We Have Lost Our Identity!

[centurionguard]

I just want to add a little tid bit as a seminarian…

Many of you wish that your pastors and bishops would preach Humane Vitae from the pulpit…have you told them your ideas? Have you told them your suggestions. Maybe I am different from the majority of priests, but I would love to hear people’s ideas. Challenge them; they are human too. They have weakness and fears. They are afraid of loosing those borderline Catholics who are hanging on a thread. I don’t know how you feel about that.

Think about this as a priest, they should see all of those in their flock as their spiritual children. As a parent you don’t want to push your children away when you know they are struggling but won’t admit it. Do you push them away and hope they come back? I mean we are dealing with their eternal soul. This can also go from the other side…by not pushing them we let them stew in their complacency and not strive to be Christ like…it is not easy.

I am just saying, priests are not super-human. They need help. They need guidance too. Tell them their homilies were good or bad…they want to hear, and if they don’t tell them anyways, they need to know. They are to lead their flock to Christ and how can you do that if you don’t know the sheep are hungry?

Pray for them! Offer them up to Mary our Holy Mother. Say a Rosary for them weekly or daily. They can change as well. Don’t just be dissatisfied, do something about it. That is all I am saying.

As a priest, if that is indeed where God is calling me, I plan to preach HV from the pulpit to challenge people. To be Christ like and challenge people to do the same…to start a revolution from the inside (heart) out.

God Bless

Many of you wish that your pastors and bishops would preach Humane Vitae from the pulpit

Personally; I would love to hear priest’s from all over North America preach Humanae Vitae from the pulpit. Then again how many Bishops and priest’s would have the guts to do this. Sadly though I often wonder how many Catholics would leave the Church pews in droves especially when half the Churches pews are empty already.

 

[dang71]

i don’t think it is a matter of “identity”, so much as a matter of “Community”. there are times when i go church-hopping to different Catholic parishes, and mostly what i see is that our Catholic churches are not very friendly. people try to avoid eye-contact, and even when i am finally able to smile and say hi to someone, almost always they just smile, nod hello, and then quickly turn away. i consider myself fairly conservative politically/socially/religiously, but it seems the more conservative a parish is, the more cold and unfriendly it is. whenever i have the misfortune of attending a “liberal” church, i am usually appalled at many things (abuses, etc.) that are done there, but i am also quite surprised at how friendly people there are compared to the conservative churches i normally attend. i know i am making pretty broad, sweeping statements here, but this is just something i have noticed in my travels.

 

[elts1956]

Personally; I would love to hear priest’s from all over North America preach Humanae Vitae from the pulpit. Then again how many Bishops and priest’s would have the guts to do this. Sadly though I often wonder how many Catholics would leave the Church pews in droves especially when half the Churches pews are empty already.

I really think our present Pope and those true to the teachings of the Catholic Church would choose to have quality over quantity.

 

[Dempsey1919]

i don’t think it is a matter of “identity”, so much as a matter of “Community”. there are times when i go church-hopping to different Catholic parishes, and mostly what i see is that our Catholic churches are not very friendly.

I know what you mean. When I first started attending Church after a long time away, I wasn’t greeted warmly by the other parishioners. I didn’t expect them to make a big fuss, but it would have been great if I was welcomed and introduced to the priest etc.

The Catholics I have met are very private individuals. They attend Church to pray and worship God, and so conversation is severely limited. I am sure if I met these individuals in another setting, they’d be far more talkative. Catholic Churches (well, most of them) are solemn places and most people observe Holy Silence.

The Catholic Church does offer a great “community.” You just have to get actively involved in parish life. Attend Bible study groups, sing in the choir, participate in parish councils etc and you will find a very rich community life. I am just starting to make friends in my parish, and this is because I got more involved.

 

[dang71]

[Catholics] attend Church to pray and worship God, and so conversation is severely limited. I am sure if I met these individuals in another setting, they’d be far more talkative. Catholic Churches (well, most of them) are solemn places and most people observe Holy Silence.

i’m not suggesting chit-chatting during Mass, and prayer and worship is exactly why i attend mass as well, but don’t you think before and after Mass is certainly an ok time to greet/meet your fellow parishioners? to try and grow that parish community?

i don’t want to hijack this thread, so i started another one here:

The Cold Conservative

 

[elts1956]

i don’t think it is a matter of “identity”, so much as a matter of “Community”. there are times when i go church-hopping to different Catholic parishes, and mostly what i see is that our Catholic churches are not very friendly. people try to avoid eye-contact, and even when i am finally able to smile and say hi to someone, almost always they just smile, nod hello, and then quickly turn away. i consider myself fairly conservative politically/socially/religiously, but it seems the more conservative a parish is, the more cold and unfriendly it is. whenever i have the misfortune of attending a “liberal” church, i am usually appalled at many things (abuses, etc.) that are done there, but i am also quite surprised at how friendly people there are compared to the conservative churches i normally attend. i know i am making pretty broad, sweeping statements here, but this is just something i have noticed in my travels.

I am going to be blunt. Attending the Sacrifice of the Mass isn’t supposed to be a confraternity session. If people have a need to have people around to engage in conversation, then they should join a church group, such as one poster suggested, choir, or other communal outlets. If this would be done they would have more in common with the people of the parish and I just bet one would see more outside relationships and conversations being formed outside of the Mass itself.

Perhaps your parish hopping isn’t too conducive to relationships??? You need to form your own community, or get involved with one which is established. Stay in one place long enough for people to get to know you.

 

[JohnPaul64]

Well I am currently in RCIA and have been reading as much as I can. I have read Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae as well as Gaudium Et Spes and my wife and I have done this together. We are also reading the Catholic Catechism together. My wife has been a Catholic her entire life. I was raised a Lutheran. I am also reading old Lutheran documents to see just why they strayed. I have learned many things and have come to truly love the Catholic Church, but I think that it is truly struggling and is being destroyed from the inside. I think it is due to the lack of pastoral guidance concerning contraception. It is easy to get Christians to agree about abortion, but no one talks about contraception anymore. I think Pope Paul VI was right and he really knew what was going to happen. When I was a child in the 60’s Catholics were known for their large families, they were different. They had a little less as far as possessions went, but they had a LOT more fun at family reunions, due to all the brothers and sisters. They also had their own schools with mean Nun’s with discipline and good instruction that was offered by the Church to take care of all these kids…Now I think the families take the pill, or have an IUD and they have small families and enjoy nice cars and big screen T.V.'s, and they teach the culture of death, just as good as any Lutheran or Anglican. In fact it is hard to tell a Catholic from a protestant most of the time these days. I believe that most Catholics don’t even know it is wrong to use condoms, at least they don’t know why it is wrong and they have not been instructed what Paul VI said was going to happen and then com paired it to what has happened. I don’t think most Catholics know just how accurately he predicted all this ill’s that are currently happening in our world and I think that it is because of a failure in the Priesthood. No Priests are telling the flock that what they are doing is wrong. In fact many parishes are teaching NFP as if it was Church sanctioned contraception. What that does is say that the Church believes in contraception and then it is very hard for many people to not understand the difference. Most Parish Priest’s do not tell their flocks that it is only supposed to be used for “SIGNIFICANT” reasons. This is what the past Pope’s have said but nobody is teaching it. It is truly sad, but for myself and my wife we are learning and we are studying what it means to Obey. If I am going to believe that this is the true Church then can I pick and choose what things the Pope says? I DO believe that Pope Paul VI was right, it is amazing just how accurately he predicted what would happen once we swallowed the little pills, used the IUD’s or slipped on the condoms. Even NFP is being taught to Catholics as if it were a contraceptive, which if it is used incorrectly it is. Do the Priests teach this? I think that Humanae Vitae Should be read from the Pulpit, at least parts as it is pretty clear. If the Church caves in on contraception then it will have abandoned the teachings of 2000 years. If those teachings were wrong then what other teachings were wrong? Any way my wife and, I although I am new to the Church and not even confirmed yet, are excited about the truth that is being preached from Rome and from many of the Bishops. I just wish the local Father’s would pass along the truth. I think they need to fight the culture of death at its roots which does not start with abortion, it starts with contraception. I am so new, but I truly believe the crises in the Church is the lack of Children and the acceptance of death by so many.

I agree with you a lot. Todays priests are like some parents out there, they want to be friends with their children. Out of love they should be telling us what were doing wrong. This is why I love EWTN, they have some real old schoolers there not afraid to tell it like it is, my personal favorite is Father John Corapi. Bishop Fulton Sheen once said a priests job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comforted.

 

[JohnPaul64]

Todays mass is something of a social event anymore. You go in and kneel and next thing you know someone is having a conversation next to you. Then all through mass you see people winking ,nodding and waving to others going to communion. Then people leave right after communion before closing prayers. People don’t participate either, they sit like lumps of clay. I tend to like the daily mass best, the people there are way more devoted and its definatly easier to pray and meditate.