Hi folks,
He said that the Catholic Church teaches that blood-transfusions are bad, just like Jehovah’s Wittnesses do (That’s by the way one of the reasons they are known for!).
You can tell your friend that I’ve received two blood transfusions in a hospital and that it was clear that my religion is “Catholic.”
And that the same counts for organ transplantationes.
I haven’t really had a specific organ transplant, but I was given cadaver bone, again in a hospital with the word “Catholic” as my religious affiliation. The Church is extremely pro-life. She does not condemn life-saving procedures, even if that procedure results in the death of an unborn child, as long as the death of the child is not the primary reason for the procedure.
He also mentioned sth concerning aids and that the CC rejects this illness completely. But I didn’t really get him here…
I don’t get him there, either.
What is the official doctrine of the CC concerning these two issues? (I promised him to post it here, as he knows that I am registered here at CAF and often write posts here, and tell him then.
)
I haven’t read all the posts. Is there an official doctrine? The CCC would be the place to look (I think). If nobody else has posted absolute official doctrine I’ll be happy to try to find it.
Another point we were discussing about is that her daughter didn’t want to go to confession before recieving First Communion because she thought that to be ridiculous.
A child thinks it’s ridiculous. A child who has reached the age of reason. And ergo, it is ridiculous. Uh huh. I suppose your friend believes that his daughter is smart enough to make the decision that Confession is ridiculous and her decision should be accepted. If she is so intelligent she is obviously intelligent enough to recognize that she has sinned. Her thinking (and your friend’s thinking) about that is
all ridiculous!!
I guess a typical aspect of VERY poor catechisis!
But, as he quitted with the Church, he said he doesn’t mind; because he also thinks that it is stupid for a child with 8 years to go to confession. What terrible sins she might have done?
And he said he remembered when he had to go to confession as a child that he was afraid in the cold and dark church with a statue of a martyr scourging himself (what could he have meant?) and that he made up sins because he simply couldn’t remember any he actually commited.
This is the main reason I’m responding to this post. To be honest, I had the same problem. It wasn’t until recently that I knew we were not required to confess venial sins. When I went to Confession as a child I lied to the priest, making up sins I had never committed and going so far as to tell the priest how many times I had committed each never-committed sin. Then I got into this weird thinking: is my lying to the priest about lying covered by this Confession or do I have to confess it again next time?
Poor catechises indeed!! I was so confused I didn’t know what to do but I was forced to go to Confession and the priest knew who I was (my Dad did a lot of
pro bono work for the church) and sometimes when I was leaving the Confessional the priest would yell out “Tell your father to call me!!” and I would slink away in embarrassment as every other kid there laughed at me.
Your friend’s daughter needs to be taught real Church teaching. If she is attending Catholic school and is not being taught correctly, it is his responsibility to make sure that she understands why Confession is so important. And I can tell you why - it doesn’t make sense to receive God in the Holy Eucharist with a soul riddled with sin. It’s not respectful and it makes no sense when the Church founded by God has given us a Sacrament (note: that means it’s very important!!) to help us remain reconciled with God and to get rid of those sins.
Why else would the girls wear white dresses? We are presenting ourselves to God as able to consume His Body and Blood - as holy and perfect as we can be. The Sacrament of Communion is IMHO the absolute most important part of being Catholic.
If your friend’s daughter doesn’t understand the importance of the Sacrament of Reconciliation she is not ready to receive the Eucharist. It’s an insult to God to receive Him while at the same time refusing to go through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Why even bother? Should she wait until she commits a “really bad sin?” Children of eight years lie, steal, curse, and sometimes even murder. And why give up the chance to become reconciled with God and receive His grace? She should be begging to go to Confession. It’s a wonderful gift from God who loves us. Her whole attitude confuses me but as your friend seems to have some problems about understanding Church teaching I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
I don’t know anything that can help you with the rest of your post. I don’t think our church has anything other than one on one, face-to-face Confession. And that is what I want. If I believed that attending Confession before my first Holy Communion is “ridiculous” I would love to tell the priest that, face-to-face and let him defend the Church.
I’ll try to find the official documentation.
It’s really nice that you are concerned about your friend’s daughter. That says a lot for your character. God bless!!
