What have you done to educate yourself?

[joandarc2008]

Not everyone has the ability to read and comprehend difficult documents. Not everyone has the time to sit down and study deep theological topics. Are you at all familiar with the Premium Content on RealCatholicTV? Or are you just guessing? The ONLY program on the entire site that is an opinion piece is The Vortex. Every other show is a teaching program, not teaching opinion, but teaching the Truth of the Catholic Church, 100% in line with the Magesterium. RealCatholicTV, and other sites like it such as Catholic Answers, is a wealth of information for Catholics trying to learn more about their Faith and live more holy lives. Knocking it as a legitimate option simply because it appears on a screen in a presented (an possibly entertaining - ) format is entirely dismissing a wealth of excellent information.

~Liza

I am not guessing - however even within the differences of RealCatholic TV to Catholic Answers you will have interpretation. BTW- these documents are not difficult to read. If you have time to read a book, you have time to read a document. If you have ten minutes to watch a video - you have ten minutes to read a document a couple pages at a time - or are you guessing? Because I have done both.

 

[lizaanne]

I am not guessing - however even within the differences of RealCatholic TV to Catholic Answers you will have interpretation. BTW- these documents are not difficult to read. If you have time to read a book, you have time to read a document. If you have ten minutes to watch a video - you have ten minutes to read a document a couple pages at a time - or are you guessing? Because I have done both.

No need to get sassy. All I’m saying is that you are totally dismissing a source of information for those wishing to learn about their Faith because it is not meeting YOUR requirements. Of course reading is good and always encouraged, but it is not the ONLY way to learn.

~Liza

 

[joandarc2008]

No need to get sassy. All I’m saying is that you are totally dismissing a source of information for those wishing to learn about their Faith because it is not meeting YOUR requirements. Of course reading is good and always encouraged, but it is not the ONLY way to learn.

~Liza

I did not dismiss it - I said it was not as good as primary sources. It is by definition a secondary or tertiary source depending on which internet source. The source you are supporting is mostly a secondary with a Traditionalist angle. Therefore yes they will have an interpretation just as any one else writing the story on the same set of events or teachings. This is why we have a Magisterium to guide us.

My point is this - it is important that when people purport to saw X says Y that they know for a fact X says Y in Z context because they have read it.

But I will agree things like Real Catholic TV, etc are great conversation starters about these topics when you have the documents on hand to back up that conversation - and this is my point.

 

[Daegus]

I honestly don’t even know how I came to be so interested in the Catholic faith. Not too long ago I was such a tepid Catholic that anything bad about the Church that didn’t seem completely ridiculous was quite believable. Then I had a leap of faith when I decided that I would learn more about the Catholic Church and how to overcome problems.

I started off by visiting a Christian forum (one of the biggest ones filled with a whole bunch of subforums, I’m sure you’ll know which forum it is because the name isn’t very obscure…) and since I considered myself to be Catholic that’s what I labeled myself as. Then after witnessing the endless amounts of debating on these forums between the denominations (mostly randoms vs. the Catholic Church), I found out I had enough of it after having been called a Mary worshiper and a Bible worshiper simply for being Catholic. I then stumbled upon these forums when I was having problems with a pornography habit and was looking for advice, and the only advice that has been helping me could be found here. I started to learn a lot about my faith from this website in particular, and I’m not as lukewarm anymore. (I say that because I try to be the best Catholic I can but I still fall in to sin often.) It took me a long time to accept everything that the Church teaches about… everything, and I’m still learning more about the faith as days go by.

If not for this website, I honestly believe that, by the path I was going, I would be a completely lapsed Catholic by the time I get to college. Thanks to you CAFers, I learned a lot of terminology that they don’t teach me in Catholic high school rolleyes and I’m coming to a better knowledge of the ways of Christ. While I’m by no means an apologist (not patient enough), I try to defend the faith as best as possible when the opportunity arises.

 

[Pug]

Emphasis added

I am not guessing - however even within the differences of RealCatholic TV to Catholic Answers you will have interpretation. BTW- these documents are not difficult to read. If you have time to read a book, you have time to read a document. If you have ten minutes to watch a video - you have ten minutes to read a document a couple pages at a time - or are you guessing? Because I have done both.

Yes, they are. Perhaps for the average forum junkie the reading level does not seem high, but for the population, it is. Those documents are nothing like reading the typical things that Americans read. Perhaps for Europeans or some other group, the reading level of the documents matches what they typically read, I don’t know. I do know the American school system is not putting out people who can read and digest them with total ease, typically. A large part of reading comprehension is based on what the person already knows, like vocabulary and constellations of related concepts, too. That could get in the way for new converts, etc.

I agree with your point that listening to the Vortex or some other video presentation is not the same as reading the documents. I got on this thread of yours here (I was one of the first to answer your poll) via a thread where the removes between the stated subject line and the video and the document were enough for me to notice.

That is no big deal. People talk about what they want to talk about, of course. I wanted to see the document discussed is what it is, I imagine.