Now onto my newest cross to carry: I found out yesterday at my first joint appointment with Bella and her therapist that Bella chose to be confirmed in her father's Methodist church. I don't know when it happened, but it did. It could have been last week, or 3 months ago for all I know. Now, I know that my readers are a mixed group, and may not completely grasp the heaviness of this cross, so I'll try to explain a little more.
As a Catholic, we believe a few things very differently from the Methodist group. For example, we believe that when Jesus said in John 6:35-58 "..."Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you...", that He was serious, and speaking quite literally. After all, He repeated Himself several times, each time getting more intense than the last. He lost followers over this. He never once told those followers, "Hey, guys, it's okay, I'm just talking symbolically or spiritually. Come back." No, He let them leave, knowing full well that they were putting their very souls in danger if they didn't come back. From what I googled, the Methodist group teaches that Jesus is present in communion only spiritually of symbolically.
The Catholic Church also teaches that contraception and abortion are wrong. 100%, all the time, no exceptions. The Methodist church is cool with contraception AND abortion (the violent murder of an innocent unborn child), as long as you "pray about it" first.
The Catholic Church teaches that Jesus chose only men to be His first priests, bishops, and pope, so only men can have those roles. The Methodist church not only "ordains" women priests, but is also cool with openly gay and lesbian priests.
I'm sure there are more, but that's all I can think of from the google search I did yesterday afternoon. With all of this, I highly doubt that Bella would be allowed to receive Communion with us now. Even if she still believes in the True Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist (which I doubt, if she was just confirmed in the Methodist church), when you receive Communion (at least in the Catholic Church), you are saying with your body "I believe fully that everything the Catholic Church teaches as true is Truth", which she obviously doesn't now. So, her receiving Communion would be a lie.
The thing is, when she told me, I was obviously confused and hurt (especially since she's supposed to be starting Confirmation classes at our parish next month), but I asked her "what specifically about the Methodist church was it that made you want to choose it over our Church?". She didn't really have an answer. If someone had asked me that question when I first converted to the Catholic Church 6 1/2 years ago, I would have (and did a couple times) said that it was the perfect blend of my mom's Jewish heritage, and my dad's Christian heritage. I would have said that it was Jesus in the Eucharist that I could see and touch. I would have said the reverence of the Mass. I would have said that I liked how they always had readings from the Old and New Testaments at every Mass. I can't imagine being asked that question and having absolutely no response. Keeping in mind, that when I asked her that, it wasn't out of anger, or anything like that. I was honestly interested and curious. She said that she took classes to prepare for this confirmation, so she had to have been given SOME kind of information that made her want to leave her Catholic Faith. Right?
Anyway, we both really need prayers. Her, especially. Even if she truly wants to be Methodist, she should have a reason WHY. Not just because her dad wanted her to, or because all of her friends were doing it. A personal, REAL reason why. The only thing she said that she liked better about her dad's church is the music. They have a whole band with a drum. Really? You're going to leave Jesus in the Eucharist for a good band? There has to be more than that. Please, just pray that as we move forward, she would understand better what it is that she's leaving, and what it is that she's going toward. With as little time as we have her for, I doubt she fully understands either faith.
Thanks, all. God Bless.
Dana