Revival meeting.
Seems like most Catholic bloggers/writers online are converts.
Their websites and blogs seem to be the ones which ask for support, donations, and so on. Nothing wrong with that, but it strikes me as a 'Protestant' thing. Not that Catholics do not look for donations and stipends - but I have usually associated Catholic fundraising with the collection plate, fundraising drives, stipends, offerings, and so on.
I'm not accustomed to Catholic laity earning their living from proselytism or evangelizing - or spiritual direction as a business. (Generalization alert.) I think that is definitely more common among Protestants - since several sects have neither priests, liturgy or sacraments - other than Baptism and some form of Eucharist - laity take on teaching and preaching roles. Catholics were more accustomed to those roles being filled by clergy and religious, who lived consecrated lives, vowed to poverty, and so on. Catholic laity witnessed more quietly by fidelity to their faith and the duties of their state in life, 'earning their living quietly' as the Apostle counseled.
My dad's mother was married to a tent preacher once, and according to my mother, they traveled around the mid-west to conduct their own revival meetings. Grandma played the tambourine and passed the collection plate... I was told they made a pretty good living. Seriously.
It seems to me Catholics are more accustomed
to donate to the poor and needy.
Am removing my donation button forthwith - anyway since I'm not a convert no-one donated to me anyway - what?
ReplyDeleteHaha! Keep your button.
DeleteWe Catholics haven't been much on evangelizing and outreach. Too "protestant", you know. But at a recent final meeting of a book group we recently attended, this was the center of our final discussion - outreach. The P's are very good at it, but us? Not so much. By the end of the discussion though, we had gained great insights on what we (and parishes as a whole) could do better.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to hand out Watchtowers.
DeleteThe Legion of Mary really used to hit the streets and do door to door style evangelization.
Oh, no. I have been corrupted by a bunch of coverts!
ReplyDeleteCovert converts - LOL!
DeleteHaha!
DeleteProtestants only have two zacraments, baptism and matrimony. They don't have the Eucharist because they don't have valid holy orders.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct about orders - but I also thought they didn't consider matrimony as a sacrament.
DeleteThese are the sacraments that the Church recognizes, probably because anyone can baptize and the man and woman are the ordinary ministers of matrimony witnessed by a priest or deacon. Protestants think a lot of things that aren't true.
Delete+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteDare I even comment? =P
Actually, it's fundraising season at my parish. Sunday Mass takes a lot longer than usual because religious and seminarians from different orders stop by to explain what they do, to sing carols, and to pass collection baskets. It's a little undignified (especially since few of them are really musical--LOL!) and it's definitely a far cry from my childhood memories of a single representative from the order making a simple appeal. But I guess marketing strategies must evolve, aye?
For the record, I don't blame the religious and the seminarians for giving in to bad taste. If the laity need bells and whistles (sometimes literally!!!) and other spiritual Viagra before they will support what they're supposed to support, then that's what we're going to get.