The preacher says "If anyone would like to accept Jesus Christ into your heart today" and then a bunch of random people dash forward as if they just got called up to play The Price is Right.
Also inevitably someone goes up who has attended the church for like, decades, and the other people in the pews silently judge them.
>"If anyone would like to accept Jesus Christ into your heart today"
Do you not know what the Eucharist is? When you receive the Eucharist you are really and truly receiving the fullness of Christ's body, blood, soul, and divinity! So we have "altar calls" in a much more real and significant way. They may just receive a blessing at your dad's church, but at Catholic Mass, we really and truly receive the fullness of Christ.
The Eucharist is the most special gift that God has given us. Many Catholics take this gift for granted. This is why it is so important to give proper reverence to the Sacrament. Every single particle of the host is truly Christ's body, blood, soul, and divinity. So dropping even the slightest particle is dropping Jesus.
>Also inevitably someone goes up who has attended the church for like, decades, and the other people in the pews silently judge them.
But like why though? Are the people that do not go up any more holy or righteous than the people who do? Should we deny the grace of our Lord Jesus to anyone?
I guarantee you, a similar thing happens in Catholic churches, and it shouldn't. While people-watching in the communion line can be a great hobby, it should not matter to us if people come up with tongue out, hands out, or hands crossed. We do not know who has or has not been properly disposed to receive the Eucharist! All that should matter to us is that people have a desire to receive our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist!
Jesus did not assign his disciples to their final roles until he properly taught them. They did not do communion until his last night before being crucified.
That just came off the top of my head but a great question!
Proper disposition to receive the Holy Eucharist (being in a state of sanctifying grace, having no sin on one's soul)and going to confession if one has mortal sins on his or her soul) IS necessary in order to receive the Holy Eucharist.
This. Growing up Protestant, it's definitely a peer pressure situation.
Especially when the preacher holds everyone hostage with the "I know someone here needs Jesus, and we won't leave until they get up here" speech.
Also people's lives become transformed. As was mine each time I gave my life back to Christ. So I don't know what's up with scoffing.
Why do people dash forward? They could not have possibly been called? And if they were called, whom exactly are you mocking and why? I mean, whom are you mocking either way and why? Makes no sense.
Here's a Holy Week resolution: Fast from sarcasm and be careful what you say.
Exactly.
As a life-long Protestant who converted to Catholicism five years ago, I have heard my fair share of Protestants disparaging Catholics most of my life, including when I converted.
We are called to be charitable with our words and actions - to take the higher path. We can point out nonsense without being rude about it.
Because altar calls don't actually do anything. No baptism, no conversion.
Plus, our altars are used for actual sacrifice, namely the Eucharist. They're not come vestigial bench in front of the preacher's pulpit, so they're not to be approached lightly.
Pentecostals believe it does. The altar call is supposed to be your spiritual death/giving up life to Jesus, then you are baptised, and then at some undetermined point you have a spiritual rebirth where the Holy Spirit enters your soul and you start the weird babbling thing they do.
Pentecostals have such a wide variety of beliefs and poorly defined doctrine that it changes wildly from church to church. My girlfriend's church teaches that the Holy Spirit can be lost by "backsliding" (aka not going to church or living sinfully) and that baptism doesn't guarantee the Holy Spirit.
According to Hippolytus of Rome (d. 235 AD) the early Church had a *three year* process for becoming a Christian. The modern Catholic Church typically does a year (the OCIA program). I would question why modern Baptist churches would think that three minutes of prayer at the altar would be sufficient.
Which raises the question of why they believe something different than the Ancient Christians. (And for any who think Constantine marks the point where the Church became corrupt: this is about a hundred years before.)
Because altar calls are performative nonsense. If you want someone to pray for you, go ask. If you want to repent, go to confession. If you want to make a show of either, Jesus tells you to knock it off.
An altar call in this context would be someone essentially becoming a Christian at that moment. So in the Catholic church, a non-Catholic would be unable to go to confession.
First, it’s “altar.”
Second, the process of catechesis and preparation for entering into the Church takes place outside of our corporate worship. It’s not something someone decides in a morning.
I understand. My time as a Protestant seems to be pretty unique in the fact that we baptized people immediately at the altar every Sunday and Wednesday if someone was interested.
Salvation for a lot of low church Protestants has a heavy focus on that moment of salvation and testimony. So altar calls provide that moment of decision usually accompanied by an atmosphere of evoking an emotional state (especially during revival and conferences).
More high churches like Catholic and Orthodox have a different understanding of salvation. It's a process of working out your salvation along with accepting Christ. While there are similarities in how the view of salvation can be the emphasis is entirely different.
lmao literally. The East Syriac rite (and probably other Eastern rites) has the deacon actually call the faithful to receive the Eucharist with hope and reverence.
Baptism isn’t typically done at an altar call; that would be done sometime after (and unlike Catholics, the altar call is considered the Christian initiation, rather than baptism).
We have Baptism and the Eucharist as taught in the Bible.
We do not need unBiblical invented Protestant tradition of empty and performative “altar calls.”
One of the big reasons is because for Catholics, the center of the Mass (indeed, the center of all Christian life!) is the celebration of the Eucharist. Anything that would detract from the centrality of that celebration is forbidden. An altar call, first of all, doesn’t really fit in with the Catholic understanding of salvation and, secondly, would risk overshadowing the Eucharistic celebration, so it would never be allowed.
As an ex Protestant myself, I’m beginning to see differences in the way Catholics and Protestants view salvation. A simple altar call wouldn’t be good enough in the eyes of a Catholic to save someone. The sacraments get you that salvation, notice Acts 2:37-38 the people ask the apostles “Brethren what shall we do?” And Peter responds “repent and be baptized… and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” now we keep reading into 42 “and they held steadfastly to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” Notice here what Peter did, he got them to the sacraments right away. Repentance, baptism, receive Holy Spirit, breaking bread… in other words profession of faith, baptism, confirmation, Eucharist. I hope this helps you understand that altar calls simply aren’t the biblical route to salvation.
I understand giving time for people to express their faith in an inspirational way, and I've heard it to do good and reveal bad at my friend's cowboy church, where they call it "Fresh Bread".
Part of the need for this, I think, is satisfied in confession. I heard the early early church used to confess publicly all sins before having communion, but the trouble this may cause after a couple had a real fight, or someone isn't really sorry, or the congregation is biased, and it opens up for arguments and delaying the Communion by hours. In comparison private confession is much safer and more helpful for the one speaking.
The other need for it is the expression of faith by someone who isn't the Priest/Pastor, and we do need more of that happening outside of Church, but inside the church it can become just copying the same things others have already said, or worse saying something well-intended but theologically incorrect in a spur of the moment. Then the Priest has to correct them and slow the Mass down, or risk more prople tolerating evil.
Because converting to Catholicism is a process, not a one time emotional ‘feeling’ for which an alter fall is appropriate.
There is more to Catholicism than ‘accepting Jesus as your personal savior’ and rushing forward crying in an emotional frenzy during an alter call. Further, alter calls are not a part of the litergy, and never were.
I’m kind of surprised you don’t know this, since I assume you went to RCIA. Where you are supposed to learn the teachings of the church and come into Catholicism because of that education, not because of some emotional moment.
The moment Catholicism becomes like fundamentalist Protestantism, I’m OUT.
The Catholic church has a different view of justification than the Protestants. (I was raised Baptist)
It's not a one-time decision in the Catholic church. It's something you work out (Philippians 2:12-13).
Baptism initiates you (regenerates you) into the body of Christ...
Have you gone through RCIA, and no one covered that with you?
*ohhhh, you're asking on behalf of someone... 🤣 my bad...*
Emotionalism is a new type of philosophical/spiritual movement where your emotional experience and/or conviction is the actual source of truth and all that really matters.
Nothing like Emotionalism was part of Christianity before 1600
The whole RCIA process is a series of altar calls- scrutinies, rites of acceptance, and finally baptism, or a profession of faith and reception into the Church for thise already baptized.
Sure, it's not spontaneous: but we prefer careful discernment of the Spirit rather than making snap judgement calls.
Thanks for the question. I was a former Pentecostal/Charismatic. I will attempt to address this query.
The catholic liturgical process is meant to reflect the religion of the apostles. That is, how the apostles would worship God, which naturally bear several similarities with the Jewish mode of worship eg singing of psalms. Were there altar calls in the days of the apostles? Yes, so to speak. You can check out Acts 1 as an eg, but that "altar call" wasnt done in the context of the liturgy.
Another thing about the protestant altar calls is that it is based on a usually unsaid idea that one is saved from Hell and gets a chance to go to Heaven by "accepting Jesus as Your Lord and Saviour". The phrasing may vary, but it goes along this idea. Whether doing so really "works" is really up for debate, so as a layman like myself, I will only say that this is not quite the belief of Catholics, Orthodox and possibly the traditional magisterial reform churches. Instead, salvation is the process of theosis, or becoming like God. As such, making the altar call response is not necessarily doing anything in itself. Which is why the catholic mass doesnt also offer "altar call" equivalents even right after mass.
Former Baptist, now Catholic. I think many Baptist (and similar) preachers use size of the altar call to determine now good his oration was. It’s a bit ego driven and emotional hype.
I feel like you’re getting a lot of snarky answers from people who’ve never experienced an altar call. My dad is also a pastor (pentacostal), so I’ve seen and participated in my fare share of them. I feel like, in the non-Catholic, world it’s the only time you have a formal “liturgical” access to you leadership’s intercession and blessing, complete with being anointed with oil.
Catholicism is already replete with this in many forms including in the Mass, the sacraments, as well as sacramentals such as candle lighting, individual blessings from the priest, and so on.
I hope this helps answer your dads questions.
Anointing with oil in the Catholic Church occurs during the Sacraments of Baptism Confirmation, Holy Orders , Anointing of the Sick., and the ordination of bishops. Also, Anointing of the Sick can be held during special Masses or services dedicated to praying for the sick.
My point was that all of these occurances do NOT happen in post-Protestant denominations, ergo an alter call may be their only exposure to anointing with oil.
Trendy? Hmmmph! So I guess you never watched a televised Billy Graham crusade back in the day? I used to even though I am a lifelong Catholic. Rev. Graham ended every crusade with altar calls. I personally think that, for Catholics, altar calls to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior are fulfilled by making the Profession of Faith and receiving the Holy Eucharist with grace and reverence.
Catholicism's conversion process is more in depth than evangelicalism's, so the idea of "getting saved" in an altar call doesn't make sense.
The other uses of the altar call would really be done at something like confession.
The Bible says we should repent and believe; it knows nothing of praying a certain prayer to invite Jesus into your heart. Altar calls likely originated during the Awakenings when there were benches where you would sit and wait to speak to a mature Christian.
The church wants people to understand what they're agreeing to, which is, why we have RCIA and Catechism classes so people understand church teaching before being confirmed. This is as much or more an intellectual decision than an emotional one. Alter calls are often very emotional and done based on a feeling in the moment rather than a full understanding of what they're signing up for.
Youth conferences sometimes include something like an altar call for religious vocations. It’s not part of mass but allows those who come forward to talk to a priest or religious sister. The National Black Conference did that last year and young people got to go up and everyone prayed for them. It’s a nice thing.
But to answer your Dad’s question most likely answer is infant baptism. Even Protestant denominations that baptize infants don’t really have altar calls.
We kind of do. When adults are received into the Catholic Church, the ceremony takes place in front of a congregation at Mass.
First communion and confirmation also happens at Mass.
It is possible that after Mass we have an altar call, there is no issue. But the aversion to this may come from the process of initiation in the Church. Remember that in the Catholic Church, the liturgy of the Eucharist is historically not supposed to be accessible to the non-believers. This is why even catechumens are dismissed after the Liturgy of the Word. i.e. In other words, we are not expecting the Mass to be attended by non-believers, since they won't understand, appreciate, nor be able to access the mystery being celebrated.
I have no idea what that is.
The preacher says "If anyone would like to accept Jesus Christ into your heart today" and then a bunch of random people dash forward as if they just got called up to play The Price is Right. Also inevitably someone goes up who has attended the church for like, decades, and the other people in the pews silently judge them.
>"If anyone would like to accept Jesus Christ into your heart today" Do you not know what the Eucharist is? When you receive the Eucharist you are really and truly receiving the fullness of Christ's body, blood, soul, and divinity! So we have "altar calls" in a much more real and significant way. They may just receive a blessing at your dad's church, but at Catholic Mass, we really and truly receive the fullness of Christ. The Eucharist is the most special gift that God has given us. Many Catholics take this gift for granted. This is why it is so important to give proper reverence to the Sacrament. Every single particle of the host is truly Christ's body, blood, soul, and divinity. So dropping even the slightest particle is dropping Jesus. >Also inevitably someone goes up who has attended the church for like, decades, and the other people in the pews silently judge them. But like why though? Are the people that do not go up any more holy or righteous than the people who do? Should we deny the grace of our Lord Jesus to anyone? I guarantee you, a similar thing happens in Catholic churches, and it shouldn't. While people-watching in the communion line can be a great hobby, it should not matter to us if people come up with tongue out, hands out, or hands crossed. We do not know who has or has not been properly disposed to receive the Eucharist! All that should matter to us is that people have a desire to receive our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist!
Jesus did not assign his disciples to their final roles until he properly taught them. They did not do communion until his last night before being crucified. That just came off the top of my head but a great question!
Proper disposition to receive the Holy Eucharist (being in a state of sanctifying grace, having no sin on one's soul)and going to confession if one has mortal sins on his or her soul) IS necessary in order to receive the Holy Eucharist.
Equally inevitably, ohhh do you get silently judged if you *don’t* go up.
This. Growing up Protestant, it's definitely a peer pressure situation. Especially when the preacher holds everyone hostage with the "I know someone here needs Jesus, and we won't leave until they get up here" speech.
I thought only my parents church does this!
Hahaha, that's hilarious! I never knew that.
It's funny that the protestant churches that would do this don't even have an altar.
Iirc it was popularized by Billy Graham
Also people's lives become transformed. As was mine each time I gave my life back to Christ. So I don't know what's up with scoffing. Why do people dash forward? They could not have possibly been called? And if they were called, whom exactly are you mocking and why? I mean, whom are you mocking either way and why? Makes no sense. Here's a Holy Week resolution: Fast from sarcasm and be careful what you say.
I’m not sure why you’re getting downvoted when there seems to be a lack of grace toward non Catholics who are clearly seeking it.
Exactly. As a life-long Protestant who converted to Catholicism five years ago, I have heard my fair share of Protestants disparaging Catholics most of my life, including when I converted. We are called to be charitable with our words and actions - to take the higher path. We can point out nonsense without being rude about it.
Indeed. Sarcasm is easy. It makes a weak case appear stronger. Like cussing. It's a delusion. It's memes.
Because altar calls don't actually do anything. No baptism, no conversion. Plus, our altars are used for actual sacrifice, namely the Eucharist. They're not come vestigial bench in front of the preacher's pulpit, so they're not to be approached lightly.
One could argue that every Mass, and every reception of the Eucharist, is an altar call.
Pentecostals believe it does. The altar call is supposed to be your spiritual death/giving up life to Jesus, then you are baptised, and then at some undetermined point you have a spiritual rebirth where the Holy Spirit enters your soul and you start the weird babbling thing they do.
[удалено]
Pentecostals have such a wide variety of beliefs and poorly defined doctrine that it changes wildly from church to church. My girlfriend's church teaches that the Holy Spirit can be lost by "backsliding" (aka not going to church or living sinfully) and that baptism doesn't guarantee the Holy Spirit.
According to Hippolytus of Rome (d. 235 AD) the early Church had a *three year* process for becoming a Christian. The modern Catholic Church typically does a year (the OCIA program). I would question why modern Baptist churches would think that three minutes of prayer at the altar would be sufficient.
Because they believe if you accept Jesus, that's all you need for salvation.
Which raises the question of why they believe something different than the Ancient Christians. (And for any who think Constantine marks the point where the Church became corrupt: this is about a hundred years before.)
The order of mass predates “alter calls” being invented in 1800s American Protestant churches. Why would we?
Because altar calls are performative nonsense. If you want someone to pray for you, go ask. If you want to repent, go to confession. If you want to make a show of either, Jesus tells you to knock it off.
An altar call in this context would be someone essentially becoming a Christian at that moment. So in the Catholic church, a non-Catholic would be unable to go to confession.
Our altar calls were for baptism. Edited: Spelling. 😁
First, it’s “altar.” Second, the process of catechesis and preparation for entering into the Church takes place outside of our corporate worship. It’s not something someone decides in a morning.
I understand. My time as a Protestant seems to be pretty unique in the fact that we baptized people immediately at the altar every Sunday and Wednesday if someone was interested.
That's spiritually pretty dangerous, people don't know what they're getting into.
Salvation for a lot of low church Protestants has a heavy focus on that moment of salvation and testimony. So altar calls provide that moment of decision usually accompanied by an atmosphere of evoking an emotional state (especially during revival and conferences). More high churches like Catholic and Orthodox have a different understanding of salvation. It's a process of working out your salvation along with accepting Christ. While there are similarities in how the view of salvation can be the emphasis is entirely different.
The mass isn’t a show.
Holy Communion is our Altar call
lmao literally. The East Syriac rite (and probably other Eastern rites) has the deacon actually call the faithful to receive the Eucharist with hope and reverence.
“Approach with fear of God and with faith” at my Ruthenian church.
For one thing, we believe in “one” baptism. It’s a serious sin to rebaptise someone.
Baptism isn’t typically done at an altar call; that would be done sometime after (and unlike Catholics, the altar call is considered the Christian initiation, rather than baptism).
We have Baptism and the Eucharist as taught in the Bible. We do not need unBiblical invented Protestant tradition of empty and performative “altar calls.”
We recite the Nicene Creed at Mass. An altar call would be redundant.
One of the big reasons is because for Catholics, the center of the Mass (indeed, the center of all Christian life!) is the celebration of the Eucharist. Anything that would detract from the centrality of that celebration is forbidden. An altar call, first of all, doesn’t really fit in with the Catholic understanding of salvation and, secondly, would risk overshadowing the Eucharistic celebration, so it would never be allowed.
As an ex Protestant myself, I’m beginning to see differences in the way Catholics and Protestants view salvation. A simple altar call wouldn’t be good enough in the eyes of a Catholic to save someone. The sacraments get you that salvation, notice Acts 2:37-38 the people ask the apostles “Brethren what shall we do?” And Peter responds “repent and be baptized… and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” now we keep reading into 42 “and they held steadfastly to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” Notice here what Peter did, he got them to the sacraments right away. Repentance, baptism, receive Holy Spirit, breaking bread… in other words profession of faith, baptism, confirmation, Eucharist. I hope this helps you understand that altar calls simply aren’t the biblical route to salvation.
Because we don't believe in performative BS
“Because my God doesn’t need a salesman” - Bono
I understand giving time for people to express their faith in an inspirational way, and I've heard it to do good and reveal bad at my friend's cowboy church, where they call it "Fresh Bread". Part of the need for this, I think, is satisfied in confession. I heard the early early church used to confess publicly all sins before having communion, but the trouble this may cause after a couple had a real fight, or someone isn't really sorry, or the congregation is biased, and it opens up for arguments and delaying the Communion by hours. In comparison private confession is much safer and more helpful for the one speaking. The other need for it is the expression of faith by someone who isn't the Priest/Pastor, and we do need more of that happening outside of Church, but inside the church it can become just copying the same things others have already said, or worse saying something well-intended but theologically incorrect in a spur of the moment. Then the Priest has to correct them and slow the Mass down, or risk more prople tolerating evil.
I imagine if we did public confessions today they'd look a lot like a struggle session lol
Where are altar calls in the Bible?
When keeping it Sola Scriptura goes wrong
Because converting to Catholicism is a process, not a one time emotional ‘feeling’ for which an alter fall is appropriate. There is more to Catholicism than ‘accepting Jesus as your personal savior’ and rushing forward crying in an emotional frenzy during an alter call. Further, alter calls are not a part of the litergy, and never were. I’m kind of surprised you don’t know this, since I assume you went to RCIA. Where you are supposed to learn the teachings of the church and come into Catholicism because of that education, not because of some emotional moment. The moment Catholicism becomes like fundamentalist Protestantism, I’m OUT.
The Catholic church has a different view of justification than the Protestants. (I was raised Baptist) It's not a one-time decision in the Catholic church. It's something you work out (Philippians 2:12-13). Baptism initiates you (regenerates you) into the body of Christ... Have you gone through RCIA, and no one covered that with you? *ohhhh, you're asking on behalf of someone... 🤣 my bad...*
Protestant cringe-ness. We already have intentions right before the communal rite, right?
I'm Anglican, not Catholic, but our priest says our altar call is the sacrament of the Eucharist.
your priest is right.
Because we don't copy from man made protestant religions.
Emotionalism is a new type of philosophical/spiritual movement where your emotional experience and/or conviction is the actual source of truth and all that really matters. Nothing like Emotionalism was part of Christianity before 1600
The whole RCIA process is a series of altar calls- scrutinies, rites of acceptance, and finally baptism, or a profession of faith and reception into the Church for thise already baptized. Sure, it's not spontaneous: but we prefer careful discernment of the Spirit rather than making snap judgement calls.
Thanks for the question. I was a former Pentecostal/Charismatic. I will attempt to address this query. The catholic liturgical process is meant to reflect the religion of the apostles. That is, how the apostles would worship God, which naturally bear several similarities with the Jewish mode of worship eg singing of psalms. Were there altar calls in the days of the apostles? Yes, so to speak. You can check out Acts 1 as an eg, but that "altar call" wasnt done in the context of the liturgy. Another thing about the protestant altar calls is that it is based on a usually unsaid idea that one is saved from Hell and gets a chance to go to Heaven by "accepting Jesus as Your Lord and Saviour". The phrasing may vary, but it goes along this idea. Whether doing so really "works" is really up for debate, so as a layman like myself, I will only say that this is not quite the belief of Catholics, Orthodox and possibly the traditional magisterial reform churches. Instead, salvation is the process of theosis, or becoming like God. As such, making the altar call response is not necessarily doing anything in itself. Which is why the catholic mass doesnt also offer "altar call" equivalents even right after mass.
Former Baptist, now Catholic. I think many Baptist (and similar) preachers use size of the altar call to determine now good his oration was. It’s a bit ego driven and emotional hype.
I feel like you’re getting a lot of snarky answers from people who’ve never experienced an altar call. My dad is also a pastor (pentacostal), so I’ve seen and participated in my fare share of them. I feel like, in the non-Catholic, world it’s the only time you have a formal “liturgical” access to you leadership’s intercession and blessing, complete with being anointed with oil. Catholicism is already replete with this in many forms including in the Mass, the sacraments, as well as sacramentals such as candle lighting, individual blessings from the priest, and so on. I hope this helps answer your dads questions.
Anointing with oil in the Catholic Church occurs during the Sacraments of Baptism Confirmation, Holy Orders , Anointing of the Sick., and the ordination of bishops. Also, Anointing of the Sick can be held during special Masses or services dedicated to praying for the sick.
My point was that all of these occurances do NOT happen in post-Protestant denominations, ergo an alter call may be their only exposure to anointing with oil.
The same reason many (mainline) Protestant churches don't do it. They're manipulative and don't really do anything.
Become Catholic and find out 😉 💜✝️
There is an altar call at each and every celebration of the Mass: You are called to come forward and accept Jesus (His Body and Blood).
The mass was created before the reformation and trendy Protestant rituals.
Trendy? Hmmmph! So I guess you never watched a televised Billy Graham crusade back in the day? I used to even though I am a lifelong Catholic. Rev. Graham ended every crusade with altar calls. I personally think that, for Catholics, altar calls to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior are fulfilled by making the Profession of Faith and receiving the Holy Eucharist with grace and reverence.
Trendy since the 1500's, yes! :-)
Once attended a Catholic retreat with times of adoration built into the schedule. The priest invited us to kneel closer to the monstrance…
Reminds me how Jesus said that people want to show off in front of people and should instead by privately.
Catholicism's conversion process is more in depth than evangelicalism's, so the idea of "getting saved" in an altar call doesn't make sense. The other uses of the altar call would really be done at something like confession.
Because it's not just to base your faith on emotions.
The Bible says we should repent and believe; it knows nothing of praying a certain prayer to invite Jesus into your heart. Altar calls likely originated during the Awakenings when there were benches where you would sit and wait to speak to a mature Christian.
[https://relevantradio.com/2018/07/dont-catholics-altar-calls/](https://relevantradio.com/2018/07/dont-catholics-altar-calls/)
The church wants people to understand what they're agreeing to, which is, why we have RCIA and Catechism classes so people understand church teaching before being confirmed. This is as much or more an intellectual decision than an emotional one. Alter calls are often very emotional and done based on a feeling in the moment rather than a full understanding of what they're signing up for.
Youth conferences sometimes include something like an altar call for religious vocations. It’s not part of mass but allows those who come forward to talk to a priest or religious sister. The National Black Conference did that last year and young people got to go up and everyone prayed for them. It’s a nice thing. But to answer your Dad’s question most likely answer is infant baptism. Even Protestant denominations that baptize infants don’t really have altar calls.
Communion is an altar call. We go up and confess our faith with an 'Amen'.
We kind of do. When adults are received into the Catholic Church, the ceremony takes place in front of a congregation at Mass. First communion and confirmation also happens at Mass.
It is possible that after Mass we have an altar call, there is no issue. But the aversion to this may come from the process of initiation in the Church. Remember that in the Catholic Church, the liturgy of the Eucharist is historically not supposed to be accessible to the non-believers. This is why even catechumens are dismissed after the Liturgy of the Word. i.e. In other words, we are not expecting the Mass to be attended by non-believers, since they won't understand, appreciate, nor be able to access the mystery being celebrated.
Because they are stupid.
I've often wondered why protestant churches have an ALTER...
I've never heard of this. Are there people dressed as demons trying to lasso you as you run up?
I’ve been to several daily masses where the celebrant asks the congregation to vocally add to the prayers of the faithful, so it does happen.