Question for non-Catholics: What would "perpetual sorrow" mean to you?

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BlueEyedLady said:
Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying that Catholicism is perpetually sorrowful, I’m saying that given the image of Catholicism and the fact that ‘perpetual’ and ‘sorrow’ are catholic words, the combination of the two sounds very believable.

The OP started this thread as an offshoot of another. He’s upset because a show named a catholic school ‘Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow’. But frankly, to a non Catholic, that sounds like a believable and inoffensive school name.

Kind of like if you told me you needed to go to Mass for the Feast of Perpetual Adoration or the Assumption of Our Lady of the Eucharistic Angels. I’m well aware that those don’t even make sense much less exist, but I think a lot of non catholics wouldn’t give it a second thought because it those words sound catholic.
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Makes sense. I confess that it fooled me: I thought “well, I haven’t heard that phrase precisely, but I guess maybe it’s used somewhere.” I should have known better.

Edwin
 
First two words that popped into my head; endless crying.

Free association is always fun.
 
BlueEyedLady said:
It conjures up an image of a crucifix and does in fact sound very Catholic to me.
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Actually, Catholic theology doesn’t say that the cross is a reason for perpetual sorrow. It is in fact the exact opposite. You are aware that perpetual means never-ending, right? So perpetual sorrow means never-ending sorrow. In Catholic theology, perpetual sorrow is the definition of Hell. The fallen angels and the damned in Hell experience perpetual sorrow. Their sorrow goes on forever. But my question wasn’t asking how perpetual sorrow relates to Catholic theology, rather it was asking what the concept of perpetual sorrow mean to a non-Catholic.
 
livingwordunity said:
Actually, Catholic theology doesn’t say that the cross is a reason for perpetual sorrow. You are aware that perpetual means never-ending, right? So perpetual sorrow means never-ending sorrow. In Catholic theology this is the definition of Hell.
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You asked what I thought of, why are you trying to argue it?

I’ve explained very well and non offensively why these things come to mind. It seems like much like on the last thread, you aren’t getting the answers you wanted.
 
BlueEyedLady said:
You asked what I thought of, why are you trying to argue it? I’ve explained very well and non offensively why these things come to mind. It seems like much like on the last thread, you aren’t getting the answers you wanted.
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I was asking for a non-Catholic perspective only. I didn’t want the thread to be side-tracked with a debate about Catholic theology.
 
If I hadn’t learned it was the made-up name of a Catholic school from a TV show, and had Our Lady of Perpetual Hope to go on as contrasting real title, I think I just would have scratched my head over it.
At best, it could be seen as something like the verse about God in the OT (Isaiah?): “In all their distress He too was distressed.” Or, it could be something like Jeremiah’s title of the “weeping prophet.”

Then again, taking “perpetual sorrow” to truly mean never-ending sorrow, it seems pretty perverted away from the real hope that underlies the Christian willingness to suffer in this present time.
 
AbideWithMe said:
Then again, taking “perpetual sorrow” to truly mean never-ending sorrow, it seems pretty perverted away from the real hope that underlies the Christian willingness to suffer in this present time.
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Thank you.
 
I e-mailed someone I know in RCIA (technically still a non-Catholic) who visits CAF a lot what he thought and he responded "first thing that comes to my mind is that rather silly thread with over 100 posts still running over in the Social Media forum - *Disney’s “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” twists and mocks Catholicsm with fake named Catholic school *.
 
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