Apologetics and Church PR

[St_Francis]

Yes, it is!! The reaction it brought up in me was a desire to run upstairs, jump in my bed and pull the covers over my head.

Yes! That’s exactly it!

And more seriously… I’ve been contemplating the Agony in the Garden at those moments. Talk about perspective.

 

[Ana]

I think your comments here are very interesting! They touch on an area that I have been interested in but haven’t had time to explore: the interstices of Catholic thought and secular psychology. You put what I have only vaguely sensed so clearly; you make it sound like psychology has just a pennysworth of help but that opening the door to the Church leads one into a whole new world… (Sorry, mixed metaphors, but I couldn’t figure out how to put it more clearly!)

Ha ha … I had to look up interstices. But, yes your mixed metaphor describes perfectly what I perceive. Not only that, but in the Church is encompassed, what you could gain from psychology. Living a virtuous life results in good emotional health, with a lot less time and money spent on the couch. I recall seeing a show where Bishop Fulton Sheen, spoke about this. He drew a side by side comparison of the ways of Psychology and the ways of the Church. It was pretty interesting. I am not saying there is no place for it, that is like saying there is no place for Doctor’s or Science. But the Church is way ahead of secular psychology as far as basic emotional health goes and there is so much mish mash that it can be exhausting trying to reconcile some of it’s ways with our faith.

One example I recall, is when I was going through a particularly difficult time during my quest for healing, and was unable to be inimate with my husband. The secular resources were unanimous that at this time my husband was to leave me alone and masturbate, and even encouraged the use of pornography!! Not only that, the hurtng spouse is encouraged to lay next to him, so that she can be part of it all Praise God, my husband was appalled, and he willingly sacrificed his needs, for my comfort. I cannot tell you how BIG this was for me. It provided a tremendous avenue of healing for me, *through his loving sacrifice. *I had men who had put their needs before mine for their own sexual gratification. This was the first time a man put aside his own gratification for my needs. I cannot emphasize how special this was for me. How much love poured out of my heart towards my husband, and it really strenghened our marriage, as well as provided a way for his love to hit home in me. It is still, in my mind, one of the most beautiful things my husband has ever done for me in the name of love. I can honestly say, I would NOT have experienced the eventual healing I received if my husband would have taken the advice of those “experts.” I even spoke to women who bought these things for their husbands because they felt like they were supposed to. So, I guess what I am saying is not only is there only a pennysworth of help, but sometimes it can be downright damaging.

 

[Ana]

Thanks for linking this! I am going to tell the people at my parish about this.

Ana will be interested in this too. For some time I have wanted to do something because there are a lot of immigrants in this area, and what I see is that a lot of them do not see what is happening to their children, or they see and have no idea what to do. The language situation is difficult. And I was thinking *just earlier today *that maybe I could propose to my parish that I (who, me???) sort of start a class which would be like Catholicism 101 alongside a lot of these issues, because a lot of them do not know their Faith, either (Catholicism was kind of stamped down on in Mexico for many years.)

So, maybe a couple of things will come out of this thread!

Oh my gosh!! THIS is a FANTASTIC idea!! One I am going to look into at my parish as well. I had forgotten about them. It is important that an avenue is provided for them as well.We already have Catholic 101 classes, but not in Spanish. My mother speaks Spanish (me not so good) and she has been asking me to call Monsigner to aske if she can volunteer. Maybe that would be a good time to bring it up with him. Also, I am glad you brought this up, because if a ministry for sexual healing is started, it should be made accessible to our Spanish speaking brothers and sister as well.

 

[Ana]

Their website is here: catholicscomehome.org/
The videos are beautiful! I wish I saw things like that on TV more often…

Peace,
+AMDG+

I’m sorry. I feel like I am dominating this thread. But I just wanted to comment on this link. I watched the videos, and now I’ve gone and cried into my coffee. They were beautiful.

 

[St_Francis]

Oh my gosh!! THIS is a FANTASTIC idea!! One I am going to look into at my parish as well. I had forgotten about them. It is important that an avenue is provided for them as well.We already have Catholic 101 classes, but not in Spanish. My mother speaks Spanish (me not so good) and she has been asking me to call Monsigner to aske if she can volunteer. Maybe that would be a good time to bring it up with him. Also, I am glad you brought this up, because if a ministry for sexual healing is started, it should be made accessible to our Spanish speaking brothers and sister as well.

Oh, absolutely. My Spanish is pretty bad–I make a lot of grammatical mistakes and occasionally really goof by using the wrong word!–but I thought, I have some Spanish study books, and with the internet I can find stuff to listen to, and d’you know, my husband was on Skype once, and someone from another country asked if they could talk so he could practice his English! And my husband said that was something that people do on Skype–there’s an actual system for it

You know, if any of these ideas really take off, and things get written, we can ask for volunteers to translate into even more languages. Even just for those here in the US, there are places with immigrants from so many different countries–San Francisco apparently has 187 languages represented in its school system.

 

[tuviskazinai]

Oh, absolutely. My Spanish is pretty bad–I make a lot of grammatical mistakes and occasionally really goof by using the wrong word!–but I thought, I have some Spanish study books, and with the internet I can find stuff to listen to, and d’you know, my husband was on Skype once, and someone from another country asked if they could talk so he could practice his English! And my husband said that was something that people do on Skype–there’s an actual system for it

You know, if any of these ideas really take off, and things get written, we can ask for volunteers to translate into even more languages. Even just for those here in the US, there are places with immigrants from so many different countries–San Francisco apparently has 187 languages represented in its school system.

St Francis, it’s always hard to tell on these forums because everyone’s anonymous, but ever since seeing your screen-name for the first time I just naturally assumed you were a man…maybe a guy named Francis. So I had to read that “husband” sentence in this post quite a few times before it sank in that I was mistaken.

 

[Ana]

Oh, absolutely. My Spanish is pretty bad–I make a lot of grammatical mistakes and occasionally really goof by using the wrong word!–but I thought, I have some Spanish study books, and with the internet I can find stuff to listen to, and d’you know, my husband was on Skype once, and someone from another country asked if they could talk so he could practice his English! And my husband said that was something that people do on Skype–there’s an actual system for it

My mother’s first language is Spanish. She also has a degree in Spanish and education and taught spanish at our local high school. She did tutoring on the side for college students. They would come to our home and just TALK.

 

[Ana]

St Francis, it’s always hard to tell on these forums because everyone’s anonymous, but ever since seeing your screen-name for the first time I just naturally assumed you were a man…maybe a guy named Francis. So I had to read that “husband” sentence in this post quite a few times before it sank in that I was mistaken.

You are one to talk!! lol I checked both of your profiles to get a better idea of who I was conversing with. I learned St. Francis was Catholic and that you are a student from Paris. Neato! But I still don’t know if you are male or female.

 

[tuviskazinai]

You are one to talk!! lol I checked both of your profiles to get a better idea of who I was conversing with. I learned St. Francis was Catholic and that you are a student from Paris. Neato! But I still don’t know if you are male or female.

haha…yeah, I guess so.
I’m American, actually, just studying abroad in Paris. And I’m male…name’s Nicholas.

 

[Ana]

haha…yeah, I guess so.
I’m American, actually, just studying abroad in Paris. And I’m male…name’s Nicholas.

Hee hee … I thought St. Francis was a boy and you were a girl. Wrong on both counts. Notice my profile leaves no room for error.:thankyou:lol

 

[kvw]

Sort of a coincidence, but on the topic of outreach, I just came across this today at Catholic News:
**
Media effort draws 92,000 inactive Catholics back home to church**

PHOENIX (CNS) – Maybe TV isn’t so bad after all. An estimated 92,000 inactive Catholics in the Phoenix Diocese have come back to the church in the last year thanks in large part to a groundbreaking television advertising campaign called Catholics Come Home. The promotional spots featured people and locations from around the Phoenix Diocese to promote the church during prime-time television. The cornerstone of the campaign, the Catholics Come Home Web site, addresses often misunderstood aspects of the faith. “For those who had fallen away from the practice of their faith, it let them know that we want them to come home,” Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said. The commercials, which ran during Lent in 2008, detail the good works of the Catholic Church throughout history. They also offer real-life testimonials of local fallen-away Catholics explaining what turned them away and what drew them back.

Their website is here: catholicscomehome.org/
The videos are beautiful! I wish I saw things like that on TV more often…

Peace,
+AMDG+

The video I saw at Catholics Come Home was very beautiful and moving. It is exciting to hear how effective this was in the Phoenix Diocese. 92,000!

I have heard that Virtue Media is also a good organization to support and that their ads are very effective.
www.virtuemedia.org
www.virtuemedia.org/television.htm