Methodist Musings

I was browsing the Catholic Answers Forums today. I don't have an account or anything, but I like to lurk and pick up fun facts here and there. In the Non-Catholic Religions section, somebody asked which Protestant denominations approved of abortion. "Surely very few, if any," I thought to myself. Of course, among the Protestants and former Protestants, a bunch of Catholics who knew very little about Protestantism took that opportunity to weigh in with their misguided opinions. But there were a couple people who seemed to know their stuff, and one person said the United Methodist Church was partially pro-choice. And I was like, "What? That's false." But this person quoted the General Conference!

I did my own googling, and I found that the quote on the forums was from the 2004 General Conference, and that the 2008 General Conference (the most recent one) had moved the UMC's official stance in a more pro-life direction. This article shows the section on abortion and the changes that had been made to it from 2004 to 2008. It also points out that the UMC's ambivalence on the subject is basically one giant loophole.

Frankly, I was shocked when I read this today. I grew up in/around the UMC, and my former pastor is staunchly pro-life. I don't even know if he knows the church's official stance on the matter. This in itself kind of concerns me, because shouldn't the pastor of a church be in line with his denomination's teaching? (To be fair, the pastor's technically a Wesleyan, but tomato, tomahto, he's running a Methodist church.) Of course I don't fault him for his beliefs, because I share these particular ones (even though every time the subject comes up he seems to think I'm all for abortion, despite my assertions to the contrary). But I mean, what else did he preach about that wasn't in line with the UMC? And we just had a conversation about how it's so important to be properly catechized because one should know one's own faith, no matter what it is. That's what led me to the Catholic Church in the first place: I started reading about my denomination (I guess not far enough to get to the abortion thing) and realized the Catholic standpoint on just about everything made more sense once I understood it properly.

The Wednesday after Easter, less than four days after my confirmation, was the first time since my decision to join The Church that I had a proper theological discussion with my former pastor. He said to me, "So you like the worship service better, but I'm assuming you don't agree with the theology in the Catholic Church." Um...no. That's not the case at all. I explained my being confirmed and having used the words "believe and profess" in regards to what the Catholic Church teaches. I'm pretty sure he's just in denial, because I've been to the Methodist services all of three times in the last year, and only then because I was accompanying my brother. If it were a matter of simply enjoying the liturgy or church hopping, I wouldn't have resigned from all my posts and I probably would have come back at some point.

This isn't the first time I've been accused of taking such a big decision lightly. That's a rant for another day. But let's be clear: I'm very serious about my religion. It's only, you know, a case of everlasting life and death. Kind of a big deal, here.

St. Joseph doesn't mess around (and other Sunday snippets).

                 So I’ve spent approximately all day at one church or another. Today was the Pioneer Club 20^th anniversary extravaganza at the Methodist church in a neighboring town. I’m a proud alumna of Pioneer Club and for the past six weeks or so I’ve been substitute teaching the third and fourth graders there. They’re pretty much adorable. I hit up the 9:30 Methodist services followed by the anniversary program, followed by a luncheon in the church basement. (At the Cathedral they call the basement the undercroft. That’s an awesome word to add to my vocabulary.) For the second time this week, I ended up discussing theology with my former pastor.

                I’m not the greatest apologist (had I known I was going to need it, I would have taken that class at school), but I think I did all right with clearing up a few misconceptions. I’m utterly convinced that other Christians aren’t Catholic because they have all these crazy ideas about The Church that just aren’t true. If people were willing to listen or to ask the proper questions or even just to do a little googling, I think a lot of people would realize the problems they have with the Catholic Church are over issues that don’t actually exist.

                Of course the same goes for you cradle Catholics out there who have no idea what Protestants believe. Don’t even get me started on the crazy Protestant Bashing I heard in college. A word of advice: you won’t be able to defend your faith properly if you’re operating under false assumptions about the people against whom you’re defending it.

                After the luncheon I headed out to my parish for the Divine Mercy Sunday festivities. I was able to catch the last hour, during which a pair of nuns led us in singing the chaplet, which was really beautiful. There was Eucharistic adoration, and the cathedral was packed. It’s always lovely to see a full church. After the chaplet I went down to the undercroft (awesome word) for my second ever confession. The good news: it was far less terrifying than my first ever confession. I was still nervous, though, and kind of a mess. I had never met the priest before, but he was really nice and gave me some advice on how not to be confession-phobic.

                This was yet another new and exciting experience for me, what with the make-shift portable confessionals around the perimeter of the room. Luckily I was expecting it (by the sheer coincidence that I’d seen a picture of a large group of priests hearing confessions in this manner), but I still almost turned around and left when I got to the door just because the whole I-have-no-idea-what-I’m-doing thing makes me really nervous because I don’t want to screw anything up.  I’ve done face-to-face rather than kneeling both times, which surprises me, because for the past year I’ve thought I would never do face-to-face. I’m fairly shy, so I always assumed I would prefer the anonymity, but sitting right there with the priest makes it easier for me to preface everything with, “I have no idea what I’m doing,” and then he can walk me through the process.

                I made it back upstairs in time for the benediction, which was of course beautiful (you’ll find I think a lot of things are beautiful). And then it was back to the undercroft for refreshments. Since I was by myself I had to buck up and make friends, so I sat at a table full of older ladies who happened to be from my parish. They were really nice and welcoming, and we got to talking about books, which is always a good time for me. Father N. appeared behind us and told them they better not be corrupting me. He watches out for the newbies.

                I was pleased to make it to the evening Mass at the other church in my parish. I ran into my RCIA sponsor and her husband there, so it was nice to have someone to sit with at church for once. Plus I got to hold their baby for a little bit. He’s a-freaking-dorable. Afterward we were chatting in the vestibule, and L.K., my sponsor, introduced me to someone she knew, as she’s wont to do. The subject of my needing a full time job so I could afford the gas to get to daily Mass came up, and L.K.’s husband mentioned today’s the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. He said I should take it up with St. Joseph. Lo and behold, the man L.K. had just introduced asked what kind of work I wanted. I said I wasn’t picky, and that I’d been a writing major in college, and he said, “I could give you some typing work.” Thanks, St. Joseph!