A Question For The Former Catholics At CAF

[Jean_1958]

In caoindealbhan’s thread Have you found that Roman Catholic converts… , yellowbird talks about how she has heard that many former Catholics have never even heard about Jesus in all their years of being Catholic.

I visit a Protestant forum where Catholics are not allowed and many former Catholics there have talked about how they’ve sat in the pews for 17 or more years and have never heard any Scripture in the mass YET we have 2 Gospel readings from the old testament and one Gospel reading from the new testament. Plus, the priest gives a homily that revolves around the new testament reading and will even repeat some of the Scripture ontop of it.

How can you, as a former Catholic, say you have never heard any Scripture while at mass for ‘x’ amount of years when that is not entirely true?

Thank you for taking the time to give me your answer.

God Bless.

Jean

 

[Trishie]

I guess they weren’t listening!
And not giving attention to the prayers either.
I ask Jesus to open them to the truth.

 

[Paul2274]

They are the ones that only went to Mass on Christmas and Easter and called themselves catholic. :tsktsk:

Paul

 

[notself]

Evidently they never said the “Hail Mary”.

 

[graceandglory]

How can you, as a former Catholic, say you have never heard any Scripture while at mass for ‘x’ amount of years when that is not entirely true?

Please be patient, not critical with those former Catholics. All of us are supposed to be converted, not everyone sitting next to you at Mass are though.

1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea; and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; 6 and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” 9 And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”*

Mark 4:1-10

 

[yellowbird]

Hi there… yellowbird here. I posted that I’ve heard former Catholics say they never heard about Jesus. Of course that isn’t true… how could they NOT hear about Jesus in the Catholic Church?? It’s just not possible if they are speaking literally - but I think what they mean (because I’ve heard it described this way) is that they heard of him … like they’ve heard of George Washington… but they didn’t “know” Him at all or ever hear / understand that He died for their sins “personally.” He just didn’t mean much to them when they were Catholic… not like he means to them now.

So that would be my question for former Catholics… Do you believe that in all of your years of being Catholic, you never understood that Jesus loved YOU and died for YOUR sins? Do you believe the Church never made that clear to you? Because that’s what I hear from my former Catholic friends.

 

[yellowbird]

They are the ones that only went to Mass on Christmas and Easter and called themselves catholic. :tsktsk:

Paul

This is probably true for alot of people, but not all. I am thinking of a woman who went to Catholic School K-12, Church every Sunday, all Holy Days … has an uncle who is a Priest! She is in her 40’s now and goes to a mega-non-denom. Church and swears she did not “know” Jesus in the Catholic Church - but she does now. Whatever that means? We’ve had many conversations because it’s as if we traded places and now we look at each other like HOW COULD YOU HAVE LEFT!!!

 

[Paul2274]

This is probably true for alot of people, but not all. I am thinking of a woman who went to Catholic School K-12, Church every Sunday, all Holy Days … has an uncle who is a Priest! She is in her 40’s now and goes to a mega-non-denom. Church and swears she did not “know” Jesus in the Catholic Church - but she does now. Whatever that means? We’ve had many conversations because it’s as if we traded places and now we look at each other like HOW COULD YOU HAVE LEFT!!!

Merry Christmas Yellowbird. I just find it hard to believe that someone who has all that Catholic “experience” on their religious resume could look someone in the eye and say that they didn’t know Christ in the Catholic Church like they do in their “new” church.
If you ask me, IMO, I’d say that they didn’t like the “rules” they thought were too restrictive and decided to go some cafeteria were they could pick and choose what they wanted to believe.

Just another case where man has tried to changed God (religion) to suit himself and not change himself to conform to God
and be open and obedient as we should all be to His will.

Brings to mind the saying “Let go and let God”

Hope everyone has a great and safe New Year!:clapping:

Paul

 

[Hesychios]

Anyone who has attended even one Mass and claims to have never heard scripture in the Mass must be deaf. Of course, in the old Mass (the EF) as we called it, the scripture was in Latin and we read the English out of the Missal or Missalette.

What some people might have had a legitimate complaint about could be the preaching and exegesis in years gone by. As a group I think Roman Catholic priests were not so very good at preaching for a long time, although there were always exceptions. I think the situation has greatly improved however.

 

[R_not]

In caoindealbhan’s thread Have you found that Roman Catholic converts… , yellowbird talks about how she has heard that many former Catholics have never even heard about Jesus in all their years of being Catholic.

I visit a Protestant forum where Catholics are not allowed and many former Catholics there have talked about how they’ve sat in the pews for 17 or more years and have never heard any Scripture in the mass YET we have 2 Gospel readings from the old testament and one Gospel reading from the new testament. Plus, the priest gives a homily that revolves around the new testament reading and will even repeat some of the Scripture ontop of it.

How can you, as a former Catholic, say you have never heard any Scripture while at mass for ‘x’ amount of years when that is not entirely true?

Thank you for taking the time to give me your answer.

God Bless.

Jean

I think it might be more common than not.

In the last several decades I can say that I have never seen any clergy - not one. I was a wayward Catholic who never went to Church. I actually came back to the Church after a few years of reading about islam. Yeah, islam brought me back!

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that I doubt if those who say they go to the Mass and never hear about Jesus probably do not go to Church very often. I have heard whole sermans (when I was not going to Church very often and maybe went during Easter or Christmas) and heard the priest ONLY talk about the bad Catholics out there who NEVER go to church! HE DIDN’T EVEN TALK ABOUT JESUS! whether it was the day He rose from the dead, or was born! And if they did attend the whole Mass they might not have paid attention to the words of the Mass.

Or they snoozed and found it all boring.

The thing that gets me is that even now I only see a priest at Mass and at Confession (and even then I might not see him, but hear him in the Confessional). I never see them. Oh, I get the envelopes in the mail for donations at Mass time, but nothing else.

I would say there is a disconnect between the priests and the nuns, if there are any left - I don’t know I haven’t seen any, with the rest of the congregation.

Even when I was in the hospital, it was a Protestant who came to me (you sign what religion you are when entering for a major operation) and prayed with me. It wasn’t a Catholic representative, nor a priest nor a nun.

I am a Catholic in spite of the clergy. I just look at it this way - don’t let the people get in the way of me believing in Jesus. And those people include the clergy.

The one thing that islam brings to many is the sense of community. So do many protestant religions. There might be a sense of community for ones who have kids and once those kids leave grade school, and maybe if they have the money for high school, there is nothing after that.

Sorry, but I think that the clergy have, and are, failing their congregations. It has been going on for some time now - decades. There might be some who are more aggressive to get the attention of the clergy, but there are many more who do not. And where do the clergy get new members? From their congregation’s children. If they do not go out and meet with them how do they expect to replenish their own priests and nuns?

Oh well, that is my opinion and that is what I see.

 

[cheese_sdc]

What’s funny is that, while I’ve left Catholicism, we have a new guy in our office - an independent Baptist who believes in young Earth Creationism, Once Saved, Always Saved, etc.

We often talk about what the Catholic Church teaches, and I’ve been able to give him many scriptures to contemplate (especially about the supposed “Salvation By Works” issue).

 

[MariaG]

Merry Christmas Yellowbird. I just find it hard to believe that someone who has all that Catholic “experience” on their religious resume could look someone in the eye and say that they didn’t know Christ in the Catholic Church like they do in their “new” church.
If you ask me, IMO, I’d say that they didn’t like the “rules” they thought were too restrictive and decided to go some cafeteria were they could pick and choose what they wanted to believe.

Just another case where man has tried to changed God (religion) to suit himself and not change himself to conform to God
and be open and obedient as we should all be to His will.

Brings to mind the saying “Let go and let God”

Hope everyone has a great and safe New Year!:clapping:

Paul

Not necessarily do I believe all leave for a “pick your belief” reason.

I think Catholicism takes more of a personal committment. In the non-Catholic churches I went to, there was a very emotional element for me. Long worship singing in which one can “feel” very close to God. In the Catholic Church, the only way I get that closeness is usually through personal prayer, or adoration. Don’t get me wrong, I can “feel” very close to Christ in the Eucharist in a very real way, but usually with my kids around, I don’t usually get that “high” that came from the fundamental churches I attended.

There was a non-catholic pastor who said that that kind of church was where Christians were expecting to be spoon fed instead of feeding on the word one on one.

Some mistake that emotional high with a closeness to God and in my personal experience I can say that is was true.

 

[SIA]

In caoindealbhan’s thread Have you found that Roman Catholic converts… , yellowbird talks about how she has heard that many former Catholics have never even heard about Jesus in all their years of being Catholic.

I visit a Protestant forum where Catholics are not allowed and many former Catholics there have talked about how they’ve sat in the pews for 17 or more years and have never heard any Scripture in the mass YET we have 2 Gospel readings from the old testament and one Gospel reading from the new testament. Plus, the priest gives a homily that revolves around the new testament reading and will even repeat some of the Scripture ontop of it.

How can you, as a former Catholic, say you have never heard any Scripture while at mass for ‘x’ amount of years when that is not entirely true?

Thank you for taking the time to give me your answer.

God Bless.

Jean

I heard plenty about Jesus in the three and a half decades as a Catholic but never felt and knew Jesus as I do today. In my church today we read the same readings and gospel and psalms as you do on a given Sunday. The difference is that we live out those Scriptures as best as we can and my priest’s sermon stays in my mind all week long. Most of the time when I was Catholic, the priest’s homily was more Catholic doctrinal rhetoric than it was Scriptural substance and it was very soon forgotten.