Hello,
I am beginning to have my doubts about being Catholic. A few reasons are because I am beginning to see lots of Liturgical Abuse in lots of different Parishes such as placing money on the altar, liturgical dance, the sharing of the blood of Jesus with parishioners, the watered down liturgy etc. I am beginning to look into the Eastern Orthodox Church, because it seems that the liturgy they celebrate is not watered down and it is also very spiritual. I am just worried about being Catholic because I always have to worry about going to a parish with a bad liturgy because there bishops allowed them due to the " spirit of Vatican 2 ". I’m also worried about going to a Mass that is invalid, where the eucharist is not presant due to the abuse of the priest, and I do not want to commit idolatry. I have these thoughts due to anxiety, and I was wondering if anybody can please help me with this? Is anybody else going through this phase also?
God Bless,
BVMFatima
I am a little puzzled here–what exactly is so horrendous (except for possibly liturgical dance) that would cause you to leave the Catholic Church? Furthermore, who or what is putting these ideas into your head–people just don’t think them up on their own-someone sows a seed of doubt.
How many times have you actually seen “liturgical dance”? (And don’t tell me there is an example on You-tube, because that is one place no one has a clue about what’s going on). Sharing the Blood of Jesus with the parishoners (receiving both the Body and Blood of Jesus) is perfectly legitimate and done all over the world; bringing baskets of money from the collection to the altar is the usual way of doing things during the offertory, and what, precisely, is a 'watered down" liturgy? There is not one thing here that would be classified as an abuse, except for the “liturgical dance”, and that is far from the worst type of abuse that could happen.
If you are hanging around with people who are telling you things that are not true about the Mass, or people not in Communion with Rome, or people who don’t like Vatican II or the OF,and blame all the problems of the Church on it, you owe it to yourself and God to educate yourself on the facts of things, and obtain a clear-headed idea of what it is you are objecting to. Saying that Mass is “watered down” is an example of muddled, not clear thinking. If you have friends that are planting seeds of doubt in your head, they are placing your soul in grave danger. Leaving the CC for the Orthodox is serious business for a Catholic. They are not in Communion with each other. You will have rejected papal authority the way the CC teaches, and you would also have some theological and doctrinal differences to accept. Leaving the Church is serious business.
Before you designate something as “liturgical abuse”, be sure it IS abuse; before you question the validity of the Eucharist, be sure you know WHAT makes the Eucharist
invalid, and before you say a liturgy is “watered down”, be sure you are able to say exactly what is watered down and why. Otherwise, you will not be taken seriously by people , and your anxiety will not be relieved.
And quit listening to all the negative voices out there. There are plenty of beautiful and reverent liturgies said every single day, but if you go with a critical eye, you will find something you don’t like about every single one of them. I have actually read criticism about the beautiful papal liturgies on these very forums. Imagine, someone criticizing the way the head of the Church does a liturgy! That is how negative things can get.
This may sound harsh, but someone with anxiety issues needs to put a name to what is making them anxious, not wander around with unspecified or inarticulate fears. You need to confront what is making you anxious and find out the truth about it. And you don’t need to have people feeding into the anxiety and supporting it. I understand how this is, because I struggled with it for years. Find a trusted, good priest or spiritual director that you can talk about these things with, one who can be objective about things. Educate yourself, but be careful about what you read–be sure it is Church teaching. And don’t leave the Church without careful consideration and prayer.
