CAF vs general population

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Lara, it is not what I say nor for that matter what you or your brother say, that is relevant when it comes to Catholic teaching on this. I most certainly respect your brother’s wishes to identify atheist and others who have left the practice of the faith to identify as they wish. If I were to join another faith community, I myself would more than likely identify as a member of the faith community. But it is what the Catholic Church says that is pertinent to what you were discussing.
 
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commenter said:
The Protestants I know - who often talk about their religion - tend to be Baptists or Pentecostals. Half of them are former Catholics. I rarely have found them on CAF.
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Ha ha! Even the OP thinks of former Catholics as the people they’ve become: Protestants.

But Sy_Noe, I concede your point. I can accept that Catholics have a permanent mark on their soul.

As to IRL, is life spent on CAF not real? Sometimes I think of you all as sprites.
 
Augustinian said:
When I bought my first computer 20 some years ago from Gateway, they included a brochure about “netiquette” and I think they should re-distribute it.
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No one would read it. I can’t even get people to read links and sources on this site.

Also, when people ask you to cite something on-line, 99% of the time it’s a given they don’t have a counterpoint, believe what you are saying and trying in some small way to save face that you won’t get back to them and they can cling to hope there’s a 0.01% chance they are right.
 
Lara said:
Would you say Martin Luther was a Catholic?
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The fact is he was. But I would say he got some low-quality spiritual direction (his story on this is pretty well known) and the secular elements of the Church were pretty arrogant at the time.
redbetta said:
Also, I find it extremely judgmental of you to think that people who don’t give money to panhandlers don’t care about the poor.
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If anyone does this blindly, they are risking doing nothing more than funding a drug or gambling habit. This mentality is also why most development projects in the third world fail and why workplace safety is a joke in many circles.

But who cares when there’s likes and good feelings on Facebook?
 
In some respects the Church considers baptized Catholics as Catholics forever. But in other respects not necessarily.
For example evangelization programs specifically target (baptized)Catholics not currently practicing. Those who chose to reactivate often go through rcia.

Religious liberty and ecumenical documents affirm the right to choose your own religion. If a layman goes over to the Lutherans and becomes ordained there, Catholic priests will call him Rev.

So in some ways it is permanent, in other ways not. The Church teaches that Protestant baptisms also leave an indelible mark.
 
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As far as I can tell my parish is vary similar to the one you are apart of .they are vary welcoming to the converts to the church this year and they are so genuinely interested in people’s lives and that they are taken care of no matter what it is ride to and from church, visit to our major trauma hospital which is an hour away by car no problem prayers needed again no problem, I never and I mean never saw that with the Methodist church.
 
People on CAF argue more. I’m not excluding myself from that BTW.
 
While I agree with you on this subject, assuming that who people who give money to panhandlers do it to virtue signal is just as wrong as assuming that people who don’t give money to panhandlers do not care about the poor.
 
That’s a good point. People who have a habit of virtue-signaling tend not to give much of anything.
 
commenter said:
How does your experience with types of people on CAF compare with people you know In Real World (IRL)? This will vary a lot according to where you live.
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I can see a few overlaps, i.e. teenagers who know better than I do about every subject imaginable, men who know better than women about womany stuff…basically a lot of reverse-Socrateses offline and on.
 
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CD45 said:
CAF is generally more conservative than the general population. Reminds me of a conversation I had with a good priest friend of mine about 20 years ago. He said the more moderate, middle of the road people were becoming less and less religious. And that in the future those who continued to be religious would be more conservative
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Rather, society is becoming more secular, and religious liberals are more and more “fitting into” the standard mold. In fact, they are the standard mold.

Religious conservatives are not getting more numerous or more conservative, they are more noticeable because they are different from standard American.

Some of my liberal cousins over 65 still identify as “liberal Catholics”, still interested in Call to Action, National Catholic Reporter, etc. But they have no successors. Their kids aren’t liberal Catholics, they are non Catholics, who could not care less.

Likewise the only religious orders that attract vocations now are conservative ones. The other ones are essentially disappearing into secular society.
 
I once met a theologian (maybe 5 or 6 years ago) who deliberately avoided self-identifying as anything, but was generally considered “liberal” by the conservatives and “conservative” by the liberals.

In fact, he was often the “token conservative” in certain circles, really meaning that he was as far to the right as those circles were comfortable entertaining. Because of that, his more liberal colleagues would all come to him for “insight” into conservative things. One of the things he was always asked was, “Why are all the younger priests / religious / theologians / lay leaders in the Church overwhelmingly more conservative?” To which his reply was always, “Because they give a [expletive deleted].”

I always thought that was an interesting response. 😝 But even more than the response, it struck me that his colleagues were generally and genuinely concerned that they had no ideological heirs.
 
Just from being on this group, it may provide spiritual direction for each or some of the members. Because, whatever your issue is, either someone is going through or has been through it and is a better Catholic for it.
With all the differing opinions, you can take from it what strengthens your Catholic faith, or helps in becoming one.
But until everyone finds their own personal director, this really helps.
 
I am a Catholic committed to God and to the Church, and try to live my live accordingly, within a community of like-minded people in the church. In doing so, because such life is very much in contradictory to the life of the ‘world’, we have to impose radical changes in our lives in order to pursue an authentic Christian life, which is very much different to the life of people that we see and know around us.

There are many such groups in the Catholic Church,which I am not bound to disclose here as it may seem as bragging. That was our experience - when we share our lives and what we do, it looks like bragging because there is so much to tell, which do not go down well with some people outside of it.

I travel a lots - to many countries around the world to visit each other and having conferences. Often when we meet each other, they would just weep, seeing that there are people in other parts of the world who try to live a life that Jesus calls us to. It has become so uncommon, that it is a novelty to see one.

I am sure there are also such posters on CAF. Of course there are those who want helps and advice. And on the other end, there are those who want to proselytise and to troll. So there are all kinds especially as we come anonymously.

Take whatever is helpful and beneficial, and leave behind those that aren’t.

God bless.
 
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On CAF I have met people who believe in the flat earth theory, young earth creationism, and that reading about magic in a fictional book called Harry Potter is the same as practicing magic.

I have met Catholics whose beliefs will not be out of place among Fundamentalist Baptists.

I have not met those types of Catholics in real life.
 
Well, it really doesn’t. The issues are often the same ones; with different approaches to them. How a person thinks and votes on abortion makes a big difference in being a Catholic, eg. How they vote and think about “assisted suicide” makes a difference as a Catholic. The decision is which party represents strong Catholic morality the most.
 
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