There's Something About Catholicism #7

Soul Searching

Part Two

When I was a teenager growing up in Wodonga, one of the popular churches amongst the youth, young adults and young-at-heart was a place called "Faith City" a Pentecostal Church quite similar to "Hillsong" based in Sydney and various other locations over the nation. Now you can see the attraction to this brand of Christianity particularly amongst the young, so I decided to go along and check out Faith City one day and I was quite surprised, as I will explain further.

Growing up in a Catholic family, being educated at Catholic schools, I'd never known any other form of worship than that of what I was taught. I'd never even been to an old Latin Tridentine Rite mass as my parents, and the Diocese of Sandhurst where we resided, were fairly progressive Catholic's, Vatican II Catholic's who embraced the changes in tradition.

Up until about year 3 I wasn't aware that not every Christian is also a Catholic, I thought the two went hand in hand, and I learnt of "other denominations" but always saw them as similar worship to the Catholic Church like that of many Anglican Churches.

So you can imagine my surprise at a building with no obvious crosses, crucifixes, stained-glass windows, statues, saints - ANYTHING remotely religious, and a large room set up with a stage as opposed to a room centered around Christ in the Tabernacle beyond the altar.

I was also surprised and dismayed at the lack of liturgy - not sharing the one cup, not singing traditional hymns I knew, not even any reading from the Bible at length, but a series of long sermons with the Pastor taking small quotes from the Bible, with Christian rock music intercessions. At the end of the festivities, I met the Pastor and everyone else stayed around drinking coffee and catching up. Equipped with their own espresso machine and kids playground, they were set for the afternoon. Or so I thought... instead they all head home for a while then most come back and do it all again for some "city-wide worship" at 5pm (I believe it is still inside their building though not across the entire city).

I'd met a guy there and we talked, he drove me home, we had coffee, exchanged numbers and met up several more times over the course of a couple of years. He was full of zeal and passion for the Lord, wasn't too happy with me being Catholic, but accepted me as I was when I decided not to go back to Faith City... he was pretty pushy and had too much anti-Catholic sentiment in the end so I finally got rid of him.

In the meantime whilst searching for God in various different denominations, I still attended Sacred Heart Catholic Church with my parents in Wodonga, also going on my own at times to St. Patrick's in Albury where I found a church I had never really been to or experienced, a much more welcoming and varied, organised group than Wodonga. This is where I would soon find my place and a sense of belonging in God's Church.