If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em? A sect of storefront churches trying to attract Hispanic Catholics to its services adopts the strategy of simply calling itself Catholic, and it’s misleading enough faithful that the Archdiocese of Atlanta has sued to get them to stop. Archbishop John Donoghue wrote about it in July to Hispanic Catholics.
‘‘They give the impression that they are loyal Catholics and in communion with the Catholic church,’’ Donoghue wrote. ‘‘For months now this group, ‘Capilla de la Fe,’ has been creating confusion in the Hispanic community by pretending to be in communion with the Church and the Magisterium of the Church. … Unfortunately, many of our good Hispanic people are confused by their pretense and they are leading many away from the Catholic Church.’’
Here’s an AP article.
The sect offers healing through the use of blessed water and oil and seems to be appealing to superstition:
Some Capilla de la Fe services are unlike anything offered at Roman Catholic parishes, including one focusing on “strong prayer to destroy witchcraft, demon-possession, nightmares, curses, envy, bad luck, or spiritual problems.”
Shouldn’t that be “if you won’t join them, beat them?” It’s not like the proprietors of Capilla de Fe are in RCIA.