How to proceed when CAF makes you angry, frustrated, or disgusted?

  • Thread starter Thread starter catholic1seeks
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
It’s good to take a break from forums. Otherwise it can make you lose your mind. When I’m angry at someone online, I meditate. Moreover, I remind myself that I would only make matters worse if I snapped at someone.
 
I deal with by going to Best Buy and asking the techs to fix yet another punchmark on my computer. It’s quite therapeutic.

Now in seriousness,the situation depends.

Someone is being an idiot? I let others who have more patience deal with them. Maybe every now and then I post too if I feel like it.

Someone is being disrespectful? I flag it. If it isn’t flag-worthy, I’ll point it out if I feel like it. Other times I just move on saying nothing.

Someone ticks me off? Either post if I feel like it or not if I don’t.

And of course there are sometimes posters where I’m watching to see if they get banned. That seems to be happening more recently than before.
 
You can take a break from CAF. Take time off and come back again when it does not bother you much.

You have to be mentally prepared to to expect disagreement to your posts and that posters can be rude and unchristian.

In order to do that, you must be clear why you are in CAF. What is your purpose and objectives? Are they being fulfilled or not? Otherwise you are wasting your time and getting unnecessary emotional drainage, which is not worth it at all.
 
Last edited:
How about confronting the person gently and respectfully?
That’s something I try to do from time to time, not always successfully. Once or twice I’ve found that the other person then gets even more wound up than they were to start with.
 
I did say we should perform the Spiritual Works of Mercy to correct the liberals and dissenters. That is for their benefit not ours. When I suggested a time of self reflection away from the forum I was referring to the op’s anger issues. The op is accountable for his anger and a time of self reflection away from the forum is for her/his benefit. Also the anger could be caused just because she/he doesn’t like what is being said even if it is said charitably in truth.
Yeah, yeah! Sorry for misunderstanding. I agree.
 
When CAF members are uncharitable or dismissive, I often assume they’re just having a bad day, or maybe they simply lack the social graces that many of us take for granted. Maybe they just have abrasive personalities. It doesn’t jeopardize my faith or make me want to leave CAF, but maybe I will avoid or skim over their posts whenever I see them.

Whenever I have a fundamental disagreement with another member over matters of faith or politics, I try to remember that I am just as passionate and unbending regarding my way of seeing things as they are. Why else would their posts arouse anger in me? I’m not talking about actual error. There are plenty of knowledgeable members who will correct doctrinal and factual errors. I’m talking about the many areas where we can have a legitimate difference of opinion. Remembering that I have just as many biases and preferences as anyone else here helps prevent me from getting too upset over anything anyone else says.
 
Well, this isn’t a popular reply. I have said this before. Visit other Catholic forum websites. I don’t mean to completely leave CAF, but take a break from it and visit other places. We come here because we want to fellowship with other Catholics but I think because it is called Catholic Answers it tends to make it sound like it is the place to find all the answers. That is not the case and if that were the case they would not need their disclaimer at the bottom of the page. I have found in my experience that CAF does seem to generate more arquing than other forums, and I don’t know why and even just my saying this is going to probably cause reactions. You can fellowship with Catholics at other forums and then come back to CAF also.

I try, also, to remember to pray for the people I am talking to, as others have said to do and to remember you don’t know who is behind the computer on the other side, what their life is like, what they have been through and what they are going through.

God bless
 
This forum has many liberals & dissenters that could scandalize faithful Catholics.
This forum also has many people purporting to be “faithful Catholics” who at least sometimes make posts that are contrary to the current Church teaching (which they don’t agree with for some reason and have decided is wrong), or are needlessly argumentative, unkind, or just inappropriate for the forum.
 
Last edited:
This forum has many liberals & dissenters that could scandalize faithful Catholics.
Hmmm, I wouldn’t point my finger at the “liberals.” I mean, many of the “dissenters” are just as respectful on here as anyone else. I’m mainly talking about disrespectful attitudes and the like — which can also be expressed by the self-righteous orthodox as much as the liberal dissenters.
I agree that it’s not so much a question of conservatives vs. liberals as the overdone partisanship in itself. On another website where posters are much more argumentative and confrontational than the nice, polite, quietly-spoken people here at CAF, I can engage with a Calvinist, say, about the Council of Trent, where we both clearly state our views without pulling our punches but at the same time we both maintain a friendly, considerate tone of voice. A debate needn’t be a quarrel.
 
Last edited:
nice, polite, quietly-spoken people here at CAF,
I’m sure this is sarcasm.

I, too, have been to different forums and there are disagreements but there just doesn’t seem to be the flame of the tonque at the other forums as seen here.
 
I’m sure this is sarcasm.
No sarcasm at all! I’m comparing CAF with a particular British Anglican website. Sample it for yourself! It’s the Archbishop Cranmer blog. Take a look at this recent post about the crucifix and the burkha. When you scroll down through the thread, pay attention to the Protestant vs. Catholic comments on the cross vs. the crucifix. A little bit of background: one frequent commenter is Dominic Stockford (his real name), an ordained Catholic priest who went over to the Dark Side and is now the president of the Protestant Truth Society.
Enjoy!

http://archbishopcranmer.com/ruth-davidson-burqa-crucifix/
 
Seems to be a tactic of the liberals in an attempt to shut down dialogue. No matter how charitable one is in proclaiming the Truth of Jesus Christ and His Church the name calling starts.
 
Honestly, at this point, my faith has been bombed so much, I’m rather astounded it’s still standing. I don’t defend it anymore. I kind of stare at it and awe and question how much of my faith is authentic. Is this evidence for God’s grace in my life or do I just not know who I am without my faith?

“My sheep hear my voice , and I know them, and they follow me.” It’s like jumping into the water and walking on it with Christ. Keep your eyes on Jesus and you won’t sink. Look down, and you will. Stop worrying what people think. Don’t worry about what their opinion is over where you are spiritually. Don’t even worry about judging the distance between you and Christ. Just keep going and keep your focus on Him.
 
Okay, got it. I stand corrected. There are places worse, and one of the biggest places where there are horrible, nasty comments are found in the Disgus comment section of websites that allow Disgus and you’re right, that one seems pretty bad.
 
Seems to be a tactic of the liberals in an attempt to shut down dialogue. No matter how charitable one is in proclaiming the Truth of Jesus Christ and His Church the name calling starts.
And of course, we never see name-calling from conservatives/trads. :roll_eyes:
 
And of course, we never see name-calling from conservatives/trads. :roll_eyes:
Exactly.

There are liberal-leaning people who name call.
There are conservative-leaning people who name call.

In my personal experience, I seem to see a higher number of conservative-leaning doing so. But that would probably be more because CAF has a higher conservative population. On forums with higher liberal populations, the converse would be true. And for those wondering my politics, I lean Catholic. Make of that what you will.
 
Last edited:
I’m new here, but I go through CAF in the same way as I go through real life in that , I’m particular about who I surround myself with. I’m here mostly to share the Catholic experience and I’ve found there’s a good community here to do that with.

There are things here that frustrate me, I tend to avoid them as they often come in direct defiance of my bishop and use language which I’m not used to hearing at church. Instead of getting angry, I’ve decided to do something, and come this September I’ll be working through the Church to learn what can be done here on the ground to advance the Catholic values the bishop, my pastor and I hold dear.
 
I tend to avoid them as they often come in direct defiance of my bishop
Oh yeah. I remember a while back when some people were posting LifeSite artivles showing my cardinal in a negative light. It was annoying because
  1. He’s my cardinal
  2. LifeSite as a whole is just bad
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top