Most ‘open’ Catholic Church in the DMV?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Never, ever encountered this in the many places I have lived in CT and in this area. Since childhood, I have rarely attended the parish to which we were "assigned." Everyone is up to date on their sacraments and no issues.
My three kids were all baptized in three different parishes and only once was it our "home " parish.
If this is some weird Arlington diocese thing, the posters from there should realize that it is atypical and stop generalizing.
Actually, my niece received her first communion in a church that was different from their assigned parish in Arlington Diocese. So even there it is not a hard fast rule.
These posters always omit the fact that they are not regularly attending parishioners anywhere.

I actually have encountered this in another northeast city. I couldn’t get married in the church my whole family had attended and supported financially for twenty years because we were technically in the boundary of a different parish.

Maybe the rules are changing, but traditionally the Catholic Church, in the US at least, likes people to attend the parish they are geographically zoned for. And I can actually see some value in this, in that the parish is more likely to have a broader mix of conservative and liberal than if everyone just belongs to the parish that reflects their specific leanings.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry that happened to you, PP. My understanding is that all it takes is a letter from the pastor of the church they say you should attend that says he gives permission for you to receive the sacrament at the other church. Maybe the bishop of that diocese said pastors can't permit it. It is such a small, petty, nasty thing to do!

[Anonymous]

What an uncharitable bunch of Catholics on this thread. You do not do credit to your Church.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nativity in Burke has always been pretty liberal and inclusive of all.

Yes more liberal. But openly gay couples there? I find that hard to believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nativity in Burke has always been pretty liberal and inclusive of all.

Yes more liberal. But openly gay couples there? I find that hard to believe.

The OP was asking for a more liberal minded parish. They didn’t specify a parish with openly gay couples. And, honestly, Nativity is so huge (something like 3000 families) there very well may be openly gay couples. And if there are, most people at Nativity would not blink an eye.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't surprise me in the least that the Catholic church of choice for the pseudo liberal and well monied DCUM crowd is Trinity. This website sure loves rich white folk!

I'll stick with Queen of Peace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't surprise me in the least that the Catholic church of choice for the pseudo liberal and well monied DCUM crowd is Trinity. This website sure loves rich white folk!

I'll stick with Queen of Peace.

The Queen of Peace doesn't want you to talk that way. I mean really, please remember charity and love in your words.

[Anonymous]

Holy Trinity is extremely liberal, but as a previous poster said, it is huge and it is very hard to break into the existing social circles or make any sort of church community there. If you have kids at the school you will get to know people, but even then it is more of a school community than a church community (its not as if all of the school families go to the 9 AM mass and eat donuts afterwards). You can go to the post-mass coffee hour for years and not meet anyone who would recognize you and greet you on a different day. While the parishioners and the parish staff are very vocal about their support for diversity, the church community is not diverse by race, income, or any other variable. Very white, and skews pretty old and well off. I'm sure if you asked any parishioner they would say that of course they are "open" to anyone joining the church, but in reality a new parishioner is going to feel lost in the crowd. I have heard good things about Queen of Peace being open to LGBTQ families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Camillus in Silver Spring is Franciscan. Very diverse parish, very big focus on social justice. Also very welcoming if you are new to the area.

The Franciscans are good! Their pro-life stance is not limited to focusing only on the sin of abortion but to supporting the dignity and sanctity of life at all stages.

Yes my favorite. St Camillus has a big focus on environmental justice, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What an uncharitable bunch of Catholics on this thread. You do not do credit to your Church.

Well most of DCUM is high on anti-Catholic bigotry so just think of it as some variety in your day!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What an uncharitable bunch of Catholics on this thread. You do not do credit to your Church.

Well most of DCUM is high on anti-Catholic bigotry so just think of it as some variety in your day!

Yes because Jesus said "when anyone insults you, clap back"

This is a thread about a family trying to find a Catholic Church to fit in. Isn't growing the Church important to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:St Camillus in Silver Spring is Franciscan. Very diverse parish, very big focus on social justice. Also very welcoming if you are new to the area.

The Franciscans are good! Their pro-life stance is not limited to focusing only on the sin of abortion but to supporting the dignity and sanctity of life at all stages.

Yes my favorite. St Camillus has a big focus on environmental justice, for example.

And migrant justice, too! Sadly needed more and more these days.

[Anonymous]

Why would anybody waste their time with a church with the same message you get from tv or popular culture of the day? How boring. The Bible says the World is mostly influenced by Satan until the return of Christ and that his disciples are not of this World.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What an uncharitable bunch of Catholics on this thread. You do not do credit to your Church.

Well most of DCUM is high on anti-Catholic bigotry so just think of it as some variety in your day!

Yes because Jesus said "when anyone insults you, clap back"

This is a thread about a family trying to find a Catholic Church to fit in. Isn't growing the Church important to you?

Jesus loves your eye roll!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What an uncharitable bunch of Catholics on this thread. You do not do credit to your Church.

Well most of DCUM is high on anti-Catholic bigotry so just think of it as some variety in your day!

Yes because Jesus said "when anyone insults you, clap back"

This is a thread about a family trying to find a Catholic Church to fit in. Isn't growing the Church important to you?

OP wants to find an "open" Catholic church, but the Pope's recent comments about gays are not so open -- not the kind of Church growth OP would seem interested in.