Uniquely challenged--comment

[lynnehelen]

It does not go well for the English in America, and the same is true in the Church. I’ve heard it takes 400 years for a war to die. My husband has always had the upper hand over me because, as a Canadian, he is better accepted and better and understood than me (ironically, with my help.)

The Catholic Church in America, I would observe, as an outsider, is uniquely challenged as an institution for love of others and for purity planted in the midst of so much perversion, obscenity, inter-racial and inter-cultural animosity, and the cult of self (Hollywood and the priesthood of Psychology.)

Maybe it’s just Florida, This is a weird community, with people coming in and out from everywhere, nationally and internationally, also planted in the deep South.

My recent experience of my son’s attending a private Catholic High School, from which I have withdrawn him, leaves me feeling that Catholics, at least in this community, can tend into being cliquish, snobbish, and pretentious in the face of above-said odds. Just another niche to cling to in American society. It must be scary to be Catholic in a government which does not permit religious the religious freedoms of the very religion it was build in and from.

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

It does not go well for the English in America, and the same is true in the Church. I’ve heard it takes 400 years for a war to die. My husband has always had the upper hand over me because, as a Canadian, he is better accepted and better and understood than me (ironically, with my help.)

The Catholic Church in America, I would observe, as an outsider, is uniquely challenged as an institution for love of others and for purity planted in the midst of so much perversion, obscenity, inter-racial and inter-cultural animosity, and the cult of self (Hollywood and the priesthood of Psychology.)

Maybe it’s just Florida, This is a weird community, with people coming in and out from everywhere, nationally and internationally, also planted in the deep South.

My recent experience of my son’s attending a private Catholic High School, from which I have withdrawn him, leaves me feeling that Catholics, at least in this community, can tend into being cliquish, snobbish, and pretentious in the face of above-said odds. Just another niche to cling to in American society. It must be scary to be Catholic in a government which does not permit religious the religious freedoms of the very religion it was build in and from.

I can’t comment on much of what you say, but I would note that it has been widely observed that anti-Catholicism is the “last acceptable prejudice” in America. To say nothing of the fact that it it always “politically correct” to bash the Catholic Church. These factors may understandably lead to a certain circling of the wagons. Just a thought.

 

[bmullins]

Humans tend to gather in groups of like minded people. It’s difficult to maintain close, intimate relationships with people who believe contrary to what you do. Especially when it’s something you consider to be damning to the soul. It’s probably quite beneficial and even biblical to surround ourselves with other believers. Does that mean we can’t have friends who are not Catholic? Of course not. But it does mean that most of the time we are going to find ourselves much more comfortable with those who aren’t attempting to ‘convert’ or argue with us consistently.

I’ve found that there are so many out there who were friends with me for the first 25ish years of my life, that now do not speak to me because I am converting. I haven’t changed my beliefs, I just found the church that fit them. Yet, the same people that I’ve discussed God with for hours at a time, now consider me lost for joining this church. I haven’t stopped being friends with them, but yet they have no desire to be around me unless it’s to argue or convince me I’m wrong. So we don’t hang out much.

 

[lynnehelen]

As an English-American young woman whose mother didn’t get naturalized until about age 65, I identified myself as English in America when I was young. Like my mother, I was swayed by the glitz and glamour of America, At sixteen, I read “The Godfather,” (the movie version of which was noted by a drama professor I had in college as the greatest film of all time, so it was worth having read the book.) But I was too young, obviously, actually I read many upsetting things when I was young and didn’t realize it upset me.

Somewhere deep in my conscious, however, as a result of reading this book, is rooted an association between Catholics in America and the Mafia (all mafiosos are Catholic), which lends to the American Catholic Church for me both a mystique and an element of fear. It feels closed to me. I know that I do not understand it.

College coursework corrected my conscious ideas of the Church, and I do believe that the catholicism is the one true faith, but this experience in my youth, and so many other things, linger to keep me at a distance from formalizing my faith. I remain a lone English Catholic through baptism of desire.

I am easily misunderstood. This was meant to be slightly humorous in an ironic sort of way.

 

[Catholic90]

I am easily misunderstood. This was meant to be slightly humorous in an ironic sort of way.

I think when you used the mad face smiley mad and the confused smilies confused, you portrayed this as a serious, not humorous, thread.

 

[Trishie]

I would always consider it both wise and charitable not to make generalized statements about any nation or group of people.

It is sometimes the case that our own insecurities and prejudices, our own framework for viewing the world (which framework itself can be damaged and insular, learned from parents/deepened by our own insecurities,) can affect how we perceive others
and how we perceive ourselves to be treated,

It is also the case that people do pick up subtle subliminal messages from us, and our own prejudices and fears can actually create the response from others that we fear.

…God’s kind blessings to you and your family.