Cradle Catholics in need of Renewal

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I went through a one-year one on one individual Catholicism from a priest and got baptized in college. Then I participated CLC(Christian Life Community) all years through college where we gathered together for Sunday Mass, followed by Bible Study every Sunday evening.

Even so, there were lot of things I did not clearly know for many years. For example, for many years I could not explain the very basic Catholicism that Mass is a Sacrifice, a reproduction of the Last Supper. Without the Sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood, without the Holy Altar, worship form such as the Protestants’ is actually void.

Sometimes a concept has to be told and absorbed again and again before sinking in. I find “The Catholic Answer Bible” is great for self education. It has inserted color pages of Catholicism. All important questions are covered.

Just to list a few:
  • “Why do we as Catholics believe that Christ uniquely established our Church?”
  • “Where did the Bible come from and what is its role in the Catholic Faith?”
  • “Why do we as Catholics believe that Jesus wanted a Pope to be the head of His Church?”
  • “What do we as Catholics believe about the relationship of faith and works?”
  • “Why do we as Catholics believe that Jesus is bodily present in the Consecrated Host of the Eucharist?”
  • “Why do we Catholics have an ordained clergy?”
  • “Why do we as Catholics believe that Sacraments are necessary?”
  • “Where are the seven Sacraments found in the Bible?”
  • …
All the answers along with referrals of Bible verses are ready for us to read.

I highly recommend this Bible as a self education tool.
 
Always in need for learning more. Not like there’s anyone who isn’t (the Pope himself as much as he knows tons, probably learns tons every single day), but surely I am. I had to defend certain things and explain others, that meant I had to get myself informed first. At other times, I had to defend some principles I didn’t always uphold, so then it struck me I wasn’t really being consistent. There was also some thinking about what I wanted in life. Internet forums and other resources have been helpful, but most of the part about getting myself informed came down to reading things. Funny thing, would you ever think about the canon law leading anyone closer to faith? It did. Hehe. Anyway.
 
my best advice for any Catholic who feels in need of renewal in his knowledge of the faith is to teach it and practice it, to volunteer as a catechist (or an aide at least for a year) for children, youth or adults. Not quite ready for that commitment, volunteer as an RCIA sponsor. By looking at our faith through the lens of the Sunday readings you will encounter the doctrines in way you may not have before, as coming from the mouth of God as he speaks to us.
 
I have found that posting on “Christian” forums, has brought many challenges to the Catholic Faith. It is through “not giving up” on these threads and doing some good research from really good Catholic Sites that I was able to respond and refute their assertions and claims. It is always amazing and refreshing that no matter how “good” their claim seems on the surface I am always able to find the correct answer from the Catholic Church. The Web is great for having these resources at your ready disposal. A forum setting gives you time to look up the information, type it out, and post it when you are ready. Defending our Faith has forced me to dig deeper.

God Bless,
Kansas Dad
 
I just found this thread!

I have been called, moved by the Holy Spirit, I think, to try to get some kind of adult catechesis going in our parish. One thing I realized is the influences of heterdoxy that keep infiltrating in sometimes subtle ways. Our parish has just joined with another one in our city, and it’s even worse there! I cannot believe the liturgical abuses they have gotten away with for years. Our new priest is more of a liturgist, but he does make concessions. There are a few who tend to run things, like the parish council, and get their agenda through. It’s clear to me that people are really uniformed. I’m now 50+, but didn’t start getting really serious about my faith until after having kids. Guess I needed a big dose of reality!

I found apologetics and that was very interesting. I started listening to Relevant Radio more, although I can only get it via the internet now; also EWTN radio & TV. When I hear people say they don’t like EWTN, I know what angle they are probably coming from (liberal). And I read a lot; books, internet. There are SO many good books out now.

I hope to organize a group that will discuss ways to bring in more orthodox education (speakers, books, etc.), even if we have to meet in private. I don’t like to do things that way, but if there is a parish group, the ones who make it their business to push heterdoxy (women’s ordination, married priesthood, contraception, etc.) will want to be in on it.

It sounds like the people who have given their stories here were drawn by the Truths of the faith, and not some watered down version. This is proving to be what is drawing the next generation as well. I am currently reading The New Faithful by Colleen Carroll. In it, she tells over & over how youth are fed up with relativism and no moral standards among their peers (and sometimes their parents) :eek: . This is very encouraging. In the face of these facts, it doesn’t surprise me that we don’t see much youth activity in our parish except for confirmation classes. A nearby parish (in another diocese) is Very Active, Very orthodox, has a dynamic priest who isn’t afraid to speak about sin, and is growing. Some of our parishioners have made it their home. I can’t say as I blame them.

You younger Catholics - PLEEZ get involved with whatever is available in your area. If it’s not being done, start up something! Find others who will help & support you! Keep studying, praying, and God will lead you to your special place in His Church.

God bless!
Mimi
 
I also wanted to put a warning out there about some groups wanting to start small faith communities. Renew was started in the '70’s, but its founder was (is?) a member of Call to Action, a dissident group. Of course, some small groups are okay; just check the “fruit”. For a list of dissident organizations, you can check catholicculture.org/. Click on “Catholic Site Reviews” and you’ll see a link" “view the ‘danger’ list”. I found this invaluable in checking out dissident theologians, one whose book was available for sale at a mission we had recently. Our priest didn’t seem concerned about it when I pointed it out. Maybe he was just too busy to answer my email. But he did allow the Sister to give the homily at a Mass. Mostly it was good. But this is a good example of how dissidents will sneak in stuff that is heterdox among a Mostly Good program. If you want this team’s names, PM me or email me.

There is also a (green) “top rated list” on the Catholic culture site.

For more on how to become aware of and fight back heterdox dissidents, I can recommend Call to Action or Call to Apostasy by Brian Clowes. It’s only 100 pgs. I just finished it. In an index he lists 200 dissident groups. Also included is a chart clearly showing how the numbers are growing in diocese faithful to the Magisterium, and how the numbers are dwindling in those that are not. This book is available at hli.org/Just put in a search for Call to Action, and it should come up. I was not surprised to see 2 WI dioceses listed as “having a progressive tradition” in the footnote. “Progressive” is one of those words liberal types use to let you know they intend to bring about “change”, but it’s not change that our Pope would like.
But our new Bishop is actively pro-life, and I think things will change eventually. Hallelujah!

I also subscribe to New Oxford Review. Without this publication, I wouldn’t have known certain dissidents and their agenda. They are also online.

Gotta go – God bless!
Mimi
 
hearts929 said:
I’m another “revert”. after years of very sporadic Mass attendance and avoiding the sacrament of penance like the plague, i realized one day that i was really missing something in my life.
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Wow does that sound familiar! 😊

It’s been quite a journey since God got my attention. My conversion (or reversion) story is too long to post here, but I was inspired by attending a Catholic New Media Conference recently to begin blogging about it. No time like the Pauline Year to venture into evangelization!
 
Lady_Gray said:
I am a Cradle Catholic. I have been well taught, but I never have felt like I am a great Catholic. I need a jump-start, but am not sure where to begin. For one thing; I have tried reading the Bible, but I get bored. I also have gone to catechism classes, but they aren’t very interesting. What can I do to appreciate my faith more?
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Remain in a state of grace (confession).
Practice your faith (know it and be able to defend it).
Pray the Rosary every day.
Receive Holy Communion as often as you can.
Spend time in Perpetual Adoration.

There are 3 times during Holy Mass to ask our Lord for Graces:
  1. During the Consecration of His Body (don’t look down, look up! Ask Him then).
  2. During the Consecration of His Blood (don’t look down, look up! Ask Him then).
  3. When swallowing the Consecrated Host.
<-From what I learned, unless what you ask for is ~not good~ for your soul, what you ask for will be granted. I have received many great Graces throughout the years (I hear the Mass and receive Communion on behalf of the Holy and Suffering Souls in the Church Suffering-Purgatory.) My requests I pray for at the Consecrations.

Absolutely amazing the great Graces I’ve received.

I’m always asking our Lord to increase my Faith. And, to give me Wisdom. It is 2 steps forward, 1 step back. Otherwise, I’d explode!

+Peace Be With You.
-Dawn in Texas
 
I too am a reverted Catholic.👍 Perhaps they way we learned about our Church as kids was unconducive to argumentative study. Since there was no comparison, there wasn’t much desire to call the ideas into question. An adult Catechism I recently read described our learning this way: “Our general attiude to the teachings of our leaders is prayerful listening and obedience, that is, religious assent.” [This is our Faith, Pennock, Ave Maria Press]

Thus I am unprepared to argue (defend) my Faith because I have not taken the time to study the competition, so to speak. I only (?)have accepted Truth. Sometimes I think it helps to know what the other side of the coin looks like, just so you can tell it’s not the side you want.

Ever notice how much more about our country (I’m speaking about my experience in the USA) a newly natualized citizen knows than one born here does? Maybe there’s a parallel thought.

-I believe, Lord, help my unbelief.
Ken
 
I am also a cradle Catholic, but the only reason I seem to know a little more about my faith than most of my peers is because I had to defend it from an early age. my parents are divorced, and my dad left the Catholic faith and became a fundamentalist christian. every time I visited him he would try to get me to leave the Church by presenting me with the usual anti-catholic arguements. i always came back home questioning whether my faith was the true faith. when my mom and step-dad found out about this, they instructed me on matters of my faith (I went to Catholic school but it did little in my faith formation… i mostly have my mom and step-dad to thank for it. my step-dad was actually a revert and knows much about what non-Catholic christians believe).
Even now my dad and I still debate about certain aspects of the faith, but I think God is working out a plan through him (my dad doesn’t think he will revert back, but now he is not even against Catholicism as much as he used to be and… he actually ended up getting a job playing the organ in two different churches!).
i still have much more to learn, but i thank God for giving me two parents who were able to prepare me against attacks on my faith

it was probably mentioned already… but it still needs to be said. Parents are the primary educators of the faith. I’ve seen in Catholic school the result of students who only are taught about their faith in school but do not see it practiced at home. They end up not prepared at all and become lukewarm, or if not they just drift away. 😦

Sometimes though these attacks on the faith are God’s wake up calls for us to learn more about it and get closer to him. We just have to respond to these opportunites he gives us. Imagine, if none of us faced any struggles or attacks( they don’t even have to be struggles directly dealing with our faith), how could we expect to grow closer to God? I think our pope says it clearly when he states that what we need in this world is a return to Christ (especially amidst all the attacks) as the center of our lives, and not just by knowing about the faith but actually living it.
 
JCPhoenix said:
This is a GREAT thread!

I actually started reading the "Left Behind"series and was so offended it drove me back to the church! !
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I have the same objections to the idea of the “rapture” which are being preached - not all Protestants (I entered faith through Protestantism [sp?]) are foolish enough to believe every word that comes out of a minister’s mouth. This is why I also do not believe everything the Catholic Church says is true. I do believe Jesus will return for us; however, not the way the Protestant Church explains it.
 
I may be A little late in responding to this but I wanted to mention that I have a Cd Called" This Is Our Faith" By Canon Francis Ripley. Its a complete Explanation of the Catholic Faith, While it is mainly for Converts I am a cradle Catholic and I found it taught me Alot. I suppose we all at sometime think we are catholic have been all our lives, We know all about our faith right? Lol Well needless to say when I listened to this Cd I realized I didnt know as much as I thought and it really helped and made me want to learn more and as much as I could. Hope this helps someone, Take care and God Bless!!!, Jami
 
Actually, I posted the following on another thread but it also applies here.

In my diocese, one of the main points our Bishop would like to see improved is evangelization. Although I was born and raised Catholic, I have spent some time in an Evangelical Pentecostal church (back when I was very young and stupid) and they also make it a point to try to keep everyone excited within their church. I have seen too many cradle Catholics, and some converts, who take what we have going for us for granted and just don’t see the need to be “excited” about what we have. Before you can evangelize others, we must evangelize ourselves. Catholics need to learn more about their faith instead of just going through the motions. Then Catholics will be more open to the opportunities that present themselves to evangelize others, telling them about our faith, why we do what we do and believe what we believe. Catholics don’t really have to go door to door with all the questions and misunderstandings out there staring us in the face every day.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying all Catholics are lukewarm or uninformed but many don’t have the confidence in their knowledge to attempt to share what they have and many more just don’t think about it.

Through the Council of Catholic Women in my deanery, I am trying to light a fire under the women of my area and have found that many are receptive if they are given the right tools. They just need to be reminded of just how blessed and special we are. We also need to encourage our priests to pass that message on to their congregations.
 
I totally agree with you I would love to hear more about what your program or ideas of how to get people more involved in there faith. I for one think that Catholics need to be more informed and up to date on all th churches teachings. Otherwise with the mormons and jahovah witness’s going door to door we aren’t able to debate about our churches teachings they would just leave us sitting there flaburgasted and unable to respond.
 
Faustina2001 said:
I totally agree with you I would love to hear more about what your program or ideas of how to get people more involved in there faith. I for one think that Catholics need to be more informed and up to date on all th churches teachings. Otherwise with the mormons and jahovah witness’s going door to door we aren’t able to debate about our churches teachings they would just leave us sitting there flaburgasted and unable to respond.
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First of all, I teach 7th and 8th grade CCD and we are learning apologetics. I made sure each of them had their own bible and they are learning how to use it. It amazed me how many Catholics, especially older ones, couldn’t look up a passage to save their lives. The students get the oportunity to ask and discuss questions they have and questions and situations they have experienced at school. I think they like that the best.

A couple of years ago I gave a talk to our south central deanery of CCW on how non-catholics and anti-catholics perceive us and why it’s important to know why we do what we do and where it came from so we can answer questions and correct misconceptions. I also like to use CDs and DVD by some of my favorite speakers, Scott and Kimberly Hahn, Tim Staples, Stephen Ray, Fr. Larry Richards, David Currie, etc… They are so good for putting the excitement of God in people and bring out a real love for the Catholic Church and the truth it teaches that these speakers, with the exception of Fr. Richards, were unaware of before. They talk about their journey into the fullness of the faith and how luck those of us who are cradle Catholics are to have had the truth, sacraments, all in all, the Church all of our lives.

Catholics need to be encouraged to not become complacent and take what we have that is special for granted. Our Church is indeed special, God given, and Christ lead through the successor of St. Peter. No one else can say that.
 
I am a cradle Catholic. Pre Vatican II. In the early years grade school and high school the priest would come to class and read and explain the bible. So that was the first 12 years of schooling. After the military service I drifted away for some time. Then i knew I had to come back to the church. Nothing overt just knew I had to do it.
I started watching EWTN and Fr Corapi. no nonsense approach just do it. Now I still watch EWTN and am a reader in the Church I attend. Now say the rosary every day. I get to church a couple times a week.
I had to be the Holy Spirit that led me back. And I am grateful for that.
 
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