Funeral

Went to a memorial today, attended my second Catholic mass in a month. I have a lot of respect for Catholics, I grew up Catholic. Attended St. Patrick's school and church from 1st-4th grades, then we moved to West San Jose and I went to St. Francis Cabrini until the 7th grade.

It's interesting, having that background and my experience with Protestant churches. 

I think God works thru both faiths. The Catholic approach is much more formal, placing all responsibility on the priests for the ministry. Yeah, they are changing and including parishioners in the mass. A retired man was doing altar boy duties, and several women lead prayers or assisted with communion. But it can be so easy to blend into the background of a Catholic church, simply attending Sunday mass anonymously, with the only real moment of encountering someone else during the "Peace be with you" greeting.

In a Protestant church, especially the smaller assemblies, there's much more opportunity to interact with others. Yes you can keep to yourself and nobody will violate that choice, but there seem to be more opportunities to interact with others. People who'd I'd been introduced to wanted to know if there was anything I needed prayer for - that alone is interacting on a deeper level, and opens the door to the next level of growing a friendship.