Feeling disillusioned

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Joe_5859 said:
Fair enough. I can certainly understand your feeling that way. I think the best antidote is really just to look for the positive, because those positive things are out there.

When I get discouraged, I just compare the number of kids who went to see the Pope at World Youth Day to the number of people who attended the latest Call to Action conference. There is no comparison. 🙂

We certainly don’t want to sweep things under the rug and ignore them, but I think sometimes that the internet can make it easy for us to wring our hands over things we either have no control over or that we don’t have complete knowledge of. One could be driven to despair by going to YouTube and searching for “clown Mass” videos. But what good does it do the Body of Christ for me to view such videos that could have been recorded anywhere at any time? None whatsoever. Unless I am a first-hand witness who is in a position to bring the matter to the attention of someone who can actually do something about it, it accomplishes nothing but to skew my perception about the prevalence of clown Masses.

I’m not saying that you are doing this. I’m just using it as an example to illustrate my point. We can drive ourselves crazy with this sort of stuff if we allow it. Our best bet is to strive to foster the faith in whatever corner of Catholicism we find ourselves in. That is how change happens.
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Joe,

good advice. Thanks for this. 👍
 
valoriuslobo said:
Very true.

I look at the Fishwrap to get a view from the other side. I guess in my attempt to be well rounded in matters of Catholic media, I’ve let myself be scandalized and glum. I ought to avoid it, but I don’t want to ignore it either, lest I come to think heresy doesn’t exist.
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Very well said. It’s very hard to find balanced and objective information allot of times.
 
YoungTradCath said:
That’s sort of what I mean.
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Exactly. And I’m not talking about day-to-day garden variety failures of the flesh. For example, after a good start, we’re having trouble with the new Missal, and mistakes abound.

But:

“Oh, look, a nun in a mini-skirt consecrating a Twinkie.”

If you don’t report something of that magnitude, you’re more or less enabling it.
 
valoriuslobo said:
Very true.

I look at the Fishwrap to get a view from the other side. I guess in my attempt to be well rounded in matters of Catholic media, I’ve let myself be scandalized and glum. I ought to avoid it, but I don’t want to ignore it either, lest I come to think heresy doesn’t exist.
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Yes, the comment section on Fishwrap can be downright vile. I can usually only stomach two or three before I click away in disgust. :o I definitely do not think that is representative of our Church as a whole.

I’ve heard even some “liberals” voice their discomfort with some of NCReporter’s regular columnists.

If you’re looking for rounding things out, I would go to America or Commonweal instead. Or else just stick with John Allen’s articles. 😛
 
1ke said:
that’s my favorite song. when i stage my coup and become the official parish liturgist, i will demand it be played every week.
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I stand corrected. 😛

Just don’t leave out the hand-holding and the swaying. It’s not kumbaya if there is no swaying.
 
1ke said:
that’s my favorite song. when i stage my coup and become the official parish liturgist, i will demand it be played every week.
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do you have a video of the dance you will be using along with it? I’d love to see it. Whatever happend to Michael Row the Boat Ashore during Mass? And all those other traditional tunes from my college days.
 
valoriuslobo said:
I was reading a few articles on the National Catholic Fishwrap, just to see what’s going on in their funny world. But I after reading some of the articles, I feel so disheartened and this feeling I have about the Church has been building up over time.

I’m so tired of the American episcopacy standing by, or even abetting, heresies. Nuns in name only who are lead by a distorted notion of the primacy of conscience and ascribing their heresy to the Holy Spirit. Priests who do all sorts of nonsense, be it liturgical abuse, or supporting “small c catholic” beliefs.

I’m just so tired of the parade of nonsense going on in the American church. I watched an interview about Bishop Olmstedt & the St Joseph Hospital situation, and the poor man was vilified for his excommunicating that “sister.”

Why is it that our hospitals, universities, churches, are infected by heresy and modernism? Why don’t the Bishops take a stand against it? Why are we traditional Catholics relegated to a ghetto when the things we avow are orthodox?

I’m just so depressed. I know to pray about this, I do, but I can’t fight this feeling of being forlorn.
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I think it’s easy to become discouraged. Just look at some of the threads on this forum - rebellion, disobedience and “Catholics” undermining their faith.

Remember that the Lord is still in charge - no matter what the episcopate does, the Lord is allowing this to happen and in His own good time will turn it all around. The Chuch is indefectible; what we need to do is submit our hearts to the pain the Lord is letting us experience and just - trust. Afterall, isn’t He treating us just like the Israelites after they rebelled time and time again? He allowed their enemies to overcome them - at least for a while. We are worshipping false gods and have chosen to do our own thing. He will not turn HIS back forever, but the time has come for penitential suffering of our own.

It’s Advent…try meditating on last Sunday’s reading from Isaiah and see the tenderness in the Lord’s promise of salvation. (Chap 40.)
 
puzzleannie said:
do you have a video of the dance you will be using along with it? I’d love to see it. Whatever happend to Michael Row the Boat Ashore during Mass? And all those other traditional tunes from my college days.
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i’ve been busted. 😉

Nothing says ‘new to the forum’ like calling me a liberal. 😃
 
valoriuslobo said:
I was reading a few articles on the National Catholic Fishwrap, just to see what’s going on in their funny world. But I after reading some of the articles, I feel so disheartened and this feeling I have about the Church has been building up over time.

I’m so tired of the American episcopacy standing by, or even abetting, heresies. Nuns in name only who are lead by a distorted notion of the primacy of conscience and ascribing their heresy to the Holy Spirit. Priests who do all sorts of nonsense, be it liturgical abuse, or supporting “small c catholic” beliefs.

I’m just so tired of the parade of nonsense going on in the American church. I watched an interview about Bishop Olmstedt & the St Joseph Hospital situation, and the poor man was vilified for his excommunicating that “sister.”

Why is it that our hospitals, universities, churches, are infected by heresy and modernism? Why don’t the Bishops take a stand against it? Why are we traditional Catholics relegated to a ghetto when the things we avow are orthodox?

I’m just so depressed. I know to pray about this, I do, but I can’t fight this feeling of being forlorn.
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Wheat and Chaff…be Holy and infect others…👍
 
Ohhhhh it’s the national catholic reporter… Its a mainline publication…

You want more liberaI? I suggest America and Commonweal 👍

But if you want more traditional I also suggest Catholic Family News and Latin Mass… 😉

But seriously not every Catholic has to agree with you… The NCR is an independent news source… It can say whatever it wants…

The Church gives people wide latitudes on several issues… Not everyone has to be a conforming traditionalist… Most Catholics aren’t 🤷

No offesne to you any of you…
 
valoriuslobo said:
I was reading a few articles on the National Catholic Fishwrap, just to see what’s going on in their funny world. But I after reading some of the articles, I feel so disheartened and this feeling I have about the Church has been building up over time.

I’m so tired of the American episcopacy standing by, or even abetting, heresies. Nuns in name only who are lead by a distorted notion of the primacy of conscience and ascribing their heresy to the Holy Spirit. Priests who do all sorts of nonsense, be it liturgical abuse, or supporting “small c catholic” beliefs.

I’m just so tired of the parade of nonsense going on in the American church. I watched an interview about Bishop Olmstedt & the St Joseph Hospital situation, and the poor man was vilified for his excommunicating that “sister.”

Why is it that our hospitals, universities, churches, are infected by heresy and modernism? Why don’t the Bishops take a stand against it? Why are we traditional Catholics relegated to a ghetto when the things we avow are orthodox?

I’m just so depressed. I know to pray about this, I do, but I can’t fight this feeling of being forlorn.
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I recommend that you listen to this talk… it’s called “Traditionalist problems” by Fr Ripperger, FSSP. (it’s by a traditional priest so he’s not criticizing being traditional, only the difficulties we might come across :)). sensustraditionis.org/multimedia.html the talk is free but the website asks for a little penance like a decade of the Rosary, for Father’s intentions. 🙂

God bless!
 
Monica, thanks for the link.

Robbie, the Church does not give people latitude of opinion when it comes to matters like wymynpriests, “queer marriage,” abortion, etc. But these are the things the Fishwrap advocates. So, I am not inclined to agree with you on that. However, I do agree that not everyone should be a traditionalist. That’s dandy. I’m just asking for orthodoxy, not heresy.
 
I have the same problem. The only other faithful Catholics I know (other than my mom) are my priest (whom I had to seek out) and a couple of volunteers at RCIA. The others believe in the homosexual agenda and all kinds of heresies of the culture of death, and look at me as though I were a Wahhabi Muslim.

I had a priest with that same attitude. He told me outright lies about what the Church teaches. He said we don’t have to agree with the Catechism as long as we believe what’s listed in the Apostles’ Creed (except, somehow, the Holy Catholic Church), and then said that the Church “needs to update its teaching” on sexual matters.

It’s probably because of the liberal area I live in. I want to move to middle America when it becomes feasible.

Of course, there’s one important thing to remember in all this. It doesn’t matter whether we ever see another faithful Catholic. These will always exist; if there were a “last man on Earth” like in science fiction stories, he would be a faithful Catholic. What matters is our relationship with God and what we do for others. I think of myself as a missionary to this area. I preach the Gospel to anyone who seems the least bit interested. I actually prefer this to socializing with the cafeteria “Catholic” crowd.

If we all spent as much time and energy evangelizing as we do complaining, we could get a lot done. We’re not supposed to love the world anyway, even the Catholic world.
 
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