Switching faiths

[stephenc]

Thanks for the good advice; and you're both right. It's not impossible for me to "get it fixed" by bringing my wife to meet the Catholic bishop or something. As such, the practical side of this question may not be a biggie. But it does run rather deeper than that.

See, I've talked to the priest quite a bit. He's a friendly and helpful sort of chap, and I think it actually upsets him a bit that he had to "go by the book" on me. And that's a bit where the rub is; I feel the human relationship priest/parishoner (in my case; but let's generalize at the same time) being jepordized by "one size fits all" cathecismal regulations.

Don't get me wrong; I don't mind a church having rules. People visibly drunk or taking the p. obviously shouldn't be given Eucharist, etc. But there's a step from that to the certainty that the Church pronounces on matters worldly and spiritual, that the members simply have to go along with. I know it causes pain. You just have to skim OBOB for a bit to see the frustrations being vented; not at Christ or Christianity, but at the interpretations of Christ's teaching being done for us.

So here's the point; it gets in the way. I want above all to be a good Christian, to know and to love Jesus, to learn how to love and help my fellow men. To endure as a Christian. Faith, as such, is there.

So maybe I'm making too much fuss over nothing, right? But along with being a Christian, I have to, at the same time, wrap my head around these regulations that I'm not able to feel certain about. A package deal; and I don't want to be a fake or a hypocrite, but honest in my faith, and it can be tough.

I'm very sorry that it upsets you, Rhamiel, honestly. I really don't want to do that.

I admire and envy anybody who can see absolute truth in every aspect of Catholicism. But in my position, I'm struggling with that right now, OK?

 

[Rhamiel]

I ment I was upset for you, not at you

 

[Simon_Templar]

Thanks for the good advice; and you're both right. It's not impossible for me to "get it fixed" by bringing my wife to meet the Catholic bishop or something. As such, the practical side of this question may not be a biggie. But it does run rather deeper than that.

See, I've talked to the priest quite a bit. He's a friendly and helpful sort of chap, and I think it actually upsets him a bit that he had to "go by the book" on me. And that's a bit where the rub is; I feel the human relationship priest/parishoner (in my case; but let's generalize at the same time) being jepordized by "one size fits all" cathecismal regulations.

Don't get me wrong; I don't mind a church having rules. People visibly drunk or taking the p. obviously shouldn't be given Eucharist, etc. But there's a step from that to the certainty that the Church pronounces on matters worldly and spiritual, that the members simply have to go along with. I know it causes pain. You just have to skim OBOB for a bit to see the frustrations being vented; not at Christ or Christianity, but at the interpretations of Christ's teaching being done for us.

So here's the point; it gets in the way. I want above all to be a good Christian, to know and to love Jesus, to learn how to love and help my fellow men. To endure as a Christian. Faith, as such, is there.

So maybe I'm making too much fuss over nothing, right? But along with being a Christian, I have to, at the same time, wrap my head around these regulations that I'm not able to feel certain about. A package deal; and I don't want to be a fake or a hypocrite, but honest in my faith, and it can be tough.

I'm very sorry that it upsets you, Rhamiel, honestly. I really don't want to do that.

I admire and envy anybody who can see absolute truth in every aspect of Catholicism. But in my position, I'm struggling with that right now, OK?

I'm certainly not saying that the RCC is absolutely right on everything as you will note, I aren't RCC

However, as you have said you don't want to leave the Church, and as such, I would never encourage you to do so. I was just looking for a practical solution that would fix things from the Church's point of view, without violating your conscience.

As an Anglican I have a lot more freedom in the particulars. As my priest likes to say "we follow the rules, except when we don't".
That has its strengths, but also its weaknesses as you will see in the current troubles of the Anglican Communion which revolve around people redefining everything as they see fit, in their own image.

The Catholic position is more rigid, but that also has its strengths as well as its weaknesses. The weakness you are experiencing because you are getting punished unjustly by regulations that can't be relaxed when maybe they should be.
The strength is that you aren't going to find the RCC doing all the nutty downright unchristian things that the AC is.

so basically it comes down to this. There are some Catholics who think the Church can do no wrong. I've met one or two Anglicans who had that attitude as well, but by and large most Anglicans are more practical. I have found this true among many of the more wise Catholics I've run across... you realize that the Church isn't perfect in the here and now. It has faults, it makes mistakes.
You accept that fact, deal with it as best as you can and continue on where God leads, trusting that ultimately God will see justice done and God will right the wrongs in the Church.

 

[stephenc]

I ment I was upset for you, not at you

OK.

I thank you for it, Rhamiel.

 

[stephenc]

I'm certainly not saying that the RCC is absolutely right on everything as you will note, I aren't RCC

However, as you have said you don't want to leave the Church, and as such, I would never encourage you to do so. I was just looking for a practical solution that would fix things from the Church's point of view, without violating your conscience.

As an Anglican I have a lot more freedom in the particulars. As my priest likes to say "we follow the rules, except when we don't".
That has its strengths, but also its weaknesses as you will see in the current troubles of the Anglican Communion which revolve around people redefining everything as they see fit, in their own image.

The Catholic position is more rigid, but that also has its strengths as well as its weaknesses. The weakness you are experiencing because you are getting punished unjustly by regulations that can't be relaxed when maybe they should be.
The strength is that you aren't going to find the RCC doing all the nutty downright unchristian things that the AC is.

so basically it comes down to this. There are some Catholics who think the Church can do no wrong. I've met one or two Anglicans who had that attitude as well, but by and large most Anglicans are more practical. I have found this true among many of the more wise Catholics I've run across... you realize that the Church isn't perfect in the here and now. It has faults, it makes mistakes.
You accept that fact, deal with it as best as you can and continue on where God leads, trusting that ultimately God will see justice done and God will right the wrongs in the Church.

There's a lot of truth in what you're saying. Maybe it's just a personality thing...I just don't wanna be dishonest in a sort of "oh, well, I don't buy that but I'll go along with it anyway" sort of way.

But I realize of course that we have to accept certain things; but maybe, y'know, just a bit more freedom of interpretation would endear my church to me more...

 

[jongier]

My fiancee is going through the transfer from being Catholic to The Nazarene Church. It was interesting to see how many Catholics change their faith. It makes sense to me, I guess that's just because I was raised Christian, the Catholic faith seems so foreign to me. I'm glad she is switching.

 

[MrJim]

My fiancee is going through the transfer from being Catholic to The Nazarene Church. It was interesting to see how many Catholics change their faith. It makes sense to me, I guess that's just because I was raised Christian, the Catholic faith seems so foreign to me. I'm glad she is switching.

Greetings to you in Alaska~~what's there to do in Kodiak?

 

[Tenebrae]

Interestingly enough, we've just had a similar study released in NZ. It showed that the catholic church attendence in New Zealand has increased by roughly 10%

I wonder what the stats would look like in the rest of the word?

 

[E.C.]

...Orthodoxy keeps growing

 

[MrJim]

Amish church is growing too...

 

[Rhamiel]

My fiancee is going through the transfer from being Catholic to The Nazarene Church. It was interesting to see how many Catholics change their faith. It makes sense to me, I guess that's just because I was raised Christian, the Catholic faith seems so foreign to me. I'm glad she is switching.

hey man, welcome to the Conservative Christian forum, lol hate to jump on your back when you are new here, but I was raised Christian too, the Catholic Church is a Christian Church

Interestingly enough, we've just had a similar study released in NZ. It showed that the catholic church attendence in New Zealand has increased by roughly 10%

I wonder what the stats would look like in the rest of the word?

world wide the Catholic Church is growing, when most people look religion in America, they leave out hispanic immigrents, so that is a big portion of the Church.

...Orthodoxy keeps growing

that is such great news, I hope and pray that you will have a wonderful Easter