren’t interested in the anti-gay and anti-abortion rhetoric that we were subjected to at mass at our Nova Church.

Also, RE at HT is head and shoulders better run than the 3 other churches we tried (and St Matthews had no RE).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Holy Trinity in Georgetown.

The Jesuits and sermons are great but attending mass here feels like attending mass with a bunch of people at their country club.

Agreed. They are all too good to interact with the normal folks who in their actual parish so they drive to Georgetown.

Sorry we aren’t interested in the anti-gay and anti-abortion rhetoric that we were subjected to at mass at our Nova Church.

Also, RE at HT is head and shoulders better run than the 3 other churches we tried (and St Matthews had no RE).

Uh huh. Well better to ensconce yourself in your bubble than try to actually understand your neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really like St. Augustine's in DC and St Camillus in Silver Spring. Compared to where I reside now I think most of the Catholic churches inside of DC are open and welcoming. It seems like the further you get from the city (in Maryland and in Virginia) the less welcoming a Catholic church becomes. I am not sure why that is the case. I find that Catholic churches that have a large percentage of Latinos, immigrants, or people of African descent tend to be more open.

If you like St. Camillus and the Franciscans, there’s another Franciscan parish in our area-St. Francis near Quantico. It’s a bit of a drive I’ll admit, but for those who want to experience Franciscan spirituality it’s an option.

[Anonymous]

do any of these have parish schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:you can attend any you want, but you can't pick or choose for sacraments. We learned this the hard way when we weren't allowed to be godparents because we weren't tithing to the correct church. We also couldn't get our own babies baptized because we attended the wrong church

I will always feel Catholic in my heart, but they clearly didn't want us so we became Episcopalian

I've never heard of such a thing. What is the "wrong" Catholic church? Or do you mean you didn't attend a Catholic church and so were not a practicing Catholic?

So, the old rule is that people are supposed to attend the church they are "assigned" to. Meaning geographically in the catchment for.

If you attended mass at a Shrine or somewhere outside of the district it wasn't following the rules or didn't count. It meant you couldn't choose your own Parish. I didn't grow up in a diocese that "enforced" this, but apparently some did.

Oh, DC doesn't do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:do any of these have parish schools?

St. Francis does but again it’s a bit a drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:do any of these have parish schools?

Holy Trinity does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:do any of these have parish schools?

Holy Trinity does.

but hard to get into, right? looking for a school for my boy with high functioning autism. We feel like he needs more structure now, but the more exclusive the school the more likely they are to judge him. (he doesn’t need academic supports and has good behavior - he’s just different. so we need a tolerant place that is still structured!)

[Anonymous]

St. John Neumann in Reston