non-Catholics and communion on the Camino

[Deanna]

Dear Bill,

As a Catholic, I would welcome you to any mass.  It would be ignorant,
I believe, for anyone to think that as a member of the church the mass belongs
to them and 'their own kind'.  I don't believe in any one true
religion.  I may choose to practice Catholicism but I too believe that my
God is not a man in the sky somewhere but an intelligent life force that IS all
things, expressed physically in nature.  ( So I guess you could say that in
some respects I am not completely faithful to my religion but I still choose it
) To me, God IS the universe.  God IS all things, not just IN things.
So I think your 'faith' is no less then anyone else's.  I think we're all
after the same thing but only use different terminology to express what
essentially cannot be fully expressed with words.

Deanna

Think.  Breathe.  Live.  Do the math.  Take the
task.  Question what you think you know.  Always grow.


----- Original Message -----

From: bill
deutschman

To: GOCAMINOapete.uri.edu

Sent: 4/4/01 12:16:22 AM

Subject: Re: non-Catholics and communion on
the Camino





Hi;



I've been following this interesting discussion about communion, how
people

felt about it on the Camino and who could/should participate.



I am at best an agnostic and possibly an atheist who believes that there
is

probably some overall god, but my religion is "Nature".  I
visited as many

of the churches, cathedrals, cloisters and monasteries as I could for

cultural, historical, musical and artistic reasons but I felt that it
was

not really appropriate to attend mass.  We stayed at a refugio in
Rabanal

and everyone went to a Gregorian Chant Mass before dinner so I went
along

and I also attended the Mass at the Santiago Cathedral but it was
filled

with tourists so I didn't consider it to be a mass limited to Catholics
but

more of a show.  (I think it is unfortunate that the tourists
come to see

the Botafumaro, then tour the relics and rush for their busses.)



I'll add another dimension to the discussion by asking how do Catholics
and

the Catholic Church view people like me sitting quietly in the back seats
at

mass and just thinking about the Camino and Nature?  I would have
liked to

have attended more services but didn't feel that it was appropriate.



bill



bill deutschman

455 hillside avenue

klamath falls, OR 97601-2337

541.882.3295









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