 |
| Author | Post |
|---|
DonatoKnight
Member
| Joined: | Sun Jul 1st, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 2 |
| First Name: | Donato | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 1st, 2007 10:10 am |
|
I am a lifelong Catholic and a friend of mine is asking many questions about the faith that I try to answer. Here's my question:
many converts on the Journey Home say they didn't turn their back on their previous faith but fulfilled it. Certainly they had to give up things incompable with their new faith. For my friend, it would be praise and worship music during Sunday worship (Mass). This is particularly hard for her. What advice can I offer? We're both in college and we try and have praise and worship nights, and some parishes do this, so I know she doesn't need to abandon p&W, but what else can I say or do? She knows what the Church teaches but doesn't like it because it is foreign to her.
|
|
|
CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5080 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 1st, 2007 12:03 pm |
|
DonatoKnight wrote: I am a lifelong Catholic and a friend of mine is asking many questions about the faith that I try to answer. Here's my question:
many converts on the Journey Home say they didn't turn their back on their previous faith but fulfilled it. Certainly they had to give up things incompable with their new faith. For my friend, it would be praise and worship music during Sunday worship (Mass). This is particularly hard for her. What advice can I offer? We're both in college and we try and have praise and worship nights, and some parishes do this, so I know she doesn't need to abandon p&W, but what else can I say or do? She knows what the Church teaches but doesn't like it because it is foreign to her.
First of all, Donato, welcome to the Coming Home Network. We're happy to have you here with us.
As for your friend, all valid expressions of faith are welcome within the Catholic Church. It sounds like she might come from a Pentacostal background. If so, you might suggest that she look into Catholic Charismatic Renewal. A call to your local parish office or to your diocese should be able to point you to a parish which offers Charismatic services. These will be more "mainstream" than some of the more exotic Protestant Pentacostal groups but she will find praise and worship sessions, prayer in tongues, discernment, etc.
Thank you for joining us, and we look forward to having you participate in our discussions.
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
|
|
|
DonatoKnight
Member
| Joined: | Sun Jul 1st, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 2 |
| First Name: | Donato | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 1st, 2007 12:20 pm |
|
Hi Rick,
Thanks for the kind welcome. It's actually a welcome back, as I used to frequent this forum often, although I couldn't remember my old password.
She is coming from a Baptist backfround; speaking in tongues is foreign to her and is not what she wants. She is interested in LifeTeen type of Masses but she knows from reading Church documents that such Masses are not the norm and not something our Holy Father supports. She knows the Church believes in the primacy of chant and polyphony along with sacred hymns. While many parishes do not follow this, she is too intellectually honest to convert in hopes she can find a parish that disobeys the rubrics.
So does that make my question clearer?
|
|
|
David W. Emery
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Brownsville, Texas USA |
| Posts: | 1795 |
| First Name: | David | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic |
| Status: |
Offline
|
|
Posted: Sun Jul 1st, 2007 12:40 pm |
|
Hi, Donato. Welcome to the forum.
Yes, it is true that there is much in Protestantism that can find a place in the Catholic Church. However, not everything is portable. And I believe that your friend is finding that out.
The liturgical music question is difficult for a person who has spent time in a different environment and culture. As a matter of fact, the Catholic Church is just beginning to emerge from several decades of decadance, during which contemporary commercial music styles were explored and depleted. Most of the people I know are anxiously awaiting a return to traditional music, such as Gregorian chant and polyphony (as you yourself acknowledge; cf. Documents of Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium, Ch. 6, Par. 116).
“Praise & Worship” is not part of the Catholic tradition; it originated among the Pentecostals and charismatic Evangelicals. The Catholic faith teaches, with St. Paul, that we should “not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of [our] mind, that [we] may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). So quite naturally this genre is seen as foreign to Catholic worship, although some “teen Masses” or charismatic groups may have adopted it in hopes of drawing a crowd. But this kind of merchandising is ultimately counterproductive, because those who come for the music usually do not stay for the religion. After all, it’s not really why they came.
Certainly there is more to God and our relationship with him than the kind of music we like. The various strains of Protestant tradition have their peculiarities; the Catholic tradition has its own, and it takes some getting used to. It’s kind of like new immigrants learning to accept the American way of doing things. How else can they be integrated? And how else are we truly to meet God on holy ground?
“Intellectual honesty” is just another name for a stubborn refusal to change. God begins by accepting us as we are, but he also demands that we change and be converted, so just how honest is a person who refuses to accede to his commandments? Music may seem to be a matter of open choice, but it is not really. Even Protestants recognize certain limits. If, for liturgical purposes, the Catholic Church draws the line more strictly, this is what your friend will have to accept.
There is a lot of world outside liturgy, however. I would suggest that if your friend still thinks she has a need for Praise & Worship music, it is available 24/7 on the radio in practically every corner of the country. We can only hope that she eventually outgrows it.
David
|
|
|
Current time is 11:14 pm | |
|
|
|
|
|
