Mega Churches Are Catholic Too

[Tab'le De'Bah-Rye]

Pax domini bretheren,sympathiesers and others...
I was reading a previous thread a while ago and some where hating on mega churches, i rekon the mega churches aren't a new idea, great cathedrals where once mega churches also with 1000s of parishners, as far as i'm aware.

Onward christian souls.
JESUS iz LORD

St benedict. "prefer nothing whatsoever to christ."

[Nihil Obstat]

The great cathedrals, thank goodness, didn't depend on the personality or charisma of their rectors. That's pretty much the raison d'être of the modern megachurch.

[Ice_nine]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1345272535' post='2469616']
raison d'être
[/quote]

Oh God, please don't tell me your a French Canadian. Those are the worst kind of Canadians.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Ice_nine' timestamp='1345273867' post='2469620']
Oh God, please don't tell me your a French Canadian. Those are the worst kind of Canadians.
[/quote]

My name is very French, but I am very much not French. Native French speaking has officially died out in those branches of the family I am aware of.

[Papist]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' timestamp='1345274625' post='2469622']
My name is very French, but I am very much not French. Native French speaking has officially died out in those branches of the family I am aware of.
[/quote]
Name seems latin to me.

[sixpence]

[quote name='Ice_nine' timestamp='1345273867' post='2469620']
Oh God, please don't tell me your a French Canadian. Those are the worst kind of Canadians.
[/quote]

You wanna fight???

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Papist' timestamp='1345294185' post='2469653']
Name seems latin to me.
[/quote]

You would think that, you irascible traddy.

[dells_of_bittersweet]

Guys I agree with Table. There seems to be a nostalgia for small churches, but historically big churches have been the norm. The small churches of the good old days were somewhat unique to America, as a result of the small Catholic population and spread out rural areas. Big churches have benefits too. There is more likely for there to be similar people to have fellowship with, for one. On that note I have found that big churches tend to have the best youth groups.

[r2Dtoo]

You guys do realize that the term "mega-Church" has nothing to do with the size of the building right?

[Nihil Obstat]

I have never seen a small megachurch.

[r2Dtoo]

[left][quote]The term megachurch is the name given to a cluster of very large, Protestant congregations, that share several distinctive characteristics. These churches generally have:[/left]
[left][img]http://hirr.hartsem.edu/images/orgbut1.gif[/img]2000 or more persons in attendance at weekly worship
[img]http://hirr.hartsem.edu/images/orgbut1.gif[/img]A charismatic, authoritative senior minister
[img]http://hirr.hartsem.edu/images/orgbut1.gif[/img]A very active 7 day a week congregational community
[img]http://hirr.hartsem.edu/images/orgbut1.gif[/img]A multitude of social and outreach ministries,
[img]http://hirr.hartsem.edu/images/orgbut1.gif[/img]and a complex differentiated organizational structure[/left]

Megachurches are not identical and do not all resemble the nontraditional appearance and seeker form of Willow Creek Community Church. However, their very large numbers of attendees does shape their functioning in unique and often uniform ways.[/quote]

[url="http://hirr.hartsem.edu/megachurch/megachurches.html"]http://hirr.hartsem....gachurches.html[/url]

Ultimately there's is nothing Catholic about megachurches, and many of them could even be described as cults. You have no desire to have the name of your Church associated with them, even if St. Peter's flipping huge.

Edited August 24, 2012 by r2Dtoo

[Nihil Obstat]

Indeed.

[Vincent Vega]

The key of them, really, is this factor:
"[color=#282828][font='Segoe UI', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(247, 247, 247)][img]http://hirr.hartsem.edu/images/orgbut1.gif[/img][/background][/size][/font][/color][color=#282828][font='Segoe UI', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(247, 247, 247)]A charismatic, authoritative senior minister"[/background][/size][/font][/color]

They're all based upon personalities. When those personalities fall out of favor, for whatever reason, the church falls apart. (C.f. the Crystal Cathedral)

[Slappo]

[quote name='dells_of_bittersweet' timestamp='1345777324' post='2473279']
Guys I agree with Table. There seems to be a nostalgia for small churches, but historically big churches have been the norm. The small churches of the good old days were somewhat unique to America, as a result of the small Catholic population and spread out rural areas. Big churches have benefits too. There is more likely for there to be similar people to have fellowship with, for one. On that note I have found that big churches tend to have the best youth groups.
[/quote]

A lot of Catholic churches in America have over 2000 in attendence every week. Heck... I have a [b]tiny [/b]parish and we have 800 families registered.

[Groo the Wanderer]

our weekend attendance ranges from 6-8 thousand. don;t even get me started about the numbers on Ash Wednesday, Easter, and Christmas

6000+families registered

unknown how many not registered.



our annual toilet paper bill is over $5000

Edited August 28, 2012 by Groo the Wanderer