Fed up with phony confirmations

[excubitor]

If there is anyone reading this thread who is either a Catholic in need of returning to the Church, a non-Catholic Christian contemplating converting to the Catholic faith, or a non-Christian enquiring about the Christian faith, please ignore Excubitor and do not allow his hatred, bitterness, and self-righteousness turn you away from the Church. He does not speak for the Church.
Specifically, for those lapsed Catholics among us, if it were the desire of the Church to ban you as Excubitor so desires, the Church would have already done so. Please return in spite of him, for God calls you back. Come and hear the Gospel of the Lord. Come and witness the love of God poured out for us in the celebration of the most precious body and blood of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ. Come in a spirit of humility and penance. Ignore the words of Excubitor, and instead hear the words of our Lord in the Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:1-7), “Now the publicans and sinners drew near unto him to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying: This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he spoke to them this parable, saying: What man of you that hath an hundred sheep: and if he shall lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety-nine in the desert, and go after that which was lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, lay it upon his shoulders, rejoicing: And coming home, call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them: Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost? I say to you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven upon one sinner that doth penance, more than upon ninety-nine just who need not penance.”

There is a big difference between sinners who are hearing the gospel for the first time and are choosing to be a Catechumen. Such people are put above wicked Catholics. And the most wicked Catholic of all is the apostate who has backslidden on his vows and committed mortal sin week in and week out by not coming to mass, who has blasphemed the vows of he made when he baptised his children to raise his children in the Catholic church by barely even bringing them to church for seven years until its time for confirmation.

Surely you can see the difference between the two types of people.

Never once have I expressed anything but longing desire and joy to see sinners and the lapsed Catholic come to repentance and go through the proper process of reconciling with the Church to come into full communion and to renounce his apostasy.

You are twisting my words and showing an astonishing lack of discernment. If you failed to notice with your sheep analogy. I have been the one calling for penance. The rest have been clamouring for lapsed Catholics who have not been to church for months and even years to have free access to the sacraments without so much as a glance at the confessional, let alone a solemn promise to remedy their lives and commit to weekly mass attendance and a Holy Catholic life for the remainder of their years on earth.

How many times are you awful people going to accuse me of being hateful, bitter, and self-righteous? I have not accused anyone specifically. I have been commenting on a general malaise of the church only. And yet you all attack me mercilessly, individually and specifically. And what do I call for? What have I said which has offended you all so mightily? It is because I cry out for holiness in the house of the Lord at the consecration where our Lord becomes present in body, soul and divinity, and before whom we make sacred vows and affirmations at our baptisms confirmations and weddings. Vows which are lightly made and disgracefully abused with lives pouring out neglect and sin.

How dare I? It’s bad enough that God expects holiness from us, but how audacious of some crank on a Catholic forum to ask for it How dare he.

 

[RyanBlack]

There is a big difference between sinners who are hearing the gospel for the first time and are choosing to be a Catechumen. Such people are put above wicked Catholics. And the most wicked Catholic of all is the apostate who has backslidden on his vows and committed mortal sin week in and week out by not coming to mass, who has blasphemed the vows of he made when he baptised his children to raise his children in the Catholic church by barely even bringing them to church for seven years until its time for confirmation.

Surely you can see the difference between the two types of people.

Never once have I expressed anything but longing desire and joy to see sinners and the lapsed Catholic come to repentance and go through the proper process of reconciling with the Church to come into full communion and to renounce his apostasy.

You are twisting my words and showing an astonishing lack of discernment. If you failed to notice with your sheep analogy. I have been the one calling for penance. The rest have been clamouring for lapsed Catholics who have not been to church for months and even years to have free access to the sacraments without so much as a glance at the confessional, let alone a solemn promise to remedy their lives and commit to weekly mass attendance and a Holy Catholic life for the remainder of their years on earth.

How many times are you awful people going to accuse me of being hateful, bitter, and self-righteous? I have not accused anyone specifically. I have been commenting on a general malaise of the church only. And yet you all attack me mercilessly, individually and specifically. And what do I call for? What have I said which has offended you all so mightily? It is because I cry out for holiness in the house of the Lord at the consecration where our Lord becomes present in body, soul and divinity, and before whom we make sacred vows and affirmations at our baptisms confirmations and weddings. Vows which are lightly made and disgracefully abused with lives pouring out neglect and sin.

How dare I? It’s bad enough that God expects holiness from us, but how audacious of some crank on a Catholic forum to ask for it How dare he.

I’m the one with the astonishing lack of discernment? It seems to me that is your problem. You refer to those of us on this thread who disagree with your pharasaical vision of the Church as “awful people,” then you wonder at why you are called “hateful, bitter, and self-righteous.” BTW, I do not see where people are calling for those who need to be reconciled to the Church to have access to the most precious body and blood of our Lord without first being reconciled to the Church through Confession. However, I submit to you that banning those Catholics in need of being reconciled to the Church from coming to the Church for anything other than Confession will have little effect, other than reducing the number of people in the pews (which also reduces the number of people who hear the proclamation of Holy Scripture in the readings and in the homily). Furthermore, banning non-Catholics from attending baptisms and confirmations will only serve to reduce the number of non-Catholics who consider becoming Catholic. If your vision of Catholicism had formed the basis of my impression of what the Catholic Church is, I never would have become Catholic. Your words are a stumbling block that stands in the way of people coming to the Church (be they lapsed Catholics or non-Catholics). I urge you–both for the sake of their souls and your own–to find another way to persuade people of the need to show respect for the Mass.