C
catco25
Guest
I am a young college student and have been raised in the Church for most of my life. However, I have been seriously struggling with my faith for about 7 years now. I attended mass weekly until my confirmation, when I stopped. However, I’ve recently started attending mass again sporadically.
My qualms with Catholicism all derive from my rejection of Church infallibility—I simply cannot bring myself to believe that a manmade institution can be morally infallible, since mankind is in itself imperfect. For the record, I’m not trying to be a belligerent, angsty young person who is simply trying to rebel against his/her parents: I’m genuinely having a faith crisis over this issue, an issue that has created a lot of emotional unrest in my life.
I don’t really want to argue about my views on papal infallibility in this post—I’m not expecting Catholic Apologists to agree with me in any capacity in regards to this matter. However, I do want to know if I ought to leave the Church, since I would be a hypocrite if I continue practicing Catholicism while rejecting a basic tenet of Catholic doctrine? Even though I am trying to attend mass again, I feel incredibly uncomfortable sitting in a Church, knowing that I’m not on the same page as everyone else. I take my spiritual life very seriously, so the fact that I’m not 100% in accordance with my religion’s teachings bothers me a lot.
Also, I recognize that the Church believes that one can never truly leave the Church—meaning that once one is baptized a Catholic, he or she is forever a Catholic in the eyes of the Church. To clarify, when I ask if I should leave the Church, I am asking if I ought to abandon practicing Catholicism and pursue other faiths?
My qualms with Catholicism all derive from my rejection of Church infallibility—I simply cannot bring myself to believe that a manmade institution can be morally infallible, since mankind is in itself imperfect. For the record, I’m not trying to be a belligerent, angsty young person who is simply trying to rebel against his/her parents: I’m genuinely having a faith crisis over this issue, an issue that has created a lot of emotional unrest in my life.
I don’t really want to argue about my views on papal infallibility in this post—I’m not expecting Catholic Apologists to agree with me in any capacity in regards to this matter. However, I do want to know if I ought to leave the Church, since I would be a hypocrite if I continue practicing Catholicism while rejecting a basic tenet of Catholic doctrine? Even though I am trying to attend mass again, I feel incredibly uncomfortable sitting in a Church, knowing that I’m not on the same page as everyone else. I take my spiritual life very seriously, so the fact that I’m not 100% in accordance with my religion’s teachings bothers me a lot.
Also, I recognize that the Church believes that one can never truly leave the Church—meaning that once one is baptized a Catholic, he or she is forever a Catholic in the eyes of the Church. To clarify, when I ask if I should leave the Church, I am asking if I ought to abandon practicing Catholicism and pursue other faiths?