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Julia_Mae
Guest
Wow. Going right over the Pastor’s head. Let us know what the Bishop says.
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TryingToLearn
Guest
Have you stopped to think how your attitude towards a young lady that made a mistake and followed that by choosing life is the type of attitude that nudges young women towards places like Planned Parenthood just so they can avoid your judgment and singling them out as especially heinous sinners in a Church full of sinners?
Obviously God answered one of my prayers to turn women away from abortion and showed this young lady the right choice to make after her bad choice resulted in another soul being created. God Bless her and her unborn child.
I’ll be praying for you to find the charity in your heart to rejoice that she has heard His call to choose life and has further chosen to present herself to the Holy Spirit to be sealed fully in our faith and His mercy and love.
Obviously God answered one of my prayers to turn women away from abortion and showed this young lady the right choice to make after her bad choice resulted in another soul being created. God Bless her and her unborn child.
I’ll be praying for you to find the charity in your heart to rejoice that she has heard His call to choose life and has further chosen to present herself to the Holy Spirit to be sealed fully in our faith and His mercy and love.
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DhuAlQarnayn
Guest
I for one do hope that you inform the bishop and that he takes this matter seriously. If your description of the circumstances is accurate, you clearly have no business being involved in catechesis of teenagers and could be causing great damage to these children. Your description on a public forum of your pregnant minor student as “waddling” down the aisle and your enquiry as to how she may be discreetly sent away to have her child are potentially legally actionable, should her family ever read these posts.
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dixieagle
Guest
And when exactly, pray tell, were you designated as the official arbiter of “abuse” in your parish?
In all due charity…MYOB. This is NONE of your business.
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Oneofthewomen
Guest
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anp1215
Guest
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Califman831
Guest
Do the faithful have the right to lodge complaints regarding liturgical abuses, and to whom should such complaints be addressed?
Any Catholic, whether priest or deacon or lay member of Christ’s faithful, has the right to lodge a complaint regarding a liturgical abuse to the diocesan bishop or the competent ordinary equivalent to him in law, or to the Apostolic See on account of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff. It is fitting, however, insofar as possible, that the report or complaint be submitted first to the diocesan bishop. This is naturally to be done in truth and charity (184).
devthrone.com/library/liturgical_abuses.asp#section9
Also note I never mentioned the girl’s name, so all the forum has to go on is that its some girl that is pregnant somewhere in a catholic parish, of which there are how many on the planet?
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kmuestwin
Guest
As her instructor, you should make sure that the sacrament of Reconciliation is available before Confirmation. If that is done, she will have confessed her sin and she will be able to recieve Confirmation without blemish.
Why punish her for a mistake she may have already confessed. She made a mistake. Many young people make mistakes of this nature. She also made the good choice of keeping and raising the child. Imagine how she feels. She probably has felt ostracized by many of her classmates and friends. She needs strong adult role models to help steer her away from other bad choices. Making her feel like a leper isn’t going to help her carry the burden of a child any easier.
This young girl needs prayer and assistance not hate and distress.
Don’t forget that it takes two to make a mistake like this. If you bar the girl from this sacrament then you must find the baby’s father and shun him as well.
This Church is a hospital for sinners. Help her stay with the Church and raise her child with God.
Bottom line: You are the adult. Act like a rolemodel not a judge and jury.
Why punish her for a mistake she may have already confessed. She made a mistake. Many young people make mistakes of this nature. She also made the good choice of keeping and raising the child. Imagine how she feels. She probably has felt ostracized by many of her classmates and friends. She needs strong adult role models to help steer her away from other bad choices. Making her feel like a leper isn’t going to help her carry the burden of a child any easier.
This young girl needs prayer and assistance not hate and distress.
Don’t forget that it takes two to make a mistake like this. If you bar the girl from this sacrament then you must find the baby’s father and shun him as well.
This Church is a hospital for sinners. Help her stay with the Church and raise her child with God.
Bottom line: You are the adult. Act like a rolemodel not a judge and jury.
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kmuestwin
Guest
You seem to feel like this is the first one…
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dixieagle
Guest
If you feel that a pregnant girl receiving the graces of Confirmation constitutes “liturgical abuse”, then I fear that she is not the one most in need of correction.
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april32010
Guest
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Califman831
Guest
I don’t hate her, I think she made a major mistake and committed a major sin. She must now face the music of being a young single parent. She actually had a lot of potential for success in her life.
agreed
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Millie123
Guest
So as Catholics we are to shun sinners? I don’t understand where you get this attitude from but it most certainly isn’t the Church.
In fact using your reasoning…We’d have to reject every single Apostle, Pope, Bishop, Priest, and Saint (with the exception of the Blessed Mother.)
Saint Augustine is out, Saint Margaret of Cortona, Saint Paul, Saint Peter… you shun them all.
Luke 5:32…I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
In fact using your reasoning…We’d have to reject every single Apostle, Pope, Bishop, Priest, and Saint (with the exception of the Blessed Mother.)
Saint Augustine is out, Saint Margaret of Cortona, Saint Paul, Saint Peter… you shun them all.
Luke 5:32…I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
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Stylites
Guest
May God bless you for caring about the youth in your parish and working with them in their formation, and for caring about the plight of one young confirmand. Contact your local pro-life center or the archdiocese and see what support services might be available to her.
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kmuestwin
Guest
She still has potential. It’s only when people throw up road blocks that she doesn’t need in her life that she will have problems.
Help her don’t hurt her. Be a leader not a bully.
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YADA
Guest
I think you should reconsider your vocation as a catechist … if I was a member of your parish and you expressed your views to me as you have here I would be speaking to the Pastor and if necessary a letter to the Bishop … not on this young person’s actions but yours …
First - you do not know the circumstances around the conception of this child … and lets be clear - its that conception that has you in a tizzies … any number of conformandi may be guilty of engaging in premarital sex in the same time frame before confirmation as this young women … should they all be reported to the Bishop and how would you go about obtaining this information? Many posters here have asked you to consider that fact … you brush it off … Now it is possible that this young lady was a victim of sex abuse [gee that is not unheard of - priests, school teachers, coaches, doctors, counselors and much older boyfriends, uncles, - even fathers have all been guilty of this act]. And young people give into temptation too - especially in our highly overly sexed society … Whatever the circumstances - this young lady did not get pregnant all by her self …
Second - she could have sought an abortion and you would be clueless and in your mind she would just be one of those wonderful young people getting confirmed … as a catechist do you not understand that we are a people redeemed by Christ - thus a people of second chances - always able to turn away from sin … You fail to see that the sin was an act that took place months ago … the child [you called illegitimate - but I would say that God loves this child and gave it life and is therefore perfectly legitimate in the eyes of our Lord and His Church] is not the sin - the mother has probably sought the healing of Confession - that sin wiped out by our Lord and Saviour … As a Catechist - what is it you teach those in your care … that Christ foregives but the rest of us don’t have too
Sheis choosing life and facing her future with dignity and a deepening relationship with Christ and His Church …What are you choosing
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Cat
Guest
If I know teenagers, all of them in the confirmation class already “get” this poster and his/her attitude, and they are already disregarding everything he/she teaches them.
Worse, they are already beginning to develop a distrust and dislike of the Church and Christianity because of this catechist.
James 3:1 says “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.”
Only if the teens are exposed on a daily basis to loving, sincere, and compassionate Catholic Christians will the negative effects of this catechist be softened or negated. Let’s pray that such decent, humble, and knowledgeable Christians are available on a daily basis to these teenagers, and especially the girl who is pregnant, so that they can see (not just read about or hear about) good Catholic Christians.
Otherwise, they are at tremendous risk of dropping out of the Church shortly after their confirmation. The Holy Spirit has the power to hold onto them, but the Holy Spirit’s work can be negated by the works of men. In the Scriptures, we are cautioned not to grieve or hinder the Holy Spirit.
There is a good chance that the teenagers will meet non-Catholic Christians who ARE compassionate and loving, and they will be lured over to these Christians and their fellowships/churches, and they will have a difficult time ever returning to the Catholic Church because they will equate it with that cold catechist.
God help the OP–he/she will be held accountable for the souls of these teens, and perhaps the unborn child as well.
Worse, they are already beginning to develop a distrust and dislike of the Church and Christianity because of this catechist.
James 3:1 says “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment.”
Only if the teens are exposed on a daily basis to loving, sincere, and compassionate Catholic Christians will the negative effects of this catechist be softened or negated. Let’s pray that such decent, humble, and knowledgeable Christians are available on a daily basis to these teenagers, and especially the girl who is pregnant, so that they can see (not just read about or hear about) good Catholic Christians.
Otherwise, they are at tremendous risk of dropping out of the Church shortly after their confirmation. The Holy Spirit has the power to hold onto them, but the Holy Spirit’s work can be negated by the works of men. In the Scriptures, we are cautioned not to grieve or hinder the Holy Spirit.
There is a good chance that the teenagers will meet non-Catholic Christians who ARE compassionate and loving, and they will be lured over to these Christians and their fellowships/churches, and they will have a difficult time ever returning to the Catholic Church because they will equate it with that cold catechist.
God help the OP–he/she will be held accountable for the souls of these teens, and perhaps the unborn child as well.
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Marchmain1987
Guest
Yes - when an actual abuse has occured.
I suppose some people live to be offended. Somehow, I think, charity is the least of your motives. Somehow, I think, you may have a bloated sense of your own importance vis-à-vis your role in the Church.
How does this count as a liturgical abuse?
A group of sinners receiving the sacrament of Confirmation.
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kmuestwin
Guest
Why chase someone away when they need the Church most?
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TrueLight
Guest
Which is the major sin she committed? Premarital sex or getting pregnant?
As one poster said, unfortunately it seems that your problem is really with the pregnancy.
Please resist the temptation of writing her off as if her life is over.
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