Do you really want to go back to the early Church practices?

[CB_Catholic]

I would love to go back to early church practices. I also think that public penance would be great!

I think that in this culture that would be a disaster. People would probably totally forgo the Sacrament or leave the Church. It’s just a fact.

 

[palmas85]

I think that in this culture that would be a disaster. People would probably totally forgo the Sacrament or leave the Church. It’s just a fact.

It is also a fact that if one would leave the Church over something like that, they are Catholics in name only anyway and do not truly believe in what the Church teaches. The fact that we live in a permissive society and culture should, all things considered , draw those who truly believe into a more strict observance of the faith.

 

[Brother_John]

It is also a fact that if one would leave the Church over something like that, they are Catholics in name only anyway and do not truly believe in what the Church teaches. The fact that we live in a permissive society and culture should, all things considered , draw those who truly believe into a more strict observance of the faith.

Perhaps we should consider, that the purpose of the Church is to bring people TO salvation, not drive them away.

We can’t just bury our heads in the sand and pretend the world is like it was 50, 100, 0r 500 years ago. While the Truth may be the same, different methodology is required to bring people TO the truth as time marches on.

 

[palmas85]

Perhaps we should consider, that the purpose of the Church is to bring people TO salvation, not drive them away.

We can’t just bury our heads in the sand and pretend the world is like it was 50, 100, 0r 500 years ago. While the Truth may be the same, different methodology is required to bring people TO the truth as time marches on.

True, but where do you draw the line? At what point do we recognize that in re-tooling things and making things easier to take, we have lost something important?

At what point does our need to change methodology as you say irrevocably blur the truth? And worse, what remains of what we sought to change or improve?

The truth is not gray. It is absolute. God is not gray, God is absolute. How far can we bend things until they are no longer recognizable?

Change is not always a good thing, especially when dealing with absolute truths.

True again, the world is not the same as it was 50 or even 10 years ago.

But we are, and we really haven’t changed since Cain slew Abel in jealousy.

And God really hasn’t changed either nor the truth of our faith.

 

[latinmasslover]

Surely you jest.

Not at all. Seriously think about it, wouldn’t you make more of an effort to avoid sin if your confession was public, and your penance more than three Aves and a Pater? Say, standing outside the church for the next four Sundays asking forgiveness of your sin from every parishoner who was to enter the Church? I don’t know about you, but I know I’d become pretty close to an angelic being if that were the case! (as if I’m not now already )

 

[Brother_John]

Not at all. Seriously think about it, wouldn’t you make more of an effort to avoid sin if your confession was public, and your penance more than three Aves and a Pater? Say, standing outside the church for the next four Sundays asking forgiveness of your sin from every parishoner who was to enter the Church? I don’t know about you, but I know I’d become pretty close to an angelic being if that were the case! (as if I’m not now already )

All that would accomplish would be fewer confessions than there are now…

 

[latinmasslover]

All that would accomplish would be fewer confessions than there are now…

Not if people were properly catechized. What better way to separate the sheep from the goats. Maybe going back to the practices of the early Church isn’t such a good idea.