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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Some of you former Catholics needs to become Episcopalians. 
I’ve been at the same Church for 14 years and I’ve near heard of being counted in attendance as being an issue. I work every other weekend so only go twice a month on Sundays. I’m involved with other outreach but there’s no mandatory attendance. 
No confession to a priest  either. 
My spouse only comes at Christmas and Easter and she is treated with the same respect as everyone else. [/quote]

At least from a Catholic standpoint, Episcopals lack valid sacraments. The Sunday obligation is biblical, and quite frankly, minimal and subject to numerous exceptions. As for attendance “counting,” substantial compliance is morally sufficient. Confession is an enormous gift, and the people who object to it might want to reexamine their own shame. [/quote]

There is attendance/performance based Christianity and substance based Christianity.  I prefer the latter.  [/quote]

What you seem to mean by “substance” necessarily expresses itself in what you seem to consider “performance.”  See Jas. 2:17-19 (Faith without works is dead).[/quote]

I consider the works to be the substance.  Showing your face every Sunday morning is performance.  
[/quote]

I think that’s something individual. If someone is a hypocrite interested only in external observances for the sake of being seen, gaining some sort of social reward, etc., then merely showing up on Sunday wouldn’t seem to have much behind it. But it would still perhaps be better than not showing up at all, because by coming on Sunday one is joined to the community, at least surrounded by if not personally invested in worship, and in the line of fire, so to speak, for a movement of grace that might lead to a more complete turning toward God.

On the other hand, “showing up” on Sunday is, in itself, an act of worship, and an expression of love toward the Creator. So it is rarely if ever completely meaningless, and can have a great deal of meaning depending on the person and their motives.

There’s a strong argument to be made (again, see St. James) that the living out of the Christian life, particularly from a Catholic standpoint, has its genesis at the Mass, the Eucharist being the source and summit of the Christian life. Certainly there are people who live lives of exemplary fidelity to the Gospel while deprived of Sunday worship. Shut ins, soldiers, sailors, people in extremely isolated areas, people in places where Christianity is persecuted — all of these still receive the grace they need. But their absence ordinarily is not by choice. [/quote]

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