T
The_Iambic_Pen
Guest
I’ve been thinking about posting on some of these issues for some time now, but I am only just now getting to it. Apparently, late at night, when I really ought to be asleep, is the best time for this sort of thing. 
I have been investigating Catholicism for several years, and there is much about it that I find very compelling. The moral stands of the Church, in particular, are particularly admirable. In fact, it is the Catholic Church’s position on contraception that tends to make me favor the Catholic Church over the Orthodox. I would add the prohibition on remarriage after divorce, but I believe the annulment process, at least as practiced in America, has the practical effect of nullifying any moral superiority in that area.
I also admire the Church from a cultural point of view. I love the beauty and the wonder of the liturgy and the art and the music. I love the history, the chivalry, and even the church buildings. As someone who grew up Protestant, there is something very liberating and wondrous about being able to affirm my Western Christian heritage.
And yet, I still struggle. There are some doctrines which I have not yet been able to accept. The Immaculate Conception, Purgatory, and Papal Infallibility are three. I mention them as a group, as they are not held as true by the Orthodox. There are other threads to discuss the particulars, but suffice it to say that it is difficult for me to accept that which appears to have been arrived at through speculation, rather than through a defense of that which has been held everywhere, by all, since the dawn of the Church.
There are also some modern, cultural elements of Catholicism with which I am not comfortable. One element is the emphasis on alleged Marian apparitions. It is said that these are private and people may accept them as they like, but there seems to be a rather official stamp of approval when one sees churches such as the Cathedral of our Lady of Lourdes, in Spokane, Washington, to give one example. If one, such as I, is not even certain about the truth of said apparition, how is one to feel about the church itself?
There are also a number of practices which I find rather strange. Beliefs that if one wears a certain item, one will be saved from Hell; or that, if one prays prayer X, Y times, then Z people will be sprung from Purgatory are completely foreign to my way of thinking.
There is also a sense of disillusionment, I suppose. The sense of glory as I attended a very reverent mass at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah, Georgia, has not quite been repeated elsewhere, with guitar-playing musicians singing modern Protestant (or Protestant-like) worship songs. I am not drawn to Catholicism because it is like Protestantism. I am drawn to the sense of the sacred, which is so often not present in Protestant churches.
Finally, there is a family issue. My mother has expressed concern that if I become Catholic, my descendants will not have a personal relationship with Christ. She believes that I will bring up my own children to personally love Jesus, but she is concerned that, as time passes, my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, etc., will experience a cultural religion that has no effect on their hearts.
Perhaps some of you have something to say that will help me through some of these issues. If nothing else, there is much to be said for a good discussion.
God bless!
I have been investigating Catholicism for several years, and there is much about it that I find very compelling. The moral stands of the Church, in particular, are particularly admirable. In fact, it is the Catholic Church’s position on contraception that tends to make me favor the Catholic Church over the Orthodox. I would add the prohibition on remarriage after divorce, but I believe the annulment process, at least as practiced in America, has the practical effect of nullifying any moral superiority in that area.
I also admire the Church from a cultural point of view. I love the beauty and the wonder of the liturgy and the art and the music. I love the history, the chivalry, and even the church buildings. As someone who grew up Protestant, there is something very liberating and wondrous about being able to affirm my Western Christian heritage.
And yet, I still struggle. There are some doctrines which I have not yet been able to accept. The Immaculate Conception, Purgatory, and Papal Infallibility are three. I mention them as a group, as they are not held as true by the Orthodox. There are other threads to discuss the particulars, but suffice it to say that it is difficult for me to accept that which appears to have been arrived at through speculation, rather than through a defense of that which has been held everywhere, by all, since the dawn of the Church.
There are also some modern, cultural elements of Catholicism with which I am not comfortable. One element is the emphasis on alleged Marian apparitions. It is said that these are private and people may accept them as they like, but there seems to be a rather official stamp of approval when one sees churches such as the Cathedral of our Lady of Lourdes, in Spokane, Washington, to give one example. If one, such as I, is not even certain about the truth of said apparition, how is one to feel about the church itself?
There are also a number of practices which I find rather strange. Beliefs that if one wears a certain item, one will be saved from Hell; or that, if one prays prayer X, Y times, then Z people will be sprung from Purgatory are completely foreign to my way of thinking.
There is also a sense of disillusionment, I suppose. The sense of glory as I attended a very reverent mass at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah, Georgia, has not quite been repeated elsewhere, with guitar-playing musicians singing modern Protestant (or Protestant-like) worship songs. I am not drawn to Catholicism because it is like Protestantism. I am drawn to the sense of the sacred, which is so often not present in Protestant churches.
Finally, there is a family issue. My mother has expressed concern that if I become Catholic, my descendants will not have a personal relationship with Christ. She believes that I will bring up my own children to personally love Jesus, but she is concerned that, as time passes, my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, etc., will experience a cultural religion that has no effect on their hearts.
Perhaps some of you have something to say that will help me through some of these issues. If nothing else, there is much to be said for a good discussion.
God bless!
