gurneyhalleck1
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- Oct 15, 2008
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I've found it hard to leave because of sentimentality, honestly. Growing up in the Catholic Church there was a LOT of things I didn't like, but ultimately the rosary, the Stations of the Cross, the Vatican, the traditions, all those things, they leave a sentimental mark. But as I started going to the Orthodox Divine Liturgy, I realized how far the Catholic Church has fallen liturgically. I mean, it has fallen A LONG WAY downhill. The Divine Liturgy surpases it is every respect and the Orthodox Way is a captivating one.
I find myself, having gone back many, many times to the Catholic Church, angry at Mass, and honestly disgusted. While I see the Orthodox priest facing the altar, incense filling the temple, censing the icons, veneration of icons as we kiss them in reverence, bowing, crossing ourselves hundreds of times during worship, bowing over and over, first-rate beautiful language that is utterly beautiful, a moving communion where the people CANNOT touch the Host and instead kiss the chalice after they receive, a lovely confession of sin, everything done 100% right....
Then I feel a sense of "but I'm Catholic, I should go back to the RCC..." and I see
Baptist-style music
7-8 Extraordinary ministers of the Eucharst trying to "bless" my children and play priest as they put their hands all over the Host
The priest face the people (giving me the feeling it's about us, not Him)
people clap during Mass and it is so informal
people holding hands during the Pater Noster
No use of Latin whatsoever
People looking miserable
People not singing
banal sermons
Go Tell It on the Mountain and other horrific tunes
I walk out of there feeling like it is deflated.....
My hardcore online Catholic friends say, "Ok, the liturgy stinks, the wording is bad, though getting better, there is little reverence, the music is awful, and it is generally not as good as the Anglican or Orthodox liturgies, but the real presence is there!" and I very quickly run back to Orthodoxy breathing a sigh of relief.
Sentimentality, upbringing, and perception is key. I've heard heaps of papal "proofs" used on Catholic message boards that amount to out of context quotes from the Fathers to prove infallibility and other stuff that turns me off.
Catholicism has turned very fundamentalist online. If you're a Democrat, you're a heretic and need to leave. If you're a Republican hardcore Tea Partier, you're more than welcome and a "real" Catholic as opposed to those "cafeteria" ones. There is a rubric of sorts and a strict interpretation that ridicules even the moderates. Online Catholicism isn't always analogous to "real life" Catholicism. Moderates tend not to go online as much as hardcore Right-wingers. that has turned me off in a big way.
Despite the scandals, the locally AWFUL Mass, and so much more, I will always have a sentimental place in my heart for Catholicism. I can't brush it off, can't consider it the absurd "harlot of Babylon" that lunatic anti-Catholics consider it, nor can I feel the CC doesn't play a huge role in the global war against the Culture of Death.
Catholicism has much charm, a huge place in Western history, and much sentimental value for me. It's been hard to leave, but it looks inevitable. When I tell people how many AWFUL experiences I've had with insulting priests (at least five of them), and terrible experiences with NFP, and my overall feelings about so many theological matters, people ask, "why would you even consider Catholicism!!!?" my reply is "sentimentality, and childhood"
I find myself, having gone back many, many times to the Catholic Church, angry at Mass, and honestly disgusted. While I see the Orthodox priest facing the altar, incense filling the temple, censing the icons, veneration of icons as we kiss them in reverence, bowing, crossing ourselves hundreds of times during worship, bowing over and over, first-rate beautiful language that is utterly beautiful, a moving communion where the people CANNOT touch the Host and instead kiss the chalice after they receive, a lovely confession of sin, everything done 100% right....
Then I feel a sense of "but I'm Catholic, I should go back to the RCC..." and I see
Baptist-style music
7-8 Extraordinary ministers of the Eucharst trying to "bless" my children and play priest as they put their hands all over the Host
The priest face the people (giving me the feeling it's about us, not Him)
people clap during Mass and it is so informal
people holding hands during the Pater Noster
No use of Latin whatsoever
People looking miserable
People not singing
banal sermons
Go Tell It on the Mountain and other horrific tunes
I walk out of there feeling like it is deflated.....
My hardcore online Catholic friends say, "Ok, the liturgy stinks, the wording is bad, though getting better, there is little reverence, the music is awful, and it is generally not as good as the Anglican or Orthodox liturgies, but the real presence is there!" and I very quickly run back to Orthodoxy breathing a sigh of relief.
Sentimentality, upbringing, and perception is key. I've heard heaps of papal "proofs" used on Catholic message boards that amount to out of context quotes from the Fathers to prove infallibility and other stuff that turns me off.
Catholicism has turned very fundamentalist online. If you're a Democrat, you're a heretic and need to leave. If you're a Republican hardcore Tea Partier, you're more than welcome and a "real" Catholic as opposed to those "cafeteria" ones. There is a rubric of sorts and a strict interpretation that ridicules even the moderates. Online Catholicism isn't always analogous to "real life" Catholicism. Moderates tend not to go online as much as hardcore Right-wingers. that has turned me off in a big way.
Despite the scandals, the locally AWFUL Mass, and so much more, I will always have a sentimental place in my heart for Catholicism. I can't brush it off, can't consider it the absurd "harlot of Babylon" that lunatic anti-Catholics consider it, nor can I feel the CC doesn't play a huge role in the global war against the Culture of Death.
Catholicism has much charm, a huge place in Western history, and much sentimental value for me. It's been hard to leave, but it looks inevitable. When I tell people how many AWFUL experiences I've had with insulting priests (at least five of them), and terrible experiences with NFP, and my overall feelings about so many theological matters, people ask, "why would you even consider Catholicism!!!?" my reply is "sentimentality, and childhood"
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