Am I Catholic? Or am I not?

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of course!

we are catholic forever after our baptism.

We can be excommunicated for very serious reasons listed by Canon law, but we can also be reconciliated and forgiven.

but this has nothing to do with not being able to take the communion because you may have civilly divorced of a sacramental marriage and remarried or live in “sin”

see compedium of the Catholic Church Cathechism:

349. What is the attitude of the Church toward those people who are divorced and then remarried?

1650-1651
1665

The Church, since she is faithful to her Lord, cannot recognize the union of people who are civilly divorced and remarried. “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery” ( Mark 10:11-12). The Church manifests an attentive solicitude toward such people and encourages them to a life of faith, prayer, works of charity and the Christian education of their children. However, they cannot receive sacramental absolution, take Holy Communion, or exercise certain ecclesial responsibilities as long as their situation, which objectively contravenes God’s law, persists.
http://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html
(emphasized with bold is mine).
 
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po18guy said:
Please do not allow God to experience unrequited love.
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May I say that guilt-tripping lapsed Christians into loving God is in my honest opinion one of the BIGGEST mistakes practicing Christians are doing. This is the type of possessiveness of God which kept me away from the Church for years AFTER I restarted praying and fasting. I just had to find the strength to ignore this point of view and stop thinking “God, I love you, and Saint Paul said love is always patient, so what are these people talking about?” These people in this case were even priests.
Another nasty idea is that bad things happen into your life if you stay away from Him because He loves you and wants you back. The bullying, guilt-tripping God who, believe it or not loves you, but is still emotionally violent towards you, is what I was presented repeatedly until I just decided that God is misunderstood by a lot of people and to try to find Him and the saints and ignore people which still constitutes some solitude I feel in Church still.
 
Jrp72 said:
Can one be considered Catholic without being able to receive communion? Can you call yourself a Catholic without going to Mass every week?
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A baptised Catholic is a Catholic forever, no matter what you call yourself.
There are no lapsed/former/ex-Catholics.
There are only two types of Catholics - those in a state of grace and those in a state of mortal sin.
 
It was my apparently very clumsy attempt at demonstrating God’s unconditional love.

Sorry to have offended you.
 
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Jrp72 said:
Can one be considered Catholic without being able to receive communion?
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I have a relative in an illicit marriage. She goes to Mass every Sunday but doesn’t take Communion. Hopefully her marriage situation will be resolved. She is definitely a Catholic.
Jrp72 said:
Can you call yourself a Catholic without going to Mass every week?
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yes, you can still call yourself a Catholic if you don’t go to Mass but you will be in a state of Mortal Sin unless you have a very good reason for not being able to make Mass. I have a son whose new job requires working both Sat & Sun from 7 to 7. There is no chance for him to attend Mass on those weekends. Fortunately it doesn’t happen very often and he is waiting to hear from the Military so that he can change jobs.
 
1ke said:
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adgloriam:
@1ke the man !!!
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Actually…
The woman!!

Thanks!
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You managed to never hint at it. How do you do it?
 
adgloriam said:
You managed to never hint at it. How do you do it
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Well, I do on posts that are on some topics. Over on “Family Life” and “Catholic Living” I often refer to my husband, and contribute on female-oriented posts.
 
One is Catholic by virtue of a valid baptism. That marks your soul and the mark never leaves. You might hang all sorts of adjectives to the title, but, Catholic is forever
 
Do attend Mass, talk to Father about how you can be involved at your parish! You would not yet be able to receive Communion or be a Sponsor or an EMHC, aside from that there are so many ways to be part of parish life.
 
adgloriam said:
This is wrong. You can be a “celebrating catholic”. The commandments of charity are only that we love each other, that is the requirement to be a “practicing catholic”.

So, if you care to notice being “celebrating” doesn’t mean “practicing”. Have no illusion in that regard.
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This is a term that someone made up. The Church does not have a “celebrating Catholic” category.

A Catholic is a Catholic. Every single one of us has sinned and had to sit out more than a few Communions in our day, for some that wait is longer than for others. Compassion, mercy and prayer come in, not slapping made up terms onto those of us who commit sins.
 
Mary888 said:
guilt-tripping lapsed Christians into loving God is in my honest opinion one of the BIGGEST mistakes practicing Christians are doing
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I wish every Christian on earth could read this at least once. Trouble often is; those who need to wouldn’t get it anyway.
 
TheLittleLady said:
The Church does not have a “celebrating Catholic” category.
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I understand but the “practicing Catholic” category is also misleading - and you’ll notice, on this thread, its widespread use.
 
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po18guy said:
The obligation to attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not from some human organization based in far away Rome.
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Actually it is. The sacraments are socially regulated and hierarchically controlled. Sunday Mass obligation isn’t written in the bible. It was only in the 16th century that weekly communion started taking the place of yearly communion, and so forth…
 
adgloriam said:
Sunday Mass obligation isn’t written in the bible.
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While that term is not in Scripture, (neither are the words “Trinity” or “monogamy”), the directive to gather weekly is well grounded in Scripture

www.ncregister.com

Reasons for the Sunday Mass Obligation

“On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are to refrain from engaging in work or activities that hinder the worship owed to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s Day, the performance of the works of mercy, and the appropriate relaxation of mind and body.” (CCC 2185)
www.ncregister.com www.ncregister.com
 
Um, but there was no such thing as ‘yearly Mass", right? Sure not everybody received communion at every Mass but, um, there were a LOT of Masses, every Sunday PLUS many many feast days. So please, since the Jewish people have a Sabbath obligation, and the Christian has the (it’s in Scripture) weekly meeting on the Lord’s Day, and also (it’s in Scripture) the Church as teaching authority, and the oral and written verifications that yes indeed Christians celebrated "Sunday Mass’ from the get-go, it is NOT ‘man-made’, it is God-made and disseminated through human beings under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit (God) given to lead to all truth.
 
Yes. Only heresy, schism, and apostasy make one no longer a Catholic. Other mortal sins, no matter how many or how grievous, while excluding one from receiving Holy Communion without additional sin, do not separate one from the Church.

Pius XII, Mystici Corporis
  1. Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed. “For in one spirit” says the Apostle, “were we all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free.”[17] As therefore in the true Christian community there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Baptism, so there can be only one faith.[18] And therefore, if a man refuse to hear the Church, let him be considered - so the Lord commands - as a heathen and a publican. [19] It follows that those who are divided in faith or government cannot be living in the unity of such a Body, nor can they be living the life of its one Divine Spirit.
  2. Nor must one imagine that the Body of the Church, just because it bears the name of Christ, is made up during the days of its earthly pilgrimage only of members conspicuous for their holiness, or that it consists only of those whom God has predestined to eternal happiness. It is owing to the Savior’s infinite mercy that place is allowed in His Mystical Body here below for those whom, of old, He did not exclude from the banquet.[20] For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy. Men may lose charity and divine grace through sin, thus becoming incapable of supernatural merit, and yet not be deprived of all life if they hold fast to faith and Christian hope, and if, illumined from above, they are spurred on by the interior promptings of the Holy Spirit to salutary fear and are moved to prayer and penance for their sins.
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Justin_Mary said:
I understand there are issues with your marital situation. Hopefully this makes sense to you… confess the sins you are sorry for. Get absolved for those.
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By Canon Law one is obligated to confess all mortal sins of which one is aware of. Otherwise, it will make the sacrament invalid.
 
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