Have gotten no help at my parish feel like leaving the church....

[gurneyhalleck1]

This post is over the top. Implying she is committing spiritual adultery is unfair to many people in this forum who disagree with your conclusions about Catholicism. And saying that Christ only resides in the tabernacles of the Catholic Church is your opinion, one you cannot prove. Anglicans with Dutch Touch Utrecht Old Catholic consecrations would disagree with you. My own Anglican bishop described a powerful Eucharistic miracle that changed his life and drove him to stay an Anglican priest, a celibate one, for 50 plus years. He describes a powerful encounter where Christ appeared out of the tabernacle in an Anglican church outside of London. Christ spoke to him and was there in a glorious form. It brings my bishop to tears talking about it. It changed his life. Tell him that Christ doesn’t reside in his tabernacle/ambry. And what about the Orthodox? What about the Lutherans in Scandanavia who have maintained their orders? What about Old Catholics? And do you think that Christ does NOTHING for Protestants in their Eucharist? Even Benedict XVI has said that the Lutheran liturgy is a powerful and beautiful form of worship and he said it’s hard to imagine Christ not being present in such a beautiful sacrament. This post is a huge guilt trip…And trust me, to address your other point, I live in Central California. You haven’t lived, you haven’t truly lived, until you try to even get a Catholic priest out here to call you back and care! I could tell you some stories! Pastoral care is few and far between in my area. It’s funny, however, how all the rich folks I know who donate tens of thousands a year always get a quick call back and house visits… Our priests here are basically sacrament machines. I understand the frustration of this poster.

Corinne - you have gotten a lot of good advice here, some not so good. Here is my take on this, and is in response to your opening post specifically.

Going to a heretical place of worship (it is not a Church, only the Catholic Church can claim that title) is no different from your husband’s own infidelity to your own marriage. The Church is the Bride of Christ. You have been confirmed in the fullness of Faith, through the sacraments, including your marriage. You are willing to give up on Christ’s One True Faith for some emotional comfort by looking for greener grass elsewhere. How is this any different to the betrayal of a spouse in a marriage?

Don’t go looking behind other fences for happiness. True happiness lies right where you belong, with the fullness of Truth in the Catholic Church. Just because you have the misfortune of belonging to a parish that does not seem to care about your situation (and shame on them), does not mean that the entire Church is worth turning your back on and looking elsewhere for comfort and that warm fuzzy you get from an “altar call” .

Remember - no matter how comforted and happy you may feel there, Christ is absent from their place of worship. He only resides in the tabernacles of the Catholic Church. You can’t have it both ways - you can’t live with one foot in the Catholic Church and one in some other place. There are resources out there, my goodness you live in California, one of the largest states in the country. It’s not like you are in the wilds of Alaska or something. Call the Archdiocese and ask for help. Don’t take the easy way out - you are not letting your husband off easy, don’t let yourself off easy either.

God bless - I hope you can stay strong and save your marriage, and your Faith.

Also - you have some disordered understandings about salvation through the sacraments. I am going to PM you some information that may help you understand this a bit better.

~Liza

 

[jmcrae]

Connie, you may want to contact your Diocese and relay the issue you have in your parish. You may find that there are some resources there to help you. Just a thought. Peace.

There should also be a “Catholic Family Resource Centre” somewhere on Diocesan property. This would actually be the place to go for marriage counseling. I’m surprised the priest didn’t mention it.

 

[JReducation]

Ex cathedra means from the chair (throne). When the Roman Church issues a teaching that is ex cathedra (from the chair/seat/throne), it is usually mean that the teaching is put out there with the stamp of papal infallability. It means that whatever pronouncement is being made on faith or morals that it is to be held by the entire church as the gospel truth.

Mike’s explanation of ex-cathedra is correct. However, the pope need not speak ex-cathedra to apply infallibility. Ex-cathedra is a right that the pope invokes in promulgating a doctrine or belief that has many loose ends that no one can tie up. The pope declares that it must be believed as is, that it is true, and that not to believe is morally dangerous. Such was the case with the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption. Those were the only times when the pope has invoked the Ex-Cathedra right.

However, it is not the only time that the pope has spoken with infallibility. He did so when he spoke in abortion, the ordination of women, birth control, and now this statement.

There are criteria for a statment to have the attributes of papal infallibility.

1. The statement must come from the pope himself, not via another person (check)
2. The statement has to be on either faith or morals. (check)
3. The pope must be speaking as pope, not as Bishop of Rome, as a theologian or private person (checkk)
4. His intent is to speak to the universal Church, not just the Roman Church (check)
5. His intent is that the Church will give assent (check)

Yes, the statement on the priesthood is infallible.

However, the issue is that this is not new. What happened was that many priests became very involved in other forms of ministry. What the Holy Father is reminding us is that these other forms of ministry are not proper to the priesthood. In other words, you don’t have to be a priest to be a counselor, teacher, soup kitchen worker and so forth. Well, we knew this. Therefore, this is just a reminder.

Secondly, he reminds the priests and the faithful to remember that the sole purpose for a man being ordained is to administer the sacraments. That’s not new either. Everything else you can do without ordinatiion.

Third, this one is more tricky to understand. There is a difference between Holy Orders and ministry. Ministry is service. But the service of Holy Orders is very specific. It is sacramental service. Any other service performed by a priest is not part of his ministry. It’s an extra.

Continued . . .

 

[JReducation]

conclusion . . .

Having said all of that, a priest has the same moral duty to perform the corporal works of mercy as does every other Christian. He does not get a pass because he’s a priest.

Some priests have a second vocation. They are also religious. This man then has a call to be a priest and a call to be a consecrated man. In that case, he has a moral duty to perform whatever corporal and spiritual works of mercy are proper to his religious order. This may be education, care for the poor or sick, etc.

If you have secular priests in your parish, you do not have the right to expect of them any more corporal works of mercy than you would from any other good Catholic secular man. This is where the Catholic laity often gets confused.

The American Catholics laity has been influenced by the Protestant image of the pastor. Very few of the Reformation communities have religious orders dedicated to the corporal works of mercy. Therefore, it falls on the congregation of a church and its pastor. None of the Reformation communities have valid apostolic succession. Therefore, they do not have validly ordained deacons, priests and bishops. As a result, most of the Protestant clergy are very involved in the day to day spiritual, social and material needs of their congregations, because they do not have to attend to the day to day sacramental needs, since they have only two sacraments.

We, Catholics in the USA, have become accostumed to thinking that this is the normal funciton of ordained men. This is the model that we grew up with, surrounded by Protestants. The influence has been so strong that every young man who became a priest kept this model alive and well.

There is NOTHING WRONG WITH IT. That’s not what the pope is saying. What he is saying is that it is not the primary duty of a priest. If you can do this fine, if not, fine too. Make sure that you bring people to holiness through the sacraments. That’s the primary duty of a priest. That no only makes sense, it’s infallible. Who can argue against this as truth?

This is very helpful, because laity and clergy often use the coporal works of mercy as the barometer to measure a priest’s effectiveness. His effectiveness is not dependent on the corporal works of mercy or even his holiness. He is effective by the fact that he celebrates the sacraments. If he’s a lose canon or a pillar of the Church, it makes no difference in the celebration of the sacraments. It is the sacrament that makes people holy.

When we say, “Priests shouldn’t be sacrament dispensers.” The Pope is saying back to us, “That’s exactly what they are and that’s why they are ordained, no other reason.”

To close, I’ll say what I have said on many threads. It is for this reason that many religious orders are cutting back on the number of men whom we ordain. Because we were founded for other ministries, not priestly ministries. Since the priesthood is for the purpose of celebrating sacraments, an order founded for the purpose of living in fraternity with each other, in silence, in care of the sick, educating the young, serving the homeless and so forth, such an order needs only a few priests to serve the needs of the membership. The ministry of the order puts the members in situations where they are not celebrating sacraments.

In our community, we have a brother who is a priest. But he is the director of a pregnancy center. We serve in only one parish. He’s not stationed at that parish. He celebrates mass for the brothers every morning and goes to the pregnancy center during the day. At night he studies, prays and spends the evening with his brothers. We don’t have baptisms in the community house or wedding or confessions or even funerals. All of that is taken care of at the local parish run by secular priests.

The Holy Father is right. The duty of the priest is to celebrate the sacraments. Everything else falls into the hands of different Christians, be they religious or lay people. Those priests who are reiligious must first comply with the duties that come with their religious order, then with the duties of the priesthood. That’s why religious orders are now ordaining less men. We’re still taking in men, forming them, sending them through eight years of school, but they are not being given permission to be ordained as they were once upon a time. Instead, they make final vows and they go out to do the ministries that are proper to their religious order. You ordain as many as you need for the ministries of your order and for the care of your members. If your order runs parishes, then you need more ordained men. If you do not run parishes, then you need less. Make sense?

To the OP I would say that if you cannot find a parish priest who is qualified to do marriage counseling, the diocese always has a Family Life Office, under this name or some other name. They do have people who do this ministry. Some are at the Family Life Office and others are around the diocese and you go to them. But the diocese will give you their names and telephone numbers. Most of them do not charge for their services. Most of the time, the salaries are covered by the diocese. Call your chancery or pastoral center.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Sullibe]

I KNOW I am a strong Catholic, always have been, always will be,

I didn’t mean to dis the sacraments not at all. I believe in every one of them, and as I said earlier, I believe they are gifts to us from God. For us. Especially the Eucharist! Praise God for it! They don’t save us though, only Jesus does. That is what I meant to say. I do not believe a person is “saved” at baptism. No, I do not think this. A person is saved through the blood of Jesus, He is the way, the truth and the life, as it says in Scripture. What if one got stranded on a deserted island, and there was no Eucharist, no sacraments? Well, if they are a believer in Jesus Christ, our Lord, they are saved. Period. So, there doesn’t have to be The Eucharist there at all. Really. If we believe in Him, He saves us! If we accept Him into our hearts, He is there and will never leave. We don’t have to even take the Eucharist every Sunday. I am becoming very conflicted reading what a lot of you are writing, as if the Sacraments save us. Jesus dying for me on the cross saves me. Amen

I am so sorry that you are having problems with your marriage and I’m equally sorry that you have sought help within your Catholic community and have been met with inadequate responses. I could site many reasons as to why that may be the case, but none of the excuse the action or lack thereof

I will be praying for you, though it will not be solely because of your marriage troubles. I will be praying for you to grow and understand more completely in the faith you claim to follow so devoutly.

You said that you KNOW you are a strong Catholic and I praise you for that, but you are wrong when you say, “Well, if they are a believer in Jesus Christ, our Lord, they are saved. Period. So, there doesn’t have to be The Eucharist there at all. Really. If we believe in Him, He saves us! If we accept Him into our hearts, He is there and will never leave. We don’t have to even take the Eucharist every Sunday.” While it may be true that someone stranded on a deserted island without access to that sacraments would be saved by believing in Christ, for all of us who have access to the Sacraments are required to participate in them.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:
**1131 The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions.

1132 The Church celebrates the sacraments as a priestly community structured by the baptismal priesthood and the priesthood of ordained ministers.

1133 The Holy Spirit prepares the faithful for the sacraments by the Word of God and the faith which welcomes that word in well-disposed hearts. Thus the sacraments strengthen faith and express it.

1134 The fruit of sacramental life is both personal and ecclesial. For every one of the faithful an the one hand, this fruit is life for God in Christ Jesus; for the Church, on the other, it is an increase in charity and in her mission of witness.

**

And more specifically:
**1127 Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify. They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. The Father always hears the prayer of his Son’s Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.

1128 This is the meaning of the Church’s affirmation that the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: “by the very fact of the action’s being performed”), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that “the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God.” From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.

1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. “Sacramental grace” is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior. **
vatican.va/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm

This is the one and only faith of the Catholic Church. I encourage you to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, so that you can understand the the Importance of the Sacraments.

You mentioned that you felt alone, almost abandoned by God and the Church. Is it possible that God is trying to urge you to discover, learn, and therefore grow more fully into the faith you follow so devoutly.

I hope and pray that you will discover that the Eucharist is at the center of our faith and in putting the Eucharist (which IS Christ) above everything else, then Christ will give you the grace and strength to heal.

Peace and Blessings.

 

[Corinne3]

Dear Liza:

I do believe someone can be saved outside the Catholic Church. Maybe you don’t but I do and I know so. I have many true Christian friends who are not Catholics, and they are much closer to our Lord than many Catholics, who just go through the motions day in day out, Sunday after Sunday, whose kids have all left the church, etc…why??? you ask? maybe because our faith has become dead as a doornail?

I do think too, that the Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord, but what if we cannot take it? Does this mean we’re doomed? I think not.

I just am having a very hard time lately. I know more than anything that my Catholic Faith is the true one, but then why do so many Catholics act like the spirit is not even in them, and so many other Christians seem to live in Christ so much more? I don’t get it. WHY are my Christian friends and their kids living the Christian life and fired up about their faith? where my kids are saying when “they are grown they will not go to church”??? I want to live in the power of the Lord Jesus. I think maybe I need to look for a Catholic Charismatic church. I want to feel on fire with Jesus, and say AMEN at Mass, and praise his Holy Name not sit there like a dead piece of wood in the Pew.
And I want my kids to love the Lord with all their heart like I do. It’s becoming harder to do the way our church has become so boring lately…sorry. What can we all do about this? For one, bring in some praise music into the church, and work on the music ministry. Another, teach priests to be more fired up and passionate about their homilies; third, have some more couples ministries to keep marriages from breaking…dunno…these are all burning issues with me lately…

thanks for listening…

 

[Corinne3]

Am thinking of joining our church choir for the fall. And maybe becoming more active. I do not want to sit around and complain, rather do something I can do!

 

[jpink1019]

Christ is absent from their place of worship. He only resides in the tabernacles of the Catholic Church.

How can you say this??
Who are you to say how and where the holy spirit can work?

 

[jmcrae]

How can you say this??
Who are you to say how the holy spirit can work?

She meant, Jesus in His physical form. Spiritually, they have Jesus, but not physically.

 

[Corinne3]

How can you say this??
Who are you to say how and where the holy spirit can work?

I agree jpink. Sometimes even the Holy Spirit is more at work in Protestant churches than in ours. I also disagree with what Lizette is saying, that only the spirit is alive in the Catholic Church or whatever it was she said which was totally untrue. I cannot recall, sorry.

I just want to be on fire for my Lord. This is what I want. I want to take Jesus in the Eucharist into my body and praise Him, and for everyone to know it too!

I guess it starts with me. Spreading the Good News.

Amen.

 

[Annabelle_Marie]

I agree jpink. Sometimes even the Holy Spirit is more at work in Protestant churches than in ours. I also disagree with what Lizette is saying, that only the spirit is alive in the Catholic Church or whatever it was she said which was totally untrue. I cannot recall, sorry.

I just want to be on fire for my Lord. This is what I want. I want to take Jesus in the Eucharist into my body and praise Him, and for everyone to know it too!

I guess it starts with me. Spreading the Good News.

Amen.

I’d be careful not to just go off of “feelings”. For many years that is what I did…but there was definetly a lack of deepth. Yes–just because you are Catholic by name does not mean you are living out your faith. I would remind you that Mass isn’t supposed to be about making us “feel” good. It’s supposed to be about worshiping God…just like in Revelation.

But, I think your idea of joining the choir is a good one. I always admire people who have a talent for singing. I am always blessed by the people around me at Mass when I hear the sing…and then I feel alwful sorry for them because them I remember they have to listen to me sing…

 

[JReducation]

Corinne - you have gotten a lot of good advice here, some not so good. Here is my take on this, and is in response to your opening post specifically.

Going to a heretical place of worship (it is not a Church, only the Catholic Church can claim that title) is no different from your husband’s own infidelity to your own marriage.

Be very careful here. This is not what the Church teaches. Pope John Paul II clarified this. The original heretics were the founders of the Protestant Reformation. Today’s Protestants are not heretics nor are their places of worship heretical. In 1983 the Holy Father had canon law revised to say that the term heretic does not apply to Protestants who are are born into Protestantism. It applies to a Catholic who teaches error, not to a Protestant.

Christ is absent from their place of worship.

This is not right. John Paul II and Benedict XVI both have clarified that Christ is present outside of the phsyical Church through those Catholic truths that are found in them. The problem is that they do not have the fullness of truth. But Christ in his mercy uses whatever Catholic truths they may have to save them. This is not only for Protestants, but for other faiths as well. The physical Church is limited by time and space. But the Church as Mystical Body and Bride of Christ extends herself to every place that her spouse does. Therefore, she offers salvation to all those who seek God in ernest, even if they are not in full posession of the truth. That’s why we believe that non-Catholics can be saved. They are saved by the graces that they receive from the Church. Here is that old teaching coming to life again, Salvation through the Catholic Church. But the Catholic Church extends herself beyond her physical borders so that all may have an opportunity to be saved. She is wherever Christ is. Christ is everywhere.

If you’re talking about the physical Christ, in body, blood, soul and divinity, as he is found in the Eucharist, then he is only found in the 22 Catholic Churches and all of the Eastern Orthodox Churches as well. It’s not just in the Catholic Church. The physical Christ is found in both lungs of the Church to use Pope Benedict’s term. The one lung is the Catholic Church and the other is the Orthodox Church.

Everything else that you said is accurate and well expressed. But we must always be careful to present non-Catholics as the Church sees them, not as we see them. Part of the spiritual journey is to open our minds to the possibility of seeing things differently according to the guidance of our shepherds. That is the sign of a good Catholic.

We must teach all Catholics to follow what our shepherds say and do. As we can see, the Holy Father himself finds Christ in a synagogue, according to his own words. Pope Benedict said this in New York City when he visited the synagogue and the world heard it.

The physical Christ can only be found in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Even here, we have to be very careful not to forget that the Orthodox have valid sacraments and are fully united to us in sacris (sacrament). They are not juridically and theologically united to us. But they are in sacrament and in apostolic succession.

The Protestant communities do not have apostolic succession. Therefore, they have only two sacraments: baptism and matrimony, because you do not need apostolic succession for those sacraments., you simply need to be baptized to baptize another person or to make sacramental marriage vows. That’s why converts to Catholicism who have been married in a Protestant rite do not have to remarry or have their marriages convalidated. They are valid and are usually sacramental.

If they have valid baptism then Christ is truly present among them. Without the Trinity, they cannot have baptism. The same applies for marriage. The existence of these two sacraments in the Protestant communities is the best proof of Christ’s presence among them. Where there ae valid sacraments, there is Christ. It is impossible to have one without the other.

Their system is incomplete, because they do not have a valid priesthood, unlike the Orthodox who have a complete sacramental system, because they have a priesthood that goes back to the Apostles, some Orthodox Churches actually go back to Peter himself.

I hope this helps.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Holly3278]

Oh please don’t leave the Church simply because no one at your parish has been unable to help you. Perhaps you could try a different parish?

 

[rinnie]

I’d be careful not to just go off of “feelings”. For many years that is what I did…but there was definetly a lack of deepth. Yes–just because you are Catholic by name does not mean you are living out your faith. I would remind you that Mass isn’t supposed to be about making us “feel” good. It’s supposed to be about worshiping God…just like in Revelation.

But, I think your idea of joining the choir is a good one. I always admire people who have a talent for singing. I am always blessed by the people around me at Mass when I hear the sing…and then I feel alwful sorry for them because them I remember they have to listen to me sing…

I agree the choir is a real good idea. You know what they say singing seems to help a troubled soul. I think thats why they say when you sing a prayer its like praying twice. I think that when you sing you pour out all of your heart and soul. Its a way of crying out to God and releasing alot of stress at the same time. Good ideal

 

[smithm29]

And I want my kids to love the Lord with all their heart like I do. It’s becoming harder to do the way our church has become so boring lately…sorry. What can we all do about this?

Whenever I start to find mass “boring” it’s because I forget that I’m witnessing the greatest thing that human eyes can see- Christ taking physical form right in front of me, coming to see me, a worthless sinner who deserves nothing from him. I am further given the great honor of physically receiving my Lord every time I am free of mortal sin. There’s nothing in the mass more moving to me than to say with the Centurion, “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word, and I shall be healed”. I am not lying when I admit to you that teared up right now, typing it.

That has nothing to do with the friendliness of the priest, the uplifting nature of the music, or the strength of the community. That has to do with the glories of God through his consecrated priesthood, and I am given the great honor of witnessing and participating in it every single Sunday. That doesn’t mean that I’m affected by it every Sunday, or that my kids don’t make things hard, or that I always feel like I am in His physical presence, or that I don’t let the factionalism and pseudo-protestantism in my parish drag me down. But when I am in the right frame of mind and I let the spirit move me, my prayer with the Centurion will always make me choke as I realize how unworthy I am to be witness to this miracle, and how grateful I am to God for his son and his priests.

I’ve had a parish priest who helped my wife and I get through some pretty difficult spots. I’ve had one who cried when I made a general confession, telling me that God loved me. I’ve also had priests who I can’t wait to see transferred, who I would cringe at dinner with, and who I would rather avoid when in public. All of them celebrated the mass validly and used the proper words in the confessional, so what more can I ask? They bring me the sacraments of God’s mercy, through which I find salvation.

The rest I can find elsewhere, if need be. I live in Southern West Virginia. By default, 90% of my friends are either protestant or functionally agnostic. They’re still my friends, and they may sometimes have advice or experience that can help me with a specific problem. Saint Dominic was never afraid to find truth wherever it could be found, and if that truth is found with your protestant friends, than so be it! Just remember the awesome truth of the sacraments that you find in your parish, despite its other problems.

 

[rinnie]

I agree jpink. Sometimes even the Holy Spirit is more at work in Protestant churches than in ours. I also disagree with what Lizette is saying, that only the spirit is alive in the Catholic Church or whatever it was she said which was totally untrue. I cannot recall, sorry.

I just want to be on fire for my Lord. This is what I want. I want to take Jesus in the Eucharist into my body and praise Him, and for everyone to know it too!

I guess it starts with me. Spreading the Good News.

Amen.

Just a point to remember Corrine and not to forget is what you just said. That Eucharist, and you are right we need it so bad.

But just because you cannot find what you need at this time at your Church does not mean that the Holy Spirit is more alive in other Churchs. It just means that God did not fail us in the RCC we have failed God. And it is a good eye opener for all of us to step up to the plate and serve God again like we are called to do.

When Jesus started the Church we forget it was just not the Apostles and Priests who did Gods work it was everyone. We got lazy and now we are blaming the Priest, Bishops. etc

But JPII saw this over ten years ago. That is why we have renew. We have to come back together as a family and help one another again. And the time is here and now.

Now let me ask you Corrine what have you did for the Church for the last ten years or so? Have you reached out to others? When things were going good, or okay for you earlier in life what did you do to help the Church grow and become a better place.

How about any of us? Honestly we need to address this. How much time do any of you Catholic’s participate in helping the Church grow in Christ?

Or are you like I used to be not very long ago and just took and took and figured that couple bucks a week would do it. Well I have to step up to the plate now and give back what I have always taken. Who else feels that they should? If you do not feel that you have a job to do in your Church then you are wrong.

The Holy Spirit is calling us all to step up and reach out to others. So how is the Holy Spirit calling you? To leave and go somewhere else where others can do the work. Or is the Holy Spirit asking you to stay and rebuild that family life in your House instead of someone elses.

Remember Charity begins at Home. Where is your true home. I know where mine is. Its in the RCC. Always was always will be. I just figured that my role in the Church would be when I got old. But God had other plans:shrug:

 

[rinnie]

Oh please don’t leave the Church simply because no one at your parish has been unable to help you. Perhaps you could try a different parish?

Or Holly she can stick around and help Father make it what it needs to be. Sometimes God works in ways you could never imagine. Sometimes he really has a way of getting our attention.

 

[lunalight]

Of course the pastor is happy to see you, sweetie. They would love to boast about luring a Catholic out of the Church. They want more numbers in the seats, more money in the pockets. This is a quote from a response above.

Is this really what we really have become? Us verses them? I don’t think that they would boast about helping someone in need. This makes it sound as if all other people are deceptive except for people who are catholic, which I believe is completely untrue.

I understand what the person that began this thread is talking about. My church is part of the Holy Trinity Parish. That is made up of several neighboring towns, 5 churches, nearly 25 different mass times each week and we have only 3 priests. So trying to schedule a time to talk to a priest in my church is nearly impossible.

When my family has been in need of spiritual guidance in the past and present, my church has not been able to meet those needs. What then? My family is in crisis and has been for the past 8 years. Has my belief in God waivered? Never!! However, my confidence in the church has suffered. I feel very disconnected with my church. When I say “church” I don’t mean that I feel like I have been separated from Jesus or God. What I feel disconnected from is my parish. There is very little personal connection. I go to church but I just feel there is much lacking. I grew up catholic and it is all that I have ever known.

What is a family in crisis to do in this situation? So, am I to simply sit and wait for help to just drop in my lap? My family needed help, and I wasn’t getting it from my church. So, by most of the comments on this thread, I am abandoning God because I looked outside the catholic church for help. I absolutely do not believe that. Just as I am a human being, the church is also staffed by human beings. The priests can only do so much. They are too many parishoners and not enough priests. Would God really want to deny my family the necessary help they need because my church is unable to find the time to help? I don’t think so.

I have helped in my church. I have helped teach religion class. I have volunteered to be a sponsor. So I have taken steps to fill the gap for other families in need. But my family is also in need.

I went to a Lutheran church in my neighborhood to see if the pastor there would be willing to help with my family issues. He talked to us and gave us advice on what he felt would help our family. He spoke to us right away the same day. He did not ask for money. Nor did he preach to us or try to convert us.