California’s First Lady says she’s ‘a Cafeteria Catholic’

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The first three paragraphs from The California Catholic Daily; (Emphasis mine)

“I pick and choose”
California’s First Lady says she’s ‘a Cafeteria Catholic’

“I start every one of my days praying,” says Maria Shriver, wife of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. “I go to church every week. I went to Catholic schools my entire life.” But, says Shriver, when it comes to Church teachings, “I pick and choose… I think I’m probably a ‘Cafeteria Catholic.’”

Shriver’s comments came during a lengthy interview on the Washington Post’s video blog ‘On Faith,’ taped during an Oct. 22 women’s conference at the Long Beach Convention Center. Shriver, wearing a rosary around her neck, was interviewed by Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn and co-host Jon Meacham of Newsweek. Portions of the interview were posted Nov. 17 on “wowOwow,” a web site that says it is “run and written by Lesley Stahl, Peggy Noonan, Liz Smith, Joni Evans, Mary Wells, Sheila Nevins, Joan Juliet Buck, Whoopi Goldberg, Julia Reed, Joan Ganz Cooney, Judith Martin, Candice Bergen, Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner, and Marlo Thomas.”

Shriver and the governor are members of St. Monica’s parish in Santa Monica, and she told Quinn and Meacham during the interview, “My pastor (Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson) is a huge part of my life.” But her closeness to her pastor, her regular church attendance and her Catholic education don’t seem to have discouraged her from** taking positions distinctly at odds with the magisterium**. “I have a dispute with a lot of the Catholic Church,” said Shriver in the interview. “Even though I consider myself a Catholic in good standing, I disagree with a lot of the teachings of the Church.”
 
She is living in a fantasy land if she things you can pick and choose and still be a Catholic in good standing.
 
God bless her and the Goovinator! And Mary keep them.

Peace,

Gail
 
Caveman said:
Shriver’s comments came during a lengthy interview on the Washington Post’s video blog ‘On Faith,’ taped during an Oct. 22 women’s conference at the Long Beach Convention Center. Shriver, wearing a rosary around her neck, was interviewed by Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn and co-host Jon Meacham of Newsweek.

Shriver and the governor are members of St. Monica’s parish in Santa Monica, and she told Quinn and Meacham during the interview, “My pastor (Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson) is a huge part of my life.” But her closeness to her pastor, her regular church attendance and her Catholic education don’t seem to have discouraged her from** taking positions distinctly at odds with the magisterium**. “I have a dispute with a lot of the Catholic Church,” said Shriver in the interview. “Even though I consider myself a Catholic in good standing, I disagree with a lot of the teachings of the Church.”
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A small correction. The male in the video interview is Maria Shriver’s brother, Timothy Shriver, not Jon Meacham of Newsweek.
 
Given what she says I think she’s a lousy Catholic and she’s only fooling herself.
 
Soutane said:
Given what she says I think she’s a lousy Catholic and she’s only fooling herself.
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I really don’t feel that your negative comment is justified.

Actually - I give Maria credit for being forthright about acknowlegding that she is disagrees. Maybe in hindsight someday she might regret being so public about it. I’m sure she struggles with understanding teachings of the Church just like the rest of us. Everyone of us is struggling and I invite her to CAForums to maybe discover Truth. Calling her a lousy Catholic is hardly an invitation to come.

I can say that I have not always understood those popular red hot issues in today’s culture. In time though - with some struggle and desire to be right with the Church and the Grace of God - I have learned.

We might pray for Maria and all those who publicly declare they don’t exactly agree with all teachings of the Church. :gopray:
 
Being Catholic is like being pregnant. Either you are, are you aren’t. If you are, then you give religious assent to ALL Catholic teachings. If you don’t, then you’re just another brand of Protestant, flying a false flag.

Remember the original sin of Eve and Adam? Satan told Eve that if she ate of the forbidden fruit, she would be “like God?” That means, among other things, that SHE could decide, for herself, what was right and what was wrong, what was true and what was false. And that’s the sin of the vast majority of Americans I’ve ever met! Everyone wants to have it their way, not God’s way. Eating the forbidden fruit didn’t hurt anyone physically, it wasn’t poison, etc. It was a sin simply because God said, “No!” and Adam and Eve said, “Yes!” This principle applies to everyone.

Fast forward to 2008. God gave humanity His deposit of faith, His truths, through the Catholic Church. It was an all or nothing proposition. And, Maria said, in effect, “I want to choose, for myself, what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false.” I. Me. My. Myself.

Now, we cannot and should not try to judge her culpability before God. Maybe she is invincibly ignorant. Only God knows her heart. But, we can and should judge her rebellious, scandalous statements, in order to help others avoid this error. We should say that what she said is a grevious error, that she and everyone else should avoid.

Just sayin’…
 
A stupid Catholic really.

Anyone who says ‘I pick and choose’ really is ignorant of the faith and never really put much effort in studying it.

I bet I can put a question to her about Catholicism and she would be dumbstruck.
 
cathgal, isn’t it sad that so many Catholics in our country have bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD’s in areas of science, business, etc., but a second or third grade education in their Catholic faith? It boggles my mind. They’re going to put all that effort into something that may serve them 80 years, give or take, at best. And put so little effort in something that will affect their eternity!
 
Scoobyshme said:
cathgal, isn’t it sad that so many Catholics in our country have bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD’s in areas of science, business, etc., but a second or third grade education in their Catholic faith? It boggles my mind. They’re going to put all that effort into something that may serve them 80 years, give or take, at best. And put so little effort in something that will affect their eternity!
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The problem is religion in this day and age is the thing of the past. Anyone who strictly holds to it is either a fanatic, superstitious, gullible or the unlearned. So it’s no surprise that the most highly educated is also the most dumbest in the faith. If they have any tiny bit of faith, they have their parent to thank for. But don’t count on their kids have any left if they have a tiny bit to waste, and there are too many of them.

It’s hard to have the kids strong in the faith in this day and age even if the parents are strong. In most cases, the parents of better time who practices the faith don’t necessarily know the faith inside and out. Meaning they don’t know the reason why they do what they do or believe what they believe. Their children would be skeptical when they don’t have a satisfactory answer.

That’s why it’s so crucial that the parents of today know the faith thoroughly. Just sending the kids to catechism class is not enough, even Catholic school.

There are parents who send their kids to Catholic schools but outside the classes, would have nothing to do w/ the faith. They trust Catholic schools that much to send their kids there but not the faith.

Sad indeed.😦
 
Soutane said:
Given what she says I think she’s a lousy Catholic and she’s only fooling herself.
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Thank goodness for you perfect Catholics who try so hard to keep the riff-raff, sinners out!! :rolleyes:

At least she was honest in her self-assessment. I think, however, “struggling Catholic” might be a less pejorative term since most of us do have issues with which we don’t have a solid understanding and thus acceptance or obedience.
 
Island_Oak said:
Thank goodness for you perfect Catholics who try so hard to keep the riff-raff, sinners out!! :rolleyes:

At least she was honest in her self-assessment. I think, however, “struggling Catholic” might be a less pejorative term since most of us do have issues with which we don’t have a solid understanding and thus acceptance or obedience.
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Obviously, you’ve forgotten about The Works of Mercy that instruct us to admonish the sinner, and instruct the ignorant.

Attitudes such as yours are exactly why we have so many “good Catholics” like MS who openly spit on Dogmas of The Faith.

There’s absolutely nothing that MS is “struggling” with . She knows exactly what she’s doing. But you go ahead and pat her on the head. Keep acting like there’s nothing REALLY wrong with what she’s doing.
 
Island_Oak said:
Thank goodness for you perfect Catholics who try so hard to keep the riff-raff, sinners out!! :rolleyes:

At least she was honest in her self-assessment. I think, however, “struggling Catholic” might be a less pejorative term since most of us do have issues with which we don’t have a solid understanding and thus acceptance or obedience.
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A person is not a ‘struggling Catholic’ unless they struggle to understand the teaching.

This means buy good Catholic books and study it. Really study it.
Is she that? Highly doubtful. She ain’t got time for it.

A struggling Catholic is a person who is still doubtful of the teachings. Meaning he/she can be wrong about the teachings.

Is Shiver like that?

No. She is set on what she believes to be wrong.

To prove it, she was so loud about it and arrogantly proclaims it.

A struggling Catholic should shut her mouth about it and not disgrace the Church and give a bad example to other Catholics. But since she had a big mouth, I can comfortably say she is a really lousy Catholic!
 
At least she’s honest. So many Catholics are in fact “Cafeteria Catholics”, it’s nice to see someone up front about it.

If there is confusion in Catholicism as to what it means to be Catholic (and there certainly is confusion in spades) - let’s place blame right where it belongs: Rome, the Bishops, clergy and religious who have NOT properly catechized the faithful and otherwise have scandalized the faithful with their maladministration, e.g, the sex scandal.
 
Caveman said:
…Attitudes such as yours are exactly why we have so many “good Catholics” like MS who openly spit on Dogmas of The Faith.

There’s absolutely nothing that MS is “struggling” with . .
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cathgal said:
A person is not a ‘struggling Catholic’ unless they struggle to understand the teaching.

Is she that? Highly doubtful. She ain’t got time for it.

A struggling Catholic is a person who is still doubtful of the teachings. Meaning he/she can be wrong about the teachings.

Is Shiver like that?

No. She is set on what she believes to be wrong.

…But since she had a big mouth, I can comfortably say she is a really lousy Catholic!
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WOW…perfect and omniscient!! You even KNOW the depths of another’s deepest beliefs and struggles? You guys got game!!!
 
Lets see I’m a Catholic in good standing. But theres a few things I just dont agree with the Church on. Lets see theres that little teaching on murder, if I want to kill my child before he’s born what buisness is that of some old white men in rome? And then there’s that teaching on chastity; hey, if I want it I should be able to have it. This is what being a christian is all about, we all have diverse opinions, and Its all about what I think. My will be done. Jesus understands.
 
I can attest to the whole lack of faith formation thing. When I started teaching CCD after my confirmation, my very first 9th grade class could care less about the Truth of Catholicism. It was truly a test of patience, considering the fact that I was only 3 years older than them. Yet this year, more students seem to care more. I suppose tougher and firmer Catechism has been implemented. I know I make no compromises. I teach Truth, no matter how hard it is to accept. Its about God, not me.
 
It was ill-advised for her to announce that she is a “cafeteria Catholic.” She should have known better; she has been around politics all her life. Such a remark will gain nothing, but cost the respect of many.
 
i am a new convert to the Catholic faith. how i envy maria shriver shwarzenegger and the Catholic upbringing she had from birth. she was blessed by so much. doesn’t she realize how fortunate she was to have her Catholic education and upbringing?

if she truly feels that she disagrees with most of the teachings of the Catholic church, i wonder why she chooses to remain Catholic or if this fact does not bother her when she attends mass every sabbath knowing how she feels inside.

i think the kennedys aren’t really the Catholics they present themselves to be to the public.
 
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