Rigid, or modernism? Judge me, please!

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DeSales111

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I’ve been there done that as far as letting the secular world influence me. But the truth is, I was wrong, very wrong as a matter of fact. I thought the Church was very rigid when it came to moral teachings, I then returned to my faith after 25+ years, and when I did I humbled myself to Her teachings, especially about marriage and receiving the Eucharist.

Now our Pope warns against being rigid, as though striving for holiness is offensive to the rest of the world. Should we be the light, or should we dim the light as to not offend the world? The way I see it, Jesus was not passive and did not regret offending folks. As he said, He did not come to bring peace, He came to bring the Truth!

Now I’m gonna get called scandalous or flagged for rejecting the Popes message.
 
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Very well said. The Church loves, and that kind of love is not always what others want to hear, especially if it involves change. Love isn’t just telling others what they want to hear. I keep trying to give the Pope my support, but I can not accept a watered down Gospel just to appease others.
 
DeSales111 said:
Now our Pope warns against being rigid, as though striving for holiness is offensive to the rest of the world.
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That’s one interpretation. But I don’t see ‘striving for holiness’ as having the same meaning as rigidity.
 
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I think you are making assumptions as to the meaning and intent of the Holy Father’s words. Rigid legalism is not in accord with the Divine Law of Love.

Contrasting that with modernism? Non sequitur, as modernism is only nominally Christian. It drains the supernatural out as it seeks to re-interpret or re-define Christ into someone more acceptable. Take the middle way: orthodoxy in thought and action.

Read the life of Saint Francis of Assisi or Saint Anthony of Padua. You cannot go wring if you strive to follow their example. And, you have their guaranteed prayers as you seek your path to heaven.
 
Dear friend in Christ:

We all have spiritual struggles. It’s hard to separate oneself from doubts and worldly influences. For me, it’s an ongoing struggle. Yesterday, my faith crumbled. How can any of it be true?

Then I said evening prayer from the Daily Office and I was right back on track.
 
Sure, striving for holiness IS considered rigid in the eyes of the world. I tell others birth control is a sin and against the will of God. Even if I say it in a loving way I’m considered rigid in my beliefs. I don’t believe in divorce, to those who do, I’m rigid for not caving in to compromise. I oppose homosexuality, if I speak against it I’m considered rigid. I show no hatred, I’m a sinner too, but the truth is the truth.
 
As a matter of fact the strength of devil is minuscule compared to God. So most of the world’s threats is analogous to the proverbial barking dog seldom bites. Past few decades of decadence or heeding to world, somehow weaken our faith in God and His power on world affairs. He must have been agonizingly waiting for us to turn to Himself, His strength and His help through prayers.
 
Exactly. The Church has certain expectations for how we should live our lives, but it is out of love and not merely for the sake of restrictions themselves.

I think what Pope Francis is getting at is that the Church is messy and people’s lives are messy. We have to be sensitive and pastoral about people’s situations (without compromising the truth, of course). This is how I choose to interpret the Pope’s words.
 
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That is the whole key, the Truth can not be compromised. That is basically what I was trying to say. It seems this papacy is open to changing the Truth and compromising just to not offend others. Can someone please tell me one time that Jesus compromised the Truth just to not offend others?
 
I’m not saying the Pope is for birth control, that was an example of what others can see as rigid. The Pope is the one saying traditionalist Catholics are rigid.
 
The Pope is also acting as a concerned parent in bringing to light the nature of this problem and the effect of damage it is doing to faith and the traditionalist cause. Here is something to think about from Fr Ripperger.
 
DeSales111 said:
The Pope is the one saying traditionalist Catholics are rigid.
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I would consider myself slightly more on the traditional side in my outlook, but I do think there is some truth to Pope Francis’s criticisms. Though it’s wise to avoid blanket statements about a large group of people.
 
My husband and I just had this discussion in light of the Pope’s comments.I won’t flag you, I agree wholeheartedly 👍
 
People often mistake a lack of rules as freedom.

As @(name removed by moderator) said: Think of Holy Mother Church as a loving parent who wants what’s best for you. That requires rules. For if you want your child to be trained correctly; there has to be a set of rules that need to be followed.

The world mistakes rules as some sort of dictatorial “ harshing your mellow “ thing. Like parents have nothing better to do than make things unnecessarily harsh for their kids.

If you’re serious about your Catholic Faith; of course the world will criticize you as a rigid stick in the mud and a buzzkill.

I face it myself in my life and you see it all the time in the left’s constant anti religion trip.

“ Progressives “ loves to attack religious people as backwards and close minded because we stand up for traditional moral values.

The left basically attacks devout Christians as lacking compassion and paints themselves as compassionate champions of minorities who lack their human rights.

Personally, I’m a conservative Catholic. I’ve protested at abortion mills and been yelled at by passersby. My own mother yelled at me for it because she was afraid I’d get arrested. People will look at me like I’m the bad guy because I take seriously what Our Lord taught us.

Meh, doesn’t bother me.

Jesus tells us that those who are persecuted unjustly for His Name’s sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

But the key is unjustly.

We have to be Christs to our fellow human beings and show people the love of God through us to them.
 
Michael16 said:
“ Progressives “ loves to attack religious people as backwards and close minded because we stand up for traditional moral values.

The left basically attacks devout Christians as lacking compassion and paints themselves as compassionate champions of minorities who lack their human rights.
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I really don’t find that people attack you in general for expressing your Catholic belief and I’ve never been shy of ‘being Catholic’ wherever I am. Even on the topic of abortion you can express what the Church teaches and why without being personally attacked. And I truly believe that when you ‘evangelising’ in this way with love and hope for the other person in your heart, that you plant a good seed. I’ve never been in ‘traditionalist’ mode in my life but still 2 of my children have remained faithful to the Church into their late 20’s. That is very comforting to know that it is possible to evangelise well without being bullyish. It proves to me that grace truly is amazing. It can flow through tenderness very well.
 
@Emeraldlady

I’m not talking about being harsh or bullying. Not my intention or implication.

When engaging people, what I try to do is understand the other person and see where we agree on and build from there. Another way I go about it as if I were an anthropologist visiting another culture. I learn and I respect the culture I’m visiting and when questions arise; I try to help them understand me. I hope that helps clear up any misunderstanding.

Thank God for your kids who stayed in the Faith.
 
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You want to be judged, but I see very little in your post that gives us element to allowed a personal judgement from the others posters…
 
DeSales111 said:
Now our Pope warns against being rigid, as though striving for holiness is offensive to the rest of the world. Should we be the light, or should we dim the light as to not offend the world? The way I see it, Jesus was not passive and did not regret offending folks. As he said, He did not come to bring peace, He came to bring the Truth!
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So the way I look at it, the word rigid can mean strong, not easily bendable, sturdy, not easy to force out of shape or not easily changed and who wants us to change, bend and be forced out of shape?

It is the world, society and modernists who want to change the Church and want to change what Catholics believe. They can’t change Church teaching but they can try to change our believing. We need to stand firm in our beliefs in Christ and His Church.

If I am called rigid for standing on the teachings of the Church, then I guess I am rigid. As I get stronger in the knowledge of my faith, I hope I get stronger and hold more rigidly (immovable) to the faith.

One of the best books I ever read was Victories of the Martyrs by St. Alphonsus Liguori. The early Christian martyrs were rigid. They stood firm in their faith until death.

What is most impressive, is while standing firm in the faith, they remained loving, kind, merciful and prayed for those who had not yet been enlighted by the Gospel. That is how I hope to be in my faith.
DeSales111 said:
Now I’m gonna get called scandalous or flagged for rejecting the Popes message.
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Not by me. He is the Pope. We respect Him, love him and pray for him but not everything he says is an infallible statement, means what people say it means and much gets taken out of context.

God bless.
 
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