For people of all religions, when faith is an important part of their life, they want to share information technology with those they love. Just as Catholics may invite non-Catholic friends to a Baptism, First Communion, or to Sunday Mass, it is common for Protestant friends or family to invite us to their services. Simply as Catholics, can we do that? And if nosotros can, should we?

A listener named Nick recently e-mailed Patrick Madrid this very question. Nick's father-in-law is a pastor at a non-denominational church and occasionally invites Nick's family to join them at their services. Patrick responded to this question onThe Patrick Madrid Bear witness, proverb:

The Mass is Unique
What makes the Mass unique? Let'due south offset there. What makes the Mass unique in the Catholic Church, and different than what you might detect at Calvary Chapel, or Good Book Baptist, or a more than denominational church similar a Lutheran or Methodist Church? What makes information technology different is that at the Last Supper, Jesus said to His apostles, 'Practise this in memory of Me.' And yous know from reading those Gospel passages that Jesus took breadstuff in His hands and said 'This is My Trunk' and so He took the beaker of wine and said, 'This is My Blood.'

He said that on Holy Thursday evening. The following 24-hour interval, on Good Friday when He was crucified, He actually fulfilled in His person what He was describing in that location at the Last Supper. And the apostles who were there in the Upper Room, seeing His trunk linguistic communication and all the unspoken subtleties of advice, they understood that He meant for them to not only perpetuate this that He was doing, but too the pregnant of what He said went beyond the merely symbolic.

In other words, they recognized that He didn't just say, 'This is a symbol of My Body' or 'This is like My Trunk' or 'This will remind you of My Body.' But 'Thisis My Torso.'

The Church building Fathers recognized that Jesus was speaking at that place literally, and in a style that transcended mere symbolism. So the Mass is actually this sacrifice of Jesus. … Christ is not re-sacrificed over and over again, it is not a repetition affair. Information technology'due south the in one case-for-all sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross that is being re-presented in time and space for us. … These gestures and the words that the priest says at Mass is actually the fulfillment of what Jesus said that evening when He said, 'Exercise this in retentivity of Me.' The 'this' that He said to exercise is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

So at the Mass, in improver to the Bible readings (that you can get at a Protestant church), and in add-on to the preaching (which you lot'll become at a Protestant church), and in addition to the music and the hymns and the singing and all of the other matter, which you can notice in those other churches – the one thing yous won't find in those other churches is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, which is made present to us on the altar.

Because the priest, having Holy Orders, has the ability (not because of his own merits, merely because of the power of Jesus working in the Sacrament of Holy Orders) to confect. That technical term means change or transform, and the word confect refers to how the priest is able, through the power of Christ, to change the breadstuff and the wine on the chantry into the very Body, Claret, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus.

That'southward what makes the Mass and so unlike. That'south what makes information technology unique. That'south what makes it the Mass.

Accept No Substitutes
The second matter is that you can't substitute something else – however pleasant it may be, however wonderful the people in that location may exist – you lot can't substitute that in lieu of going to Mass on Dominicus. You lot would non fulfill your Sunday obligation, and you would non be teaching your children to fulfill their Sunday obligation.

What is the Dominicus obligation? Simply put, Catholics have rights and duties, privileges, and obligations with regard to the Church. One of our obligations is that nosotros are obliged to go to Mass on Lord's day. Now, if y'all're not able to because of illness or travel or there's something else going on, the Lord understands. But if y'all're able to become to Mass on Sunday and in that location'due south no compelling reason why y'all tin't get to Mass, and then yous're obliged to get to Mass on Sun.

And don't exist fooled if somebody says it's really not that large of a deal and you don't accept to go to Mass on Sun. That's non what the Church teaches.

But … A Protestant Service Could Be Adept For Your Family
My advice would exist, for the sake of your family'south bonds of love, and showing respect to your in-laws, I think information technology would be OK for you to go 2 or 3 times a year every bit you describe. And to exist there, non so much to participate in the service, but by your presence to show your love for these good Christian people, who are non Catholic but do dear Jesus. It's a way that you can demonstrate good will and affection for them.

The Church does not foreclose y'all to practise this, only I would say don't become a participant in the service. In other words, don't be a reader or have up the collection or something like that. You can exist present at information technology for the purposes I'k describing here, and I recall that in itself would exist a fine affair.

But too talk to your kids. You lot can go far a teaching moment for your children. Maybe in the car on the way dwelling you can ask them, 'What did you encounter as the differences between what we do at Mass and what they did here at this church?' And let the kids talk virtually it. And then you can say, 'At present, notice that the one thing they don't have, considering they don't believe that it's true, is they don't accept the Holy Eucharist.'

So y'all could impale 2 birds with one stone. The one bird would be that you're doing something prissy as a gesture for your family, and the other one is that you can use this to assistance your children understand more deeply, more clearly some of the distinctions that have arisen as a result of this distressing separation between Christians.

Pray That We May All Be One
That'due south a whole other area to talk almost with your kids. Jesus desires unity. In his high priestly prayer in John 17 He talks about unity. He says, 'Father may they all be one as We are one.' And He prays for the unity of the apostles and for the residual of the states. Sadly, through our own sinfulness and our own weaknesses, nosotros have brought about this segmentation.

At present, you're non responsible for the Protestant Reformation, nor am I. Nosotros're the recipients of the issues that arose long before we got here. But we tin be agents of change and we tin do what we tin can to try to help bring nearly that kind of unity – based on truth, not on compromise.

We have to take unity based on truth, ever. Just that unity can be achieved, and perchance in your own, kind way, past showing this gesture you tin can erase some of the anti-Catholicism that might exist there. People who don't really know Catholics or know what the Cosmic Church teaches can meet the love of Jesus in you, and your wife, and your kids, and you can be a kind of ambassador of the Catholic Church to them.

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