OK, I'm in trouble again!

[latin_rite]

Sometimes i am absolutley certain. That its going to be converts who will save this faith.
I’m glad you converted convert. I’m always glad to hear of people converting. But especially when They like the more tradtional factor of the faith

 

[luminoushope]

]

…most of my long-time Protestant girlfriends are now ex-friends. God is good! You’ll be happy to hear that even though they disagree with my views, they were happy to ask me for a contribution for the bake sale:shrug:

I am in a similar situation. I was a Protestant for 27 years, have been attending Catholic Church for the last year and am in the process of converting. My husband has been very kind and supportive but has no intention of becoming a Catholic. We attend two different churches; not as difficult as you might think. At our age we have to allow each other space to follow our conscience, and mine has led me to Mother Church. But it is sometimes awkward and sad with Protestant women. My version of the bake sale is being invited to events I really don’t want to go to. One was to a wedding to which, if I were officially a Catholic, I don’t think I would be permitted to go. I think our inability to drive at night will get us out of this one. This is a small price to pay for being able to go to Mass! God is, indeed, unspeakably good. As you yourself stated, you will find your way to Catholic women friends with whom you are in agreement and harmony.

 

[nannygirl]

I am in a similar situation. I was a Protestant for 27 years, have been attending Catholic Church for the last year and am in the process of converting. My husband has been very kind and supportive but has no intention of becoming a Catholic. We attend two different churches; not as difficult as you might think. At our age we have to allow each other space to follow our conscience, and mine has led me to Mother Church. But it is sometimes awkward and sad with Protestant women. My version of the bake sale is being invited to events I really don’t want to go to. One was to a wedding to which, if I were officially a Catholic, I don’t think I would be permitted to go. I think our inability to drive at night will get us out of this one. This is a small price to pay for being able to go to Mass! God is, indeed, unspeakably good. As you yourself stated, you will find your way to Catholic women friends with whom you are in agreement and harmony.

My situation was much like this. I converted almost 4 years ago and go to daily Mass alone. My husband is also very kind and supportive. For years I was involved with a large Protestant women’s group and had lots of friends, but things changed drastically when I converted. Like you said - it is a small price to pay…

 

[Ohiomom]

One was to a wedding to which, if I were officially a Catholic, I don’t think I would be permitted to go. I think our inability to drive at night will get us out of this one. .

Welcome to the Tiber Crossing! I do know how it can be lonely, I am the only Catholic in my family of origin.

To digress for a second, in general regarding weddings, unless it is someone who was raised Catholic and is marrying outside of the church, you can attend a non-Catholic wedding. I know it is somewhat moot since you said you really don’t want to go anyway, but just thought I would throw that in.

 

[luminoushope]

Welcome to the Tiber Crossing! I do know how it can be lonely, I am the only Catholic in my family of origin.

To digress for a second, in general regarding weddings, unless it is someone who was raised Catholic and is marrying outside of the church, you can attend a non-Catholic wedding. I know it is somewhat moot since you said you really don’t want to go anyway, but just thought I would throw that in.

Thank you for your kindness. Oddly, I’m kind of used to being lonely, as an only child, and there can be subtle blessings in it.

About the wedding, thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut. One Catholic friend who also knows all these people told me a Catholic would not be permitted to go because the groom is divorced with children. Neither the bride nor groom has a Catholic background. If this kind of situation ever comes up again, to what resource could I go to find out what is permitted? Is this very off topic or is it on topic since the topic is being in trouble…?

Blessed Christmas to you and all who love Christ, the Lord.

 

[Ohiomom]

Thank you for your kindness. Oddly, I’m kind of used to being lonely, as an only child, and there can be subtle blessings in it.

About the wedding, thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut. One Catholic friend who also knows all these people told me a Catholic would not be permitted to go because the groom is divorced with children. Neither the bride nor groom has a Catholic background. If this kind of situation ever comes up again, to what resource could I go to find out what is permitted? Is this very off topic or is it on topic since the topic is being in trouble…?

Blessed Christmas to you and all who love Christ, the Lord.

I am not a “traditiononalist” and some may say differently, but I believed that if the couple is not Catholic then you can go. You don’t know their background so you don’t know if the prior marriage would even be considered valid. I personally would only hesitate if there was some other scandal that transends any faith background. Without being specific, some things are not consistent with marriage regardless if you are Catholic, Protestant or Jewish.

In the future I would defer to my priest if I was feeling hesitant.

 

[luminoushope]

Thanks again. I get out of this one because my husband doesn’t want to go. I sent a gift for the bride’s wedding shower but didn’t go because I wasn’t feeling well. If such a thing ever comes up in the future I will go to my priest. How wonderful to have one.

 

[grace_singh]

My husband would never sanction my leading any kind of group in the Church if it had anything to do with Church teaching. (He believes women should only lead service-related groups.)

i know this is a bit off topic, but i just wanted to say that it is darn refreshing to hear this…

it would be great if more Christian men, and women, tended to think along these lines. i’m a pretty hard-core traditionalist when it comes to men in leadership roles, and it’s a blessing to know that many still feel this way.

 

[michaeldaniels]

Catholics like those women you described are exactly what is wrong with Our Church today…and they wonder why Catholics have an identity crisis and lack even a mediocre catechesis…very, very sad…and the worst thing is that people like this end up in positions of teaching and authority and just spread their heresies to younger generations…We have a huge mess to clean up and honestly, Rome needs to become more vocal on these types of Catholics and the local ordinaries need to strip anyone from their position within a Church, Cath School, or diocese that promulgates this and any other type nonsense…there needs to be an excommunication of lots of people who openly teach and hold dissenting beliefs against Catholic Theology and the teachings/rules coming out of Rome…Fr. Jenkins at Notre Dame is one…Mahony in CA is another…if they start openly conducting some house cleaning on this malefactors, then it will be clear to those who are unsure what proper teaching is to know what they should believe and how they should worship. Now when I say excommunication, I am not saying to Damn them to Hell for eternity and offer no chance of reconciliation, but maybe that will cause them to realize the error of their ways…and to be honest, I think it is completely asinine that these people still get to be considered Catholics while groups like the SSPX are outcast…that is a joke

I’m used to my protestant relatives disliking my Catholicism, but I wasn’t prepared for Catholics to dislike it too. The story: a woman from my parish who is in charge of the Christian Mothers group recently asked me to speak at their meeting. They were interested in hearing my conversion story and in my reasons for becoming Catholic. I agreed to this, but a few days later she called me and asked for a “thumbnail sketch” of what I planned to say. The reason she wanted to know, she said, was because she wanted to make sure that I wasn’t going to “dwell on” the “authority of the higher-ups” as one of my motivations to convert. I was mystified by this and asked who she meant by “higher-ups.” After a lot of hemming and hawing, she told me that most of the women in this group feel that “Rome is the biggest problem the American Church has.” Being a little slow on the uptake, I asked her why they felt that way. This unleashed a rant about contraception (no surprise there) but also the odd (to me, anyway) idea that Rome is preventing Catholic parishes from “fulfilling their potential.” Apparently she feels that the Catholic church should be more entertaining, like the Evangelical mega-church I came from. It seems they were hoping that I would give them ideas about how to “reach out” to Evangelicals by imitating what they are used to at church.

I have never been good at the quick comeback, so I simply said that I felt we should be making Evangelicals aware that we are different, not trying to hide this fact behind a Protestant veneer. Then I made the mistake of telling her that I had become convinced that the Church (yes, Rome) did indeed have authority and that was a major reason I converted. Well, she rescinded her invitation in the nicest possible way, adding that “you and Father will probably get along well.” (The implication was that this was an unfortunate development.)

Naturally, I haven’t been attending Christian Mothers meetings, but apparently I have become a “topic” among some of the women. Now I have total strangers coming up to me either expressing their support of my views or trying to persuade me of theirs. I just want to go to Mass, and this ugliness really appalls me. I spoke to Father about the incident, and he laughed and said, “It’s about time someone stirred the old girls up. I’m just glad it was you and not me.”

My husband and son love this parish, and I’m not willing to split up the family by going somewhere else. I like the priest. I suppose this will all die down in time – right? Thanks for letting me rant!

 

[ecce_ego]

Don’t even get me started on my wife’s extended family. If you ask them if they worship Mary, they respond immediately with “of course we do, every Catholic knows that”…

-wade

I had a friend who told me, in a discussion about Protestants, “Oh, I have nothing against Christians. I just prefer being Catholic.”

 

[StillWondering]

Catholics like those women you described are exactly what is wrong with Our Church today…and they wonder why Catholics have an identity crisis and lack even a mediocre catechesis…very, very sad…and the worst thing is that people like this end up in positions of teaching and authority and just spread their heresies to younger generations…

One problem I see on the local level is Americans as a whole are too fooled by relativism and nearly everything has to be politically correct. So in parish meetings, some who hold heretical beliefs are left alone because they act nice on the outside but show fangs if you ever inquire about how they teach or what role model that are presenting. While the orthodox ones are easily told they have it wrong and others use authority and need for obedience to quiet them.

This is very sad because unless I can sit in CCD classes in the local parishes, I am plan to homeschool my future kids and fully teach them orthodox teachings. I’ll rather they are bored when they must attend required CCD classes then be taught misguided values and ideas contrary to our 2000 year tradition.

 

[convert999]

A funny story about the infamous women’s group: my 16yo son, who is autistic, had a conversation with his dad about respecting priests. After Mass on Sunday, he heard a couple of “those” women complaining rather loudly that Father wouldn’t let them use church money to decorate something in the church. My son walked right up to them and said, at the top of his lungs, “You should respect Father. Don’t talk about him like that.” What could they say?

After we got home, my husband told him that he needs to respect older people and not speak to them like that. My son was very worried then and insisted he needed to go to Confession. So we took him, and when he came out, he told us that “Father started to shake when I talked to him and it took him a long time to answer me.” I asked him what his penance was and he said he had to hug his mom and dad.

 

[Ohiomom]

A funny story about the infamous women’s group: my 16yo son, who is autistic, had a conversation with his dad about respecting priests. After Mass on Sunday, he heard a couple of “those” women complaining rather loudly that Father wouldn’t let them use church money to decorate something in the church. My son walked right up to them and said, at the top of his lungs, “You should respect Father. Don’t talk about him like that.” What could they say?

After we got home, my husband told him that he needs to respect older people and not speak to them like that. My son was very worried then and insisted he needed to go to Confession. So we took him, and when he came out, he told us that “Father started to shake when I talked to him and it took him a long time to answer me.” I asked him what his penance was and he said he had to hug his mom and dad.

mmm, and the child shall lead them! That is a great story

 

[Monica4316]

I’m used to my protestant relatives disliking my Catholicism, but I wasn’t prepared for Catholics to dislike it too. The story: a woman from my parish who is in charge of the Christian Mothers group recently asked me to speak at their meeting. They were interested in hearing my conversion story and in my reasons for becoming Catholic. I agreed to this, but a few days later she called me and asked for a “thumbnail sketch” of what I planned to say. The reason she wanted to know, she said, was because she wanted to make sure that I wasn’t going to “dwell on” the “authority of the higher-ups” as one of my motivations to convert. I was mystified by this and asked who she meant by “higher-ups.” After a lot of hemming and hawing, she told me that most of the women in this group feel that “Rome is the biggest problem the American Church has.” Being a little slow on the uptake, I asked her why they felt that way. This unleashed a rant about contraception (no surprise there) but also the odd (to me, anyway) idea that Rome is preventing Catholic parishes from “fulfilling their potential.” Apparently she feels that the Catholic church should be more entertaining, like the Evangelical mega-church I came from. It seems they were hoping that I would give them ideas about how to “reach out” to Evangelicals by imitating what they are used to at church.

I have never been good at the quick comeback, so I simply said that I felt we should be making Evangelicals aware that we are different, not trying to hide this fact behind a Protestant veneer. Then I made the mistake of telling her that I had become convinced that the Church (yes, Rome) did indeed have authority and that was a major reason I converted. Well, she rescinded her invitation in the nicest possible way, adding that “you and Father will probably get along well.” (The implication was that this was an unfortunate development.)

Naturally, I haven’t been attending Christian Mothers meetings, but apparently I have become a “topic” among some of the women. Now I have total strangers coming up to me either expressing their support of my views or trying to persuade me of theirs. I just want to go to Mass, and this ugliness really appalls me. I spoke to Father about the incident, and he laughed and said, “It’s about time someone stirred the old girls up. I’m just glad it was you and not me.”

My husband and son love this parish, and I’m not willing to split up the family by going somewhere else. I like the priest. I suppose this will all die down in time – right? Thanks for letting me rant!

wow… how unfortunate

of course you are correct. It’s very sad how they are rebelling against the Church and the priest.

As a convert from Protestantism, I feel very sad when other Catholics wish church was “more entertaining” like the evangelical churches. We have something so precious in our churches and that is the Eucharist… and the reverence and music should all enhance this reality. Rock music and emotional driven services will not help.

Maybe it would help to know that many of the Saints dealt with it as well. St Faustina had visions of Jesus and one time “complained” about how people were talking about her. He said, to only be concerned about what He thinks, and this is what truly matters. I know it must be very upsetting to be in this situation at all… but remember there are many Catholics who think the same way you do, and God is pleased with our obedience to the Church. These people who are speaking against it are harming our unity as Christ’s Body. Pray for them but don’t let this destroy your peace. Offer it all to God.

I’ve had times when I felt lonely or troubled in a group of other Catholics, or Protestants, or non Christians. Try to use this as an opportunity to come closer to God.

Keep on proclaiming the truth of the Church, and don’t be afraid it’s great that the priest agrees with you! and you’re doing the right thing!

God bless you :hug1:

 

[Monica4316]

A funny story about the infamous women’s group: my 16yo son, who is autistic, had a conversation with his dad about respecting priests. After Mass on Sunday, he heard a couple of “those” women complaining rather loudly that Father wouldn’t let them use church money to decorate something in the church. My son walked right up to them and said, at the top of his lungs, “You should respect Father. Don’t talk about him like that.” What could they say?

After we got home, my husband told him that he needs to respect older people and not speak to them like that. My son was very worried then and insisted he needed to go to Confession. So we took him, and when he came out, he told us that “Father started to shake when I talked to him and it took him a long time to answer me.” I asked him what his penance was and he said he had to hug his mom and dad.

that’s awesome!! you have a great son

 

[wisdomseeker]

**michaeldaniels
Junior Member Join Date: November 25, 2007
Location: Charleston, SC
Posts: 243
Religion: Traditional Roman Catholic

Re: OK, I’m in trouble again!

---

Catholics like those women you described are exactly what is wrong with Our Church today…and they wonder why Catholics have an identity crisis and lack even a mediocre catechesis…very, very sad…and the worst thing is that people like this end up in positions of teaching and authority and just spread their heresies to younger generations…We have a huge mess to clean up and honestly, Rome needs to become more vocal on these types of Catholics and the local ordinaries need to strip anyone from their position within a Church, Cath School, or diocese that promulgates this and any other type nonsense…there needs to be an excommunication of lots of people who openly teach and hold dissenting beliefs against Catholic Theology and the teachings/rules coming out of Rome…Fr. Jenkins at Notre Dame is one…Mahony in CA is another…if they start openly conducting some house cleaning on this malefactors, then it will be clear to those who are unsure what proper teaching is to know what they should believe and how they should worship. Now when I say excommunication, I am not saying to Damn them to Hell for eternity and offer no chance of reconciliation, but maybe that will cause them to realize the error of their ways…and to be honest, I think it is completely asinine that these people still get to be considered Catholics while groups like the SSPX are outcast…that is a joke **

Good point indeed.

now we know who is charge. the liberals.

 

[Tradycja]

I
My husband and son love this parish, and I’m not willing to split up the family by going somewhere else. I like the priest. I suppose this will all die down in time – right? Thanks for letting me rant!

If you REALLY want to learn how to debate and defend the faith you need to check out Vin Lewis. allroadsministry.com
If you call him on the phone he will even answer questions for you for free.

Some people say he is rough, but hey you can take the principles and logic that he teaches and apply them in your own way. I think he is the best Catholic apologist of our time.

 

[mykesobe]

Church is NOT supposed to be entertaining. It’s not about us.

Ye verily! Church is about receiving Eucharistia with a pure sincere soul, not about entertaining our sinfully unworthy souls. Church can be (and is) fun, but it is not about fun. After all, Jesus Christ himself said, “If your left eye causes you to sin, then pluck it out, and if your right eyes causes you to sin, then pluck that one out.” (I’m not sure if those were the exact words but then again Jesus spoke Aramaic so translation is pretty vague.)

 

[crenfro]

I’m used to my protestant relatives disliking my Catholicism, but I wasn’t prepared for Catholics to dislike it too. "

God bless you!!! You warm my heart, please keep up the good work and stay in close touch with your pastor.

Perhaps you could suggest a parish mission focusing on the topics “the girls” in your parish have objections to.

Thank you so much for your post.

 

[JRKH]

I’m used to my protestant relatives disliking my Catholicism, but I wasn’t prepared for Catholics to dislike it too. The story: a woman from my parish who is in charge of the Christian Mothers group recently asked me to speak at their meeting. They were interested in hearing my conversion story and in my reasons for becoming Catholic. I agreed to this, but a few days later she called me and asked for a “thumbnail sketch” of what I planned to say. The reason she wanted to know, she said, was because she wanted to make sure that I wasn’t going to “dwell on” the “authority of the higher-ups” as one of my motivations to convert. I was mystified by this and asked who she meant by “higher-ups.” After a lot of hemming and hawing, she told me that most of the women in this group feel that “Rome is the biggest problem the American Church has.” Being a little slow on the uptake, I asked her why they felt that way. This unleashed a rant about contraception (no surprise there) but also the odd (to me, anyway) idea that Rome is preventing Catholic parishes from “fulfilling their potential.” Apparently she feels that the Catholic church should be more entertaining, like the Evangelical mega-church I came from. It seems they were hoping that I would give them ideas about how to “reach out” to Evangelicals by imitating what they are used to at church.

I have never been good at the quick comeback, so I simply said that I felt we should be making Evangelicals aware that we are different, not trying to hide this fact behind a Protestant veneer. Then I made the mistake of telling her that I had become convinced that the Church (yes, Rome) did indeed have authority and that was a major reason I converted. Well, she rescinded her invitation in the nicest possible way, adding that “you and Father will probably get along well.” (The implication was that this was an unfortunate development.)

Naturally, I haven’t been attending Christian Mothers meetings, but apparently I have become a “topic” among some of the women. Now I have total strangers coming up to me either expressing their support of my views or trying to persuade me of theirs. I just want to go to Mass, and this ugliness really appalls me. I spoke to Father about the incident, and he laughed and said, “It’s about time someone stirred the old girls up. I’m just glad it was you and not me.”

My husband and son love this parish, and I’m not willing to split up the family by going somewhere else. I like the priest. I suppose this will all die down in time – right? Thanks for letting me rant!

Coming late to the thread, but have only this to say based on your OP above.

STAY in the Parish. God has put you right where he needs you… They need you.
It’s obvious that you have the support of the Pastor as well as other members of the parish.
Hold you head up and defend the faith “in season and out”.

Peace
James