Why Are you still a Catholic?

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bitterhope said:
This is what I meant by community is important. People are so lonely and ignored while the favorites are given a free pass. It makes it very hard to continue going to Mass when the community is so cold, or worse than the secular one in terms of morals, or full of gossip, or made up of middle school cliques. I am often embarrassed to be among a group of people that are very vocal about morals in public and then do the complete opposite of what they preach. That is what hypocrisy is. All are welcomed, but then you aren’t. Birth control is wrong yet most use it. Marriage is sacred but divorce keeps rising. Child abuse is evil…And everyone goes to communion no matter what.

This thread is going to be closed. No one likes to acknowledge the failings in the running of God’s church and that is why people continue to flee. My faith is strong and that is why I hold tight to Jesus, but many cannot get past the worldliness that is plaguing the Church. It won’t get better until people decide to fix these problems. Unfortunately no one seems interested in taking on that task. Yes, the church is run by humans and I’m thankful my heart belongs to God and so despite the problems I hold on tight. It is getting harder and harder to ignore the community problems though. And I do not fault anyone that can’t keep on going
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Community has many facets though. I live alone and a very secluded life for many reasons and this is known in the area I live in. Old tradition of Holy Woman of God living alone on the mountain is coming about. On the few occasions I am out, this opens the door for folk to talk and pray… Each has their place and their role.
 
oneofmany said:
I don’t know why people think Church should be a social club. If you go to worship God you won’t care what clubs that Church has. As our pastor said, “if you aren’t coming to Church to worship God, you are coming for the wrong reasons.”

I went to a Protestant Church before my hubby came back to the Catholic Church and they were always talking about how to get more people to join. They did get people but they never stayed. Plus, when they had a pastor start another church, some left to follow him, some stayed, and some went elsewhere. It all ended up in hurt feelings.

As a Catholic I am comfortable going to any Catholic church, on vacation or at home.
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True of course… but only a part of it. I remember someone speaking of the Cross… reaching down into the earth, upwards to heaven and outwards to people. The balance is the crux… sorry, that was the only word that came to mind. And the balance will not be the same for everyone. For me now, ageing and more and more limited, it has changed radically. Ironically I find more and different ways to reach out to others now and more spiritual ways.
 
Rosebud77 said:
True of course… but only a part of it. I remember someone speaking of the Cross… reaching down into the earth, upwards to heaven and outwards to people. The balance is the crux… sorry, that was the only word that came to mind. And the balance will not be the same for everyone. For me now, ageing and more and more limited, it has changed radically. Ironically I find more and different ways to reach out to others now and more spiritual ways.
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For everything you’ve written on this thread, Rosebud77 - God bless you.
 
Realization during a “Prodigal Daughter Tour” that sin is NOT “Relative”.
I remember meeting ppl who changed religion due to their preferences. Yet I still saw them getting hurt by stuff (wrong doings) … I want to know the truth in what is wrong to keep me from being hurt … Now I want others to convert to stop their pain, and the pain they cause others.
 
oneofmany said:
Interesting article, thanks.

I tell people online if they don’t go to Church they can’t receive communion but for Protestants I see that is a big-----so what? The Eucharist should keep people in the Church if nothing else. Who cares what kind of people are in the pew next to you, don’t focus on them just on God.

I have been to some Protestant services since some relatives are not Catholic and their services are not focused on God, it seems to me. Lots of singing and preaching but communion is like an after thought, some don’t even have communion.
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As a Lutheran to Catholic convert, your last point struck me. I was baptized as a baby as a Catholic, and then my parents, converted to Lutheran when I was around 2 or 3. I grew up Lutheran and was confirmed Lutheran (later going through RCIA and becoming Catholic). Strange thing was that while going to church as a Lutheran in my teen years, I noticed the very same thing, that some weeks had communion and others did not. This, for lack of better words, confused me and irritated me. I suppose I had always considered myself Catholic in my own mind, but never outwardly identified that way. This is because I truly believed the presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

I can say that I am happy with the CC because I know that through the Holy Spirit, when I began a deeper questioning of my faith and existence, I started seeking, and He guided me to the answers I needed, and I arrived at the Catholic faith. To me, it seems to have the most fulfillment. We are blessed with the sacraments, a church that was established 2,000 years ago that hasn’t changed, and will not change. If God is Absolute, so is His Church. It’s good to know that there is one place, one faith, that never changes, just like God.
 
I wanted to become Catholic because I felt like it was the right to do and that Jesus wanted me to do it. I feel like I’ve found the truth and I couldn’t be happier 🙂
 
I left the Church completely for 25 years. I came back, after many years of studying other religions and becoming Protestant because, in the end, there was nowhere else to go-the Church has the words of eternal life, to paraphrase John 6:68.
 
fhansen said:
I left the Church completely for 25 years. I came back, after many years of studying other religions and becoming Protestant because, in the end, there was nowhere else to go-the Church has the words of eternal life, to paraphrase John 6:68.
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I don’t mean to sound disrespectful but I used to tell people that “there’s gotta be something in that baptismal water” because I don’t think I would ever feel right not being a Catholic. Now I was not a good Catholic for a while (a huge regret that I will never be able to repent enough) but I have and always will be Catholic. Thank God I still have time to make a positive difference in my Catholic community.
 
dmftx said:
I don’t mean to sound disrespectful but I used to tell people that “there’s gotta be something in that baptismal water” because I don’t think I would ever feel right not being a Catholic. Now I was not a good Catholic for a while (a huge regret that I will never be able to repent enough) but I have and always will be Catholic. Thank God I still have time to make a positive difference in my Catholic community.
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We all have different paths. I often wondered why some of my friends and family bothered to stay-so weak did their faith appear to be. Some of us are meant to be Prodigals, others to stay home. And both can be used in their own ways, coming from the wealth of their individual experiences.
 
I am still a Catholic primarily because of Isaiah 43:1. God has called me by name, and I am his…for eternity.

Like JoeFreedom, it feels good to go to a Church that was established by Christ himself and receive the sacraments that Christ instituted and handed on to the apostles and their successors. Why would anyone want to leave that? It is beautiful beyond compare. At least beyond compare with anything else here on earth.

I am still Catholic because the Catholic Church is the only place in which I find the risen Christ, living and welcoming me. I go to deepen my personal relationship with him and learn to love him more because I can never love him enough. I can never give him the love and comfort he deserves.

I think some people fall away from the Church because we live in such a secular society and materialism is prized so highly, much more so than a rich spiritual life. A lot of people, especially younger people, would rather be out with friends than spending time with Christ, learning to love him intimately and trust him completely. They honestly don’t know what they are missing. We need to pray for them.
 
My reasons why I am still Catholic, in a nutshell:
  1. I believe that God exists, and always have.
  2. I believe that things have meaning and purpose.
  3. I believe in objective morality.
  4. I have faith that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for our sins and rose from the dead.
  5. I know that if 4 is true, then the Catholic Church has to be the one that Jesus founded, because of its primacy in history and because of Jesus’ calling of Peter as the Rock upon which the Church was built, and the consistency of its leadership and ministry through apostolic succession.
  6. Since I believe the Catholic Church is the true Church instituted by Christ, I believe it has the authority to teach on matters of faith and morals.
If I had to explain why I arrived at any of the above conclusions, it would take many threads.
 
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