Am I A Real Catholic?

[anotherauthor12]

Hello. I call myself a Catholic, I go to Catholic churches. But I don’t believe in purgatory, and I also have attended Lutheran church services. I also don’t believe in ‘giving up’ anything during lent, or giving up meat on fridays. Can anyone help me?

 

[fermat]

No here can tell you if you are a ‘real’ Catholic. I can tell you that as a Catholic you are required to believe certain things, purgatory being one of them. And eating meat on Fridays during lent is considered a grave offense.

But it sounds like the real issue is that you don’t understand why you should believe in purgatory or perhaps what a blessing purgatory really is. And perhaps you don’t yet have a good insight into the reason we are to abstain from meat on Fridays during lent.

I have found that very few people continue to reject theses truths once they understand them in the way they are meant. That process takes time and patience.

That being said, would you be willing to re-state the question to, ‘Why should I believe in purgatory?’

 

[kmuestwin]

I think you need to spend more time researching these practices so that you come to a better understanding of them. Read the catechism, the bible and some of the Fathers of the Church and really study the issues that you disagree with.

When I first began to look at the Church seriously, I researched the things that I didn’t understand and then I learned enough to reconcile my beliefs with those of the Church.

Good luck! Don’t give up on finding your answers but also don’t be afraid to change.

 

[MarkThompson]

Hello. I call myself a Catholic, I go to Catholic churches. But I don’t believe in purgatory, and I also have attended Lutheran church services. I also don’t believe in ‘giving up’ anything during lent, or giving up meat on fridays. Can anyone help me?

Were you baptized or confirmed as a Catholic? If you were (for instance) baptized and raised Lutheran but have just been attending Catholic churches off and on, then that does not make you Catholic. If you have ever been Catholic, though, then the Church’s teaching is that that mark is indelible, and although you can wander far from the Church you cannot cease to be one of her children.

Similarly, not believing in certain elements of Catholic dogma (such as Purgatory) or practice (such as giving up things for Lent) does not make you “non-Catholic,” it would make you – assuming you were Catholic to begin with – a Catholic with incorrect views. Denying a dogma like Purgatory is very serious if you have been sufficiently catechized and yet still make the deliberate choice to reject the Church’s authoritative teaching. But it sounds like you just have questions, and have probably been led by Protestant preaching to think that everyone on earth is just supposed to discern for themselves all the truths of life and faith and then decide whether they “agree” with the Church or not.

For Catholics, the idea that God has burdened every Joe Sixpack and Suzie Housewife with the chore of becoming a theologian and somehow working out a whole set of religious teachings for themselves is ludicrous. To the contrary, the reason Jesus founded a Church in the Gospels (Mt 16:18) and promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to continue teaching (Jn 14:26) is because Jesus never intended that the “true” Christian faith should wait a couple of hundred years until the Church defined the canon of the Bible, and then another 1100 years until the printing press was invented, and then that everyone should be forced to interpret for themselves what the truths of the faith are. The Church and the infallible teachings guided by the Holy Spirit are gifts from Jesus to us, because he loves us, not curses because he hates the idea of people thinking for themselves.

So for Catholics who recognize the apostolic mission of the Church, it sort of doesn’t matter if we “agree” with something like Purgatory, in the sense that we might say, “Well, if they’d put me in charge of interpreting the Bible, I doubt I would have come up with that!” The fact is that God has not put each of us in charge of inventing our own religion from the ground up, and in fact it would be totally contrary to everything he ever did in the Old Testament. What Catholic dogma requires is assent, not agreement – in other words, we can say “I don’t know how or why that’s true, but I am willing to believe it because I trust the apostolic Church.”

Sorry for running on; does this answer any of your questions at all?

 

[LarryGold]

Very enlightening Mark Thompson…

 

[SnakeMauler]

Don’t be selfish dude. Giving up something small for 40 days is our way of saying “thank you” to Jesus. Anything can be done for good purposes to honor God. This is one of them. If you cannot truely give up ONE thing even if its as simple as candy then you truely walk in darkness. Walk in the light my friend.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

Are you baptisted and/or confirmed a Catholic? If so, you are a real Catholic and should make an effort to inform yourself of the Church’s teachings and bend your will to the Church.

I see that Mark has written a great post on this, so I recommend you read it again. We do need to put effort into our faith, in the sense that when we have questions, we search for answers, that we pray, and we attempt to train our will to God’s. Faith is a gift, but our free will must be turned that way and taught to accept this gift.

 

[CMatt25]

Were you baptized or confirmed as a Catholic? If you were (for instance) baptized and raised Lutheran but have just been attending Catholic churches off and on, then that does not make you Catholic. If you have ever been Catholic, though, then the Church’s teaching is that that mark is indelible, and although you can wander far from the Church you cannot cease to be one of her children.

Similarly, not believing in certain elements of Catholic dogma (such as Purgatory) or practice (such as giving up things for Lent) does not make you “non-Catholic,” it would make you – assuming you were Catholic to begin with – a Catholic with incorrect views…

So for Catholics who recognize the apostolic mission of the Church, it sort of doesn’t matter if we “agree” with something like Purgatory, in the sense that we might say, “Well, if they’d put me in charge of interpreting the Bible, I doubt I would have come up with that!” The fact is that God has not put each of us in charge of inventing our own religion from the ground up, and in fact it would be totally contrary to everything he ever did in the Old Testament. What Catholic dogma requires is assent, not agreement – in other words, we can say “I don’t know how or why that’s true, but I am willing to believe it because I trust the apostolic Church.”

Sorry for running on; does this answer any of your questions at all?

So even though for instance the specific fasting and abstinance rules are not found in Scripture, such as a fast is eating 1 full meal/2 smaller ones not exceeding a full. Or abtaining from meat at one time every Fri of the yr and only during Lenten Fridays now. Or depending on your diocese, some Catholics are obligated to attend Mass on a weekday for a Holy Day of Obligation and others not. Are you saying you just do whatever the Catholic Church tells you through the man in position here on earth as bishop of your diocese because you believe in his authority to infallibly teach matters of faith and morals?

 

[CMatt25]

This might be a good place to ask this since we are talking about who is a real Catholic. And I applaud those of you who have pointed out that of course the OP is a real Catholic if baptized or confirmed in the Catholic Church. But being a real Catholic doesn’t seem to be enough as I have also heard many variances on describing Catholics. While I understand each of these are real Catholics, they each don’t seem to mean the same thing because I was told once on a thread that a Cafeteria is one ahead of a Lapsed. So with that in mind, what are the different definitions of these:

Cafeteria Catholic?
Lapsed Catholic?
Non-practicing Catholic?
Nonimal Catholic?
Cultural catholic?
Dissenting Catholic?
Unfaithful Catholic?
Automatically excommunicated Catholic?

 

[Nicea325]

Hello. I call myself a Catholic, I go to Catholic churches. But I don’t believe in purgatory, and I also have attended Lutheran church services. I also don’t believe in ‘giving up’ anything during lent, or giving up meat on fridays. Can anyone help me?

First of all,why don’t you believe in Purgatory? The Jews believed it. Second,why are you attending Lutheran Services? I am not an avid supporter of Catholics who “church-hop” week from week to Protestant churches. Why? What for? I have never understood why Catholics do such a thing.

 

[Nicea325]

Are you baptisted and/or confirmed a Catholic? If so, you are a real Catholic and should make an effort to inform yourself of the Church’s teachings and bend your will to the Church.

I see that Mark has written a great post on this, so I recommend you read it again. We do need to put effort into our faith, in the sense that when we have questions, we search for answers, that we pray, and we attempt to train our will to God’s. Faith is a gift, but our free will must be turned that way and taught to accept this gift.

But that is precise problem today with so many adult Catholics. Instead of taking the time or making the effort to learn what the church trul teaches,many simply feed off what others tell them or what they hear. It is much more easier and convenient,but also very dangerous.

 

[PJM]

=anotherauthor12;7828295]Hello. I call myself a Catholic, I go to Catholic churches. But I don’t believe in purgatory, and I also have attended Lutheran church services. I also don’t believe in ‘giving up’ anything during lent, or giving up meat on fridays. Can anyone help me?

You didn’t share the most important information:

Are you a Baptized Catholic; have you received the Sacraments of Eucharist and Confirmation?

IF you are a Baptized and Confirmed Catholic; then YES your a"real-catholic." HOWEVER you seem not to be an Infored and fully practicing Catholic whose Catholic formation needs some HUGE holes plugged

IF, you’d like to know the holes and HOW TO plug them send me a PM… I can help you out.

What is your understanding of the merit of the Bible?

God Bless,
Pat

 

[anotherauthor12]

Yes I am a baptized Catholic, and I will be confirmed next year. Yes, my main issue is that I don’t think there is enough proof to show purgatory exists. My mother only became a Catholic when she got married, and so I have inherited many of her views.

 

[jediliz]

Giving up things for Lent isn’t that bad…or you could do something extra like volunteering at a soup kitchen or doing extra chores without being asked.

The age for abstinence from meat is 14 and up. Its not that bad. I’ve found that I can get creative with meals that are meatless. Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup You can buy veggie burger patties or meatless chicken patties, too.

Purgatory is one of the most misunderstood doctrines. The poor souls there are still going to Heaven, they just need to be cleansed of any minor sins. You have to realize that nothing unclean can enter Heaven.

I think of Purgatory as sort of a cleansing rest stop on the way to Heaven.

 

[PJM]

=anotherauthor12; Yes, my main issue is that I don’t think there is enough proof to show purgatory exists. My mother only became a Catholic when she got married, and so I have inherited many of her views.

First let me share the Biblical evidence of Purgatory and then I’ll attempt to explain it for you.

** Rev. 21: 27 ** “But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

** Mt. 5: 26** truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny

Matt.5: 48 “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Explanation:

Because God is and must be perfect; so too we must also be made perfect in order to have access to His Divine presence.

In addition to be lesser [venial sins] and GREATER, [Mortal sins]; ALL SINS being public have a necessary “pat-back” in order to made perfect. For example if someone steals something; IT MUST BE PAID BACK in order to “be forgiven” by God. But what about ruining someone’s “good name” through malicious gossip? How does one pay that back?

Limited space prohibits a FULL explanation so If anyone wants more info please send me a PM.

In addition to what we term “restitution,” which makes sense to us; ALL SIN also has a “latent” penalty that too must be paid back. Restitution covers the person we damaged; but does not cover God’s imposed penalty. As Sin is defined as “SAYING NO TO GOD”, God has every right to impose His own penalty beyond restitution. HOW DO WE PAY THIS PENALTY TO GOD?

In the sacrament of Confession; as part of the Absolution [ONLY GOD CAN AND DOES FORGIVE THE SINS], the priest imposes a Penance; which must be fulfilled in-order for Forgiveness to take effect. This is restitution; not God-due.

We do this by Good Works, Prayer, Sacrifice and for Catholics; Indulgences, which needs to be covered as a separate issue.

The problem for non-catholics is they can NEVER know for sure if they have fully repaid God? Catholics through a Plenary Indulgence, and or the Last Rites; correctly applied, fulfilled, and administered can know; just as we do in the sacrament of Confession; that we have been forgiven, and in the case of the God-dues; we have been perfected.

I hope you find this brief explanation helpful?

God Bless,
Pat

 

[anotherauthor12]

Thanks for the descriptive post. So… if the souls in purgatory are going to heaven, then why must we pray them out? What if someone never got prayed for. Would they be there forever?

 

[rikkk1958]

Thanks for the descriptive post. So… if the souls in purgatory are going to heaven, then why must we pray them out? What if someone never got prayed for. Would they be there forever?

I can relate how you feel about things you want to understand but seems difficult because you want your senses to comprehend the mystery of salvation which is by God alone. The Doctrine of the Church regarding Purgatory is based upon some passages in the Scriptures which leads to creating a term “purgatory” which means purging of the soul before they can ascend to heaven. Catholic Dogmas are Scripture based and our faith is based on the Bible, instructions of the Lord Jesus Christ, teachings of the Apostles and Disciples, the Apostolic tradition which requires the Church to have a continuous Magisterum that will guide the Church. Scriptures and reasons inspired by the Holy Spirit guided our Church Fathers to declare Dogmas that Catholics should follow. Try to read the view of the early fathers on the subject, their philosophies and reasons.

IMO, Purgatory is the most logical explanation for judging the soul, although we never know the mind of God, if the dead is “purge”, a prayer from those who are truly"good" will help the soul. (This is also from the Scriptures). As Catholics, we are bound by the Scriptures and teachings of Jesus Christ that is why we are obedient to His call even in a shade of the ideas what the Holy Bible is telling us. It is important to obey. Please read from the internet site regarding purgatory and you will be satisfied.

 

[Zydel]

Thanks for the descriptive post. So… if the souls in purgatory are going to heaven, then why must we pray them out? What if someone never got prayed for. Would they be there forever?

You pray for them in order that they might be given grace to get out faster (as much as you can use the term “faster” to describe a place outside time). Some souls in Purgatory will be there until Judgment Day, but all souls in Purgatory will eventually be in heaven.

 

[PJM]

=anotherauthor12;7837870]Thanks for the descriptive post. So… if the souls in purgatory are going to heaven, then why must we pray them out? What if someone never got prayed for. Would they be there forever?

Take the word MUST out, and you have a good understanding.

The reason is to become more God-like; and we do that through acts of charity; which praying for the Poor Souls in Purgatory certainly is.

What makes the prayers more effacious [worth more] is that it NOT a MUSTDo; but out of LOVE: a CAN-DO:thumbsup:

God Bless,
pat

 

[Annabelle_Marie]

Thanks for the descriptive post. So… if the souls in purgatory are going to heaven, then why must we pray them out? What if someone never got prayed for. Would they be there forever?

a lot of people pray for the souls in purgatory…“especially the ones that no one prays for”…