liberal catholic church

[Anonymous]

im looking for a more liberal catholic church in the nova area(fairfax, burke, alexandria area). any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

The Episcopal church. Seriously. The Roman Catholic diocese in this area is extremely conservative, and any liberal priests have gone to other areas of the country.

[Anonymous]

If you want to stay within the Catholic Church, I've heard that the NOVA diocese is extremely conservative, even compared to the DC and MD. If you're willing to travel maybe you could try one that's not in VA. I really like Holy Trinity in Georgetown and Sacred Heart on 16th Street in DC. I know a lot of people from VA who travel to DC to go to Holy Trinity.

[Anonymous]

Tons of people from VA go to

Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown.

Their Masses are great.

[Anonymous]

Not sure if this is still the case, but St. Rita's in Alexandria had the reputation of being relatively liberal when we lived there 4 years ago. Our S. Arlington neighbors used to go there and were happy with it, it might be worth looking into.

Of course, it could be completely opposite now.

[Anonymous]

Check out Good Shepherd in Alexandria near Mount Vernon. We used to attend Holy Trinity (Georgetoen) and St. Charles (Arlington) and we have enjoyed the community at GS.

[Anonymous]

Holy Trinity. It takes us 25 minutes to get there and we probably pass 5 other Catholic Churchs on the way, but it is totally worth it. I have been going there for 15 years.

[Anonymous]

Not a Catholic here, but my grandparents are all catholic

Can I respectfully ask, what is a liberal Catholic church?

Does this means Democrats go there? Or that they look the other way at birth control and/or homosexuality? They allow women limited participation in services?

I am really just curious, because I didn't know they existed. thanks!

[Anonymous]

St Charles or Holy Trinity

[Anonymous]

OP here - to answer your question PP - a liberal catholic church would more then likely have a pastor on staff that isn't dead set on strictly following all the "rules" of the church to the nth degree....and they do exist.

i am catholic and my husband is not. he is divorced, hence we were were not married in a catholic church. however, i would like to have our son baptized in the church. and rather then approaching every extremely conservative catholic church in the area, i would like to know where to best start my search, to find a pastor that might understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - to answer your question PP - a liberal catholic church would more then likely have a pastor on staff that isn't dead set on strictly following all the "rules" of the church to the nth degree....and they do exist.

i am catholic and my husband is not. he is divorced, hence we were were not married in a catholic church. however, i would like to have our son baptized in the church. and rather then approaching every extremely conservative catholic church in the area, i would like to know where to best start my search, to find a pastor that might understand.

Holy Trinity in G'town, for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a Catholic here, but my grandparents are all catholic

Can I respectfully ask, what is a liberal Catholic church?

Does this means Democrats go there? Or that they look the other way at birth control and/or homosexuality? They allow women limited participation in services?

I am really just curious, because I didn't know they existed. thanks!

The Catholic church is one of the few that says it isn't a sin to be gay.

[Anonymous]

i grew up going to catholic churchs in virginia. it was seriously conservative. no altar girls (not sure if that has changed), priests complaining about lack of children (birthcontrol being used), etc. almost any church in maryland or dc is going to be more easy going. i feel like it is more don't ask don't tell kind of catholic church.

[Anonymous]

The Catholic church is one of the few that says it isn't a sin to be gay.

If I understand correctly, the Catholic church might not say it's a sin to BE gay, but the church does believe it's a sin to ACT on those feelings... so according to the church, you can have gay desires without sinning, but as soon as you actually have gay sex, too bad. It's not a supportive stance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i am catholic and my husband is not. he is divorced, hence we were were not married in a catholic church. however, i would like to have our son baptized in the church. and rather then approaching every extremely conservative catholic church in the area, i would like to know where to best start my search, to find a pastor that might understand.

I know the Diocese of Arlington has very strict rules about Sacraments, but it depends on the parish. We are the godparents to a child (who attends St. Mary's in Old Town) and had to produce letters from our home parish (Good Shepherd) stating we were in "good standing". GS was a little more laxed when we attended the meeting about getting our child baptized. Only one godparent had to be Catholic and I don't think they asked for letters. I would think that as long as one parent was a registered parishioner (you) it'd be fine.

We ended up getting our child baptized in my home state by the priest who presided over our wedding mass so we never had to deal with the "paperwork". Now pregnant with our second child and wondering if we will do the same thing...

FWIW - we LOVE GS. They are very focused on social justice, have a broad view of the church's pro-life position (ie, not only focused on the abortion issue) and were one of the first catholic churches in the Arlington Diocese to allow girls to be alter servers.
Good luck!