Up until a few weeks ago, I would have died for the Catholic Church. Now, I am less certain. I have come into contact with teachings that I cannot reconcile myself with.
- Church’s teachings on sex. They seem so liberal. I don’t buy that post-menopausal sex is acceptable. It just reeks of gluttony to me. I also cannot believe that the Church teaches that a celibate vocation is no better than getting married.
- The ability of one man to change over 1,000 years of tradition. Of course I am referring to Paul VI and the Novus Ordo. All I need to know is that Protestants were very involved in making it. Since when does God’s Church call in the heretics to help reform our Liturgy? I guess we came a long way from Pius IX refusing to add St. Joseph to the Canon. What did Pio Nono say? Something along the lines of, “I’m only the Pope.”
I’m probably wrong, but can anyone help me with these?
Hi Pope Noah I,
In regards to 1., I would find it hard to imagine the Church actually forbidding post-menopausal sex;–didn’t St. Thomas Aquinas say that one of the reasons for marriage was to avoid fornication (or concupiscence)?
I don’t know that the Church is officially teaching that a celibate vocation is no better than marriage, though I do think the sacral nature of the priesthood and the advantages a consecrated life offer have been deemphasized.
In regards to the Pope changing the Mass, one thing that might help which I have posted before is an an excerpt by Dietrich von Hildebrand, from an essay entitled: “Belief and Obedience: The Critical Difference” from the book “The Charitable Anathema”:
"Our belief in the teachings of the Church de fide must be an absolute and unconditional one, but we should not imagine that our fidelity to the Church’s theoretical authority is satisfied merely by acceptance of ex cathedra pronouncements.
…The situation is different when positive commandments of the Church, practical decisions, are at stake. Here we are not faced with the infallible Church. While we must obey such decisions and submit to them in reverence and deep respect, **we need not consider them felicitous or prudent. **Here the maxim Roma locuta: causa finita does not apply. If we are convinced that any practical change or decision is objectively unfortunate, noxious, compromising, imprudent, or unjust, we are permitted to pray that it may be revoked, to write in a respectful manner about the topic, to direct petitions for a change of it to the Holy Father–to attempt, in a variety of ways, to influence a reversal of the decision.
…The point, of course, is that obedience to the practical disciplinary decisions of the pope does not always imply approval of them. When such a decision has the character of compromise or is the result of pressure or the weakness of the individual person of the pope, we cannot and should not say: Roma locuta: causa finita. That is, we cannot see in it the will of God; we must recognize that God only permits it, just as He has permitted the unworthiness or weakness of several popes in the history of the Church.
…Nor can I conceal–and here we are returning to the point from which we started–the fact that the new Missale Romanum seems to me an incomparably greater mistake than that Concordat [with Hitler’s Germany]. I share the view of the great, venerable Cardinal Ottoviani–a true rock of orthodoxy–and of the group of Roman theologians who authored a critical study of the “new” Mass for Cardinal Ottoviani, that this liturgical innovation implies a contrast, at least by omission, with the de fide canons of the Council of Trent about the Mass.
latin-mass-society.org/study.htm
On account of my deep love for and devotion to the Church, it is a special cross for me not to be able to welcome every practical decision of the Holy See, particularly in a time like ours, which is witnessing a crumbling of the spirit of obedience and of respect for the Holy Father."
I think this might help in that it shows that we are not required to believe every practical decision by a Pope is good or prudent, even if he does have the power to make the changes. To require that would lead to a very tough spot if one genuinely thinks some changes were a bad idea. It reminds me of the scripture where Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for laying too great a burden on the Jews and not lifting a finger to help them. Acting like we must believe every prudential decision by the Pope is good and wise I would consider too great a burden and it might help to know that we don’t have to view it that way.
God bless.
but not all Catholics are Roman Catholic. I am sure there is a fit for you somewhere’s 
Not a total apostasy, but a great one. Remain faithful to Her immortal teachings, continue praying the Rosary, and “fight” (in whatever way He calls you to) to defend Her in “spirit and in truth.” You’re going to get griped at for doing it, but it will be worth it in the end. Persevere.:hug1: