Protestants at Mass

[Joe English]

David,
I'd say do whatever you are comfortable with. In my 'simplistic' view, it
is nobody else's business.
Joe
On Sun, 5 Jan 2003 15:28:04 -0800, David planning Le Chemin de St
Jacques/El Camino de Santiago <caminoaOAKAPPLE.NET> wrote:

>I have a question about religious practices in rural France and Spain -
>I expect to be spending Holy Week in various stages before and after Le
Puy,
>and arriving in Santiago on June 14.
>
>What's the expectation these days when Protestants attend Catholic Mass
along
>the Camino?   When I attended a (Catholic) Marriage Encounter about ten
>years ago in Menlo Park, the priest told us that only those who accepted
all
>the teachings of the Catholic Church could take communion, but everybody
>else could come up for a blessing, as I did.    Then last year when I
attended a
>funeral in Palo Alto (adjacent to Menlo Park!)
>for a man who had converted to Catholicism during his final illness,
>the priest said he didn't care about "postal zip codes," meaning
denominations,
>and all were welcome to participate in communion.   I was surprised but
>I took a wafer and held it expecting to intinct it in the cup of wine, and
>was even more surprised when there was no wine offered to anybody, and so
>consumed the wafer without wine.
>
>So clearly everything I know is wrong.    I expect higher than average
>ecumenicality along the Camino, but it's mostly passing through
conservative
>rural areas.    So what's the correct expectation these days?   I'd rather
>not be part of any misunderstandings, but neither would I like to miss
>the traditional pilgrim services and blessings.
>
>
>
>
>My plan so far is at http://camino.oakapple.net
>I guess it's about time to buy airplane tickets.
>It looks like SJC->STL->LON->SJC might be about $1050
>and a combination LON->LYS and SCQ->LON about $150 (!).
>SJC=San José, STL=St Louis, LON=London,
>LYS=Lyon, SCQ=Santiago.
>STL is to attend the pilgrim gathering in Missouri.