How come so many Catholics don't follow Church Teachings?

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You seem to think sin is some mysterious unknown.

If the accusation is wrong, then others will attest that. Jesus said, take it before others, and even the Church, if necessary.

You see how it is a natural way to resolve sin within the Church?

But we lack this severely! Because we are shamed into thinking its judgmental, or we are consumed by our own sins.

This just shows that we are struggling as a Church. Admonishment should not be treated as taboo, or negative. It’s a spiritual work of mercy.

I welcome admonishment, when I am wrong. The golden rule applies… do unto others, as you would have done to yourself.
 
I think that there is a very strong idea of conscience, but the loss of the idea of a properly formed conscience. And getting behind the idea that you have to follow Church teaching and properly form your conscience can be hard for many in the American Church at least.

Many may have had an abortion, or had a friend who had one. Or know someone who is gay whom they love dearly. And while the Church position is hard both to accept and harder to understand sometimes the one from the secular world is way, way easier; ‘Go along to get along’. These may not be bad people stubborn in sin but simply misguided people who grew up in a sex soaked utilitarian philosophy culture of death.

That’s where we come in. 🙂

We have to keep in the game and keep evangelizing.
 
Who are some of these many famous Catholics and what do they support that is anti-Catholic ?
 
Abortion?

The Church isn’t denying you your free will if you choose to support legalized abortion. It’s just labeling your free choice as wrong, and saying you shouldn’t choose it. That
 
Are you the Catholic Gestapo? It is up to you to poliz the sinners? 🤣
 
Do you say nothing while a Catholic sins in your face? That’s not loving your neighbor, or the Church.
 
To my knowledge, no one has ever sinned in my face. Of course, I do not go out trying to provoke those I deem to be sinners.
 
I doubt you have never witnessed sin. And had opportunity to correct it. It’s called turning a blind eye.
 
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When I go out in public, I am not watching others to see if they are sinning in some way. That should be their responsibility.
If someone were to come up to me and tell me they thought I was sinning, my first response would be for them to mind their own business. But being the nice person who I am, I would likely thank them and go about my business.
I do not see it as my responsibility to point out the faults of others.
I have enough of my own faults to keep me busy full-time.
 
You are characterizing adminishment as judgmental and taking pleasure in accusing others of faults.

First, it’s not about going out into the world and looking for sin. It’s about seeing someone you know, from the Church, harming others and themselves, and helping them see that. If they are sincere, and recognize what they are doing as wrong, then you have gained the brother and helped stop harmful behavior. If they refuse, then you have helped put them out of the Church (if the pastor is also sincere about confronting a wicked person).

Turning a blind eye helps no one, and is even tacitly cooperating and perpetuating the problem.

As I said before, I would accept admonishment from others. If I felt they were accusing wrong, I would be happy to meet with our pastor to discuss the issue.
 
Actually, just the opposite. I am saying that I refuse to fault others. I will focus on corrective my own faults.
Turning a blind eye?
How about we all focus on our own sins?
 
littlebird said:
Who are some of these many famous Catholics and what do they support that is anti-Catholic ?
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I’m wondering if the OP wasn’t trying to avoid pointing at specific people but being more generic in what we can see happening in our culture today.
JoeShlabotnik said:
Actually, just the opposite. I am saying that I refuse to fault others. I will focus on corrective my own faults.
Turning a blind eye?
How about we all focus on our own sins?
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I think you are correct, we should focus on our own sins but we are also called to correct others when we see and know that they are putting their souls in danger by something they are doing that is sinful or causing grave harm to others. I don’t believe that means picking at little things but again, sins that jeopardize their souls.

If we all just focused on ourselves we would be isolating ourselves from each other and that is opposite of what the Church is.
 
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Ammi said:
Do you say nothing while a Catholic sins in your face? That’s not loving your neighbor, or the Church.
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I understand what you are saying Ammi, but I’m always very careful to talk about others sins, simply because I struggle with so many of my own. I’d rather work on my many problems and flaws than point out those of others.
 
I think the question in the thread title—taken at face value—is a good question for us to ask ourselves and to ponder. However, it seems that too often we ask ourselves this question in order to put “the other” into a box so that we can look down on them and say, “Thank you, Lord, that I am not like that person over there.”

Ultimately, we should ask ourselves this question in an honest effort to get better at helping those same people to understand the truth and beauty of Catholic teachings and walk with them so that they can embrace and live those teachings.

But frankly, there is not one, monolithic reason that all Catholics who don’t follow Church teaching choose not to follow a particular teaching. Are some people just cultural Catholics who rationalize away teachings so as not to experience cognitive dissonance as they engage in sinful behavior? Sure. I’ve met people like that. But are some people honestly struggling and/or disagreeing based on their firmly held convictions? Absolutely. I’ve met people like that, too.

So perhaps the better question we should ask ourselves is “How come this individual Catholic in front of me doesn’t follow Church teachings? And which Church teachings in particular are they struggling with?” And the answer very possibly is not the answer they give at first. We should seek the answer not so that we can shame them or badger them or beat them in verbal jousting matches. We should seek the answer so that we can love them and help bring them closer to Christ. Until we understand where they are coming from, we cannot understand how to help them get to a different place.
 
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MR, I just do not see it as my right or responsibility to tell others what they are doing wrong.
 
If you believed that admonishment is an act of mercy, your statement would look like this:

I just do not see it as my right or responsibility to show mercy on those doing wrong.
 
How do your sins have an effect on me? They don’t.
I do not know what your sins are.
And I would not ask.
What you say and do are your business.
 
Admonishment is a critique. I not see it as a spiritual work of mercy.
 
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