Positive Conversations with Other Catholics

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Tis_Bearself said:
Is there a “Happy Catholic” place? Or do happy people just tend to not speak up because they’re busy being happy?
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I think that’s a lot of it right there. Although there are a lot of newbies who are happy to gush on about their Catholic church and Catholic life, you mainly have the majority who are cradle Catholics, and asking them to say happy, positive things about the Church is like asking a goldfish if we could please have a happy, positive discussion about water. Well…it’s always been there, hasn’t it? What can we possibly say about it?

This weekend, I am doing an interview (being interviewed) about my thoughts on the Church and, I believe, more specifically, the Mass. I saw a poster at a local university, where they are looking for people to interview on this topic, and I think it will be a friendly, positive experience, since it is a Catholic university.

And the nut of it is: Although I go to church and am surrounded by like-minded people (Catholics), I seldom get an opportunity to sit and talk much about Catholicism. For me, the topic never gets old; it’s always new and fresh. But then, I haven’t been swimming around in it for seventy years. So, here’s this girl at the university who wants to hear my thoughts and experiences on the topic at length—an hour-long interview. She seems to be very young and keen on every aspect of her project, and I’m keen on sitting and burbling on about my Catholic church and Catholic life. Looking forward to a fun hour!
 
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I understand what you’re saying and I think that most of it has to do with the current state of the Church. I don’t have close Catholic friends with whom to discuss my faith, so it’s nice having the online experience to fall back on. Often times we connect and share experiences with other like minded individuals.

However, it’s difficult to find topics that aren’t centered around the most pressing issues. I think everyone is drawn to whatever happens to be trending at the moment and we all have our opinions and views that we feel need to be shared.

Lately, I’ve been asking myself if all the time spent trying to debate and defend on CAF really helps. At the end of the day does it matter and do people even care what, I say. I doubt they do and in the end, I think we all retreat into our own realties of what we view as right or wrong and we square them with how we view the Church and what we think the Church should be and represent.

I know that I struggle with wanting to just unplug and step away from the scandals and corruption and questionable acts, but I also don’t want to fall into a blissful ignorance. Many people are comforted by knowing that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church, but is that due to the actions of the laity in conjunction with that of the clergy who fight for the faith or by simply not getting involved and letting things playout as they will?

Everyone wants to feel like they are doing something that supports and defends the faith, even if it’s just jumping online to argue a point of view. I know that I’ve been very opinionated at times and I’ve found myself getting angry and frustrated with the views and opinions of others. And that frustration can quickly lead to being uncharitable and prideful and the last I want to do is personally attack another member on this forum.

But honestly, I don’t like feeling like we are fighting each other. I think all of us want to be united in our faith and to focus on doing that which is pleasing to the Lord. It’s just finding that common ground and rallying around a cause or struggle seems to be eluding us at the moment.
 
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I think you’re right, and this forum has definitely changed in time since the “switch”. It had occasional issues before, but we had more moderators per category who were identifiable real people - not the chaotic flagging and nameless unknown mods we have now. There were also clear cut guidelines per section that were easier to tame the crazy.
 
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True. Let me know if we ever have improvements on this forum. I’ll be glad to express my appreciation.

ETA: my comment refers only to the fact that I don’t believe the platform change gained us anything. It took away a lot.
 
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We address Ourself finally to the sons of God’s house, the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church of which the Roman Church is “mother and head.” How greatly we desire that this dialogue with Our own children may be conducted with the fullness of faith, with charity, and with dynamic holiness. May it be of frequent occurrence and on an intimate level. May it be open and responsive to all truth, every virtue, every spiritual value that goes to make us the heritage of Christian teaching. We want it to be sincere. We want it to be an inspiration to genuine holiness. We want it to show itself ready to listen to the variety of views which are expressed in the world today. We want it to be the sort of dialogue that will make Catholics virtuous, wise, unfettered, fair-minded and strong.
St Paul VI. Ecclesiam Suam 113
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The Church does have excellent teaching on this topic, especially St Paul VI’s first encyclical Ecclesiam Suam. Of course, there are those who do not like dialogue but we have to let them talk too.
 
Cor_ad_Cor said:
True. Let me know if we ever have improvements on this forum. I’ll be glad to express my appreciation.

ETA: my comment refers only to the fact that I don’t believe the platform change gained us anything. It took away a lot.
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An awful lot of frequent and valuable posters have drifted away, never to be heard form again. I miss their presence.
 
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