Have you attended Mass?

Yes. My best friend through middle and high school was (is? I'm not sure, we've lost touch) Catholic, and the times I spent the night at her house on a Saturday I would go with them to Mass. She came to my Baptist church, too, when she stayed over on Saturday nights.

It was different. Not bad, really, just different. I didn't take communion in their church, although no one would have stopped me from doing so.

I also attended a few in college while our choir was on tour - we would sometimes sing at a Sunday morning service, and a few were Catholic services.

 

I've attended Catholic Masses on a few occasions. In fact, I'm going to a wedding this Friday evening at a Catholic church and they will celebrate Mass.

 

Yes, I have. I've also attended an Anglican and Greek Orthodox mass, Methodist, Presbyterian, Salvation Army, Reformed, and SDA services, and have attended a Jewish synagogue.

 

Yes, I have. Too many times to count. I was raised Catholic and attended a Catholic grade school, so I went to mass seven days a week until I got into High School.

 

Only once that I remember. I thought the benches were really cool with the pull out things for kneeling on. LOL
Gina

 

MY mother's family is catholic, so I was raised with catholic influnces, even though my mom was not a praticing catholic, we went a few times with my grandmother. It was confusing, nothing like the baptist church I had been to a few times.

 

My parents (who aren't catholic) sent me to a Catholic shool for grades 4 through 6, every Month we went to Mass. The first time I went I had only limited expirence at church and had no idea what was going on. I ened up taking communion becasue it looked like the right thing to do. After I told my mom that I did this it was explained to me that I don't take it, which I was happy about becasue it tasted awful to me.

Needless to say now that I'm a born again believer the expirence of going to Mass has offered me insight into Catholism that I wouldn't have had otherwise. I would have no problem going to observe what goes on in one, and I think most people should see one in person to understand what it is better.

Bryan
SDG

 

We are forbidden to part on the Lord's table and the table of demons. Therefore, I will never attend mass.

 

Ok Dr. Bob. There goes the myth that Baptists are in it for theological reasonings! LOL!
Most of the people I knew in public school were Catholics or nothing. My best friend for years was Catholic. For all the talk about how friends influence friends, we never really talked about it. She was the one I went to mass with, but it was just because I spent the weekend with her. We never talked about it much, even though we were young teens and certainly old enough to take those things seriously.
I don't know if I just grew up in an odd place or things have changed. I see teens now seeking out friends of their own religion or limiting contact with certain friends based on it. None of us where I grew up ever did that.
Gina

 

I was raised in the Methodist Church, and one of the most interesting thing was that we visited other religions services with our entire Sunday School class as kids. The two I remember most were the Catholic service and the Jewish synagogue. The synagogue was the best...the Rabbi showed us the Torah and we got to learn about the Jewish faith.

 

I have been to two funeral masses (although I did not participate - simply attended to pay my respects). During the first I almost evacuated the building when I smelt wood burning - thankfully I realised it was the priest coming down the aisle burning incense before I totally humiliated myself!!

 

I have been to two funeral masses (although I did not participate - simply attended to pay my respects). During the first I almost evacuated the building when I smelt wood burning - thankfully I realised it was the priest coming down the aisle burning incense before I totally humiliated myself!!

 

I've never been to a regular Mass. But my first husband was Catholic and so I've attended many Catholic weddings and funeral Masses.

I will say that the little padded kneeling bench that pulls down at the back of the pew in front of you is pretty cool. I can't tell you how many times I've knelt on the ground at my church and had to face where I had just been sitting (and where lots of other people have sat) to pray. It would be nice if they had that sort of thing at non-Catholic churches so that a person could face the front of the auditorium when they knelt to pray at church instead of putting their face so near where so many people have put their back sides.

I thought it was interesting that the congregation has responsive prayers to what the priest is saying too. I felt a little out of place not knowing what came next, except in the Lords prayer...but even then the words were a little different.

All I know is it's an altogether different type of religion than what I'm used to.

 

It’s a real shame that so many Baptists are scared of appearing “Catholic” that we don’t routinely have prayer benches connected to the pews in Baptist church facilities.

When the church where I grew up was renovating the worship area, our pastor at the time suggested we add the kneeling benches. The suggestion was rejected out of hand since “Baptists don’t do that”. (I suspect that was part of our problem!)

When I was in college I made regular use of the Episcopal church facility near the campus. The doors were always unlocked and the “sanctuary” was very quiet and worship-oriented. It was a much better place for me to pray than the tiny prayer room located behind the chapel on the university campus.

 

Oh, then you know what tartan plaid is.

 

I figured someone would toss that in eventually.

 

I took several comparative religions classes in the course of high school and college. You remind me on one of my college instructors. I highly HIGHLY recommend a comp religions class to everyone. It's incredibly rewarding, and you learn a lot, not just about other faith, but about your own as well.