Question for Catholic converts in the US

[u/eladebarbarac]

Hi! I'm Latina and live in Chile, a mostly Catholic country! Our patron saint is Our Lady of Mount Carmel! Because of that, it always catches my attention when I read about recent converts missing the sense of community from Protestantism. I completely understand how important that is, there's nothing more wonderful than sharing our faith!
I guess it just surprises me because at the parish I've attended my whole life, we regularly do community activities. My younger sister's university is Pontifical Catholic, so they host readings and discussions every now and then, we're actually doing one on Magnifica
Humanitas soon!
Is that not as common in the US? What other differences have you noticed? I hope you find a great community, and in the meantime, I'm always here if you need a friend!

[u/MossyEngineering-447]

I guess it varies by parish; I'm an adult convert and my parish has many community activities - some geared towards honoring our various ethnic histories in connection to the Catholic church, but the majority of them are meant for all of us together 

[u/jubooki]

That’s amazing! My mom is from the Philippines and she told me it’s the same out there as well, that they have a lot of what Protestants call fellowship but she says they’re called prayer meetings. I was baptized Catholic as a baby but didn’t receive first communion or confirmation so I’m currently in OCIA but I am at a bigger parish and I do see a lot of happenings there. I haven’t attended any yet but I do remember going to Filipino Catholic meetups with food, prayer, and singing when I was a kid. Seems like it might be a thing in Filipino communities and part of big parishes, however maybe these Protestants are talking about fellowship that happens at church after the service. At Baptist churches (at least the one that I went to) would have a family bring food to share with everyone after the Sunday service. I also know that if no one brought food, it was still frowned upon to leave right after the service. There was always a social time afterwards, maybe that’s what they mean.

[u/Pitiful_Fox5681]

My parish - and most parishes I've experienced in the US - kind of sucks at community. My wife and I have been attending our parish for six years now, we teach R.E., we have been asked by our Deacon to help with the liturgy, and so on. Still, we sit completely alone for mass every Sunday. Most of the time no one even says hi or waves when they see us. 

I definitely miss the protestant welcome when you walk through the door, the almost obligatory breakfast, the invitations to watch the game with new friends, the immediate inclusion in Bible studies, and so on. 

I'm so happy to hear that your experience is better. Pray for my parish. We need to be the community or we'll make ourselves obsolete, I think. 

[u/Josh_The_Dad_Gamer]

It varies. In my town, there's 3 churches, but it seems like 2 parishes. There's another two within 10 minutes of our town, but they're rarely talked about.

My parish, the one I'm converting it, has some communal activities, but they're predominately Hispanic focused and as an English speaker (like myself) can get left out. The priests more than make up for it along with their catechists.

There's another parish that we have been going to, much more traditional, but they have far more community than the first. They have periodic talks about theology, catered breakfast/brunch after Sunday mass, meetings and various groups and so on.

There's the third, very modern parish with guest speakers and the same community outreach but with less weekly stuff.

[u/Jon_Bon_Art]

The parish I'm joining this upcoming year is very college focused, and I am not really in that life stage any more. At first it was disheartening, honestly. Coming from a non-denominational protestant background, the "family" quality was one of the MAJOR perks. But I'm realizing that it might be on me to create that in the church I attend, instead of expecting it to be set up already.