liberal/progressive catholics....

[ktgrok]

Talk to me. Tell me why you stay in the church versus leave for somewhere that you fit in with better. If you feel that the Church is wrong on things like homosexuality, or birth control, do you ever feel that by staying you are giving credence to a policy you disagree with? If you go against the church and use birth control, do you still take communion? Do you feel guilty, or get past that?

 

I am not asking to be snarky. i am struggling, and have been for years, as to where I belong. Part of me says I want to stay in the Church. The other part of me disagrees with some major tenets and feels it is wrong to stay in something I disagree with. The other part feels that just cause I diagree with some things doesn't mean i am not part of the Church too...I disagree with a lot of what our government does but I don't move to another country, you know?

 

(and yes, big things are gay marriage and birth control. smaller things are that I prefer paedocommunion, and think that denying communion to the senile is cruel.)

 

And please, don't argue with me about the validity of my opinion. We can have another post for that if you want. I've studied, discussed, taken graduate level classes, RCIA classes, and have a bookcase full of books. What I'm asking here is what to do if you do not stay in step with the magisterium.

[Jennifer3141]

Katie, I was a progressive Catholic for many years and almost married into a family full of them. I can tell you that this discussion was that group's foremost pleasure in life.

 

For that family, they were culturally Catholic. They loved the ritual of mass, they loved the saints, they loved their identity. But they kept an open eye on The Church. I first learned about the behavior of the CC during WW2 from them. They kept an open eye on their priests and even caught a bad one before the rest of the congregation realized it. They were Kennedy Catholics socially. I often wonder what they think of this pope.

 

And some of them were "lucky" Catholics when it came to children and BC in that several of them had one boy and one girl and then no more and some of them had posses. They just didn't consider what went on in their bedrooms anyone else's business.

 

And they socialized with other Kennedy Catholics so I knew there were always that contingent within the church.

 

Find your bliss, hon. If it's in the church, awesome. If it's someplace else, awesome to that too.

[whitestavern]

I was born into a Catholic family that converted to Protestant before I was confirmed, due to a really bad priest in a rural area with no other options. I was very happy in the Protestant faith. Then I married a Catholic. I go to Catholic church sometimes, because it's important to my dh. We are raising our kids in the Catholic faith, but they know where I stand on some big issues. I have already told my dh that when the kids are older and out of the house, I will no longer attend the Catholic church. I feel hypocritical even stepping into the building feeling the way I feel, but dh, although he is very faithful in some areas, does not agree with all the Catholic teachings. However, he does not feel hypocritical. The older I get and the more I go, the worse I feel. There may come a time before the kids are gone where I will decide I can no longer go. Right now I take it day by day.

[kitten18]

Great post Jennifer.

 

I love the church and I love my role at my particular church. We serve. I live the gospel and I am the hands of Jesus. We are the body.

 

I take communion. With all the other imperfect sinful people in my church community.

 

I waver in my faith from almost surely an atheist to a reverent worshiper of Christ. I have watched these seasons come and go in my life. Thru it all the church is there- constant .

 

And now my pope says to me and to the world that the blood of Christ redeemed us all. Amen! I am so moved by Pope Francis and his beautiful humble example.

I hesitate to even get into this here and I only had one, brief post on the other thread, but, yeah. :iagree: :iagree: :iagree:

[Jennifer3141]

Great post Jennifer.

 

I love the church and I love my role at my particular church. We serve. I live the gospel and I am the hands of Jesus. We are the body.

 

I take communion. With all the other imperfect sinful people in my church community.

 

I waver in my faith from almost surely an atheist to a reverent worshiper of Christ. I have watched these seasons come and go in my life. Thru it all the church is there- constant .

 

And now my pope says to me and to the world that the blood of Christ redeemed us all. Amen! I am so moved by Pope Francis and his beautiful humble example.

 

 

Thank you! And I have to say, for the first time in a loooooonnnggg time I am impressed with a pope. This is exactly the direction I think a religion should be going in 2013.

[Joker]

We're in the process of converting. We have done so much 'church shopping' it's ridiculous. Our local parish has felt like our church home since the beginning. The church has been the most welcoming, peaceful place. I can't imagine us anywhere else. We're still going through the process and we don't believe/agree with everything, but there are more things that make us want to be there than make us want to go elsewhere.

[OrganicAnn]

Sometimes I feel like the people who are staunchly christian and yet read their horoscopes and really believe them. Like holding two different opinions simultaneously. There are definitely things I would change, but I'm not in charge. I like to focus on the good and pray about the rest.

 

I like a church with a long history. I like the tradition. I like that everything has a meaning and reason down to the color of the vestments. I like that the church has done things like taken care of lepers and the poorest of the poor. I like the new Pope.

 

Oops - okay sure leapers, jumpers, skippers, let's take care of them all.

[Jennifer3141]

I like that the church has done things like taken care of leapers and the poorest of the poor.

 

I am totally not picking on you for spelling because I frequently make mistakes, but the mental image I got of slightly hippie-ish poor people just LEAPING around the CC made me giggle. Thank you.

[goldberry]

Not answering as a Catholic, but as someone who left the faith of my youth because I didn't believe "everything" and then later returned, still not believing "everything".

 

Mostly I feel that in this imperfect world, there will be no human organized religion that is perfect either. Yet we still NEED the encouragement and association of fellow Christians if we ever hope to get through this imperfect world still standing in faith. You pray, you study, you choose what you feel MOST CLOSELY represents what God intends. If you wait to find something that represents perfectly...I don't think that will happen.

[6packofun]

 

And now my pope says to me and to the world that the blood of Christ redeemed us all. Amen!

 

Is the doctrine that Jesus died for all who would accept and believe in Him new for Catholics?

[scholastica]

 

Is the doctrine that Jesus died for all who would accept and believe in Him new for Catholics?

 

 

No. It's not new at all. See the CCC 605: At the end of the parable of the lost sheep Jesus recalled that God's love excludes no-one: "So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish" ⁴¹⁰. He affirms that he came "to give his life as a ransom for many"; this last term is not restrictive, but contrasts the whole of humanity with the unique person of the redeemer who hands himself over to save us.⁴¹. The Church. following the apostles teaches that Christ died for all men without exception: "There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for whom Christ did not suffer."⁴¹²

 

The CCC was published 20 years ago after 15 years of work by bishops around the world. The Church also teaches that people can go to heaven who are not Catholic, or even baptized. This is not new teaching, it's just teaching that is needed now.

 

Blessings to all you ladies on your journeys.

 

scholastica

[HRAAB]

Great post Jennifer.

 

I love the church and I love my role at my particular church. We serve. I live the gospel and I am the hands of Jesus. We are the body.

 

I take communion. With all the other imperfect sinful people in my church community.

 

I waver in my faith from almost surely an atheist to a reverent worshiper of Christ. I have watched these seasons come and go in my life. Thru it all the church is there- constant .

 

And now my pope says to me and to the world that the blood of Christ redeemed us all. Amen! I am so moved by Pope Francis and his beautiful humble example.

 

You've pretty much summed it up.

 

There's this quote from one of my favorite books, In This House of Brede, that I love:

 

"One of the good things about a Catholic Church is that it isn't respectable. You can find anyone in it, from duchesses to whores, from tramps to kings."

 

While there is a segment of the church that wants to keep it pure - with only good Catholics - what I love about the church is its humanity, all the sinful hypocrites, the doubters, pretenders, liars. I don't believe in the dogmas and doctrines, but I've always felt at home in church.

[K&Rs Mom]

No advice, but I wonder about this too with some things I've seen in my family. I have one sister who has visibly left the church, for the same reasons you mention - they might go on Easter, but don't take the kids to classes and don't make it a Sunday habit, and are honest about why. I have a brother & SIL who tell my mom they go to Mass (though I think it's rare that they do), and had a big baptism ceremony for their dd, but vocally disagree with the same issues. It makes me wonder why they had the same dilemma but choose different ways to deal with it: what advantage brother & SIL think they're getting from still claiming to be part of something that they admit they don't believe, and why sister & BIL decided that it wasn't worth it.

[pereztribe]

I've left the Church and came back. I was even baptized in the Protestant faith! I longed to feel the presence of Christ in the Church. And then a friend told me, "if you follow what men do, they will fail you every time. Keep your eyes on the One who will never fail you."

I thought it was great advice. So Jesus and I have a better relationship now. I don't agree with a lot of the man made rules of the Catholic Church, but it' a comfort to be there. So I worship Him by keeping to what He said in the Bible--the New Testament. If it aligns with the Church, great. If not, too bad for them. I hope that helps.