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No - not interesting - sad

I can't help but wonder what all those ex Catholics found in the Mega church that they could not find in their own. oh, I know, someone who cared about them for more than a pledge card. there are souls to be responsible for people, when will we learn?
Much Love,
Jonn

Shortly after a dear friend moved to Pittsburgh and was trying to find a church home, she developed a severe ear infection. For months, she couldn't stand up quickly; walking across the room was difficult because of her inability to maintain her balance; she wound up losing most of her hearing in one ear.

At the time, she and her family were trying to decide between two parishes, both near their home. The parishioners at St. A cooked meals for her family, cleaned the kitchen, took her children to the local pool, and folded laundry. The parishioners at St. B said, "we'll pray for you."

Guess which parish they joined.

I just can't, Penthaetria, I just simply can't!!!!!!!!
someone draw me a picture!
a little story for y'all:
I went to UTC with the sons of the one time editor of the (Latin) Knoxville diocesan paper (Edgar Miller), Mr. Miller was also editor of the Archdiocesan paper in D.C., as well, as being at one time editor of the Chattanooga Times.Mr. and Mrs. Miller were always kind to me when I was in University, and so I guess, as I write the story, you can see that he is truly a concerned and compassionate example of a Catholic Christian. some years ago, he wrote about a man and his wife moving to Knoxville from Argentina. well, they didn't speak English as well as they would have liked, they were in a different culture, in short, they were as strangers as strangers could be. this couple are Catholics, and they joined a nearby parish. now here we go: this couple was cared for, had meals made for them, helped with getting digs, took on a tour of Knoxville to familiarize them with the lay of the land in their new home, etc., etc., etc., (oh, the man had a job here, that's why they moved here), and all this kindness was extended to them by (drum roll, please) PROTESTANTS!!!!!!!!!
where was the parish they joined? the only time they heard from them was when some goomba from the stewardship committee, or what ever it is called, asked if they would like to fill out a pledge card.
it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure where Mr. Miller was going with all of this.
Much Love,
Jonn

Ok, so some on this forum (shamefully only a few) have acknowledged we have a problem with "fellowship." Since fellowship is a problem of the laity then how can we fix this problem?

I am going to make a bold statement. I am going to state that if we fix the "fellowship" problem that our Churches will be increasing in membership instead of dieing out.

What do you thing?

I agree with you Ray. If Catholics started acting like Christians to their fellow parishioners, the Catholic Churches (East & West) would turn into vacuums and would attract all those who love Christ.

As it was said in the readings this morning: How can you love the God you can't see if you can't love you fellow man whom you can see? (Paraphrased of course.)

I confess that I don't do it, but I resolve to take more interest in my fellow parishioners from now on.

I havent posted in a long time, but since I have some insight into something like this I might as well. When I felt called to the east over 5 years ago, I attended a fairly ethnic Eastern Catholic Parish for well over a year. During that time there was really no contact between the parishoners and my family outside of Liturgy. Noone paid us the time of day. The parish was and continues to wither with virtually no new people joining and people dying all the time. We attempted to join in their festivals and religious ed but with the sane results. Finaly I explorecd Orthodoxy and the 2 parishes we attended welcomed us with open arms from the Pastor to many of the people. Needless to say my 5 year anniversary as an Orthodox Christian comes this coming Palm Sunday. Just my 2 cents
Blessings
Michael Aidan

Thanks for you post Michael.

I would like to add that I went recently to a BCC in upstate NY. No one said hello to me no one asked if I was new, etc... However, I also went to a baptism of my sister-in-law in an Evangelical Church. I couldn't keep the people away from me they were too nice (it was sort of annoying). I receive a welcoming package and about 20 x's "Hello are you new?"

And we wonder why we are -100,000 (or more) in the last census.

Brother Ray, I think through all of this the thing that sticks out the most to me is the fact that we just dont take fellowship, or whatever one chooses to call it, as well as we should. We go to Mass/Liturgy and go home to our lives. How many times do we walk out the door and forget everything that was in the homily? How many of us can remember what the Gospel was last week? One thing I can say for the Orthodox I have encountered thus far in life's journey, no one seems to be in a hurry. if we have something to do after Liturgy of an extended service afterwards, everyone takes it in stride, they dont seem to care how long we're there, its part of who we are. I was amazed by that part the most. Anyway, if we took more of an interest in making people feel welcome as brothers and sisters rather than just people we see once a week, maybe we too can gather in numbers.
Michael Aidan

go ye unto the Protestants and see how it's done with fellowship.next question.
Much Love,
Jonn