Rules for the sake of rules?

[Writer]

I had a project idea, and I thought that others here might be able to share their thoughts on this. Before we converted to the Catholic Church, I sometimes fell into the trap of believing that the Catholic Church’s rules were sometimes without meaning–rules for the sake of rules. I’m thinking of trying to write an article on the “top five or ten” beliefs that strike people (both inside and outside the Church) as meaningless or extra-biblical. Birth control is one interesting example. If I explored this topic, I’d probably first stress the obvious sanctity of life, then discuss the demographic harm the Culture of Death has inflicted on western nations. Other “rules” ideas might include the prohibition of women in the priesthood (or, perhaps more accurately, the inability to ordain women as priests), weekly Mass requirement, no meat on Fridays in Lent, etc. Do you know of any others that have been troubling to you or your loved ones? I’d appreciate the thoughts!

 

[katy]

You’ve hit the ones I have heard most often, altho there is a good bit of grumbling about the Church’s (scriptural) marriage rules in relation to divorce and remarriage.

 

[BlestOne]

As a cradle Catholic, I can only tell you what I hear from Protestant friends. Namely the ones you mentioned, but they also are under the impression that we aren’t true citizens because we believe in the seat of Peter and they feel it is like having an allegiance to another country above our own. Therefore I get alot of flack for voting in every election including the primaries.

 

[ThatGuy]

The necessity of confession is another one. I think only about 12 percent of Catholics go to confession.

 

[Rawb]

The Sunday Obligation. I tell people “Well I have to go to mass,” and they’re like, “You don’t HAVE to,” and I say “it’s a mortal sin not to go,” and they say “that’s just because the church wants to make sure you’re there for the collection”. So that’s one.

 

[Writer]

Thanks for those good ideas. Confession is a good one, too. I suppose the reverence we give to God in Mass might also be included in our list. Reverence seems a difficult idea for some non-Catholics; that’s one of the main reasons we first became interested in crossing the Tiber…

 

[briang72]

Not that this is a rule, but it is definitely a belief: The true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. From my own experience, this is a difficult belief. My biggest problem is that I am overly analytical ( I am a software developer, its in my blood). I want to be able to comprehend everything. It has taken a long time to realize that the true presence is beyond human comprehension and reason, but that doesn’t mean it is unbelievable! Jesus was not speaking symbolically when he said “This is my body”!

 

[Writer]

Not that this is a rule, but it is definitely a belief: The true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. From my own experience, this is a difficult belief. My biggest problem is that I am overly analytical ( I am a software developer, its in my blood). I want to be able to comprehend everything. It has taken a long time to realize that the true presence is beyond human comprehension and reason, but that doesn’t mean it is unbelievable! Jesus was not speaking symbolically when he said “This is my body”!

Good insight! When I’m talking about the Eucharist, I sometimes preface by saying that we can’t get our brains around this. It boils down to faith…

 

[otjm]

The Sunday Obligation. I tell people “Well I have to go to mass,” and they’re like, “You don’t HAVE to,” and I say “it’s a mortal sin not to go,” and they say “that’s just because the church wants to make sure you’re there for the collection”. So that’s one.

The short response is to note the statistics of giving within the Catholic Church (it is really poor). And that is not a recent trend; it is fairly historical.