Romans 8: 28 And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints.
My first cousins son is from gothic subculture. his catholicism (externally) is charismatic/penitent. very beautiful, a cause of great joy. he is razor sharp on the catechism, and eager/able to give an explanation of the cause of his joy. James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 And patience hath a perfect work; that you may be perfect and entire, failing in nothing.No, and it will be till next Easter most likely until I can be…I really want to take Communion.
I came into the RCIA program right on the last Sunday before Lent.
I need the program, but I tend to wind up helping teach sometimes rather than learning. Although I still do learn in there, about more down to earth matters and such. Not going to say I’m above it: I have to get it in my heart, because lately I’ve been making the mistake of projecting an evangelical heart through a Catholic lens. I’ve never been a regular member of any church - I could count how many times I went to church as a Protestant on two hands - because I never felt it right to belong to a church whose beliefs I couldn’t consent to in full. So I’ve never been around Catholics like this before. No close relatives or friends are Catholic, and my closest relatives and friends are either Jehovah’s Witnesses or anti-catholic Protestants, or just have an aversion to religion in general even though they can respect it in some ways.
The closest I’ve ever come to Catholicism is through some of the traits and values and imagery of the Gothic subculture, ironically enough. But some of the other traits, values, and imagery of that culture can get in the way of hammering out my heart. A good Goth is supposed to live and let live, love intellect and art, and sometimes the supernatural/mystical (not always), and just enjoy creation while understanding sometimes painful and ugly things can be good. They’re supposed to be about substance against superficiality, and detest consumerism, manipulation, and lies. But the bad traits a lot of us fall into are stubbornness, pretentiousness, anger, self-pity, and an unhealthy level of morbidity. Strongly self-willed you could say. I used to be the former, life events turned me into the latter. I’m just trying by God’s grace to scrub myself clean again, but first I need to feel safe somehow. And also, I managed to somehow convince myself that since I wasn’t culturally like other Protestants that I was sinning.
I once gave up speaking for Lent. Maybe you could try that.
This thread has developed a long way since the original post, and given the final conclusion that there were liturgical abuses in my church your hostility is uncalled for praxising.
I didn’t want to say anything more than I did in my original post #36. I can’t help it but I’m a realist.It looks like I may have been a little too quick to forgive… I just went over common liturgical abuses and I was right. There are a few in our church. Having Extraordinary Ministers during masses with low numbers of congregants, letting the children from the parish school read the Scripture readings on weekdays, the priest leaving the sanctuary during the homily and interrupting to have the organist play songs to make an example, people not bowing at proper times, changing “Lord, wash away my…” to “Lord, wash away our…” and I think “men” gets dropped from the Nicene Creed. I think.
And then there’s the priest telling me false information about penance, and the deacon mentioning the universal priesthood while talking about blessing sacramentals.
I was right.
But what can a 21 y/o schizo kid do directly in the face of this kind of pretense? I think I should just report it to the bishop and leave before I get “pray the liturgy of the hours for three weeks” as a penance XD
Of all people, why the hell does it take a fresh outta the oven Protestant to notice these things. UGH.
Well, now that I know I’m right to be weary - thank you - I’ll be taking care of business.
-These liturgical abuses you have mentioned aren’t exactly the great blinking guilty signs you seem to view them as.It looks like I may have been a little too quick to forgive… I just went over common liturgical abuses and I was right. There are a few in our church. Having Extraordinary Ministers during masses with low numbers of congregants, letting the children from the parish school read the Scripture readings on weekdays, the priest leaving the sanctuary during the homily and interrupting to have the organist play songs to make an example, people not bowing at proper times, changing “Lord, wash away my…” to “Lord, wash away our…” and I think “men” gets dropped from the Nicene Creed. I think.
And then there’s the priest telling me false information about penance, and the deacon mentioning the universal priesthood while talking about blessing sacramentals.
I was right.
But what can a 21 y/o schizo kid do directly in the face of this kind of pretense? I think I should just report it to the bishop and leave before I get “pray the liturgy of the hours for three weeks” as a penance XD
Of all people, why the hell does it take a fresh outta the oven Protestant to notice these things. UGH.
Patrick, I have actually followed some of their advice. I haven’t spurned every last word they’ve had to say, because I am aware enough of my own inner clockwork (so-to-speak) to know that they have some good points. I’m not trying to make this personal anymore, the deacon is quite obviously a caring man, and despite some of the mistakes I still admire the priest and find him pretty cool.
There is a huge difference between someone consistently giving false teachings and someone making mistakes.
Of course!
Most of these aren’t even wrong - it is up to the priest how many EMHCs he wants - if he wants to delegate the entire congregation, he can.
A Deacon has the authority to bless your sacramentals - he is an ordained member of the clergy. The only things he can’t do are hear Confessions or say Mass.And then there’s the priest telling me false information about penance, and the deacon mentioning the universal priesthood while talking about blessing sacramentals.
I was right.