Stagnant and Boring?

[jmcrae]

Ya, I was Baptised and brought up Catholic, but I call myself “Devout”. Cradle Catholic is something missing?

Converts can also be devout - it’s important for all Catholics to be devout.

A cradle Catholic is simply someone who was born into the faith, rather than coming into it as an adult - ie: not a convert.

 

[lak611]

Converts can also be devout - it’s important for all Catholics to be devout.

A cradle Catholic is simply someone who was born into the faith, rather than coming into it as an adult - ie: not a convert.

Whether one is or is not devout has nothing to do with when he or she was baptized. I was baptized as an infant, went to Catholic CCD, Catholic high school and Catholic college. None of this did any good for me. When I was in my twenties, living on my own, I fell away and didn’t practice any religion. I rediscovered my faith after a friend took me to a Christian music festival and a Baptist at the festival gave me a Bible which I read all the way through. I was searching for meaning in my life but had no way of knowing what or Whom I was looking for. After I read the Bible (Protestant KJV with only 66 books), I realized that the Catholic Church was right. I repented first directly to God, then to my priest in Confession (I had been away about 5 years). Since then, I have joined an adult Sunday school class at my parish (which is Catholic Bible study–we are currently studying the book of Romans), volunteered for an ecumenical mission meal for the poor that is held at a Methodist Church, and become an EMHC. I thought the Church was stagnant and boring when I left, but the Holy Spirit knew otherwise, and He brought me back. Since I have become involved in my faith and in my parish, there’s nothing stagnant and boring. The Catholic Church, the Bible, and my parish are all very much alive! :bible1:

 

[kellie]

Ya, I was Baptised and brought up Catholic, but I call myself “Devout”. Cradle Catholic is something missing?

There’s nothing missing from a cradle Catholic

Some Catholics are devout, some aren’t, and whether they are cradles or converts makes no difference to their devoutness (is that a word )

 

[Al_Masetti]

Sometimes, the expression “cradle Catholic” is used in a prejorative way. It could be taken to mean that the person was baptized in the Catholic Church as an infant, but then [here’s the prejorative part] never learned much of anything about the Catholic religion.

OR, the person might have received some minimal level of education in the Catholic religion up through Confirmation and then nothing after that.

I’m just speculating. But that is one way the expression “cradle Catholic” can be used.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

Yup, a sincere fear of hell is good enough :yup: it’s called imperfect contrition, which is fine for a sacramental confession.

To spell things out a bit:​

There is

• 1. Perfect contrition = sorrow for sin arising from the thought of the goodness of God, leading to: hatred of all our sins, a firm purpose of amendment,
• 1. Imperfect contrition (AKA attrition); = sorrow for sin from lower motives, such as the fear of Hell)
     There is also:
• 1. Supremely appreciative perfect contrition - which is a degree of 1. which is not just real, but very intense as well. It must on no account be mistaken for 1. To do so, leads people who are truly contrite but do not feel anything, to fear they are not contrite; which can cause great anguish & scrupulosity
     Contrition is in the understanding & the will; **not **in the emotions. Sorrow for sin must be real - but need not be strongly felt; because not every one has strong emotions. We do, OTOH, have to direct our wills & understandings in the way that pleases God - which includes a rejection of sin. And it is His grace that directs them as they should go; we do not have to try the impossible, & be contrite “on our own”.

“Perfect” means, not morally perfect, but, perfect in the sense of not lacking any quality necessary for a thing to be that thing. The Church is in this sense a “perfect” society - it does not lack anything necessary for it to exist as an autonomous society; unlike a religious order, a diocese, or the family - all of which are societies within larger societies on which they depend for their existence. A “friendly society”, a trade association, a trade union, are other imperfect societies.

So attrition is imperfect contrition, because it lacks something perfect contrition does have: the purity of motive which makes sorrow for sin the kind of sorrow it ought to be; for if we truly love God, we will think not of the bother that sin causes us, but of the unkindness it is to God: we will take God’s side against ourselves. Imperfect contrition - sufficient for the remission of sin though it is - could be purer in motive than it is; instead of being weakened by concern for self.

So it is entirely possible to have perfect contrition; there is no reason to think that only very holy people can be contrite; it is not the same thing in degree as supremely appreciative perfect contrition, but is the same in kind.

There is also:

• 1. A sorrow for sins arising from purely selfish motives, such as does not include the intention to turn from sin and to God. Sorrow of this sort is not sufficient for remission of sins; because it does not exclude the desire to sin again - so any absolution, would be ineffective until we received grace to be contrite, however feebly. This is known as the “revival” of absolution - it is (as it were) dormant, if contrition (and so, some degree of intention to turn from sin for God’s sake) is lacking ##

Have you tried, though, to read up on whatever sinful behaviour you may be not feeling particularly repentant of and try to see it (kinda) from God’s point of view - think about WHY it might be wrong and offensive to God?

Doing little mental exercises like that helps me a lot with trying to avoid particular sins after I’ve confessed them.

 

[Al_Masetti]

There “used to be” a book called The Baltimore Catechism.

It was used in every religious education program in the United States. [That’s kind of a global statement.]

The Baltimore Catechism was published in, as I recall, three “versions”, with progressively more sophisticated explanations of Catholic teaching on the sacraments, the Ten Commandments and the Commandments of the Church, etc. And it was used all through elementary through high school.

The reason I mention it, is that many of the questions discussed within this thread were treated pretty thoroughly in the Baltimore Catechism.

For example, perfect and imperfect contrition were covered.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Catholic religion should go online and buy a copy. The recent Catholicism of the Catholic Church can be so overwhelmingly thorough, that sometimes or in some situations a less fully-written document might be more helpful.

In any case, the Baltimore Catechism is a worthwhile addition to everyone’s bookcase.

The Mass is part (an essential part) of Catholicism … and the words that make up the Mass are for the most part biblical and when we take a look at where the various parts of the Mass were derived from, it is kind of mind-blowing.

We can quibble about some of the translated words, but when we allow ourselves to become swept up in the 2000 year history of Christianity, the 3-year ministry of Jesus, and the 5000 year history of Judism and see how all of these “traditions” get incorporated into the Mass, … sometimes only by one word or one name , the overall effect can be intoxicating.

 

[inJESUS]

I go to confession out of love, not fear…anyone feels like me?

 

[lak611]

There “used to be” a book called The Baltimore Catechism.

It was used in every religious education program in the United States. [That’s kind of a global statement.]
Anyone interested in learning more about the Catholic religion should go online and buy a copy. The recent Catholicism of the Catholic Church can be so overwhelmingly thorough, that sometimes or in some situations a less fully-written document might be more helpful.

In any case, the Baltimore Catechism is a worthwhile addition to everyone’s bookcase.

Here’s a link to the Baltimore Catechism: catholic.net/RCC/Catechism/3/Welcome.html