Danger to Catholiscm

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StephenL

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I feel that the biggest threat to the Catholic Faith is not atheist it is Catholics who say they are Catholic and yet cease to Practice it. Like our Universities Notre Dame, Seriously why does the Vatican allow them to be associated with them if they don’t practice?
 
I agree somewhat. There are too many institutions and individuals that are Catholic in name only but I don’t worry that they are a threat to the Church as in it will destroy the Church. I do worry about their souls. I would let the Bishops and other hierarchy worry about excommunications and such. I don’t want to be the judge but I have to agree it can be hard to watch others who do not have a conscience about what they say and do in public life.
 
I agree that people acting in the name of the church and say or do things contrary to her teachings or get chummy with the church’s enemies (ex. Notre Dame, Georgetown) in the name of “tolerance,” or dialogue, should be immediately corrected, and as our church authorities seem slow on the draw concerning those events, then it’s up to us lay catholics to squawk. Someone has to address those things, that often appear to be a sellout.
 
I won’t mention the name of one Catholic website, but I have to commend it for exposing lies and falsehoods involving people acting in the name of the church and as you said “getting chummy with enemies of the Church” and doing stuff that is contrary to church teachings.
 
If you only read the frightening-sounding headlines on which many on CAF like to focus, you’d be convinced that Notre Dame is a lost cause, but I assure you that it isn’t. ND has a very vocal and sizeable orthodox community who aren’t about to give up the battle over its identity.

I would encourage people to join them, rather than to “write off another so-called lost cause.”
 
I should think the same with many secular colleges that may have a Newman Center on campus.🤷
 
LegoGE1947 said:
I won’t mention the name of one Catholic website, but I have to commend it for exposing lies and falsehoods involving people acting in the name of the church and as you said “getting chummy with enemies of the Church” and doing stuff that is contrary to church teachings.
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Love this. :clapping:
 
LegoGE1947 said:
I won’t mention the name of one Catholic website, but I have to commend it for exposing lies and falsehoods involving people acting in the name of the church and as you said “getting chummy with enemies of the Church” and doing stuff that is contrary to church teachings.
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I won’t mention the site either, and I’m sure I know which one it is. It is a bit too negative at times, but the issues it brings up can’t be ignored either. I hope it can reach more Catholics and get them passionate about our Church and faith, that can only be a positive.
 
In my experience…for my husband and I…the most damage done to the Catholic Church is the Catholic in name only laymen.

They are the spokespeople of the Catholic faith. Nothing has prevented my husband from converting to Catholicism more then family members and friends who claim to be Catholic but don’t know who Jesus Christ is and, when pressed, aren’t sure if he actually did rise from dead.

I was one of those Catholics.

My husband saw the truth in the Catholic Church but couldn’t bring himself to convert because no one he talked to, who was Catholic, could express any interest in Jesus or the Church.

It is a problem with the clergy and the bishops, who clearly don’t take the faith seriously and don’t Catechize the lay people properly.
 
Havard said:
Not sure I’m following you, are you saying that many Newman Centers are problematic as well?
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No, I’m saying that on many secular college campuses where there may be problems, such as violence, there are Newman Centers which can help Catholic students try to keep their faith. We live not far from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, which in recent years has witnessed some pretty violent events, but God has a presence on that campus in the form of a Newman Center.
 
I don’t know that people who identify as Catholics but do not practice the faith are a danger to Catholicism. It is sad though. It certainly looks bad upon The Church to non-Catholics. I think it is terrible that some Catholics do not care to learn anything about the faith either. Not to get too preachy but this thread reminded me of the parable of the Wheat and tares. Incase anyone forgot, this is it from The NKJV

Matthew 13:24-30
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ ** 29 **But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’"

I heard a fairly famous Catholic call The Catholic Church a church of wheat and tares. Then another guy said “Well I am not always the wheat, sometimes I am a tare” And I can relate to that too. 😛 But it makes sense and I will probably think about this parable when I think about why there are so many people in The Church who do not act like Christians.
 
There are Protestants also who often don’t act very Christ-like!
 
LegoGE1947 said:
No, I’m saying that on many secular college campuses where there may be problems, such as violence, there are Newman Centers which can help Catholic students try to keep their faith. We live not far from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, which in recent years has witnessed some pretty violent events, but God has a presence on that campus in the form of a Newman Center.
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Thanks be to God for them. 👍
 
StephenL said:
I feel that the biggest threat to the Catholic Faith is not atheist it is Catholics who say they are Catholic and yet cease to Practice it. Like our Universities Notre Dame, Seriously why does the Vatican allow them to be associated with them if they don’t practice?
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I think the safety valve in those cases is in the fact that whilst they have a certain educational authority, they don’t have much real spiritual authority when they teach or demon strate beliefs contrary to Catholic teaching. There have always been and always will be false teachers. The wolves in sheeps clothing.

I think the bigger danger are Priests who try to teach or demonstrate things contrary to Church teaching. I feel enormous relief each time a Priest or Bishop is defrocked or excommunicated for this type of violation. Other denominations are pretty well powerless to serve God in this way as they have no Magisterium.
 
LongingSoul said:
I think the safety valve in those cases is in the fact that whilst they have a certain educational authority, they don’t have much real spiritual authority when they teach or demon strate beliefs contrary to Catholic teaching. There have always been and always will be false teachers. The wolves in sheeps clothing.

I think the bigger danger are Priests who try to teach or demonstrate things contrary to Church teaching. I feel enormous relief each time a Priest or Bishop is defrocked or excommunicated for this type of violation. Other denominations are pretty well powerless to serve God in this way as they have no Magisterium.
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There are also women religious who have moved away from the original teachings of their orders who also teach things contrary to the true faith.
 
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