catapult magazine

you stated in your post that you were hired to sing in the chior. If I am understanding that correctly ; you have a job to sing that you get paid for. If you believe in Christ you are a christian and if you have to give yourself a label you could call your self a protestant. (a faith in Christ)

As an employee you are merly obligated to carry out the duties to which you agreed to complete and be compensated for.

Your job is to sing not be catholic. You however do have the opportunity to participate in the religious aspects of the service

I would encourage you to review each sacrement( commmunion, prayers, homily, etc.) if there is a way that you can participate and not violate scripture, then go ahead. They may take communion for the wrong reason but you can do it for the right reaseon. If you are a born again believer you are to do everything in response to your personal relationship with God .

I would also encourage you to talk to your employer and make sure that you are not required to convert or become a professing catholic in order to be an employee

Also if you are unable to attend your normal church service as a result of this Job, then the Job needs to go

In regards to faking it, God commands us to be honest in all things because we represent him. rejoice in the truth. Be a person of integrity in all things. Be true to God and him only. P. S. this sounds like a great opportunity for you to evangalize the catholoic church

…am i protestant? i recently was hired for and joined a cathedral choir, singing in their early morning mass on sunday mornings. the music in the mass is excellent (in my humble opinion), and is something to which i can easily relate. the thing which puzzles me is the practices/rituals the members participate in during the mass. though the practices/rituals are mostly not foreign to me, just “unpracticed”… how would or should a protestant, non-member, non-Catholic Christian, in a Catholic setting deal with the un-sung mass practices (i.e., bowing, genuflecting, taking communion, crossing before prayer and before the gospel, etc.)?

most commonly, if one is not a member of a church, communion isn’t taken or allowed. but, this is more than just communion…

most members of the choir know i am not catholic, but should i continue to feel awkward in my protestant shoes, or just “fake it” for an hour each week?

Dear Omaha,
Far be if from me to offer advice on religious matters, but from my non-cannonical perspecive, I’d say you might as well enjoy yourself and stop feeling guilty.
Ann Landers

Why do the rituals make you feel uncomfortable? Because you don’t know what the rituals that you’re participating in mean? Or because you’re just doing them to fit in with everyone else?

My inlaws are Catholic and I will attend Mass with them, but refrain from anything that holds intense meaning for a Catholic, but not for a Protestant (me), i.e. genuflecting and, doctrinally, Communion.

Kneeling is reverential to God and, in my mind, neither Catholics nor Protestants have an in with God on that one. :) Kneeling is okay in my mind.

You’re a Protestant and not a Catholic for a reason, I would assume. Why would you genuflect? If you have no idea why the Catholics do it, then don’t do it. If you know why they do it (and I mean a GOOD theological explanation) and you agree with it, go ahead. If you’re thinking you don’t want to stand out – don’t do it. That’s not true to yourself, as, like I said, you are a Protestant for a reason (whatever those reasons might be).

Communion – some say you can still take it knowing secretly what you believe about it, etc. True. However, I think it’s just disrespectful to the Catholic Church and their request that you not partake in Communion. Just as we ask non-professing people to refrain from Communion. We even ask professing Christians to refrain if they’ve got a hard heart. How would we feel if people just blew off our standards based on their personal theology? It’s just bad manners, at the least.