I will start this entry with my point lest it be lost within the story:
It is important that we who claim to follow Jesus embrace the message He offered as He drew near the end of His life:
' I pray....THAT THEY MAY ALL BE ONE....'( paraphrased from John 17)
And now the story.................
I'm going to let you in on a dialogue I had this week with a couple of other people, originally labeled PERSON ONE and PERSON TWO. Here goes:
PERSON ONE: Yeah, my husband has started coming to church with me. He calls himself a recovering Catholic
ME: I'm a recovering Catholic too. No, not really. I'm an ex Catholic
PERSON TWO: Is it possible to ever be an ex Catholic?
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Someday, as a former Catholic, if I am given the gift of time and a willing publisher, I want to write a book or at least an article entitled THE CATHOLIC GIFT TO PROTESTANTISM. I also happen to think a companion volume could be written called THE PROTESTANT GIFT TO CATHOLICISM. Those of us in the Christian community have a richness from which to draw in the Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox traditions. I'm thinking of this now as I research and prepare for our Fall Education series.
It's funny: That dialogue I repeat above is one that I have had OVER AND OVER in my adult life. I have had to think a lot about those phrases: RECOVERING Catholic, EX Catholic. I like to see Catholicism as having deeply influenced my Christian spirituality. I see my freely chosen Protestantism as containing many gifts which can and has influenced the universal church.
In being a part of conversations such as these, I'm reminded of how important it is to be PASSIONATE about the spiritual unity of which Jesus spoke and how vital it is to dialogue with one another and to recognize each other's gifts.
I look forward to the direction of this discussion...
PB
3 comments:
I grew up with a mix of religious experiences. My mom Roman Catholic my dad russian Orthodox. My parents decided to leave both and raise us- up until age 12 or so as Methodists after which we just kind of quit the whole religion thing altogether...almost. My grandmother- the Polish Roman Catholic one- had a major devastating stroke at that time and couldn't speak. As she was afraid to go to church alone I volunteered to bring her to Polish mass. Now I couldn't understand one word of all of this and knew nothing of Catholicism but... there was something inherently soothing and meditative about the ritual of church. I experienced this much later when my other grandmother passed away and I attended the Orthodox service and was mesmirized by the Icons, the incense and the ritual of the mass. Something which is quite frankly missing from the congregational experience. So... there are many ways of worship and many ways to celebrate our God. I do tend to gravitate towards our type of service but can appreciate that which our brothers and sisters choose to follow.
Plus I think the Catholics have it right in terms of Mary- the mother of Jesus. Any mother who has born the sufferings and death of a child deserves sainthood and worship
Appreciation of Mary has really grown within the Protestant community and this is good. Mary's role within Catholicism should not be an impediment to Protestant appreciation of her incredible fidelity to God...
Quick note: Both Catholics and Protestants would agree that one does not worship Mary. Worship belongs to God alone. Sainthood is that to which we are all called.
This kind of dialogue and mutual contribution is important as we seem unity in Christ. I hope this 'e-conversation' contributes to it!
PB
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