Sometimes I feel as if I am weak for not staying and fighting. I will pray hard about what to do after reading your words here. The Episcopal Church reached out to me when I was a single, unwed mother on food stamps without any judgement whatsoever. When I thought I was a lost cause, in worldly as well as spiritual ways, my congregation did not give up on me. How can I give up on her?
We considered staying and fighting the good fight as well. Ultimately, well… we were tired, as well as disgusted about having to fight about things which, biblically, just shouldn’t have been issues for people calling themselves the Church. It was always dealing with these issues instead of being able to focus on worship, fellowship and service. Also, we have a family and we considered having to continue to raise children in that church environment.
I think any new church will feel odd at first. But if you give yourself time and begin to learn about the Catholic liturgy, it will become more familiar, and then you will begin to see the true beauty of it.That’s how I feel attending the Catholic church here.I would have tried the Methodist Church if I hadn’t thought that the same mess would befall them in 50 years time.
I think that rather than thinking of this as you giving up on the Episcopal church, it is more that you are being given a golden opportunity to “come home” to the Church that Christ established here on earth - the Catholic Church. I think that the Episcopal church, like many churches that broke away, are simply floundering on shaky foundations. You can’t hang onto a church that is moving so far away from God’s principles for emotional reasons. Sure, they gave you support. But does that mean you must bow down to their anti-scriptural and gay agenda? There has to be a line drawn somewhere. In my opinion, the Episcopal church crossed that line years ago, and it seems there is no turning back.
Yes, I’ve heard of the same happening before. Entire churches closing their doors. All because the priest was going off on a heretical tangent, and the congregation was unable to use the Vestry to discipline him/her because of infighting. They ended up losing a substantial enough portion of the congregation to have to close the doors.
I think the Catholic Church appears to be soft on homosexuals. From what I can tell, they seem to try to condemn the act and see the person as dealing with something they can’t help. If that’s the case, it’s in conflict with the historic church AND scripture. Does Catholicism support homosexuality as a sin and that those who practice it are destined for Hell? If not, then they are soft on gays and heading the way of other churches.
The Catholic Church is extremely against homosexuality. I believe that many people in the Catholic Church (including I) that it is possible that the temptation is passed on genetically. This does not determine one’s choice though. I do not know if it is considered a mortal sin or not. I do know though that the Catholic Church has many group get togethers to help homosexuals and ex-homosexuals to keep away and to triumph over such sin. It is kind of like Alcoholics Anonymous. Trust me on this one. They will not allow gay priests. If they will not even allow women priests then they most certainly will not allow gay priests. God speed.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in number 2357 “Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.”**
If someone dies in a state of mortal sin, then they are destined for Hell according to the Catholic Church. However, the Church teaches what constitutes mortal sin, and stops just short of actually judging someone’s heart, as only God can do that. The priest only knows what someone confesses to them. Whether or not the confession is true, whether or not a confession needed to be made and was not, only God will know.
I have a big problem with there being a genetic transmission. Why would God condemn someone for something they can’t help? I just don’t think that flies.
If you read my post #30 in this thread, it’s directly from the Catechism, and there is nothing about genetics in it. In reference to homosexual act, the Catechism says, “Under no circumstances can they be approved.” Genetic or not, it’s a sin. They can help it, by being chaste and not committing homosexual acts. Just like fornication is a sin, but straight men and women can live chaste lives too.
It’s better to check out the truth before you assume something like that. A simple internet search would give you the answer to that lie:
I know who you are talking about and haven’t ever heard that he was a homosexual. Can you site a source? Yes, the Church is against homosexuality but the Vatican can’t go around to every diocese in the world and enforce rules. This is up to the Bishop and if you have a week Bishop, which we seem to have many in the U.S. and Canada then a Homosexual priest might still be preaching at the pulpit. The sex scandels of a few years ago have really brough this to the forefront and many diocese are now feeling the effect of allowing homosexual priest mininster in their diocese. As difficult as the scadels were, I think they were necessary to clean up the Church.
It’s called original sin and the fact that all of us have a cross to bear. Why would God allow a baby to born blind?
Because he was a good and holy priest.
Well they can help it. It is only a temptation. God speed.