NO! First off,
Catholics should NOT participate in any religious services of those outside the
Church. Even the revolutionary
Second Vatican Council states...
"Common
participation in worship (communicatio in sacris) which harms the unity of the
Church or involves formal acceptance of error or the danger of aberration in the
faith, of scandal and indifferentism, is forbidden by divine law."
Other relevant quotes
include...
"[B]y the very
fact that a person communicates in the sacraments with a heretic who is cut off
from the Church, he sins" (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"No one shall
pray in common with heretics and schismatics." (Council of Laodicea, 365 A.D.)
"None must either
pray or sing psalms with heretics; and whomsoever shall communicate with those
who are cut off from the Communion of the Church, whether clergymen or laic, let
him be excommunicated." (Council of Carthage, 398 A.D.)
As Scripture says
concerning those with false doctrine/heretics (e.g. Protestants)...
"After a first
and second warning, break off contact with a heretic, realizing that such a
person is perverted and sinful and stands self-condemned." (St. Paul, Ti.
3:10-11)
"If anyone comes
to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him in your house or
even greet him; for whoever greets him shares in his evil works." (St. John the
Apostle, 2 Jn. 1:10-11)
Remember that heresy
is a very serious matter. Some additional quotes are below...
"Pan-Christians
who strive for the union of the churches would appear to pursue the noblest of
ideals in promoting charity among all Christians. But how should charity tend to
the detriment of the faith? Everyone knows that John himself, the Apostle of
love, who seems in his Gospel to have revealed the secrets of the Sacred Heart
of Jesus and who never ceased to impress upon the memory of his disciples the
new commandment 'to love one another', nevertheless strictly forbade any
intercourse with those who professed a mutilated and corrupt form of Christ's
teaching: 'If any man comes to you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not
into the house, nor say to him, God speed you.' (2 John 1:10)" (Pope Pius XI,
"Mortalium Animos")
"I have learned
however, that certain persons from elsewhere, who have evil doctrine, have
stayed with you; but you did not allow them to sow it among you, and you stopped
your ears so that you would not receive what they sow... Do not err, my brethren:
the corrupters of families will not inherit the kingdom of God. And if they who
do these things according to the flesh suffer death, how much more if a man
corrupt by evil teaching the faith of God, for the sake of which Jesus Christ
was crucified? A man become so foul will depart into unquenchable fire; and so
also will anyone who listens to him." (St. Ignatius of Antioch, hearer of St.
John the Apostle, c. 110 A.D.)
"Fly from them
and from their doctrines; do not go near them, for you know that whoever is
found in a place where outrage has been offered to the king has to come into
court to be questioned according to law. Even if he can prove he was not guilty
he will be condemned for want of zeal. Do not sit with heretics nor associate
with apostates. It would be better to dwell with a demon than with a renegade.
For if you abjure the demon he will flee, for he cannot stand before the name of
Jesus, but even were you to exorcise the apostate ten thousand times he would
not cease from his wickedness or renounce his folly. It would be better to teach
demons than to try to convince heretics." (St. Ephraem the Syrian, Doctor of the
Church)
"And yet this
same gentle and loving Saint [John the Apostle] was the inflexible enemy of
heresy; for heresy, by destroying Faith, poisons Charity in its very source. It
is from this Apostle that the Church has received the maxim she gives to us, of
shunning heresy as we would shun a plague: If any man come to you and bring not
the doctrine of Christ, receive him not into the house, nor say to him 'God
speed thee', for he that saith unto him 'God speed thee', communicateth with his
wicked works (Jn. 1:10-11). St. John having one day entered one of the public
baths, he was no sooner informed that the heresiarch Cerinthus was in the same
building, than he instantly left the place as though it were infected. The
disciples of Cerinthus were indignant at this conduct of the Apostle, and
endeavored to take away his life by putting poison into the cup from which he
used to drink; but St. John having made the sign of the cross over the cup, a
serpent was seen to issue from it, testifying both to the wickedness of his
enemies and to the divinity of Christ, This apostolic firmness in resisting the
enemies of the Faith made him the dread of the heretics of Asia; and hereby he
proved how justly he had received from Jesus the surname Son of Thunder" (Dom
Gueranger)
"I could point
out the very spot where sat blessed Polycarp while he conversed with us; I could
describe exactly his bearing, his address, his manner of life, his every
feature, and the discourses he made to the crowd. Thou rememberest how he used
to tell us of his intercourse with John [the Apostle] and the rest of those that
had seen the Lord, and with what a faithful memory he repeated their words; what
he had learnt from them respecting our Lord, his miracles, his doctrine, all
these things Polycarp transmitted to us, as having himself received them from
the very men that had beheld with their eyes the Word of life; all of what he
told us was conformable to the Scriptures. What a grace from God were these
conversations of his! I used to listen so eagerly, noting everything down, not
on parchment, but on my heart; and now, by the grace of God, I still live on it
all. Hence, I can attest before God, if the blessed apostolic old man [St.
Polycarp] had heard [heretical] discourses ... He would have stopped his ears,
saying, as was his wont: 'O God most good, to what sort of times hast thou
reserved us!' Then would he have got up quickly, and would have fled from that
place of blasphemy." (St. Irenaeus, disciple of St. Polycarp, a disciple of St.
John the Apostle, 2nd century A.D.)
Note that the above
quotations are illustrative of many more. For additional quotes regarding
heresy, try
here.
Second, but even more
importantly, Protestant sects / Protestant religions (which were all founded by
mere men!) do not have valid orders so their so-called "communion" is merely
bread (there is NO Real Presence). It would be absolutely
unacceptable for Catholics to attend their services or partake of such bread.
Remember that in the Catholic Church alone can be found the lawful exercise of
priestly orders and the licit celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Only in the Catholic Church is the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist
licitly found. So-called 'Christian churches' that don't preserve valid Holy
Orders which can be traced back directly to the Apostles (e.g. Protestants,
including Anglicans) cannot produce the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist
(even illicitly) since they have no power of orders. If (God forbid!) a Catholic
was to worship their 'communion wafer' that lacked the Real Presence (a
'communion' wafer that was mere bread), that person would be (objectively
speaking) guilty of idolatry.
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