Catholic but not practicing

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Hello everyone. I’m a 51 year old male. Went to Catholic grammar school. I was raised Catholic by the school. Just recently I started listening a live stream by Christian pastors. They have woken my spirit up. Their sermons are spoken with so much passion about Jesus. I even read the Bible now and study it. My question is am I listening to false prophets? These Pastors are all about love about Jesus and how he died for our sins. Lots of talk about Salvation. I been to Catholic mass before. Why is a Catholic sermon lack passion by the priest? I had so many friends I know say Catholic church is a fake religion. Man made religion. I’m so confused, so lost in faith as I’m trying to grow my relationship with God. Trying to live a good life to avoid eternal fire. Why is religion so confusing to live a Catholic life . Im so confused
 
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You need to call your local parish and make an appointment to have a discussion with the priest. He can answer your questions and guide you.

I agree, a lot of Protestant preachers are very effective speakers but unless you know where they lead you astray, you’ll never recognize when they lead you astray. Much of what they preach about is in general true for all of Christianity but you’d have to be able to spot the differences. Talk to a priest first!

And many here will probably agree that not all priests are gifted speakers. That’s not their primary role. For Protestant speakers, it’s all they have.
 
I agree with what a previous answer said, that Christian pastors may be more gifted speakers than some Catholic Priests, but it’s also leading into some problematic territory if you start basing your relationship with God on passion, or a feeling, or to compare one person’s experience with God to another.

Peace
 
Protestant pastors have a partial truth. Pay attention to the details in their sermons and you will find two things they affirm: one that only the faith is necessary and two that only the Bible is necessary. Both are wrong so tread carefully but like St Paul said: test everything, keep what is good.
 
Jhernandez said:
My question is am I listening to false prophets? These Pastors are all about love about Jesus and how he died for our sins. Lots of talk about Salvation.
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You know the story about the 7 blind men trying to describe an elephant, right? Each talks about one little thing they can personally touch. But in the end, they have no idea what an elephant looks like.

Same here. You get this Protestant denomination over here emphasizing this aspect, and that one over there emphasizing that one. Catholicism includes all aspects. If you want to be a mystic, go ahead. If you want to give your life to helping the dying, go ahead. If you want to spend your life in prayer, go ahead. If you simply want to live a good life, go ahead.

If you want to believe through passion and emotion…I would be extremely cautious. Given the initial set of beliefs (God exists, Jesus is God, etc.) Catholicism is simply common sense and logic based on a set of initial beliefs. Pick any encyclical–common sense.

But take religion to an emotional level. I knew a woman once who had back pains. She prayed, and “God healed me.” But then the pains came back (as back pains will do…naturally). She lost her faith. But it was a false faith. Or people that hear a bird outside their window and say “That was my mother’s favorite bird, God has sent the bird to remind me of my mother.” Really? And what if you see a hawk eat that bird? Then what?
Jhernandez said:
Why is religion so confusing to live a Catholic life .
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I have no idea what that means. I think everyone with the exception of a few psychopaths know exactly how to life a good life, Catholic or not. What is so confusing?
 
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Also, you might try listening to Catholic podcasts, livestreams, or even Catholic radio. You will learn a lot about the Church that way. There are great Catholic teachers and preachers aplenty!
In fact you are on Catholic Answers website, which came from the Catholic Answerse radio show, which is a great show!

Also, ask yourself this:
Did Jesus write a book?
Did Jesus establish a Church?
What does that tell you?
 
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Only faith is necessary? What else is missing??
 
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Pattylt said:
And many here will probably agree that not all priests are gifted speakers. That’s not their primary role. For Protestant speakers, it’s all they have.
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That hasn’t been my experience and sounds a little unfair. My pastor not only has motivating sermons but also leads outreaches to the poor, an ongoing food pantry, helps manage support groups of different kinds in the church like ‘Celebrate Recovery’ , visits parishioners in the hospital (before coronavirus shut it down) and shut-ins at home, runs a ministry that has handymen from the church do simple odd jobs for the elderly, does pastoral counseling and even calls parishioners on their birthday and chats with them (if the parishioner wants) for 10 mins or so and prays with them.

One Saturday a month our pastor leads lots of volunteers into the community to work on various community projects, even helping other churches with manual labor, which does a lot to bolster interfaith relations in our city.

I’m sure Catholic priests do these things, too, but to suggest that all Protestant pastors have to focus on is their speaking/sermons diminishes their varied roles and makes them out to be much less than what they really are in many Protestant faith communities.
 
First - all the ‘other’ religions really are man-made. Catholicism is the only one that traces its roots back to Jesus himself. But as for the speakers - one of my favorite to listen to isn’t Catholic, but he’s so awesome to listen to - AND he’s come under fire lately for being “too Catholic” (LOL).

BUT I have a couple awesome CATHOLIC speakers I enjoy tremendously! Have you watched anything by Father Mike Schmitz of the Duluth Diocese? Check out his youtube channel.
 
Sanctifying grace, which ordinarily comes through the Sacraments.

Faith is necessary but so are Hope, Charity and all the other virtues.

Please find a good Catholic priest to help you. 🙏 for you.
 
Faith without works is dead. Faith has to bear fruit. Even demons have faith but they do not do the will of the Father.
 
Tommy999 said:
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Pattylt:
And many here will probably agree that not all priests are gifted speakers. That’s not their primary role. For Protestant speakers, it’s all they have.
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That hasn’t been my experience and sounds a little unfair. My pastor not only has motivating sermons but also leads outreaches to the poor, an ongoing food pantry, helps manage support groups of different kinds in the church like ‘Celebrate Recovery’ , visits parishioners in the hospital (before coronavirus shut it down) and shut-ins at home, runs a ministry that has handymen from the church do simple odd jobs for the elderly, does pastoral counseling and even calls parishioners on their birthday and chats with them (if the parishioner wants) for 10 mins or so and prays with them.

One Saturday a month our pastor leads lots of volunteers into the community to work on various community projects, even helping other churches with manual labor, which does a lot to bolster interfaith relations in our city.

I’m sure Catholic priests do these things, too, but to suggest that all Protestant pastors have to focus on is their speaking/sermons diminishes their varied roles and makes them out to be much less than what they really are in many Protestant faith communities.
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Perhaps I was a bit unfair but Protestant pastors seem to live or die by their ability to have motivating sermons. Most pastors in their faiths are almost entirely dependent upon drawing in crowds to grow their church or to maintain one they join. Whereas priests are placed in churches and no voting committees determine their hire. A pastor that consistently delivers dry boring sermons and thus see the numbers drop will be replaced, no? It’s just not a concern…or at least a primary concern for priests. Agree or disagree?
 
Pattylt said:
A pastor that consistently delivers dry boring sermons and thus see the numbers drop will be replaced, no? It’s just not a concern…or at least a primary concern for priests. Agree or disagree?
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I agree that a typical Protestant pastor probably focuses more on sermon preparation and delivery than priests do on their homily preparation (in general), but it’s a little like comparing apples to oranges, in my opinion.

But yes, if a Protestant pastor continues to have dry and boring sermons, he probably won’t last long in some congregations.

For the Protestant minister, the sermon is usually 25-30 mins and is the main focus of the service, whose goal is to impart the practical application of God’s Word to the parishioners’ lives.

In the few Catholic Masses I attended, the homily wasn’t intended to be the main focus - the Eucharist was, which is the centerpiece of the Mass. I totally understand and respect that. Since the homily isn’t the focal point of the Mass, priests probably spend less time on preparing them than Protestant pastors do, although I think certain Catholic priests are excellent speakers, like Fr John Riccardo, Fr Mitch Pacwa, Fr Larry Richards, and others. I could listen to these gents all day and think they are wonderful.
 
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I agree there are some excellent homily deliveries in Catholic Churches. My town is very lucky in that both the priest and deacon are very good speakers.

Growing up in my old home town we originally had two orthodox synagogues but one had a Rabbi that was dry as toast in his delivery…his chanting was subpar as well. They wound up combining the two synagogues and Rabbi Dry became the assistant Rabbi until he retired so most sermons were handled by the “good” one. Rabbi Dry was a very kind compassionate man and was wonderful at other duties and was appreciated for that! He just lacked any skill at delivery of sermons! 😇
 
Javier:

The Pastors are just delivering an incomplete message. Of course Jesus died to set us free from sin and to open the gates of heaven for us.
BUT - Jesus also taught that to gain heaven we must: (1) be baptized, (2) eat His Body and drink His Blood, (3) follow His commandments, (4) when we sin, repair our relationship to Him by confessing our sins to a priest. All of those teachings come straight from Jesus; and all of them are recorded in the Bible.
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Only the Catholic and Orthodox Churches have all those components. Do you want to obey Jesus completely or just hear a great homily about one aspect of His ministry?

There are many Catholics who were never taught about the depth and treasury and beauty and logic of our great Church, which Jesus himself started. If you want, PM me and I will get you resources to help you locally.

Don’t settle for just cranberries when what Jesus sets before you is a complete Thanksgiving feast.

Deacon Christopher
 
Some Catholic priests preach in an impassioned manner, such as Father Jim Blount, who is a former evangelical. However, many priests don’t because their congregation doesn’t like, want, or expect that style of preaching. Protestant services often revolve around the minister preaching, sometimes for 2 hours. Catholic services revolve around the sacrifice of Jesus in the Eucharist. The priest or deacon preaching is just supposed to help us understand the Scripture we just heard. It’s not the main reason we go to Mass. My mother always said, “We don’t go to Mass to listen to the priest talk.”

If you really want to hear impassioned preaching, the Catholic place to find it is at Catholic retreats or charismatic prayer services or on Youtube, usually not at Mass.

As for your friends saying Catholicism is false, sounds like you let yourself fall into non-practice and now you’re being influenced by bad friends. Not good. You’re putting your faith and salvation in danger. Therefore I would not advise you to listen to any more non-Catholic preachers. You better get yourself back to confession and Holy Communion before you make a big mistake and leave Jesus in the Real Presence to follow some flashy non-Catholic preacher.

Religious services also aren’t supposed to be entertainment.
 
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Define passion? My (priest) pastor is a good speaker and his homilies are passionate: they are chock-full of his love for Jesus, solid orthodoxy, the lifetime he’s spent in prayer, and his love for his flock. You can often tell exactly what he’s been praying about, or what’s come up in prayer; sometimes he tells us outright, but just as often we can hear it in the direction of his homilies. You won’t hear him say “can I hear an AMEN?,” so if that’s what passion sounds like to you, you’d find him lacking.

Good preaching is secondary to the Eucharist in the Mass because the Eucharist is Jesus and nothing measures up to that. But the Church does have good preachers. They suddenly became a lot easier to find over the last few months. Browse YouTube for good Catholic teaching. Don’t walk away from the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ because of a few “passionate” Protestant speakers.
 
Sounds like you don’t know much about your faith. This is the time to begin to explore it. There are many passionate preachers of Catholicism. Have you tuned into them on youtube? Fr. Mark Goring, Fr. Mathew Schmitz come to mind.
 
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