Do Plain Catholics exist?

[Valerie]

People need to quit treating other Christians outside of their own denominations like enemies.

I don't do that, and in fact maintain cordial relations with other Catholics - indeed, a Catholic person and myself will be organising an ecumenical summit (as much as one is possible) between Mennonites and Catholics in a few months.

I don't consider MaxPC an enemy, either. I don't consider "Plain Catholics" an enemy, either. I just sincerely doubt that they exist, outside of MaxPC's claims about himself.

I'm glad to hear that Josh.

I don't even know why it was SO important to grill Max about being PC. It never made sense to me. Our friends that are EO look more Amish than many Amish. So I can imagine there has to be more than 2 families in RCC & EO who desire to be plain. Max enjoyed the Amish America website too- he admires people that live to please God. Our EO friends spend a great deal of time with the Amish. He is a priest yet refers to the particular Amish he knows as "the salt of the earth". So they reach across the aisles in a wonderful way with each other. Even still he cannot ditch his EO beliefs, but admits now the falling away has hit EO- not the deposit of the faith, but the culture becomes a poor witness. Of course they are extremely strict- so it upsets him a great deal to see lack of head covering, pants on women, t.v., Rock music allowed, etc

[ohio jones]

i’m more with you about not being so put off by Max’s claims to plainness, but his refusal to answer direct questions, for instance, from the start, he’s found it important to say he was invited to the forum to represent Catholicism, he’s been asked several times over the years, “by whom?” no response.

Maybe whoever invited him would rather not be revealed.

I'm not sure "invited" is quite accurate, though Max does like to claim that; here's the sequence of events:

Valerie said,

I asked before and will ask again- does anyone remember which member of Mennodiscuss brought up the Plain Catholics to begin with? As I remember, Max came here AFTER the MD member brought up that they had found Plain Catholics- I don't recall how they found them, why they sought out about them or how all this took place, anyone able to tap into that archive?

I am the one who started a topic on Plain Catholics and linked it to the website Bootstrap has referenced.

I came across it in a search of Anabaptism, plain people, or plain clothing. I think I was doing a bit of historical research on Anabaptist dress, etc. I simply came across the website accidentally. I had never heard of Plain Catholics and thought I would share it with the MD community to see what they thought of it. Shortly afterward MaxPC joined the forum and contributed to the topic. I assumed he found MD through the link I had shared to what I assumed was his website.

[ohio jones]

Of course they are extremely strict- so it upsets him a great deal to see lack of head covering, pants on women, t.v., Rock music allowed, etc

I see Valerie has been proofreading (or else it's time for my eye exam). When I first read this it said "Rick music" -- to which the obvious response is "Never gonna give it up...."

[Valerie]

i’m more with you about not being so put off by Max’s claims to plainness, but his refusal to answer direct questions, for instance, from the start, he’s found it important to say he was invited to the forum to represent Catholicism, he’s been asked several times over the years, “by whom?” no response.

Maybe whoever invited him would rather not be revealed.

I'm not sure "invited" is quite accurate, though Max does like to claim that; here's the sequence of events:

Valerie said,

I asked before and will ask again- does anyone remember which member of Mennodiscuss brought up the Plain Catholics to begin with? As I remember, Max came here AFTER the MD member brought up that they had found Plain Catholics- I don't recall how they found them, why they sought out about them or how all this took place, anyone able to tap into that archive?

I am the one who started a topic on Plain Catholics and linked it to the website Bootstrap has referenced.

I came across it in a search of Anabaptism, plain people, or plain clothing. I think I was doing a bit of historical research on Anabaptist dress, etc. I simply came across the website accidentally. I had never heard of Plain Catholics and thought I would share it with the MD community to see what they thought of it. Shortly afterward MaxPC joined the forum and contributed to the topic. I assumed he found MD through the link I had shared to what I assumed was his website.

You can look at sharing that link on his website as an invitation, yes-

[Josh]

I don't even know why it was SO important to grill Max about being PC. It never made sense to me. Our friends that are EO look more Amish than many Amish.

The reason we asked questions was because his website had pictures of German Baptists, but claimed they were Plain Catholics.

So I can imagine there has to be more than 2 families in RCC & EO who desire to be plain. Max enjoyed the Amish America website too- he admires people that live to please God. Our EO friends spend a great deal of time with the Amish. He is a priest yet refers to the particular Amish he knows as "the salt of the earth". So they reach across the aisles in a wonderful way with each other. Even still he cannot ditch his EO beliefs, but admits now the falling away has hit EO- not the deposit of the faith, but the culture becomes a poor witness. Of course they are extremely strict- so it upsets him a great deal to see lack of head covering, pants on women, t.v., Rock music allowed, etc

Valerie, I've been around Eastern Orthodox my entire life, and at least since I was born in the early 1980s, they've always had pants on women, TVs, and rock music allowed, and so on. Living a 'plain' lifestyle has never, to my knowledge, been part of Eastern Orthodoxy in recent memory.

Perhaps we can start a thread called "Do Plain Eastern Orthodox exist?"

[Valerie]

I don't even know why it was SO important to grill Max about being PC. It never made sense to me. Our friends that are EO look more Amish than many Amish.

The reason we asked questions was because his website had pictures of German Baptists, but claimed they were Plain Catholics.

So I can imagine there has to be more than 2 families in RCC & EO who desire to be plain. Max enjoyed the Amish America website too- he admires people that live to please God. Our EO friends spend a great deal of time with the Amish. He is a priest yet refers to the particular Amish he knows as "the salt of the earth". So they reach across the aisles in a wonderful way with each other. Even still he cannot ditch his EO beliefs, but admits now the falling away has hit EO- not the deposit of the faith, but the culture becomes a poor witness. Of course they are extremely strict- so it upsets him a great deal to see lack of head covering, pants on women, t.v., Rock music allowed, etc

Valerie, I've been around Eastern Orthodox my entire life, and at least since I was born in the early 1980s, they've always had pants on women, TVs, and rock music allowed, and so on. Living a 'plain' lifestyle has never, to my knowledge, been part of Eastern Orthodoxy in recent memory.

Perhaps we can start a thread called "Do Plain Eastern Orthodox exist?"

Well we have visited around 12 EO Churches, some more than once, 1 for about a solid year & still visit occasionally. Pants are rare & some women completely cover their heads-

When we visited a Russian EO Church, they had a kind sign by entrance doie asking women to cover their heads & abstain from wearing pants.
Generally speaking EO attendees dress much more respectful than churches I had been in for decades.

Of course in Biblical times men didn't wear pants either.

He was not emptying these changes happen no Ed just recently, gradually, like MCUSA

[temporal1]

Most recently:

.. I was invited here to provide answers to misinformation. ..

… who invited you here to correct misinformation?

[temporal1]

I see the mob mentality against him.

i trust admin+mods with this on forum. ditching simple questions, changing the subject, causes unease, invites questions.
i don’t think anyone here is a fan of mob mentality, Robert has spoken against it many times (esp wrt politics).

i realize you’ve been questioned, been pressured about EO now+then. i’m not aware anyone questions your (motives)?
you haven’t posted things about EO that “didn’t add up.” like Josh notes above, pics of German Baptists, etc.

[Josh]

Well we have visited around 12 EO Churches, some more than once, 1 for about a solid year & still visit occasionally. Pants are rare & some women completely cover their heads-

When we visited a Russian EO Church, they had a kind sign by entrance doie asking women to cover their heads & abstain from wearing pants.
Generally speaking EO attendees dress much more respectful than churches I had been in for decades.

Of course in Biblical times men didn't wear pants either.

He was not emptying these changes happen no Ed just recently, gradually, like MCUSA

My interaction with EOs has mostly been outside of church services. I can say definitively that their women wear pants.

Conversely, I have never encountered any EO person who comes even close to “dressing Amish”, i.e., suspenders, broadfalls, kapps, cape dresses, aprons.

[Soloist]

Well we have visited around 12 EO Churches, some more than once, 1 for about a solid year & still visit occasionally. Pants are rare & some women completely cover their heads-

When we visited a Russian EO Church, they had a kind sign by entrance doie asking women to cover their heads & abstain from wearing pants.
Generally speaking EO attendees dress much more respectful than churches I had been in for decades.

Of course in Biblical times men didn't wear pants either.

He was not emptying these changes happen no Ed just recently, gradually, like MCUSA

I’ve got a Russian Orthodox friend who converted. He and his family dress plain. I think his family was the only plain dressed one. He never called himself plain though. They converted.
They also drive a considerable distance for an old rites church which hasn’t adopted the newer practices.
I’ve poked around and looked into the local orthodox churches here and in Oregon. None of them (about 6) were particularly modest dressing. The Greek Orthodox was the closest with very flashy clothing and coverings. The Ethiopian, Russian and one other type I can’t remember all looked fairly modern and worldly. I haven’t managed to actually attend a service.
The Catholic service I was planning to attend was super liberal and I got turned off by all the statues in the main entrance being “revered”

That family would fit into most conservative end charity groups and they definitely could claim “plain” but it would be for converting their prior church mates.
Personal experience there.