Why do Catholics often seem less than involved in their faith?

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TK421 said:
And God forbid that we take it personally. That is absolutely the last thing we should do.
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You are right. We shouldn’t take it personally but sometimes I feel like I am being told off personally when I have made sacrifices in my personal life so I can contribute only to be told it isn’t good enough.
 
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I think the issue of complacency is not just restricted to Catholics, I think all faith traditions battle with this. However, I also think that even going through the routine has benefit and shapes you in ways you might not understand yet. Think about the person who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. You may walk into the room and they have no idea who you are, or where they are, or what they are doing, but then you start to recite with them the Lord’s Prayer or the Apostle’s Creed and for just that moment they are truly with you alert and aware. They got that way from years of being formed by our worship and liturgy and catechesis in ways that at the time they may have taken for granted, and yet God gave them a gift of faith that has persevered long after their memory and mind has.
 
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I have listed out some things in another comment above that I have been guilty of and consider signs of being lukewarm. However, it is as simple as being neither hot nor cold. If we are not passionate about repenting, practicing virtue, and getting to know God, but simply go through the ritualistic obligations as if our faith is some kind of hobby, we are lukewarm.
 
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Maximus1 said:
I think you paint with a large a brush. Your observations likely have some validity. But a church with so many certainly falls outside of your observation predominantly.
Perhaps certain Protestant churches do in fact exhibit enthusiasm . This is a success and should be thought of as such.
There is the idea of reward in heaven vs reward via the esteem of others. Appearances carry their own dangers.
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If you are speaking to me, I have been accused of over-generalizing many times! Of course, and I admit, there are exceptions to the generalizations I describe here - but the generalizations exist, and they demand our attention. I must and will answer to God for every word I speak - and for those I have not spoken when I should have.

“Enthusiasm” is not what I am talking about, or calling for. Enthusiastic, emotional expression can be generated by natural human means through merely natural human motivations and causes. God calls us for more than that. His Truth, His Life are supernatural realities. His gifts to us in Baptism are supernatural, empowering us to supernatural response, and ends. We need to hear this, and learn the difference between a merely natural human religion, and the supernatural life of grace to which we are called in Him. Such a life is rightly lived with burning, earnest zeal, authenticity and sincerity.
 
Does it really have to be stated somewhere to know that speculating on something as personal as internal disposition- which you could not possibly know - is wrong?
 
I agree with this definition.

It reminds me of Isaiah chapter 29 verse 13.

These people come near me with their mouth and honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
 
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Only God can judge our hearts. Of course, we can judge and correct actions, and recognize sins we should avoid, but we gain nothing by judging people from a limited set of observations.
 
You’re absolutely right and social politics ruled every parish I ever belonged to
 
It should be noted that the OP isn’t accusing anyone by name but just using an observation of his to talk about a larger problem.
 
I just want to tell everyone this:
  1. I never intended this thread as an attack or as an insult towards anyone
  2. I never claimed my observations to be universally valid nor to be anything more than my subjective impression
  3. I never even thought that my impression was the correct one but that it might be. This the reason I’m asking questions concerning other people’s thoughts as any logical person would do before making a judgement of any sort.
  4. In making the assumptions that I’m blaming or judging other people for asking questions, the people claiming this are actually making a judgement about me themselves. How noble!
 
I think we need to be cautious about attributing massive involvement on the part of protestant sects. Oftentimes that enthusiasm wears off and the members pass on to another sect in time. Now and then you see a once-thriving congregation collapse or go off and follow some charismatic guy who becomes the new “pastor”.
 
Ilkka said:
And during liturgy, it seems that parishioners are often just rushing to complete a formula like their brains are wired for automatic responses that they don’t pay much thought to. And in their private lives it seems like their faith isn’t a big part of their lives when I think it should be THE defining thing in their lives.
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The above quote from you is what we are questioning.

You are making assumptions about others on their private faith lives and their brains based on their responses in mass.

I’m not making a judgment on you, just questioning what you wrote. This is a discussion forum after all.
 
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I never stated how things are but how they seem to me as an observer.
Sarcelle said:
You are making assumptions about others on their private faith lives and their brains based on their responses in mass.
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I explicitly mentioned their private lives as being separate from Sunday Mass.

People make assumptions all the time. I could’ve made a judgement based on the impression I got but I don’t. Assumption or a hypothesis is always the starting point for scientific discovery of truth. That’s why I’m asking people’s thoughts.

Or would you rather have me shut up, mind my own business and never ask people things because they might find it insulting? If my impression is false, then sure, go ahead and explain how you see it. But I find it insulting that simply stating what impressions I get and asking about it is considered a great sin by so many of the guys in this thread.
 
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I was raised atheist and became an Evangelical after attending University and then later on became Catholic.

When I went to Catholic mass I made the same observation as you.

I have now come to know more Catholics and those I know have a deep faith that is central to their lives but aren’t as demonstrable about it as the more enthusiastic Evangelicals.

So it may seem that their faith is lacking but that is far from the truth.
 
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Ilkka said:
Why? Where is this stated as morally wrong?
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Matthew 7:1-4

[ 1 ] Judge not, that you may not be judged.

[ 2 ] For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.

[ 3 ] And why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye?

[ 4 ] Or how sayest thou to thy brother: Let me cast the mote out of thy eye; and behold a beam is in thy own eye?
 
Cruciferi said:
[ 1 ] Judge not, that you may not be judged.
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Questions prove that no judgement has yet been made. Otherwise there wouldn’t be a need to make questions. One who has made a judgement doesn’t ask but simply states.
Cruciferi said:
why seest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye; and seest not the beam that is in thy own eye?
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Why did you quote this? Did you quote it to make me feel bad about having a beam in my own eye?
 
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