• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

The "What you always wanted to ask a priest but were afraid to" thread

J

JoeNah

Guest
 
Upvote 0

Father Rick

Peace be with you
Jun 23, 2004
8,997
806
Sitting at this computer
Visit site
✟29,431.00
Country
Thailand
Gender
Male
Faith
Utrecht
Marital Status
Private
No I haven't seen the movie...

As to confession, you just have to be old enough to understand what it is-- usually about 1st grade...
 
Upvote 0

Father Rick

Peace be with you
Jun 23, 2004
8,997
806
Sitting at this computer
Visit site
✟29,431.00
Country
Thailand
Gender
Male
Faith
Utrecht
Marital Status
Private
Father may I ask a question? About religion in general?
It's been a while since you asked this... but, yes, if you're still interested feel free to ask whatever questions you may have.
 
Upvote 0

Father Rick

Peace be with you
Jun 23, 2004
8,997
806
Sitting at this computer
Visit site
✟29,431.00
Country
Thailand
Gender
Male
Faith
Utrecht
Marital Status
Private
Hi, I Am In A Bad Marriage And Prior To Going In The Marriage, I Was Told That We Were "unequally Yolked", But Love And Youth Blinded My Vision. Does God Ever Change Or Fix People To Make Them Equally Yolked? As Far As Infidelity Goes?
It sounds like there are a lot of different issues here...

First, the phrase "unequally yoked" is referring to a Christian being married to a non-Christian. If the Christian is serious about their faith, this will obviously cause problems.

As to issues dealing with infidelity, etc. I'd be happy to discuss those with you, but that's probably better handled via pm.
 
Upvote 0

Father Rick

Peace be with you
Jun 23, 2004
8,997
806
Sitting at this computer
Visit site
✟29,431.00
Country
Thailand
Gender
Male
Faith
Utrecht
Marital Status
Private
 
Upvote 0

Father Rick

Peace be with you
Jun 23, 2004
8,997
806
Sitting at this computer
Visit site
✟29,431.00
Country
Thailand
Gender
Male
Faith
Utrecht
Marital Status
Private
Hi! Is a priest different then a pastor?
The word "priest" is a transliteration into English (via Latin) of the word "presbuteros"... which you will find in your Bible translated as either "elder" or "presbyter", depending on which translation you use.

In the Catholic churches, there are 2 "levels" of ordination... deacon, priest, and bishop. Every clergy, regardless of their function, is one of these three.

A priest may serve in a wide variety of ministerial roles... from pastoring, to chaplaincy, to counselor, to administrator, etc. depending on his particular skill set.

While it is unusual, in the Catholic churches, a deacon may serve as the pastor of a parish... a bishop may also be serving as the pastor of a parish, although usually he will be overseeing an entire geographic area and not just one church.

In Protestant churches, they don't have priests (long story) although the clergy person overseeing a particular church is usually understood to be "a pastor".
 
Upvote 0

MotherBrigidClare

Active Member
Jul 20, 2007
47
4
79
Taos, New Mexico
Visit site
✟22,676.00
Faith
Utrecht
Marital Status
Married
time has now gone by and questions have built causing me alot of grief wondeirng the why's and how's that i guess i didn't really think about too much at the time. my desire to be Catholic was just so strong and i still feel Catholic but this is one aspect that i just can't wrap my head around. although i will say you're one of the first to ever show my that

Dear Kimber,

I would like to share with you another perspective on our Catholic Faith. How beautiful it is to assemble with God's people on the day He set apart for entering into His rest, and receiving the precious gift of His Body and Blood, to be given His strength for the journey.

He wants us to desire that from the heart. There are many things He calls us to do that help us in our journey towards sanctity. The Church has put serious warnings on things that the Lord wishes us to do from the heart...these warnings inspire fear....a lesser motive for going to church than Love. For some it is good if they heed these warnings and perhaps they will get a touch during Mass and grow in sanctity, until they really want to be there from the heart.

We are Old Catholic, but live a more monastic lifestyle...but I would like to share with you that we also are very uncomfortable with legalistic requirements that totally bypass the real issue...where is our heart on Sunday? We do not believe that a soul will be condemned to Hell because they didn't go to Mass on Sunday.

We do believe that if that becomes a habit, without repenting for neglecting the Lord, that can eventually kill the Spiritual life of that soul. But if a person loves God and makes it a point to go to Mass on another day, we believe there is no guilt.

The Lord said that He would write His law on our hearts and move us to follow His decrees. From the heart...not legalistically. We have a problem with rules and regulations that ignore the state of a soul's heart but keep them in line by holding punishments over their head. Using fear to modify their behavior, and keep them coming back. I even question whether someone should be recieving the Lord if they are there just out of fear. Do they really understand what is taking place?

Hope this brings a little relief to your heart. He is watching over us with Love and concern, not a clip board checking off every time we break one of the rules written by man.

May His Mercy and Kindness make everything clear to you, and give you peace.

+Rev Mother Brigid
episcopa,
theearlychurchofphiladelphia
 
Upvote 0

Forest

Senior Veteran
Jan 3, 2005
3,428
90
In the Forest
✟26,745.00
Gender
Male
Faith
Non-Denom
Marital Status
Married

I have always wondered if a non-Catholic like me wanted to confess to a priest what would happen?
 
Upvote 0

Father Rick

Peace be with you
Jun 23, 2004
8,997
806
Sitting at this computer
Visit site
✟29,431.00
Country
Thailand
Gender
Male
Faith
Utrecht
Marital Status
Private
I like your Avatar....what is that from?
I'm not certain where it came from originally....

It is used on the entry page for the Order of St. Michael the Archangel (www.orderofsaintmichael.org) , a religious order focused on deliverance and healing, of which I serve as abbot.
 
Upvote 0

Father Rick

Peace be with you
Jun 23, 2004
8,997
806
Sitting at this computer
Visit site
✟29,431.00
Country
Thailand
Gender
Male
Faith
Utrecht
Marital Status
Private
Have you ever accidentally laughed during a confession?
LOL...

Actually, I have laughed during confessional... but not in the way you are asking.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the "order" of confession, but what occurs is as follows:
1) the penitent confesses their sin to God (in the presence of a priest) and asks God for forgivenness.
2) the priest briefly offers pastoral counsel on how to turn from that sin, and when appropriate assigns penance (that is an act of repentance, which may be a time of prayer, reading certain scriptures that deal with that particular issue, etc.)
3) the priest pronounces absolution.


Now... during that time of pastoral counsel, sometimes some humorous moments have come up. That doesn't mean that I'm not taking the confession seriously... quite the opposite, confession/repentance of sin is a very serious thing. However, I'm very real with people and I think that part of true repentance is being real with God about the issues one is struggling with.. and when we stop and take a good look at ourselves, if we're honest about it, we do stuff that is so stupid it is funny.
 
Upvote 0