What exactly is a cultural catholic?

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As a former pastor of mine said after Easter Mass, "To my regular parishioners, I’ll see you next Sunday. To those who don’t come to Mass normally, I hope you will have a change of heart and continue to come to Mass. If not, I’ll see you at Christmas.
jan10000 said:
But quick example: My mother (a very devout Christian), was asked by my son (her grandson, age 12) why there are Easter bunnies and Easter eggs. She responded that it represents “rebirth” and the Resurrection. I contradicted her, saying “some Catholic people say that, but it probably comes from a pagan festival celebrating the Spring (people were happy to survive the winter). Catholics celebrate Easter the same time, so over time the two celebrations merged.”
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Last I checked, bunnies and eggs at Easter time were more of a European and U.S. thing, but not so much in Asia, South America, and Africa. This an example of ways to celebrate a belief, not necessarily the belief itself.
 
jan10000 said:
Do you really believe EVERY component of Catholic dogma? Don’t 98% of Catholics think contraception is NOT immoral? How many Catholics support gay marriage? How many don’t believe the Eucharist is actually real blood and real flesh? I could go on and on.
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Yes to all of the above.

I do not support gay marriage or divorce and remarriage either.

I was raised atheist and came to the Catholic Church relatively late.
 
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jan10000 said:
My mother (a very devout Christian), was asked by my son (her grandson, age 12) why there are Easter bunnies and Easter eggs.
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The bunnies and eggs do not make an appearance during Easter celebrations in Asia. This is more likely a Western thing rather than a Catholic thing. The rebirth and resurrection substituted the fertility symbol as Christianity spread around Europe. The Church itself never used these cultural symbols to signify Easter.

Do not be misled by the term Easter. This does not prove that the celebration of Christ Resurrection was really a co-opted fertility celebration. Easter may be the term in English but in Greek and Latin, the word is Pascha, which itself is the transliteration of the Aramaic Passover. Nothing about ancient Germanic fertility rites at all.

It’s like St. Patrick explaining the Trinity to the ancient Irish via a clover leaf. You don’t see the Church itself using the clover to represent the Trinity.
 
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jan10000 said:
There is resistance to seeking knowledge and ideas that could contradict Church teaching.
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I’ve seen that in other places mostly from older people, so it’s more of a common personality trait.
 
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I was raised atheist so I don’t really understand the almost visceral dislike those who have been raised in a devout Catholic household seem to have towards Catholicism.

For me, I welcome questions. If I can answer it, I can. If I can’t, I’ll ask someone else or I look it up.

I try not to get emotional. If something claims to be the truth it should stand up to scrutiny.

However I have met faithful and rational Catholics who are not afraid of questions. Most of them worked as scientists.

I remember as an atheist questioning them and they answered without any negative emotions. They played a large part in me finally believing in the truth of Catholicism.
 
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