Any Catholics around who reject a teaching or two? Post here!

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Windmill said:
If it is a de fide teaching, and you realize that, and you persist in your dissent, then you place yourself outside the Church (excommunication). Therefore, you are no longer a Catholic. It is not the role of the conscience to decide moral/doctrinal value. The role of conscience is to apply moral value - not to create it. So if the Church deems a teaching “significant”, it doesn’t matter what the individual rates the importance as - the truth lies outside the individual believer. The individual believer should conform himself to Christ’s truth, not decide upon it by himself. That’s Rationalism.

I’d tread lightly on such a topic. If you are interested in helping people come back to the church, then great. If you are looking to gather some sort of “lobby” against the dogmas of the faith, you are wasting your time.
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👍
 
Allegra said:
I can only speak for myself. When I was becoming an adult, I had alot of objections to certain teachings of the Church. I never considered the possibility of becoming a Protestant because I had accepted the authority of the Church. I didn’t believe that Jesus would leave us without any guidance. I figured that if the original Church didn’t get it right, then none of it was real. I also realized that if you change your religion based on what you want, than you are not following God’s will, but your own. How can I hope that others change their behavior and start loving their neighbor, helping the poor, protecting the unborn, if I am not willing to accept God’s word on certain subjects either? Do I think so highly of myself that I think God has messages for those other sinful people, but no corrections for me? I would be a complete hypocrite! So, I decided that although I continued to have considerable doubt about certain teachings, I would obey and abide by them as long as I had faith in God. And guess what! After much study and prayer, (several years worth) I began to understand why we have these teachings in the first place.
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👍👍 Amen!
 
No! Why would I, or indeed any Catholic, reject the word of God? In addition, I must confess to being a tad suspicious regarding the motivation for the study. God bless.
 
You need to study on the formation of true moral conscience. It’s not about, “I don’t like that teaching or I disagree.” To form your true moral conscience on a subject you would have to enter into the study without prejudice.

The Catholic Church is NOT a democracy. We don’t get to pick and choose and vote for the things we want and vote down the things we don’t like.

That’s what people don’t “get” – that forming that true moral conscience requires readings and study, with an open mind, before you can come to a conclusion that something taught does not comport with your conscience. Not trying to make the teaching fit your conclusion.

I know this question was generated by this thread and I gave the same answer there as I give you now.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=646421

And there’s a link in my reply on erroneous judgment. There are far more articles on formation of a moral conscience.
Erroneous Judgment
 
Allegra said:
I can only speak for myself. When I was becoming an adult, I had alot of objections to certain teachings of the Church.
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Did you ever talk to someone about that? In RCIA the priest would rush things so it wasn’t an option to bring it up there. I always came to this site about it. You get mixed responses often rather than direct answers to the confusion.
I never considered the possibility of becoming a Protestant because I had accepted the authority of the Church.
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I totally understand that.
I didn’t believe that Jesus would leave us without any guidance. I figured that if the original Church didn’t get it right, then none of it was real.
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Yes I see what you are saying because if the first church failed to record and keep things as they originally were then no one now would have any hope of getting it right. It’s not possible also given what Jesus said to Peter.
I also realized that if you change your religion based on what you want, than you are not following God’s will, but your own.
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Yes, you have really put a lot of thought into this haven’t you?
How can I hope that others change their behavior and start loving their neighbor, helping the poor, protecting the unborn, if I am not willing to accept God’s word on certain subjects either? Do I think so highly of myself that I think God has messages for those other sinful people, but no corrections for me? I would be a complete hypocrite!
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You must have a tremendous level of patience and faith to have thought this way for so long but held on for the answers.
So, I decided that although I continued to have considerable doubt about certain teachings, I would obey and abide by them as long as I had faith in God.
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That’s a beautiful thing you are saying there. So many people could mean that but never be able to say it clearly.
And guess what! After much study and prayer, (several years worth) I began to understand why we have these teachings in the first place.
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Yeah, there is reason for them all. Some times you just have to read into its history to understand it or it just sounds odd. That’s one thing I love about the Catholic Church and the reason why I was drawn to it, because it has all the answers the other churches don’t have. The research done by the Catholic Church exceeds any others.
 
What’s the point of this thread other than to highlight the negative, imho ?
 
Zundrah said:
Yeah, there is reason for them all. Some times you just have to read into its history to understand it or it just sounds odd. That’s one thing I love about the Catholic church and the reason why I was drawn to it, because it has all the answers the other churches don’t have. The research done by the Catholic Church exceeds any others.
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… and that’s how you form true moral conscience, by studying the history of those teachings.
 
Stumblesalot said:
No! Why would I, or indeed any Catholic, reject the word of God?
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Did you miss the point of the question? It’s directed at those who already have rejected something from the Church.
In addition, I must confess to being a tad suspicious regarding the motivation for the study. God bless.
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That’s understandable.
 
BeMyLove said:
What’s the point of this thread other than to highlight the negative, imho ?
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To deal with a problem, you must first acknowledge it.

If you are concerned about the faith problems other Catholics are having then you can help them of course. When an issue arises, there can be brought solutions.
 
Leegal said:
You need to study on the formation of true moral conscience. It’s not about, “I don’t like that teaching or I disagree.” To form your true moral conscience on a subject you would have to enter into the study without prejudice.

The Catholic Church is NOT a democracy. We don’t get to pick and choose and vote for the things we want and vote down the things we don’t like.

That’s what people don’t “get” – that forming that true moral conscience requires readings and study, with an open mind, before you can come to a conclusion that something taught does not comport with your conscience. Not trying to make the teaching fit your conclusion.

I know this question was generated by this thread and I gave the same answer there as I give you now.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=646421

And there’s a link in my reply on erroneous judgment. There are far more articles on formation of a moral conscience.
Erroneous Judgment
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I didn’t start this thread because I saw that one. To be honest I can’t relate to what that OP is trying to tell us all.
 
Windmill said:
you place yourself outside the Church (excommunication). Therefore, you are no longer a Catholic.
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You misunderstand excommunication. It doesn’t make you “not Catholic”, just “unable to receive the sacraments”. Even so, it’s not a permanent state – and it isn’t intended to be! It’s meant to be medicinal – that is, it’s meant to be the kind of “intervention” that allows a person to re-evaluate their positions, in the hope that they’ll repent and return to the Church.

When people see excommunication as punitive rather than medicinal, all sorts of problems ensue…
 
Zundrah said:
I only have problems with 3 things it teaches and most would say that they are insignificant, but to me they are not. I breaks my heart to change my religious title. But I wont lie to myself.

But this isn’t about me. I want to know why they say they are Catholic even if they blatantly aren’t as you said here;
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Why not state what three things you struggle with that someone on here more learned than I could answer your questions and, prayerfully, help you understand not just “what” the Church teaches, but help you understand “why”. Becoming protestant won’t do anything for you. You already have a taste for God’s Church. If you reject it now, knowing it is the full Truth, you can’t sneak by on invincible ignorance. You must pray for God to give you the grace to reconcile you with the teachings of His Church that you may find understanding and with it peace. God be with you friend!
 
SaintPatrick333 said:
Why not state what three things you struggle with that someone on here more learned than I could answer your questions and, prayerfully, help you understand not just “what” the Church teaches, but help you understand “why”. Becoming protestant won’t do anything for you. You already have a taste for God’s Church. If you reject it now, knowing it is the full Truth, you can’t sneak by on invincible ignorance. You must pray for God to give you the grace to reconcile you with the teachings of His Church that you may find understanding and with it peace. God be with you friend!
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It’s nice of you to help come up with a solution for me, but maybe on another thread? This wasn’t suppose to come down to me. I know what I have decided and I know my reasons why. But, I feel that if I say why I reject them I’ll just get negative responses as I already have despite keeping my views to myself.

I have done my own in depth reading into the teachings I’ve not felt comfortable with. I don’t see what bringing them up can do.

Thank you and sorry.
 
Zundrah said:
I’m directing Catholics here, not protestants. Do you propose yourself to be Catholic but you ultimately reject/ disagree with one or more teachings? Please tell me what you are unhappy about.

Formal and emotional post are welcome, if you feel you might go deeply into it then don’t worry about that, just go ahead and do so.

If there is anything the Church teaches that you don’t agree with please tell me.
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When i first returned to the Church, I was convinced the Church was the Church Christ founded, but I still had some ideas in my head about Church teaching that were wrong, like how can celibate men make a rule about something they don’t know anything about, like birth control?

So I put it in God’s Hands: I told Him I didn’t understand it, but I would follow it. I did that and then God explained it to me.

There have been other times when this happened, but there have also been times when I asked for help understanding something and God didn’t clarify it directly but put something to read or something someone said in my way so I found the explanation that way.

What is important to me is that I follow and obey the Church, even if I don’t understand. I continue to grapple with the question, I let people know I don’t get it. And I pray about it.

It’s like the difference between feelings and actions. I may promise my friend that I’ll help her do something in Saturday morning, and then not feel like doing it when the time comes. But so what? I go and do it anyway. Not feeling like it is not a part of one’s will, it’s just an effect of being human.

I suggest that you pray about and discuss your doubts and disagreements, but if you have tried discussion, then work harder on prayer. Let God know that you want to follow Him, but that you don’t understand this and ask for His help.
 
I think that the issues most Catholics reject is the Church’s teaching against artificial contraception (Catholics practice it just as much as non-Catholics). Most Catholics seem to also reject the Church’s teaching on Sunday mass obligation—surveys show that most Catholics don’t go to regular Sunday mass. About half of all Catholics in the U.S. support abortion rights, embryonic stem cell research.

On the issue of artificial contraception, I think more Catholics would heed Church teaching if our bishops and priests would regularly and intelligently explain why it is intrinsically evil. The use of artificial contraception is at the heart of why society has been rotting over the past 40 years. But since most Catholics are not even attending mass on Sundays, most Catholics probably do not realize contraception is an evil that is intimately linked to the breakdown of the family–the nucleus of a healthy society. Thus the task of sharing this truth and bringing Catholics back to Mass falls in the hands of the laity, who live in the world and work along side other Catholics.

I believe that Catholics will be judged more severely than non-Catholics simply because Catholics have been given all the tools to grow in holiness. Many of the world’s problems wouldn’t exist today if the billion Catholics in the world would simply live up to the teachings of the Church. Protestants on the other hand are following an incomplete Christianity with false teachings that have lead to the further disintegration and secularization of society.
 
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