We Have Lost Our Identity!

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Sister_Helena said:
Our *collective *Catholic identity has defintely been under attack. But this is true of the Christian faith or any institutionalized religion around. This is part and parcel of the dangerous spiritual viruses plaguing humanity called “secularism” and atheistic humanism. It has become politically incorrect to make a verbal or non-verbal pronouncements related to religion and God. Everybody seems to agree that our world is definitely going in the wrong direction but how to fix it remains a challenge for many. Different people will suggest political solutions, cultural or national. For us who believe in God, we know where our answer lies.

My point is our Catholic identity (or reclaiming of it) begins with us. If we are not sure and confident of what we believe in, how can we be convincing to others? We will eventually succumb to fear of intimidation or fear of being ostracized or fear of being separated from the mainstream of friends and families. We live in a particular time of the “wheat being separated from the chaff.” Just puttin up more statues and externals can serve to make an upfront statement that one is Catholic but if we don’t live up to what the Catholic Church teaches, our claim of catholicity will come back to bite us, then we give more scandals to others. I’ve heard stories of people disillusioned by Catholics, with all the externals of Catholicism, because of their total lack of charity and virtues. People have left the Catholic Faith because of the incongruency in the externals and the internal dispositions.

Our rich tradition and treasury of devotions and sacramentals are only good as invitations for people to come and get to know us. But once they’ve come, will they like what they see and experience of our Faith? I am a cradle Catholic and was never away from it. But I have never been so proud of my Faith as when I truly understood it for what it is and what it calls me to be.
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Bravo Sister Helena! hugs 🙂
 
Does anyone know, are there still churches that do the Corpus Christi processions, May crownings, etc? I think churches that do the TLM might have it, but what about ordinary parishes??

I’m just wondering 🙂
 
Monica4316 said:
Does anyone know, are there still churches that do the Corpus Christi processions, May crownings, etc? I think churches that do the TLM might have it, but what about ordinary parishes??

I’m just wondering 🙂
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Some still do…I have seen youtube clips of both
 
I agree with the OP, I think it’s important to not be ashamed of our faith… (without showing off our “spirituality” of course. It’s got to be humble.)

A house a block away from me has a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the front yard…
my friends and I cross ourselves and say a prayer before we eat… I carry a rosary, and try not to eat meat on Fridays. I have lots of Catholic stuff in my room, lol, artwork and a statue of Mary and a crucifix. My family is not Catholic so I can’t just put it all over the house, but if I had a house, I probably would. lol!

Also, one of the priests at my parish sometimes wears a cassock…

I think it’s awesome when nuns wear habits. Not only cloistered nuns, but uncloistered as well. It’s such a witness. I’ve seen some that do… but some others wear regular clothing (of course, still inexpensive and modest).
 
redrosetea said:
Some still do…I have seen youtube clips of both
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🙂 i want to find out if a parish around my area does that… I think it’s wonderful and I don’t really understand why it went out of common practice 😦
 
I think most Catholics would attend a Corpus Christi procession if one was available. I know I would, and most of the regular members of CAF would.

I was thinking about writing to my bishop asking him to organise a large Corpus Christi procession within the diocese. I think it would be a great way to promote faith and belief in the Real Presence. I also think our children would be amazed by this ancient and reverent practice. I would love to see a very large procession, involving parishioners from every Church within the diocese. Can you imagine the sight of hundreds of Catholics marching down a city street, all adoring the Most Holy Eucharist?! I would be amazing!

Things like this would bring our community together. It would also help to evangelise others. I think displays like this would encourage a lot of people to investigate the Catholic faith.
 
I would like to share this thought with you:

I have talked to chaplains, teachers and ordinary laypeople about various traditional Catholic devotions and practices. ** Sadly, I have found that most don’t even know about Corpus Christi processions. They don’t know about May Crownings or Brown Scapulars etc.** A lot of ordinary Catholics are ignorant of these practices. This is very unfortunate, and things will never change unless we begin to remind them of the things we have lost.

A whole generation has grew up without many of the things older Catholics take for granted. Younger Catholics are largely ignorant about traditional piety and customs because they have never experienced these things. I hope things change.
 
Dempsey1919 said:
I think most Catholics would attend a Corpus Christi procession if one was available. I know I would, and most of the regular members of CAF would.

I was thinking about writing to my bishop asking him to organise a large Corpus Christi procession within the diocese. I think it would be a great way to promote faith and belief in the Real Presence. I also think our children would be amazed by this ancient and reverent practice. I would love to see a very large procession, involving parishioners from every Church within the diocese. Can you imagine the sight of hundreds of Catholics marching down a city street, all adoring the Most Holy Eucharist?! I would be amazing!

Things like this would bring our community together. It would also help to evangelise others. I think displays like this would encourage a lot of people to investigate the Catholic faith.
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I think if my diocese did that, I’d love it! 🙂
 
Dempsey1919 said:
I would like to share this thought with you:

I have talked to chaplains, teachers and ordinary laypeople about various traditional Catholic devotions and practices. ** Sadly, I have found that most don’t even know about Corpus Christi processions. They don’t know about May Crownings or Brown Scapulars etc.** A lot of ordinary Catholics are ignorant of these practices. This is very unfortunate, and things will never change unless we begin to remind them of the things we have lost.

A whole generation has grew up without many of the things older Catholics take for granted. Younger Catholics are largely ignorant about traditional piety and customs because they have never experienced these things. I hope things change.
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😦 why do you think this happened? and how can it be changed… I really hope it changes too. If I’ll have children I’d love to teach them about the traditional Catholic devotions. It’s just a good way to intergrate life and faith… and all the Eucharistic and Marian devotions, can encourage devotion and respect for Our Lord in the Eucharist and for our Blessed Mother!
 
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Monica4316:
why do you think this happened? and how can it be changed…
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I honestly don’t know why things changed. A lot of people wrongly blame Vatican II. Vatican II shouldn’t be blamed. I think things changed because our priests and bishops stopped organizing these events. I don’t know why they stopped, but they did. I think things changed because the Bishops and priests stopped organising them.

If our priests organized these events, I know they would be well attended. The videos you posted proves this.

How can it be changed? I think we should begin asking for them. Our Bishops will not organize these events if they think nobody wants them. If we show them there is a need for these kinds of devotions, I am sure they’d be more than happy to perform them.

Do you think things will change if we start asking for these things? Or do you think our requests will fall on deaf ears?
 
I think it might depend on the bishop…
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That’s a very good point. But how will we reclaim our culture if we don’t start asking our Bishops and priests?
 
I have decided I am going back to meatless Fridays
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I think I’ll do the same. I’ve tried to do this in the past, but I ended up making myself a steak sandwich by accident! I only realised that I broke my abstinence after I ate the sandwich. I guess I’ll have to consciously remind myself this Friday when I start doing the Friday penance.
 
Has anyone ever confessed to not doing Friday Penances? A lot of people, I’d venture most, don’t know that we’re required to do a penance on Friday. I’ve had to confess forgetting this in the past and I thought the priests would tell me “That’s not required”, but they never have.

I try and do meatless Fridays, but I often forget. I do always cross myself when I pass by a statue in someone’s yard, a Catholic Church, a cemetery, or a siren passes by.
 
Dempsey1919 said:
I think I’ll do the same. I’ve tried to do this in the past, but I ended up making myself a steak sandwich by accident! I only realised that I broke my abstinence after I ate the sandwich. I guess I’ll have to consciously remind myself this Friday when I start doing the Friday penance.
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It is sort of a good feeling to make a small sacrifice for God each Fri,and to do it out of love for His sufferings…I just decided when lent was finished if I could do it 6 week I could do it for the rest of my life
 
Dempsey1919 said:
Great! I’m overjoyed to hear that you are becoming a Catholic. I praise God that you have been granted the grace of faith!

You should nourish your growing faith by creating a Catholic culture within your home. Consider hanging a crucifix in your bedroom, and why not place a few other sacred images around your home? Maybe a picture of Our Lord with his Sacred Heart exposed? It would be an excellent way to share your faith with friends and relatives, as well as providing you with a constant reminder to live the faith in your daily life.
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Thank you Dempsey! I have a stone relief of the Blessed Mother and the infant Christ over my fireplace, a ChiRo on the wall near it and three crucifixes on the wall of the home. A statue of Our Lady of Grace sits on top of a bookshelf on one side of the piano and a statue of Christ (the Sacred Heart) on a bookshelf on the other side. St. Francis is on one wall in the living room and a statue of him now resides in our front garden. The last year has seen my faith grow by leaps and bounds. With it comes a love for seeing reminders of my faith in Christ and of the blessed Mother and the Saints and Angels.

Some of my friends who knew me as a protestant ask questions and my husband lives with these reminders around him. He has even prayed the Rosary with me! God is good!
 
If you have to blame anything, blame the suburbs and blame white flight. When times were different, Catholics used to live in walking distances of their parish. They used to live in neighborhoods near their church and their school. Everybody knew each other and the priests, and the church, with its school was the center of community life. When that broke up, things changed dramatically. That was independent of modernity, and independent of Vatican II.
 
I made my first communion in 1952 and the class was enicated into the brown scapular. It was done the day we practiced going into the church on the day before we went to confession and the next morning I believet was the 10 am mass we wore the scapular then too. Conformation was in 1958 and we had people in the church as a sponsor a male for the boys and a female for the girls. We wore white robes and red bennie hats. The Bishop came from San Francisco to confirm. I lived in the east bay at the time. My home was filled with crucifix in all the bedrooms there was palms over the front door kitchen and back door. And we had a Sacred Heart statue on the dash of our car. We had the may crownings and some other celebrations thru out the year. As I recall there were not to many statues in the yards.
 
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