Persecution of devout Catholics... even in the Church

[distracted]

I am being persecuted for being Catholic and sometimes I get very because this is supposed to be a free country… where there is free speech and there is - as long as you don’t say anything about Catholicism… anything favorable that is.

I even get persecuted by other Catholics, so called.

OK, I’ll try to pick one of the thousands of examples… hmmm… :coffeeread:

well, for one thing, sometimes some checker at a grocery store will just be rude to me (nothing new these days, i know )… Since s/he doesn’t know me, i can only presume it is because i am wearing a crucifix around my neck.

Then there are parishioners who insinuate that i am a fanatic because i like to spend time with Jesus at the Blessed Sacrament…

i could do on and on…

so i was wondering if you could give me your persecution stories so i wouldn’t have to feel so alone…

thanks…

 

[Mel_Stones]

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

It is a blessing accept it with a smile!

Christ’s peace.

 

[Sonny1954]

I am being persecuted for being Catholic and sometimes I get very because this is supposed to be a free country… where there is free speech and there is - as long as you don’t say anything about Catholicism… anything favorable that is.

I even get persecuted by other Catholics, so called.

OK, I’ll try to pick one of the thousands of examples… hmmm… :coffeeread:

well, for one thing, sometimes some checker at a grocery store will just be rude to me (nothing new these days, i know )… Since s/he doesn’t know me, i can only presume it is because i am wearing a crucifix around my neck.

Then there are parishioners who insinuate that i am a fanatic because i like to spend time with Jesus at the Blessed Sacrament…

i could do on and on…

so i was wondering if you could give me your persecution stories so i wouldn’t have to feel so alone…

thanks…

Are you sure these instances are real persecution? Of course I don’t know anything about your parish…but retail workers, including checkers get very poor, if any, customer service training. Maybe you ARE being hounded for your faith. Isn’t it possible that there are other factors involved? I have worn a religious medal everyday of my life since I was a kid and occasionally it falls out from beneath my shirt and people see it dangling there, but no one has ever SAID anything to me about it. Just thoughts…

In any case, you do have my sympathy for having to tolerate the incivility which is now rampant in our society

 

[CatholicFireman]

“There are few who hate the Catholic Church for what it is…There are many who hate it for what they think it is”…Bishop Fulton Sheen.

I also get a lot of “experts” here in VA (not a jab a VA) that don’t hate Catholics but definitely think they know what we are all about. I overheard a coworker talking about a guy we know and the conversation went something like, “Doesn’t he have like 8 kids? Yeah, he’s Catholic.” I looked at him and said, “So what? I have one and I’m Catholic”.

Then there’s another quote a friend said: “Oh I couldn’t be Catholic. Too many rules.”

Unfortunately this includes the cafeteria Catholics who on believe what they want to believe to make themselves feel better about going against the Magesterium.

I wouldn’t classify this as persecution but more like wearing your spiritual “hair shirt for Christ”

Ah well. Look at it as an opportunity to evangelize. Pax†

 

[datingtrappists]

I would say especially in the Church… I haven’t been persecuted so much (except for a few jabs about being more Catholic than the Pope… I took it as a compliment), but there is one priest that I know for sure that has had many letters of complaint written about him sent to the Bishop (I know of his persecution well… I’m sure other priests in the diocese have had similar issues)… some of the complaints were as follows: he wears a cassock, he uses the Catechism of the Catholic Church during homilies, he says Latin phrases during the homily (for example, recently he was speaking about His Holiness’s newest encyclical during the homily, and he said “Charity in truth, or for those who prefer the Latin, ‘Caritas in veritate’.”), he uses incense every Sunday and major Feast Day, he thinks that he has no authority and likewise he’s too obedient to the Pope and Magisterium…

Those are just scratching the surface of the letters that have been sent for him… I pray for him quite often, and I’m glad that he’s been moved to his current assignment… he is the Associate Pastor of the parish that the Vicar General, the Monsignor, is assigned to… and the VG, minus the cassock, is very similar to the Associate. At least there is a buffer for Fr. in the Msgnr.

What little persecution I receive I offer it up for him and other priests who aren’t afraid of being “too Catholic” (if there is such a thing ).

 

[rwillenborg]

Well, what I have to share isn’t persecution per se…just ridiculous comments FROM Catholics!!
One friend of mine, she’s a fallen away Catholic, but she was most certainly raised Catholic and she was complaining because the Catholic hospital that she liked very much refused to tie her tubes.
Huh, you don’t say. Let’s see…they refused to violate their principles even though it would have been most convenient for you? Really? What a shame, really, you poor soul.
Why don’t you ask a Hindu to shoot a cow? Or ask your Orthodox Jewish friend to light a fire and drive you to the store on the Sabbath? Huh? Why don’t you do that? Oh, that’s right, you wouldn’t because that would be WRONG, but somehow asking a CATHOLIC hospital to violate its principles is okay?
And OF COURSE she backs it up with the standard lax catholic response ‘I mean, I know Catholic teaching. I went to Catholic school for twelve years.’
Yeah? So what? I went to math class for twelve years, and I still can’t do algebra. Oh yeah, and that math class was at CATHOLIC SCHOOL. I left knowing Jesus was a super nice dude and that’s about it. It looks like her cathechesis was similar.
THEN…another friend, also a fallen away Catholic, was HORRIFIED, absolutely HORRIFIED that he was offered communion, again, IN A CATHOLIC hospital.
‘Uh, you wrote down on the forms that you were Catholic, right?’
‘Yes’
‘And this was Sunday, too, right?’
‘Yes’
Um, okay, why on earth WOULDN’T the CATHOLIC hospital offer you, A CATHOLIC, the Holy Eucharist?
And he was explaining how he was tired from the surgery so WHAT NERVE this little nun had coming into his room to offer him the Holy Eucharist. Yeah, what nerve! Trying to nourish you spiritually when you might actually need it! The horror!

Sorry…didn’t mean to rant.
That’s a lie.
I TOTALLY meant to rant.
See? I told you I didn’t learn a thing in Catholic school.

 

[puzzleannie]

I doubt very much if a store clerk knows I am a devout Catholic and even wearing a cross would not give her much info to make a judgement, so I would just assume rudeness is just that, not persecution. I have not been tortured, had my job taken away or my family turned against me or my life threatened for my faith so no, I cannot say I have been persecuted. Since I don’t make a habit of discussing my spiritual and prayer life with casual acquaintances I cannot say they judge me or act against me on that basis, either.

Have I encountered colossal ignorance about the faith? you betcha, and as OP says, on the part of self-identified Catholics who should know better.

 

[Contra_Mundum_1]

Rwillenborg,

I swear, the fallen away Catholics are the worst. They just can’t accept that there are people who actually practice their faith. If offends them. They feel judged. I have a couple of friends like that who feel very uncomfortable whenever faith comes up in conversation. I normally never start it because I’m not interested in hearing rubbish but they like to bring it up in order to say how childish or primitive it is to attend church. I’m sick and tired of it.

 

[Pimpsta]

I study at a “catholic” college. The lecturer is Anglican, yeah at a “catholic” college and she said that the Immaculate Conception is Joachim and Anne never had intercourse in conceiving Mary. I corrected her…I have had to speak up many times and who rolls their eyes at me??? The other Catholics.

Also, these “Catholics” don’t believe me when I say Centering prayer is New Age. they just roll their eyes…

I also have obsessive compulsive disorder…so I go to Confession weekly…I get shouted at for going so often…once I went after 3 days and the priest lectured me…another time I refrained from receiving Communion, I’m very scrupulous and am never sure when I’m in a state of grace or not since my judgment is impaired…and I get pressured into receiving holy Communion…sorry I fear committing the sin of sacrilege…

Once I got into a car for school and I made the sign of the Cross and the lady kept on asking me why I made the sign of the Cross…

I said a speech about True Devotion to Mary and the Protestant teacher got angry and said “Why do you need Mary…”

Its hard though.

 

[distracted]

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

It is a blessing accept it with a smile!

Christ’s peace.

that’s easy for you to say…

so what’s your persecution: you’re not allowed so sing Ave Maria at the top of your lungs at work??

 

[distracted]

Are you sure these instances are real persecution? Of course I don’t know anything about your parish…but retail workers, including checkers get very poor, if any, customer service training. Maybe you ARE being hounded for your faith. Isn’t it possible that there are other factors involved? I have worn a religious medal everyday of my life since I was a kid and occasionally it falls out from beneath my shirt and people see it dangling there, but no one has ever SAID anything to me about it. Just thoughts…

In any case, you do have my sympathy for having to tolerate the incivility which is now rampant in our society

i have wondered whether it is that or something else… I guess the only way to tell is to take it off and see if i get better treatment… but i like to do waht “evangelizing” i can…

since they don’t know me, i don’t know waht else it could be… and even if they did know me, i am not a bad person… I may be a little odd becaue of the things i’ve been through (post traumatic stress) but again… hard to know this kind of thing when there is nothing going on but a business transaction…

the closer i get to Christ… the more i love him… the more i suffer this kind of thing… so I’m convinved its persecution… I am supposed to rejoice but it is not easy… I’m not good at such things… unless i think about it long and hard and i dont’ usually do that…

too busy whining and complaining…

 

[distracted]

I would say especially in the Church… I haven’t been persecuted so much (except for a few jabs about being more Catholic than the Pope… I took it as a compliment), but there is one priest that I know for sure that has had many letters of complaint written about him sent to the Bishop (I know of his persecution well… I’m sure other priests in the diocese have had similar issues)… some of the complaints were as follows: he wears a cassock, he uses the Catechism of the Catholic Church during homilies, he says Latin phrases during the homily (for example, recently he was speaking about His Holiness’s newest encyclical during the homily, and he said “Charity in truth, or for those who prefer the Latin, ‘Caritas in veritate’.”), he uses incense every Sunday and major Feast Day, he thinks that he has no authority and likewise he’s too obedient to the Pope and Magisterium…

Dang!!

---

Send that priest to MY parish!!! ***

why are people complaining about THAT for crying out loud???

For one thing, don’t they have anything better to do? don’t they know there are some parishioners in the world who don’t even have a priest who is Catholic???

in which case… might as well go to Good Book Baptist down the street…

 

[distracted]

Well, what I have to share isn’t persecution per se…just ridiculous comments FROM Catholics!!
One friend of mine, she’s a fallen away Catholic, but she was most certainly raised Catholic and she was complaining because the Catholic hospital that she liked very much refused to tie her tubes.
Huh, you don’t say. Let’s see…they refused to violate their principles even though it would have been most convenient for you? Really? What a shame, really, you poor soul.
Why don’t you ask a Hindu to shoot a cow? Or ask your Orthodox Jewish friend to light a fire and drive you to the store on the Sabbath? Huh? Why don’t you do that? Oh, that’s right, you wouldn’t because that would be WRONG, but somehow asking a CATHOLIC hospital to violate its principles is okay?
And OF COURSE she backs it up with the standard lax catholic response ‘I mean, I know Catholic teaching. I went to Catholic school for twelve years.’
Yeah? So what? I went to math class for twelve years, and I still can’t do algebra. Oh yeah, and that math class was at CATHOLIC SCHOOL. I left knowing Jesus was a super nice dude and that’s about it. It looks like her cathechesis was similar.
THEN…another friend, also a fallen away Catholic, was HORRIFIED, absolutely HORRIFIED that he was offered communion, again, IN A CATHOLIC hospital.
‘Uh, you wrote down on the forms that you were Catholic, right?’
‘Yes’
‘And this was Sunday, too, right?’
‘Yes’
Um, okay, why on earth WOULDN’T the CATHOLIC hospital offer you, A CATHOLIC, the Holy Eucharist?
And he was explaining how he was tired from the surgery so WHAT NERVE this little nun had coming into his room to offer him the Holy Eucharist. Yeah, what nerve! Trying to nourish you spiritually when you might actually need it! The horror!

Sorry…didn’t mean to rant.
That’s a lie.
I TOTALLY meant to rant.
See? I told you I didn’t learn a thing in Catholic school.

i liked the rant…

yes nowadays it would be tantamount to the unforgivable sin to … well, say, make up cartoons about Mohommad… Did you hear about that?? Muslims were killing over that!!

Oh, that’s right, they kill over just about anything…

but Catholics are supposed to even do abortions in thier hospitals… !!! i heard its coming to that… God forbid… St. Jude, St. Jude!!!

yes, that’s what i am complaining about…

Celibrate diversity… as long as the person is not so “diverse” as to be Catholic…

 

[distracted]

Rwillenborg,

I swear, the fallen away Catholics are the worst. They just can’t accept that there are people who actually practice their faith. If offends them. They feel judged. I have a couple of friends like that who feel very uncomfortable whenever faith comes up in conversation. I normally never start it because I’m not interested in hearing rubbish but they like to bring it up in order to say how childish or primitive it is to attend church. I’m sick and tired of it.

i feel for you…

yes, those ex-Cathlics are the worst … they aren’t ex for no reason… A lot of them left the Church becasue they did something very un-Catholic… like divorc-remarriage… or birth control or whatever… Then they try to act like its the doctrines and beliefs - about things like papal infallibility… that made them leave… Yeah, right…

they just want to appear to have a “good” reason… an understandable reason… OK, i won’t say ALL… but it seems like PLENTY…

i fail to see how moral truth is old fashioned… one plus one always equals two… even if we tell ourselves a 1000 times it equals, say 14…

i could never - for example - u/stand how anyone could saythat fornication was not wrong… Even when the couple doing it gets married, the divorce rate is way higher with those who live togehter before marriage than those who did not… and that’s when it works out… As you know, it doesn’t always work out at all… not hardly… and so people are left emotioanlly messed up, etc… not to mention the separation they feel from God due to serious sin…

anyway… thanks for the testimony…

i really need to hang around other CAtholics more… so i don’t end up feeling, as i have lately… SO alone…

 

[distracted]

I study at a “catholic” college. The lecturer is Anglican, yeah at a “catholic” college and she said that the Immaculate Conception is Joachim and Anne never had intercourse in conceiving Mary. I corrected her…I have had to speak up many times and who rolls their eyes at me??? The other Catholics.

Also, these “Catholics” don’t believe me when I say Centering prayer is New Age. they just roll their eyes…

I also have obsessive compulsive disorder…so I go to Confession weekly…I get shouted at for going so often…once I went after 3 days and the priest lectured me…another time I refrained from receiving Communion, I’m very scrupulous and am never sure when I’m in a state of grace or not since my judgment is impaired…and I get pressured into receiving holy Communion…sorry I fear committing the sin of sacrilege…

Once I got into a car for school and I made the sign of the Cross and the lady kept on asking me why I made the sign of the Cross…

I said a speech about True Devotion to Mary and the Protestant teacher got angry and said “Why do you need Mary…”

Its hard though.

this made me laugh… i guess because i can so relate…

i am thankful you are so publicly Catholic… and it was funny you made the protestant Of course, you probably didn’t appreciate it that much… but i thought it was way cool…

anyway… this is the kind of story i wanted to hear… i want to feel like i am not alone in my endeavors to annoy the h— out of as many protestnats as i possibly can…

Ok… so i could have put that a little better…

i really do love my Protestant brehtren, though… don’t want to make it seem otherwise…

i love them so much that I am like God … who loves us just the way we are… but loves us too much to leave us there…

in other words, i try to bop them over the head with the Church because its for their own good…

 

[Pimpsta]

hahahaha I’m exactly like you…! I love everyone but I also love truth! I impose my Catholic faith on everyone, worse than a Jehovah’s Witness or a Protestant Fundamentalist!

I preach so much that I have people dusting their sandals off at me!
Shoving the truth down people’es throats is my speciality! I only forcefeed people the truth because I know how good it tastes!
“Shun the Non believer! Shun Shun nun nun!” from the Charlie the unicorn video on youtube

Guess we should learn gentleness heehee!

Proud to be Lebanese! Proud to be Catholic!

 

[Mel_Stones]

that’s easy for you to say…

so what’s your persecution: you’re not allowed so sing Ave Maria at the top of your lungs at work??

Actually I’m self employed and I have sung praise songs at the top of my lungs at work (although not Ave Maria . . . yet).

I get all the usual stuff from protestants and fallen away Catholics - (for example 'Oh you’re Catholic? Then you can just kill a guy and go to confession right? - little do they know they’ll get a lesson on just what’s wrong with that statement ).

From other practicing Catholics I always get ‘Wow you’re really devote’ when I go to lunch with them on Friday and they find out I abstain from meat year round. I try to point out that Friday is to remain a day of penance year round but they don’t really want to hear.

I went to a friend’s birthday party and he invited me to his friend’s house to watch a video. The video turned out to be a ‘Way of the Master’ on how to share your faith. I spent the whole night getting evangelized to and ‘corrected’ because I’m Catholic despite the fact that another friend there admitted she is pagan-Wiccan. Really they kept bringing the conversation back to me to ‘correct’ me - I kept clearing up their misconceptions but they always found more. The hostess even felt the need to corner me as I put my shoes on to let me know that she is always available for me. I appreciate their concern but shouldn’t they worry more about the non-Christian. .

I later had the exact line of conversation taught in that very ‘Way of the Master’ video used on me by a classmate until I looked at him and said ‘I’m Catholic’. He hesitated, said ‘then why am I talking to you?’, looked around and said with conviction ‘I know! Because I want everyone here to go to heaven’. I kept saying ‘I’m Christian Catholics are Christian’ but he didn’t believe me. I finally had to tell him I was late for class - I really was by then too.

I’m sure I could come up with more but that’s all for now.

 

[datingtrappists]

Dang!!

---

Send that priest to MY parish!!! ***

why are people complaining about THAT for crying out loud???

For one thing, don’t they have anything better to do? don’t they know there are some parishioners in the world who don’t even have a priest who is Catholic???

in which case… might as well go to Good Book Baptist down the street…

I can’t speak for why the parishoners at Fr’s former assignment were so vocal… but I suspect because he was also speaking out strongly for chasity according to one’s state of life, and has referred to abortion as the “scourge of humanity”… and some people can be very uncomfortable with truth being spoken, plainly and in a straight-forward manner, but also with much compassion (I remember him saying once, during the prayers for the faithful “For the victims of abortion, both mother and baby…” His main “gripe” is the abortionists and abortuaries… he sees that most mothers who chose abortion as being brainwashed and victimised by the industry). I am hearing Jack Nichelson right now, though… “You can’t handle the truth!” I don’t see those parishoner’s problems and issues so much of an individual failing as I see that perhaps society as a whole has affected their thinking and beliefs, and let’s face it, ladies and gentlemen, true (and not watered-down) Catholic beliefs and living are very counter-cultural. Those who are more immersed with the culture and society can find Catholicism very… uncomfortable and challenging to say the least.

I attended Mass at Fr’s former parish for about a month (before I had to stop going… My blood pressure was getting to high)… and… to put it nicely, I can say that the parishoners are much happier with this newly assigned priest… not much about avoiding sin and being faithful… just how much God loves them. It’s a shame,though, since there is such a treasure chest of books, encyclicals, letters… not to mention the Gregorian Chant and various Mass settings throughout the centuries, but these people don’t see the real treasures… instead, they are content to play with the costume jewelry (bad theology and Marty Haugen). I feel more sorrow for them, and what they’re missing more than I feel anger (though I do feel anger, too).

PS: I rather like having Fr. around… Besides, I’m not a bishop (and can never be… I’m a girl)

 

[datingtrappists]

Oh… before I forget… how about the Sister who’s assigned as the pastoral assistant to Fr’s former parish glaring at me throughout the whole Mass and barely able to look me in the eye afterwards because even when I canted there, I always wore my chapel veil (always a chapel veil on Sunday’s Mass and a hat or a smaller chapel cap on weekday Masses). I almost started kneeling for the Eucharist while I was there, but I didn’t want to give her a heart attack. Or “discussing” with the choir the songs to sing (the one who was canting was the one to pick out the hymns… I didn’t express my disapproval with other peoples’ choices [and some were poor choices] but when I wanted to sing “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name”… :bigyikes:). I wasn’t liked very much after I mentioned my severe dislike of the Haugen-Hass songs, and my love of good, traditional Catholic hymns.

 

[CatholicFireman]

For what it’s worth, there’s a support group for Catholics in the south with similar challenges. I don’t know if you are from the south but here it is:

forums.catholic-questions.org/group.php?groupid=162

Funny thing. I never heard of people saying the Hail Mary when emergency vehicles passed by until I came to VA. Now I notice people crossing themselves when I’m responding (rare though it may be). I’m also surprised at the lines for confession on a weekly basis. I never saw that in NY (except during lent. )