How do I deal with my mother's skepticism of the Magisterium and Catechism?

[dallasroo]

I am not exactly sure how to frame this. I was raised Catholic, rebelled in high school and returned at 40. When I returned about year ago I have tried to fully follow the religion including all teachings of the Magisterium. This has caused me great conflict with my parents who have always been practicing Catholics. My mother thinks that you can use your own conscience to make decisions on issues that the Magesterium and the Chatechism have covered. She says Jesus created the Church but the the Magesterium and the Chatechism are man made and not reliable. She talks like there is a hidden agenda there. When I try to tell her that Jesus had led the church from the succession of Peter down to our current Pope Benedict she rolls her eyes and says I have been brainwashed by the conservative side of the church and they want to roll back to pre Vatican II. I don’t try to argue but I need to better understand how to reason out this issue. She has a Masters in Theology from a Catholic University so I am quite intimidated when she gets so angry about this all. Even though I have been Catholic forever the truth is that my faith is very new to me and I don’t want to be bullied out of it. I plan to find a book on apologetics and perhaps that can help. I am not looking to argue with her, just have answers when she will inevitably make comments against the Magesterium and Chatechism.

Please help?

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

Your mother may have a Masters, but she is the one on shaky ground; not you. You have the Magisterium and the Cathechism of the Catholic Church to back you up. The pre-Vatican II Church was valid. Vatican II did not change any essential element in the Church’s teaching. Her generation (and mine) is filled with people who think as she does and are quite intransigent in their opinions. This is why Pope John Paul II focused on the Church’s youth because they, like you, have not been influenced by the excesses of the years immediately following the Council----and you are the future of the Church!

I thought very much as she does at one time. I owe my change of attitude to my devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, which never really wavered, and to the eight years I spent as novice master with members of what is now called, the John Paul II generation. They learned from me, but I also learned from them. I, along with Dominicans of my generation, had argued that we were adults and could make up our own mind on certain matters. We were buoyed up by the similar opinions of our peers. But we didn’t have a leg to stand on.

Catholics do NOT have the option of disagreeing with the Church in that they can ignore what they don’t like and simply accept what they do. If they believe that Jesus founded it and guarantied that the Holy Spirit would guard it against all error in matters of faith and morals, then if they disagree with it on such matters, they are disagreeing with the Holy Spirit. This is really a matter of faith. For a Catholic, following one’s conscience requires that such conscience be formed according to the Church’s teachings. The only valid excuse for following a poorly formed conscience is invincible (innocent) ignorance.

I will keep your mother in my prayers as I hope you do also.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.