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MegaChurch or Catholic Church?
taylormarshall.com ^ | August 26, 2013 | Dr. Taylor Marshall

Posted on 08/27/2013 11:53:37 AM PDT by NYer

Megachurch. Two young ladies. Both had left the Catholic Church. Both were now attending “megachurches.” We had a good chat together. I wanted to understand their reasons for why they left the Catholic Church for a megachurch.

megachurches

Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Megachurch
43,500 weekly attendance

I was at the bank and somehow I got into a spiritual conversation with two Hispanic executives that worked there.

Why the Megachurch?

When I asked why they exchanged the Catholic Church for the megachurch, they gave me a number of reasons:

  1. “My new church has an iPhone app. I can go on my iPhone and get Bible studies, sermons (video and audio). When I travel I can still watch the sermon, either live or later. I feel apart of the community.”
  2. “The preaching is dynamic and speaks to my life. I find practical encouragement.”
  3. “I felt judged at the Catholic Church.”
  4. “People were not friendly or welcoming at the Catholic Church. The first time I went to my new church, I was welcomed by so many people.”
  5. “My new church has classes and courses that are interesting and helpful.”
  6. “The music is better.”
  7. “In the Catholic Church, they use a lot of words that I did not understand.”
  8. “People pray for each other and know each other (in the megachurch).”

Although these two ladies didn’t articulate it explicitly to me, I could tell that they were very proud of their new churches. I could also discern in them a surprise that I am so “spiritual” and yet I am very excited about being Catholic. They assumed the “with it” people were leaving Catholicism for the bigger and better and deal.

I asked them what they miss about being Catholic. They replied with two answers:

  1. “There are not any crosses in my new church. I know it makes some people feel uncomfortable, but I wish we had crosses.”
  2. “What will I do when I die?” They were both unclear about whether they could get anything like Last Rites at the megachurch.

What About the Eucharist?

I asked both about the Eucharist: “Don’t you miss the Eucharist?”

This question didn’t phase them one bit. “Oh we still have communion. They pass out little crackers and cups of juice. I like this better because I thought drinking from one big cup is icky. Spreads germs.”

“But in the Catholic Church,” I replied, “we believe that the Eucharist is the real Body and Blood of Jesus?”

I may as well have said, “Don’t you know that there are Martians in my back pocket.” She was unaware that the Catholic Church taught this. No idea.

The Problem

This, my brothers and sisters, is the crux of the problem. These girls were raised as Catholics, but did not know about the Eucharist. They did not know that the Eucharist is God. They did not understand the Holy Eucharist is the center of the Catholic tradition.

So when they compare our ho-hum Catholic music and pedestrian sermons to snazzy well produced musical productions and highly polished bulleted sermons from handsome professional speakers…where are they going to go?

If they had believed that the Holy Eucharist is truly the Lord Jesus Christ, then they would have stayed. This is the task of the New Evangelization if there is going to be one. Can we communicate the mystery of Eucharist. If we fail in that, everyone is leaving the building.

Godspeed,
Taylor

PS: I don’t mean to suggest that having the Holy Eucharist is an excuse for bad music, bad vestments, bad architecture, and bad sermons. The Eucharist is like a precious diamond. It deserves a platinum setting…not a plastic setting. We can’t say, “Well, we have the Eucharist – so you’re forced to stay and have a miserable experience every Sunday.” We can’t keep the sacraments hostage to mediocracy.

PPS: With 1 billion strong, the Catholic Church is the real megachurch!

pope visit

Pope Francis at Rio de Janeiro
3 million people



TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Ministry/Outreach; Religion & Culture
KEYWORDS: catholic; joelosteen; megachurch
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To: nickcarraway

They are told they do not have enough faith or they are not giving enough to the huckster.


41 posted on 08/27/2013 12:33:23 PM PDT by bkaycee (John 3:16)
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To: fwdude

You think the Bible is idolatry?


42 posted on 08/27/2013 12:35:55 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: Alex Murphy

I think Osteen is planning on keeping Catholic traditions of Bingo, Wedding annulment payments and financial indulgences.


43 posted on 08/27/2013 12:36:17 PM PDT by bkaycee (John 3:16)
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To: NYer

I’ve done these threads before, I think I will pass on this one.


44 posted on 08/27/2013 12:38:32 PM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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Five Days to September.

Please donate today.

45 posted on 08/27/2013 12:38:44 PM PDT by RedMDer (http://www.dontfundobamacare.com/)
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To: fwdude

I can see how someone who only has prayer can think prayer is synonymous with worship.

Read the Mass someday. It is true worship. The offering of the One Perfect Sacrifice to the Father.

Dulia is not latria.

If holding a parade for someone is worship then we all worshipped our soldiers after WWII.


46 posted on 08/27/2013 12:39:16 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: nickcarraway
You think the Bible is idolatry?

LOL!!! I must have missed this verse, then:

O most blessed and sweet Virgin Mary,

Mother of God, filled with all tenderness, Daughter of the most high King,
Lady of the Angels,
Mother of all the faithful,

On this day and all the days of my life,

I entrust to your merciful heart my body and my soul,
all my acts, thoughts, choices,
desires, words, deeds,
my entire life and death,

47 posted on 08/27/2013 12:40:08 PM PDT by fwdude ( You cannot compromise with that which you must defeat.)
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To: SoothingDave

so, Catholics believe that if i pray to vishnu I’m not worshiping a false god?


48 posted on 08/27/2013 12:42:36 PM PDT by HenryArmitage (it was not meant that we should voyage far.)
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To: NYer

I know we blame the Church and sometimes rightly so but part of it is that they are not listening.

I know a couple, life-long Catholics who got taken in by a very charismatic, fly by night church and then they tried to tell us how the Catholic Church isn’t Bible based and they never heard scripture at Mass!!!!!!!!!

Where were they? I know they were there cuz I saw them! How could they not hear? How could they not see? But they didn’t. “There are none so blind....”

I am active in my church, I do a little of everything but I think the most important thing I do is pray. We need God to work in their lives, to open their hearts and their minds to His Word.

Too many people want religious entertainment. They want the easy path. They want to be told that their choices are the most important, that once saved, they are saved forever. They don’t want to do the hard work of actually following Jesus, they just want to believe and let it go at that.


49 posted on 08/27/2013 12:42:38 PM PDT by tiki
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To: HenryArmitage

Yes, that is exactly what we believe. That’s why i so clearly stated so in an earlier post.

Ok, now that that is done, if you have any questions grounded in reality come on back.


50 posted on 08/27/2013 12:48:03 PM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: longfellowsmuse
After converting via RCIA, I've been teaching 6th graders at my parish for 15 years (Old Testament). I am not a theologian, nor a Bible scholar, but there's one verse that leapt out to me: 1 John 3:18.

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

I used to describe it as the "money" quote from Jerry Maguire: "show me the money". Now that reference is too aged, so I describe it in 3 words: It's Never Enough.

Those 3 words apply to everything we do, whether in our church, our marriage, our friendships, our work, etc.

To me, God speaks to us in a loving way to do our best, to never quit.

I remind my students that it's not easy to be a Catholic...it's hard work. It's not enough to merely go to Mass once a week, or to give up something during Lent...it's never enough.

Speaking to your post, I love teaching the Old Testament, because it's at the heart of our traditions. How can one appreciate our faith without knowing the important men and women of the Old Testament?

For example, a sizable percentage of the First Readings are from the Book of Isaiah. Why? What makes him so important? That's just one of the lessons we teach during the year.

51 posted on 08/27/2013 12:54:09 PM PDT by Night Hides Not (The Tea Party was the earthquake, and Chick Fil A the tsunami...100's of aftershocks to come.)
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To: nickcarraway
I have yet to meet a single first generation immigrant from Mexico is Catholic. They are evangelical, Jehovah’s Witness, or unchurched.

What an unusual experience, it sure flies in the face of reality and the facts. In real life they arrive Catholic.

52 posted on 08/27/2013 12:54:52 PM PDT by ansel12 (Obama-[obamacare] "used to be a Republican idea. ThereÂ’s a governor of Massachusetts who set it up.)
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To: NYer

Neither!

Kind of like choosing between anthrax and smallpox.


53 posted on 08/27/2013 1:01:26 PM PDT by Above My Pay Grade (The people have the right to tell government what guns it may possess, not the other way around.)
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To: SoothingDave

I’m not trying to troll it up. If prayer is not worship, where is the line drawn? I know from study that the bible forbids communication with the dead, and states that christ is our one and only mediator. I do not know, nor have a researched what the Catholic faith believes. I didn’t know if spirit worship was okay with the RCC as long as it was for request and not adoration.


54 posted on 08/27/2013 1:06:31 PM PDT by HenryArmitage (it was not meant that we should voyage far.)
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To: bkaycee

Tagline


55 posted on 08/27/2013 1:07:14 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." – 1 Corinthians 13:2)
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To: NYer

Someone on FB posted a link to a site which discusses tv “ministers”. I went to it and read some of the articles. One was about how osteen charges for getting seats close to him. Others were about how one needed an upgrade to his chopper and one needed his plane repainted. Made me nauseated. I had already seen through some of their donations for windfalls schemes. These numbskulls are getting wealthy from vulnerable people.


56 posted on 08/27/2013 1:08:48 PM PDT by MamaB
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To: null and void
the truth is seldom popular

So true that. They were pretty good at slaughtering God's prophets back in the day.

Other than methodology and a few new rules, little has changed in that regard.

57 posted on 08/27/2013 1:10:27 PM PDT by GBA (Our obamanation: Romans 1:18-32)
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To: longfellowsmuse

Well stated Longfellow! We, each of us, must take the light of Christ into our Hearts to beat back the darkness of evil. We are his Body on earth.

Our Father comes to us by appealing to our intellect. We must be voracious in our hunger to pray more, learn more, give more and evangelize more.

BE BOLD, BE CATHOLIC!


58 posted on 08/27/2013 1:12:34 PM PDT by jp3 (BABIES, GUNS & JESUS...HOT DAMN!!)
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To: Buckeye McFrog; NYer
Hey, Buckeye --- My friend Mindy explained "consubstantial" to her class of fifteen 4th-graders, and every one of them understand that it means the same as "one in being" -- they (the Father and the Son) (and the Holy Spirit) are God --- the same Supreme Being.

That doesn't make the Trinity an easy doctrine, but basically you understand that love tends toward unity, and if your ARE absolute love ("God is love") -- your Trinity-Unity is absolute --- goes beyond anything a human mind can fathom.

They can spell "encyclopedia," too, and find Chattanooga on a map of Tennessee.

Not that hard, really.

But you need to be taught.

59 posted on 08/27/2013 1:13:24 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o ("If I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." – 1 Corinthians 13:2)
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To: longfellowsmuse

“Many people forget the value of Apostolic succession.”

Extra-Biblical.


60 posted on 08/27/2013 1:13:46 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws - Tacituss)
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