Is anyone here a positive Catholic?

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I am not sure that I’d call myself either a positive or negative.
I am an extremely happy person though so I guess that makes me a happy catholic. I am absolutely sure God has a plan for all of us and all will be well.

Yes people don’t practice their faith well and sin etc. but God’s mercy is unfathomable and as far as I’ve seen in my person prayer life so beautiful it literally brings me to tears regularly (happy tears as well as tears of complete awe). God is so wonderful how can anyone not rejoice? We are so loved as to be called beloved. The way I think of it is, in life I have sometimes thought I couldn’t do something and then someone told me, come on I think you can, just try. So I did and it was ok. Almost everyone has that story. So God creating me, is him saying, I know you can live life and come back to me in heaven, go for it. What more do I need than that pep talk? But God gives me more hes always there to help, every one of us. So whatever we look like from the outside to each other, on the inside God is working away. We must trust in him. We can help others by praying, fasting and sacrificing for them…like he told us too. That makes us joyful as it shows our love for God too.
 
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PetraG said:
Correction and feedback
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Okay, you’re right, but here at CAF I see a lot of “correction” of imagined future problems, or problems which are envisioned by rash judgment (jumping to conclusions with little or no evidence), much of it stirred up by online blogs and newsletters.

If people had a bit more charity and trust regarding Catholic clergy and hierarchy, and a bit more hope and faith that God’s will be done, this forum and our Church would be much better off.
 
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I agree, Bear.

The Church is the immaculate bride of Christ, our infallible guide, and our mother. That is more than enough cause for joy and happiness.
 
I’ve noticed that most of the negativity and bad-mannered posting comes from new members. They usually don’t last long because they either get suspended or they were just here to rant on a certain subject.

There is a Fatima thread still open in which about 4 “new” members joined, apparently, just to trash the Vatican’s narrative on Fatima.
 
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1Lord1Faith said:
I’ve noticed that most of the negativity and bad-mannered posting comes from new members. They usually don’t last long because they either get suspended or they were just here to rant on a certain subject.
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Yes, that’s true, and in some cases the “new” members even appear very likely to be people who were already suspended and made a new account (or several) in order to come back and resume the same ranting they were doing before.
 
You should come to Texas. I go daily mass on many occasions and our chapel is full of people. The same is true on Sundays. My honest opinion as to why this happens is we have perpetual Adoration in our chapel and have had it for 20 years. That makes a big difference! Our church continues to grow.
 
I am a postive person. I am also a joyful Catholic. I have hope and trust in God that He is with His Church and will be always as He promised. I love being Catholic. There isn’t anything else.

That said, I always try to see both sides of something and the why’s of something. What I see are new people coming to the forum and asking some questions that have been asked before or making comments that have been made before. I see that happening because there are always new people coming in or people returning to the Church. They are not always going to want to read old threads but want to talk to someone. That is what this forum is for, discussion.

It has sounded lately to me that a lot of the members of the forum that have been here for quite a while are seeming angry about the hearing the same questions or the same comments and feel that if a question has been answered somewhere, sometime at CAF, no one should ask it again or if it offends them, no one has a right to ask it or say it. That is just not realistic. People come to these forums a lot of times because they want to “talk” to someone and sadly this shutting people down to me is a more unwelcoming attitude than seeing Catholics argue over a Catholic topic. Protestants argue over their own topics all the time. It probably is not anything strange to them. If a thread bothers me. I mute it. There are way too many threads and comments here for me to get upset about. This is what the internet and social media are, the world giving their comments and opinions. I know people are not always going to agree with me.

If we are joyful, positive Catholics then we should show that by answering all the new people’s questions, even if has been answered a hundred times before, and welcome them here.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
That seems like an extreme example to bring onto this thread.
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Well, failure to deal with it is the #1 negative comment I hear about the Church.
Tis_Bearself said:
Nothing I’ve said in this thread says we need to keep quiet about serious problems we see with our own eyes.
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If you’re saying that the Church would be better off if people didn’t concern themselves with approving or disapproving of the color of their pastor’s shoes, you have my vote.
Tis_Bearself said:
I think you’re also very aware that the vast majority of things complained about by Catholics…are nowhere near the serious level of people committing…even actual liturgical abuse.
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Well, there are a lot of differences of opinion here on what is and is not an actual liturgical abuse. Right or wrong, I agree that we hear a lot from people who are not getting the answer they want about that in their home parish.
Tis_Bearself said:
I’ll leave it at that so we do not ruin the positive tone of the thread.
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I’m sorry. I read the original post this way, which was not really fair:
Tis_Bearself said:
I’m not exactly a happy face person. I am quite cynical, practical and realistic…Catholics paint such a miserable picture of the Church that I sometimes think it is only by the grace of the Holy Spirit that anyone would want to join it or remain a member…So, with all that in mind, I’m just wondering if anybody here is, on balance, a happy Catholic who feels positive about the Church, is getting something positive out of their faith and also doesn’t have huge criticisms of/ problems with their fellow Catholics.
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My response was meant to say that I think that I’m encouraged that people feel they can speak up. I think we could work on how we go about doing that, trying to do so only when (as you imply) we think it is going to be profitable on the whole, and being patient about what sorts of changes in human nature we really expect to get.

I recently changed parishes because changes were made in my original parish at such a rate that the emotional state in the parish was in upheaval. Some people were thrilled, others were angry, and honestly it got to the point that it gave me chest pains to walk into the church. I didn’t think there was a way for me to stay and also be a positive force, and so I changed to a nearby parish.

When I changed, though, I decided that because I had expected our new pastor to just leave things alone and appreciate where he was for six months or so before he made a change, I ought to expect the same of myself. I think this is one of the reasons I am so happy where I am: that is, because I decided when I got there to accept the place as it was. I was new, nobody brought any complaints to me, and I didn’t see myself as somebody with any place to make complaints myself. Now, it is a really positive place from an objective standpoint, and has been from Day 1, but I also think the practice of accepting things not being perfect really helped.
 
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Having said that, if you have the attitude that it is up to you to accept people as they are, to like what is likeable and bear with what is unlikable for the sake of the bearing-with you hope for yourself, it really does help to put you in a contented place. If the place still gives you chest pains, well, it is a big Church. The chances that there is some place postive for you out there somewhere is pretty high, if you want to find it.

I also had a co-worker who was habitually morose. The guy would give you the shirt off of his back, he was a good person, but if there was a negative comment to make about a situation, we could depend on him to make it. We all gave him a bad time about it, and I started calling him Mary Sunshine. It was affectionate, though, and he knew that we all really liked him. Looking for the pitfalls in any situation was just what he did. It had a value, actually. I think he felt accepted, too. It just goes to show that not everybody in the group has to be “postive” all the time. We all have something to contribute, and being realistic about where things have gone wrong or could go wrong is one of those things.
 
Beryllos said:
Okay, you’re right, but here at CAF I see a lot of “correction” of imagined future problems, or problems which are envisioned by rash judgment (jumping to conclusions with little or no evidence), much of it stirred up by online blogs and newsletters.

If people had a bit more charity and trust regarding Catholic clergy and hierarchy, and a bit more hope and faith that God’s will be done, this forum and our Church would be much better off.
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I hope that people dump most of their complaining here and get a new perspective here before saying things that will land with a thud with people who know them “in skin” (which would be the positive outcome) rather than getting encouragement here to be negative and pessimistic by finding lots of agreement with their comments about how awful things are (which would only be feeding discontent but not improving anything).
 
I don’t think most people come into Internet forums looking for a new perspective.
People come looking for affirmation of their views because they aren’t finding such affirmation among the people they spend time with in person daily, or have a feeling (probably a correct feeling when it comes to issues like church music or what clothing other parishioners wear to Mass) that their concerns would be dismissed if they brought them up in person with their priest.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
I don’t think most people come into Internet forums looking for a new perspective.
People come looking for affirmation of their views because they aren’t finding such affirmation among the people they spend time with in person daily, or have a feeling (probably a correct feeling when it comes to issues like church music or what clothing other parishioners wear to Mass) that their concerns would be dismissed if they brought them up in person with their priest.
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I agree with you, but don’t you think that is a shame? There are so many different perspectives here. Even if you don’t agree with what people say, it does help to know why people feel the way they do and what positive side they see to their stances.

If this forum sends more complaints to the round file or gives more people a sense of perspective before dumping their complaints onto their own pastor, it will have provided a positive service. It could also have negative effects, but I think that on the whole those who come here with good will and a desire to be charitable can find some profit here.

Yes, though, it is pretty tempting to just come here for affirmation. That is why we seek out like-minded people when we gossip, too, isn’t it? The person who speaks up for the object of attack has a way of becoming persona non grata when an opportunity to get encouragment to vent spleen is what is really wanted. Too true.

I mean, they did name it “Catholic Answers” because they hoped people would want to come here and learn something, I’d think. The intention is to provide a forum for that, right?
 
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I think most people on these forums probably aren’t as negative as it seems. I think the sharing of positive experiences is probably just more often reserved for friends in person. Whereas, if someone has a gripe, they decide to reach out anonymously and burden the infinite internet with their concerns so maybe someone else will address it and fix the world for them. That’s what I do anyway.

I definitely do have a positive perspective of the Church overall. My priest is awesome, and gives great homilies with a really compassionate tone of voice. There are several groups, and new groups forming, that I think improve the parish and are appealing to more parishoners. The Church has withstood lots of corruption for thousands of years and still teaches the truth as proof of the power of the Holy Spirit. The pope addresses issues as I believe Jesus would, despite being constantly taken out of context, and is condemned by both ends of the ploitical spectrum, so that’s a good sign.

The perfect Man couldn’t get everyone to believe in Him, was criticized even for His righteous actions, and was abandoned by most of His followers in His time of suffering. No doubt the Church run by imperfect men will struggle even more to satisfy people.
 
I also feel positive about the Church, we can and should trust in what Jesus said, that the Church will never be overrun by evil (Matthew 16:18). He did not say evil won’t enter the Church and we can all attest that it certainly has. But we must remain faithful and optimistic.

As it is often said, we are an Easter people and not a Good Friday people. We know the war against evil has already been won. I faithfully serve my diocese as a member on their Commission for Peace and Justice.
 
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Ever read the reviews on Yelp? It’s the malcontents who speak up. Oh, there are the pluses all right, but the Debbie downers are the first and loudest to speak up. Here we see a micro non-representative slice of Catholicism. There is a far higher degree of fringies, scrupulous, dour, depressed, questioning, non-understanding and even Church haters and other such “exceptions to the rule” than there are in the average pew or society in general.

Rather than being affected by the micro (the web), draw back and look at the macro. The Church is growing by leaps and bounds outside of crumbling western civilization.

I find that, before our Lord in the Bessed Sacrament, and offering the Rosary, it is danged difficult to be dour, depressed, or angry.
 
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I don’t post much but I have at times been one of those negative voices. Not on these boards though, but in my personal life. It was kind of a desperate comfort to cling to the idea that I knew the “right way” to be a Catholic. Lately, I have been finding that there is more hope and beauty in our church than I realized, that I can still love others even if we don’t agree on things.
With regards to forums, they had previously been a great resource for seeking wisdom from peer groups but I am now finding that there is often a knee-jerk reaction to stake out a position and defend your perimeter. It seems that our country’s political discourse (us vs them) has infected message boards as well. I really miss the helpful advice and knowledge that others have shared here.
As for my positivity now, I feel extremely happy with my Catholic faith and with the Church. My participation in our diaconal formation program has given me the opportunity to meet bishops, priests, deacons, people from other parishes, etc… and this has given me great hope for our Church. There are so many wonderful, faithful people in the pews and in the sanctuary struggling daily with their own crosses and living to bring the Gospel to the world. I sincerely look forward to talking to anyone about Christ and praying that they find Christ’s love in me.
 
I am a very happy Catholic. I struggle with scrupulosity, but…
  • I do not believe the Church is crumbling.
  • I believe that dissent of Church doctrine among the hierarchy is very rare - I have great trust in the Holy Father, our bishops, and our pastors - I believe they are orthodox and moral.
  • Not enough people go to Mass, but I don’t think that is the Church’s fault.
  • It is true that people who go to Mass are often leading morally wrong lives, but again I don’t concern myself with it too much.
  • Parishes do more than enough for all of those people - it’s just that some categories of people respond to outreaches by the Church better than others do.
I believe that our Church continues to teach true Christianity and is orthodox on all matters.

No problem with Pope Francis, the Amazon Synod, Vatican II - and if I had the choice I might attend the EF Mass on Sunday.
 
Because of this forum I am not worried about going to hell even if I try and do my best but other than that I’ve learned a lot
 
Thank you to all who have shared positive posts here. I just wanted to note that I’m about to run out of likes for the day from liking everyone here, so if I don’t “like” your post it doesn’t mean it’s not appreciated ❤️
 
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