I have lived in central Georgia for the entire second half of my life (12 years). In that time, I have been on a religious journey. I have been looking for a place to feel "at home". My father swore off catholicism years ago and my mother is a non-practicing Nazarene. Her father (Italian) swore off Catholicism over 50 years ago. I, too was left to "choose" my religion when I became an adult. I have always wanted to be Catholic and did not know why. I had no way to get involved in the Catholic church as a child and then we moved to Georgia. Talk about misconceptions. There is only one catholic church in our town. It is tiny. And there are about 1000 Baptist Churches in our town. Most of these churches are run by people ("preachers&quot who have no seminary training. I feel like the leaders of the church should know more than the parishioners. Anyway, down here, you might as well be an athiest if you are Catholic (in public opinion) yet I still had the yearning. I went to about 50 different churches (none catholic) in the past 8 years just to get a feel for the church. They were all too pushy to me. I finally decided to go to church with a co-worker (and friend) at the ONE Catholic church here in town. I loved it. I like the rules. I want to know what I need to do to be a good Christian. I want to know what is expected of me. It's better than people talking about you behind your back because you're not doing what they want you to do. I just feel like this is where God wants me and this is where I will be. I am completely dedicated to changing my life. Also, I read some of the old posts about Catholicism and I wanted to comment that a lot of the rules have changed and the church is not as strict as it once was. From my experience with churches, they all pretty much follow the same principles. You go to church, you listen to the Word of God, you pray, you listen to the pastors interpretation and you go home. The biggest difference I have noticed is that Catholics are more punctual. Church from 12:00-1:00 instead of 12:00-3:00 LOL. Maybe that;'s a regional thing.. Anyway, I just thought I'd share my experience and put a positive spin on Catholic churches.

__________________
Alicia (Tree-hugger wannabe)
mom to Shawn, Jake, and Toad
"Chick" out the Scrapbooking Forum for great handcrafted Occasion Ideas!!

Thanks for your insight! I have noticed that some churches don't care about running over on thier sermons, but I think that's the pastor. They joke that baptists are never late cuz they have to get home in time for kick-off (football) but joke or not, I like the routine of knowing when i'm going to get out.

It's funny that you mention the time factor. I kinda think that is a southern thing, to run over. That being said in the church I grew up in (Methodist), we had a new pastor comment that the church he had just come from that if he had not completed his sermon by 12 sharp people just got up and walked out, so he really appriciated that we had a clock on the wall that he could see and would take that as a hint.

__________________

Some denonminations stay in church all day... I used to be starved by the time we let out.

__________________
* Let it not be said that no one cared, that no one objected once it's realized that our liberties and wealth are in jeopardy.

~Ron Paul

"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."
- James Madison

Im almost afraid to post this

Our daily mass service is over in 25 mins unless its a funeral mass or a special saints Mass

Our Sunday Mass, Sermon over is 40-45 mins, perhaps thats because we have 5 Masses timetabled one after another.

Anne

__________________
"When we know better we do better" Maya Angelou

I promise, ours lasts from 12:00 to 1:00 on the DOT! My eyes were bulging when I looked at the time after the first Mass. I just couldn't believe it was over. Oh, you know what my son said? "What is church about anyway? Just sitting here listening to the man talk?". At the next Mass, the Priest talked about how we should teach our kids that church is not for fun, it's for spiritual food. Do you think God told him what my son said? LOL

__________________
Alicia (Tree-hugger wannabe)
mom to Shawn, Jake, and Toad
"Chick" out the Scrapbooking Forum for great handcrafted Occasion Ideas!!

I will be honest with ya here......we have no time limit on our services. We have a certain order it goes in............UNLESS God has other plans. We usually start out in prayer, then we sing 3 songs, then we take prayer request then songs and testomonies then the preaching then our kids pass the offering basket around(some nights there is 6 or so kids with baskets). But if someone wants/needs prayer anytime during the service we pray for them. Like if we are doing our 3 songs and some one comes to the alter for prayer, some of us may stop singing and go pray with the person while the rest finishes singing. During prayer request someone may request prayer right then. If so we all gather around them at the alter and have prayer. We just follow God's spirit and let Him have His way with us. I know this will really sound awful to some of youns and thats ok. God said he was coming back after His church, not my church or yours. He said His church. That tells me that no matter what name is above the door....if you are ready than you are a part of His church. I hope that makes sense. I promise it is not a mad house at our church. It is just hard to explain. Needless to say our services can be anywhere to 1 1/2 hour long to 3 1/2 hours. Its all God's time and if we can sit at a ball game for that long we can surely spend that long in church serving the Lord. kwim. HTH

__________________
When Jesus returns, will you be ready???