Im no longer going to be a Catholic

[qui_est_ce]

Wow, I admire your strong will to abstain on Good Friday. In our parish, Good Fridays are the best fish fries ever with lots of beer. And then after you get to go to the **Good Friday service **and drink some of the good stuff, real blood.
jmcrae;4001766:

What happened to fasting on Good Friday?

Would it hurt Catholics to stay sober for one day.

His Alone knows Catholics can’t stay sober for even one day.

There is no Mass on Good Friday. There is a service of Holy Communion, but it is under the species of bread, only.

Reread my post.

 

[qui_est_ce]

Buddy, a Catholic marrying in a protestant Church without dispensation HAS AN INVALID MARRIAGE.

There are no ifs, no buts, no ands…THAT IS IT MAN!

The only solution is to have the marriage made sacramental within the RCC.

What is your definition of invalid? Every marriage is presumed valid until proven invalid through the annulment process.

 

[mercygate]

I totally understand your point. But if you knew would it make it okay? That is all I am asking.

No. It would not be okay for him to be a child molester or an embezzler, or a drug runner.

Yes. It would be okay for me to receive the sacraments from him because the personal holiness of the minister does not affect the validity of the sacrament. All of that was settled in the Donatist controversy around 300 A.D., when it was discerned that the grace of the sacraments is derived from the opus operatum of Christ independently of the worthiness of the minister.

 

[qui_est_ce]

I am disappointed that the masses are being said in Latin again, it discourages me from coming back even more. I’m old enough to remember the Latin mass and how we basically learned the mass by rote. We didn’t know what we were saying, we just said it because thats what we were supposed to do. Heck, I couldn’t make it as an altar boy because I just couldn’t remember all of the Latin. To me this is too much like the Muslim faith who expects their followers to memorize praying the Koran in Arabic even though they don’t know what they’re saying! What a joy it was the first time I heard the mass in English!!!

Not all masses will be in Latin, just some. And for those Some, it’s a great joy to hear it in Latin again.

I still live across the street from the Catholic church we used to attend and it bothers me to see people make a dash out the doors before the mass ends because they want to beat the rush out of the parking lot. Or when Mass ends how these “Christian” people honk and yell at each other as they vie for the quick way out of the parking lot.

Not all of them run away. Look at all the ones that stay (you can’t see them because they’re still inside)!

When our church service is over my wife and I hang around to visit with friends, find out who needs praying for, its hard to get a lot of people to leave!

Do I have a lot of problems with the church? You betcha but the more I educate myself on what the church is, the more I am beginning to believe (re-believe?) that I did leave the “true” church.

Please pray for me?

Here’s one happy joyful DEVOUT CATHOLIC MASS NERD who doesn’t honk her horn run out of Chuch ASAP after mass too buy enjoying fellowship with LOTS of others who will pray for you

 

[liberational]

What is your definition of invalid? Every marriage is presumed valid until proven invalid through the annulment process.

YOUR KIDDING RIGHT???

No sir, it is absolutely explicitly clear, a Catholic marrying in a Protestant Church without the Bishops dispensation, has an invalid marriage.

Check it out yourself…

realpresence.org/Canon%20Law%20-%20Caridi%20001.htm

Such a dispensation MUST be obtained in advance. A Catholic who gets married in a non-Catholic ceremony without a dispensation from canonical form is not validly married under canon law.

 

[LittleDeb]

I was describing this site to someone, and I told them, ’ remember those few really over the top Holy people in your RCIA…well this site is like that, except there are hundreds of those people’.

That was all I had to say and they understood exactly the tone and charity level around here.

I responded to you in another thread and was charitable in the face of your own lack of tact.

I really don’t mind if you don’t agree with Church teaching. That is between you and God, not me. But if you come on here firing off untruths about Catholicism you will get responses. Disagree with the Church all you want, but please disagree with what She actually teaches, not the deluge of untruth you have presented thus far.

If you are here to discuss, you will find lots of charity. When you come in attacking, guns blazing, please don’t expect any of us to just lie down and take it.

 

[mercygate]

Buddy, a Catholic marrying in a protestant Church without dispensation HAS AN INVALID MARRIAGE.

There are no ifs, no buts, no ands…THAT IS IT MAN!

The only solution is to have the marriage made sacramental within the RCC.

Your statement was that the RCC did not recognize a Protestant marriage as valid.

The Church does recognize Protestant marriages. That is why divorced non-Catholics, who wish to marry Catholics, must go through the annulment process and obtain a decree of nullity.

What you describe here is a Catholic marrying outside the Church without a dispensation from form. That is not a “Protestant” marriage, it is a defective “Catholic” marriage.

If you did this unwittingly, as my spouse did, then the Church makes it quite simple to rectify the situation.

 

[liberational]

Your statement was that the RCC did not recognize a Protestant marriage as valid.

The Church does recognize Protestant marriages. That is why divorced non-Catholics, who wish to marry Catholics, must go through the annulment process and obtain a decree of nullity.

What you describe here is a Catholic marrying outside the Church without a dispensation from form. That is not a “Protestant” marriage, it is a defective “Catholic” marriage.

If you did this unwittingly, as my spouse did, then the Church makes it quite simple to rectify the situation.

You mis-read my statement…no big deal…I wrote MY protestant marriage. We are on the same page now.

Yes, its very easy to rectify…but I truly believe it is quite unnecessary and an insult to married couples that somehow the Church has the authority to declare what God thinks about the marriage.

 

[LittleDeb]

53 yrs old, raised Catholic, Married to a lovely Christian woman who was raised Baptist (29 years in Sept).

Left the church and returned many times but left for good when I lost my job in '96 and the church kept hounding me for my kids tuition money. They were worse than most of my creditors.

Got involved with a Protestant Christian co-worker in 2000 who got me involved with reading the Bible and ended up in a Baptist church 5 years ago. I love my current church especially the loving, caring people we’ve befriended. However, the longer I’ve been there, the more of a Catholic Apologist I have become. There are so many things that Protestants believe about the CC that are just aren’t so!
My experience with the Baptist faith led me to this site because (as many have pointed out) even as a practicing Catholic who “thought” he understood the Catechism, I really didn’t know, or had forgotten what the CC teaches Vs. what Protestants believe they teach. The main thing I am thankful to the Baptist church for is opening a whole new world for me through the Bible. Its one thing to listen to bits and pieces of scripture read at mass, but reading through the whole bible was like putting the last piece of a 1000 piece puzzle together! All of a sudden it all made sense!

Now when people at our church say stupid things about the CC and I don’t have the answers to “defend the faith”, I come here or www.biblechristiansociety.com and get the real answer.

One of the reasons for my not returning is that I still know way too many Catholics (including family members) who are just going through the motions about their faith. When I happen to catch a mass on EWTN TV, it reminds me of the reasons I left. Everyone seems so dead during mass. Everyone mouths the responses in a dull monotone. Its just sad.

I am disappointed that the masses are being said in Latin again, it discourages me from coming back even more. I’m old enough to remember the Latin mass and how we basically learned the mass by rote. We didn’t know what we were saying, we just said it because thats what we were supposed to do. Heck, I couldn’t make it as an altar boy because I just couldn’t remember all of the Latin. To me this is too much like the Muslim faith who expects their followers to memorize praying the Koran in Arabic even though they don’t know what they’re saying! What a joy it was the first time I heard the mass in English!!!

Another reason…

I still live across the street from the Catholic church we used to attend and it bothers me to see people make a dash out the doors before the mass ends because they want to beat the rush out of the parking lot. Or when Mass ends how these “Christian” people honk and yell at each other as they vie for the quick way out of the parking lot.

When our church service is over my wife and I hang around to visit with friends, find out who needs praying for, its hard to get a lot of people to leave!

Will I ever return to the church? Friends… I wish I knew… I’ve been praying for guidance for some time. The more I listen to the Catholic channel on my Sirius radio, and visit these and other Catholic forums I’m slowly making my way back.

Do I have a lot of problems with the church? You betcha but the more I educate myself on what the church is, the more I am beginning to believe (re-believe?) that I did leave the “true” church.

Please pray for me?

Praying for you now. Awesome post!

In my shameful past I was one of those people too, mouthing words and not having a clue what I actually believed. It was a bad time in the secular culture and it spread to all corners of the members of the Church. I ask that you please forgive me and others who through our own failings caused you doubt.

“…in what I have done and what I have failed to do…”

Welcome to the CAF! Understanding the authentic teaching of the Church is a huge step towards reconciliation.

 

[jmcrae]

You mis-read my statement…no big deal…I wrote MY protestant marriage. We are on the same page now.

Yes, its very easy to rectify…but I truly believe it is quite unnecessary and an insult to married couples that somehow the Church has the authority to declare what God thinks about the marriage.

The Church is God’s physical body on earth - God acts and speaks by means of the Church.

What this means is that when we hear from the Church, we are hearing God speak to us. There is no separation between the teachings of the Church and the will of God. “Whoever hears you, hears Me; whoever rejects you, rejects Me.” (Luke 10:16)

 

[mercygate]

You mis-read my statement…no big deal…I wrote MY protestant marriage. We are on the same page now.

Yes, its very easy to rectify…but I truly believe it is quite unnecessary and an insult to married couples that somehow the Church has the authority to declare what God thinks about the marriage.

My Catholic spouse felt the same way. But by the time the matter came up, he was morally and intellectually Catholic again.

Of all the challenges you are raising to the Faith, this doesn’t even rise to the level of significance.

 

[adstrinity]

Would it hurt Catholics to stay sober for one day.

I don’t know…but, since it sounds too risky, I’m not about to try…if I do it once then my liver will expect it all the time…

 

[liberational]

Of all the challenges you are raising to the Faith, this doesn’t even rise to the level of significance.

On the contrary…the Church once again is claiming a monopoly as the sole authority of what God thinks.

It is symptomatic of the entire institutional monopoly that the Catholic Church holds over the laity.

Dogmatic absolutism narrows a persons vision. In Catholicism, some people get so focused on the tree’s, that they can’t see the forest.

 

[TexCatholic4JMJ]

Lost Again, I am sorry that so many Catholic’s bad example
led you out of the church.
Years ago, I determined that I would not let others (example,
bad teachings, etc.) take me out of the Catholic Church and
when I go to Mass, I go to worship the Lord and receive Him
in the Eucharist. What others are doing, or not doing, can
momentarily distract me, but I am going to let the Lord take
care of them. If someone is talking in Church or using their
cell phone and is close to me, I will whisper to them that
they need to be silent. That is usually all it takes for them
to stop, rarely have they ignored me (respect for age??).
So continue to study the Truth of the Catholic Faith, and
maybe, one day we can say," Welcome Home."

 

[jmcrae]

On the contrary…the Church once again is claiming a monopoly as the sole authority of what God thinks.

It is only claiming what Christ gave to it.

 

[mercygate]

On the contrary…the Church once again is claiming a monopoly as the sole authority of what God thinks.

It is symptomatic of the entire institutional monopoly that the Catholic Church holds over the laity.

Dogmatic absolutism narrows a persons vision. In Catholicism, some people get so focused on the tree’s, that they can’t see the forest.

I don’t know who “some people” are but the Church is certainly the privileged authority for interpreting matters of faith and morals. And whatever your term, “dogmatic absolutism,” is supposed to mean, if you have ever explored the way in which the Church discerns her positions on faith and morals, you would realize that it is a deeply iterative process that considers all possible suppositions and ramifications of any decision. They don’t just sit around and make up a bunch of rules to make life difficult for people.

 

[qui_est_ce]

Lost Again, I am sorry that so many Catholic’s bad example
led you out of the church.
**Years ago, I determined that I would not let others (example,
bad teachings, etc.) take me out of the Catholic Church and
when I go to Mass, **I go to worship the Lord and receive Him
in the Eucharist. What others are doing, or not doing, can
momentarily distract me, but I am going to let the Lord take
care of them.

That’s me too! It makes me so sad to see people letting scandals lead them to leave the parish and go shopping for another, until the scandal hits that parish. There are sinners (myself included) in every parish. Sometimes they don’t like the priest’s homilies. Sometimes they seek a parish with a more “liberal” agenda parish, where they use gender-neutral language when referring to God and allowing women and laypersons a greater liturgical role than prescribed in the GIRM
.
As for those nominal Catholics who do their weekly lip-sevice, I feel sorry for them - they are missing out BIG TIME.

 

[jmcrae]

Reread my post.

I did - it’s still very confusing. Were you being sarcastic? (Sometimes I take things too literally or too seriously … )

 

[qui_est_ce]

I did - it’s still very confusing. Were you being sarcastic? (Sometimes I take things too literally or too seriously … )

I wrote “Service” not mass.

The rest, well, you know us Catholics - can’t stay sober for one day! I mean, isn’t the free beer at weddings why you became catholic?

 

[jmcrae]

I wrote “Service” not mass.

The rest, well, you know us Catholics - can’t stay sober for one day! I mean, isn’t the free beer at weddings why you became catholic?

Actually, it was the free wine at my RCIA reception after the Easter Vigil - heck, if I had known there was going to be free wine, I would have converted years sooner.

I am still trying to figure out what you are getting at with “fish and beer” on Good Friday, which is a day of fasting.

We also don’t receive Holy Communion from the chalice on Good Friday - this is physically impossible, since there is no Mass.