The Cradle Catholic experience

[LethalMouse]

Well that lady sounds really off the mark… but I can say that as a cradle cafeteria (Go to CCD and then weddings/funerals) some of us are saddled with protestant catholics.

I can note many I knew growing up basically go with “I never read the bible, I don’t remember anything from class…but here is how religion works…” It gets confusing lol.

 

[Rosebud77]

For cradle Catholics, how do you learn about your faith? My husband and I are seriously considering converting, and we are reading books and reading through the catechism and eventually will go through RCIA. My husband has a co-worker who is a cradle Catholic and attends Mass regularly. They were chatting and my husband, for whatever reason, mentioned that many Protestants are under the impression that Catholics worship Mary (which we’ve learnt in the Catechism is not true). But this woman immediately replied with an enthusiastic “we do!”. So how does someone get to be middle aged, born in the church, and attending regularly still hold false beliefs about the church? Please note, this is not meant to be a criticism of this person. My question is, how does this happen? Are cradle Catholics educated in childhood about the doctrines of their faith?

This tends to be the norm here in Ireland. Worshipping Mary I mean, oh and praying TO the saints. Coming new to much of this I was taught to ask the saints to pray for us not to pray to them, and it was from the US epsisc and Poor Clare order here the fact of the worship of Mary

As someone visiting here pointed our, almost all the wayside shrines , and there are many thousands in Ireland, are Mary. not Jesus.

Remember that after First Communion unless the family is deep in faith there will “only” be mass attendance and no more real formation etc/ And we need more than a ten year old can take in.

 

[Padres1969]

This tends to be the norm here in Ireland. Worshipping Mary I mean, oh and praying TO the saints. Coming new to much of this I was taught to ask the saints to pray for us not to pray to them, and it was from the US epsisc and Poor Clare order here the fact of the worship of Mary

As someone visiting here pointed our, almost all the wayside shrines , and there are many thousands in Ireland, are Mary. not Jesus.

Remember that after First Communion unless the family is deep in faith there will “only” be mass attendance and no more real formation etc/ And we need more than a ten year old can take in.

Yeah I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count the number of Catholics over the years I’ve heard state that they’re praying to a saint or to Mary rather than asking them to pray for the penitent. I’d go so far as to say the norm in my experience was praying to a saint or Mary.

 

[Rosebud77]

Yeah I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count the number of Catholics over the years I’ve heard state that they’re praying to a saint or to Mary rather than asking them to pray for the penitent. I’d go so far as to say the norm in my experience was praying to a saint or Mary.

Thank you… I asked about this and a lady told me that they have been taught this by the Sisters in school… Praying TO and it is common on web sites. eg novenas TO See praymorenovenas.com/st-jude-novena/ Although in the text they correct that most still say TO

Mind you I have heard the same in high anglican circles…

 

[Rosebud77]

As a “cradle Anglican” I think I fared better than some here! Baptised at six weeks, Sunday School as soon as I could walk there (around 5), every day at School starting with hymns and prayers ( I remember wishing I could recite the Lord’s Prayer as well as the bigger girls did…) … Scripture lessons several times a week… We were very well prepared for Confirmation at 14; classes every week in great detail ie Catechism… and as part of the preparation we had to attend "real “Church” every Sunday. We made our first communions the Sunday following Confirmation… As well as Communion services, we had Matins and Evensong… Often I would attend all three on Sundays…I was though I gather unusual! Always loved Evensong , based on monastic Compline.

Interesting comparing…It was a strong and solid base for life.

 

[mommy_k]

I also went to Catholic school, and am a cradle Catholic. My school had sisters, and it was fine. Perhaps the person who said that Catholics Pray to Mary, are just confused with the wording.

Prayer is talking to someone in heaven as well, so in that sense, we do Pray to Mary and rhe Saints, and ask them to pray for us.

There is only so much that catholic school and cc’d class can teach. Even though I had a very devout grandmother and lived my faith life as a child, much of what I know about the faith occurred by sticking with it as an adult. Someone can teach you the same truths when you are a child, but you really don’t understand the depth of what you have been taught until later as in the op’s example.

 

[Peter_J]

Fwiw, on another forum (where I go a lot) Catholics would get very annoyed if you suggested that we don’t pray to Mary – or at least that’s what I would expect to happen.

 

[Entwhistler]

Really it all depends on the parents. They are the ones who send you to school or teach you themselves. It is kind of on their shoulders to teach you the faith. Catholic school is all well and good, but not all schools are created equal. I remember hearing about some anti-catholics who said that they know the Church did this or that because they went to Catholic School. Even if that was the limit of their religious experience. The parents are your guide through your childhood, and they should take your formation seriously. Unfortunately, many do not or think that others will do it for them.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

The original meaning of “to pray” is to ask, to beckon.

In other words, we ask Mary to intercede for us with her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Many non-Catholics associate the word, “prayer,” with worship, which we can only give to God.

We don’t worship Mary as we worship God. We prayer to her and ask her for help.

We honor Mary, as her Son Jesus Christ honors her. We merely imitate Jesus in honoring his mother.

Jim

 

[Rosebud77]

Really it all depends on the parents. They are the ones who send you to school or teach you themselves. It is kind of on their shoulders to teach you the faith. Catholic school is all well and good, but not all schools are created equal. I remember hearing about some anti-catholics who said that they know the Church did this or that because they went to Catholic School. Even if that was the limit of their religious experience. The parents are your guide through your childhood, and they should take your formation seriously. Unfortunately, many do not or think that others will do it for them.

My landlord is a fine example of good Catholic parenting. He is a man of deep faith but little education and not the facet for booklearning etc. Even reading is limited. he has 4 little ones,oldest now I think 10

He has moved heaven and earth ( ie our Irish education system ) to keep the tiny local rural school open as it has good Catholic teaching. And of course he prays with them at home. Speaks of his faith… does rely on others for what he cannot teach. Has to be a living faith at home

 

[ConfusedLucy]

Really it all depends on the parents. They are the ones who send you to school or teach you themselves. It is kind of on their shoulders to teach you the faith. Catholic school is all well and good, but not all schools are created equal. I remember hearing about some anti-catholics who said that they know the Church did this or that because they went to Catholic School. Even if that was the limit of their religious experience. The parents are your guide through your childhood, and they should take your formation seriously. Unfortunately, many do not or think that others will do it for them.

I think sometimes school assumes parents are teaching kids the faith while parents assume they will learn it at school.

 

[Lea101]

A catholic friend thinks abortion is okay because ‘God loves us and will understand if we are not ready to have a baby’, or ‘God does not care if I sleep with a random guy, he won’t send me to hell, he loves me! He only cares about sins that hurt people’ ‘God loves everyone, hence gay marriage is completely fine’. They have no idea about mortal/venial sins.

poor education is one of the answers. My church tried to teach us about TOB but all they ended up doing is basically “God made Adam and Eve, therefore gay is wrong!!! Now watch a video of a fetus screaming before the doctor crushes the head” I had no idea birth control was wrong until I went on CAF

IMO the reason is because there is no motivation to learn about the faith. People who convert HAVE to read up to make the choice whether Catholicism is true/logical. Common sense, I know.

Most cradle catholics have no motivation to find these stuff out because it is assumed that they know everything. After all, they have been to mass all their lives

 

[Padres1969]

I think sometimes school assumes parents are teaching kids the faith while parents assume they will learn it at school.

To some extent this is exactly right. Catholic school does take some responsibility for faith formation. But it’s very basic. There is an assumption that parents are doing part of the faith formation at home as well. Parents meanwhile in my experience tend to assume school is doing all the formation. I know with my own parents Catholic faith formation consisted of taking us sporadically to mass and that was about it. It was presumed we’d received enough at school.