Can you please site an example?
things in different parishes
The silence of local parish, allowing many like me to drift away rather than fall away from the faith. To be fallen away implies something to fall off. The local parish not only did not catechize, but did not evangelize. I went through ten years of darkness and confusion before EWTN slowly entered my consciousness. The local parish did not say who is Jesus, nor Jesus is in the Eucharist, or the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ. Evangelicals would ask if there was a personal relationship with Christ. There was not anything of that kind in the local Catholic parish. EWTN comes along to say what went wrong in Catholic America during the late 1970s, early 1980s after Vatican II. I never knew there was a Vatican II until EWTN. EWTN bemoans and laments catechism, especially in Catholic universities. I have to question whether if anything was taught or preached worthy of lasting impression during that period. I feel like an outsider looking inside at something hardly a part. Baptism and Confirmation were factual incidents to me. Confirmation was a customary practice inherited through grandmother’s side of family. I participated to please and obey my family, conforming to peers, while wondering what was the point of that exercise, which seemed like a graduation ceremony without having to take and pass a test. At the time, no further thought was made with any sort of supportive guidance within the parish. There was not a losing a faith going into college, because there was not any basis in faith other than in hindsight something about Confirmation. Recently, I posted a question about whether Mass can be canceled for holidays like Veterans Day, as though Mass was like banker hours. This puzzled me from a distance when looking at the parish website and schedule. This just reinforced my suspicion that the parish is Catholic in name only. A few years ago, a priest from another parish within the city was killed flying his private plane to vacation in Florida for the winter. I could not fanthom a priest flying to pick up his buddies to go vacationing in Florida. How many people can fly privately like that? Anyway, such instances plus the silence and aloofness of the local parish and diocese is like a tiny dot in comparison to the rich deposit of EWTN greeting me everyday on cable and internet.
I agree with much of what was posted, but this part I did not understand.
I think if someone is explaining how they were not properly catichised it is easy to misunderstand.I agree with much of what was posted, but this part I did not understand.
A Catholic priest in another parish in a smaller city was flying from a local airport when the plane crashed due to inclimate weather. The priest was first flying to another city to pick up friends, and then they were on their way for a Florida vacation. At that time, I thought it was odd for a priest to flying a private plane from a northern location in winter to Florida. There are not too many people in this world who can afford to own, maintain and fly privately south from here. That was puzzling to me, and I cant think of too many people who questioned why. The media reported accolades after his death was understandable. This, however, did not square with my own experience with an aloof and absent parish life. The incident just reinforced my confusion and doubt.I agree with much of what was posted, but this part I did not understand.
My point was to reconcile the consistency of EWTN teaching with the total absence of anything at the local parish level in my youth. When listening to EWTN, especially about the problems in the American church of the aforementioned period, I become irritated, confused and depressed. I do not know what to think and believe, because I feel so abandoned and neglected locally. I am beginning to think this irritation should not be, and displacing this annoyance onto EWTN because of feeling helpless with distrust locally. There is no place to go, and afraid of walking into that parish with what is known from EWTN, and cant deal with it.
Are their any sources with credible scrutiny of EWTN to determine their consistency and efficacy in transmitting the faith? Are there any sources measuring dioceses conformity to the faith?
Perhaps some budding young Catholic social scientist should consider creating an “orthodoxy-index” and institute a study to measure how well dioceses do on certain salient measures (e.g., survey parishoners to guage the level of catechesis, adherence to correct liturgical practices, etc.).
If someone does decide to do this, please don’t say you heard it from me, by the way.
No idea what this has to do with anything. Flying your own plane is no different than driving a car.I agree with much of what was posted, but this part I did not understand.
Diocesan priests do not take a vow of poverty. A good used general aviation aircraft costs about the same as a decent new mid-sized car. I in fact own and fly my own plane, a 4-seat Beechcraft. While it is not a “cheap” hobby, it certainly is in line with other hobbies such as motorbikes, golf club membership, etc.
Roy, inform yourself. Things that are wrong will jump out at you after a while. It’s a self education process. Focus on the principal, not the rule. If in doubt, first check the catechism, then the forums here.
