How has CAF helped you become a better Catholic?

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I’m not sure this site has helped me to grow in my faith, but I find the discussions and commentors fascinating in all of their different dimensions. Perhaps this little door which peeks into humanity has helped me grow in patience and understanding. It’s helped me to grow a little wiser in that way, I think. Unfortunately, I’ve wasted precious time on here.
 
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I would say that CAF has not helped me be a better Catholic to be honest. I spend most of my time here on the world news sub-form where politics is the focus. Catholic News also gets ugly.

I have had more than one Confessor tell me to say away- but it is hard- kind of an addiction.
 
exactly. The controversy, study, reward system of notifications used by social media, they are all here. Addiction.
 
11101 said:
The internet is not a replacement for community.
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Off topic, but I disagree. I have several strong communities, several online which nurture my soul, my needs in different ways than the ones I have in bodily form.
 
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Ah, but I think that this is exactly the topic! The internet might be how you correspond with some friends, perhaps only known as the 3rd millennium equivalent of pen-pals, but to disagree with the sentence: “The internet is not a replacement for community,” is absolutely necessarily to affirm the sentence: “The internet IS a replacement for community.”

I mean no offense, and I realize you probably don’t mean the denotative meaning of that, but I think it is worth being emphatic on this point! The internet is not a replacement for community.
 
No no, no offense taken. You define community differently than I do, I think. But yes, I’d agree it’s essential to have a primary community in bodily form, yes.
 
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There are a few pluses about caf.

Firstly you can ask some challenging questions up to a point which may cause some controversy which might cause problems with actual 3D parishioners and maybe even your priest. Some questions but not all.

Secondly helping others sometimes requires digging deep into your own personal reasons for faith and often requires that you consolidate previously nebulous ideas and in the process re affirm your own beliefs. In those instances both parties may gain from it. And it does help to maintain a daily emphasis on thoughts of God.

Lastly of course it can help people who may be socially isolated and that might help them to feel as though they remain a valueable part of a Catholic community.
 
Good post, Daisy. 🙂

I agree with you and a somewhat more critical poster above along the lines of keeping use of CAF in balance regarding one’s spiritual life as a whole, as well as, being attentive to the wise use of our ime. That is up to each person, obviously, to self-police.
 
Yes I have also learned to be less critical and nitpicking about what goes on in Mass. One of my first posts was complaining about EMHCs and I was reprimanded by the regulars. I took it as constructive criticism and since then many posts have allowed me to recognize and absorb different perspectives.

This website has helped me gain in knowledge of the Church and faith and also helped me spiritually. Just to name a few - the Catholic quotes and Bible verses threads are inspiring and some of the Aquinas and other theology threads have been helpful. I don’t want to be here too much though because it takes away from reading the Bible and other books which is ultimately more satisfying to me.
 
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CAF has helped me learn a lot more about my Faith… far more than almost anything else.

So it has been a great place to Catechise. Also, some of the posters (esp priests, deacons, and veterans online) have been very good at providing me with correction when I’m wrong.

Though, I do miss the older platform.

As far as personal Holiness is concerned. I’m not sure if I can see it myself on a daily basis. However, it has taught me to be better at thinking things through (though I still have many typos and sometimes short answers).

In general, I think CAF has been a great help to me, though I don’t post as much as I used to.

God bless
 
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Yes, there is a not insubstantial tendency for that to occur, but that’s true of many things. Probably, its better than wine? 🤔
 
false. people know not to drink alone. people do not know not to play on the internet alone. Second, wine is a billion times better than playing on the internet. The taste, smell, color, it is a sensous real experience of the real beautiful world
 
Bear,
While you might not see it helping you personally, I think I speak for many by saying that your posts are typically very good.

Your answers are very balanced and very insightful. I personally look forward to seeing your take on a subject.

Sometimes holiness comes by helping others, which you are doing here.

God bless you!
 
I think Bear is one of the bright spots around here for sure, even when I disagree with her. I’m also very grateful for the sane approach of Fr. Edward George.
 
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Is that a specific religious order I’m not aware of? …been out of the loop for a while. :coffee:
 
Tis_Bearself said:
But overall, I don’t find it a terribly supportive place for my personal faith or holiness in general.
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I think there are some parts that may be more supportive, the hidden forum that only real popular people can enter, the prayer intentions, and the family life seem to be much more empathetic and friendly. The rest of the forum, especially the Apologetics are downright brutal at times.
GospelOfMatthew said:
The one thing I do find disheartening is when people ask the same questions that were just asked very recently and could of been searched easily.
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I find this very annoying also, along with the loss of the Ask an Apologist because there were posts that were well written and contained great links that could be referenced. But the new search engine really sucks. I can’t find posts that I know exist using it. It works better to go outside and google it. As much as I get tired of the same topics over and over, I realize it is hard to find the right threads that prevent one from having to start another one.

I almost wish there was a sexuality section which I could just avoid, so that I would not always have to come across the bizzilion masterbation threads!
 
guanophore said:
I think there are some parts that may be more supportive, the hidden forum that only real popular people can enter, the prayer intentions, and the family life seem to be much more empathetic and friendly. The rest of the forum, especially the Apologetics are downright brutal at times.
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Brb hacking someone’s account for access to the super secret forum.
 
Thank you Phil and HopkinsReb for the kind comments.

The main reason I bother to post outside the Casual forum is in hopes of helping someone if I can. It is a form of evangelization.

At the same time I don’t want to get a swelled head from people thinking my posts are good. That’s dangerous on a forum such as this. I remind myself daily that any good answer I manage to make on here isn’t coming from me, but from God speaking and just using me, a stupid bear, to type.

I will say this forum has caused me to by necessity get a lot more familiar with sources like the Catechism, Catholic Encyclopedia, etc than I was before. I guess that’s a good thing since all of us Catholics should strive to improve our apologetics skills that were woefully undeveloped when many of us were children and our religious education was limited to felt banners, collages and Jesus is Love.
 
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