Why I'm still Catholic

[pdudgeon]

As requested by many compassionate Catholics here, a bit of a summary as to why I am still Catholic.
This thread is also wide open to others who may be having similar problems.

 

[pdudgeon]

As we all know, over the last few years there have been many changes within the Church. Some have been good, and others we might have questioned.
All of those changes have ushered in many different reactions that we couldn't even have imagined happening just 10 years ago.

Changes that would have been previously unutterable, or that we would be invited to discuss here.

And those reactions have come from Catholics of all levels; lay and Clergy alike.
So this is a thread where we can discuss the changes that we have seen, or experienced, and how they have affected us.

 

[pdudgeon]

For myself, my path to the Church began early in my life.
When I was two years old, my parents bought a new house that was two blocks away in one direction from the Methodist Church, and equally distant in the other direction from the local Catholic Parish.
So all thru 12 years of public schooling, I knew families from both churches, was schooled by both Catholics and Protestant teachers, and even had two years of Latin.
That last was fun, because I was the only Protestant in the class, so I had a lot of catching up to do!

 

[pdudgeon]

By the grace of God, there was no prejudice from either Catholics or Protestants against each other in my town. Instead, there were accomodations that were accepted as normal. The school cafeteria always served fish on Fridays as a matter of course, and no one questioned it.

 

[pdudgeon]

So all thru my life , as I grew up in the Methodist Church, I had a natural curiosity about the Catholic Church.
My opportunity to explore Catholicism only came about 8 years ago.
All of the things that previously held me back from that quest were removed, and I was finally free to explore. Or so I thought.

 

[pdudgeon]

But alas, I wasn't as free as I had thought.
By that time my residence had changed, and I had unknowingly bought a house in "the wrong part of town", where Catholics didn't go.
My parents weren't Catholics,
I had married and divorced an adulterous spouse,
and I was a stranger who had not been a Catholic.
So I began my journey to become a Catholic with several strikes already against me.

 

[pdudgeon]

Essentially, I was like a sack of garbage, tossed out upon the front steps of the local Catholic Church, and as I entered the first meeting of the RCIA class, I felt it.

 

[pdudgeon]

I persevered thru the classes, never missing a single one. That alone should have earned me some grace, but it didn't.

 

[pdudgeon]

What I eventually learned after it happened, was that I had been provisionally accepted into the RCIA class, and the Church, under the condition that I would remain single for the rest of my life, and never have the chance to marry again.
I found that out about three weeks after classes had finished, and I had my first Eucharist.

 

[pdudgeon]

And when I unknowingly expressed a desire to re-marry, my privileges as a Catholic to receive the Eucharist were denied.
None the less, I continued attending mass, and quietly moved to the back of the Church, sitting under the Station of the Cross where Christ, beaten and scourged, falls for the first time.
I knew how He felt.

 

[pdudgeon]

So yes, I am still a Catholic, but I have not been able to receive for the last 7 years.
I still support the Catholic Church financially, and give to my diocese, and several other Catholic orders besides.
I participated in the Parish synod meetings as well.
And that's how it is.

 

[pdudgeon]

So I am not against the Catholic Church.
I simply have no hope of ever being allowed to receive the Eucharist again.
And guess what?
The widows and widowers in our parish also never marry.
Taking Mary and Joseph as their models, they know what would happen if they did.
So the threat of " No more Eucharist" equals harsh punishment for many people in our parish.

 

[Michie]

I don’t know pdudgeon. Why not seek out an annulment? The desire to marry should have no effect on receiving the Eucharist. What side of town you live in should have no effect either. Why were you allowed to receive the Eucharist in the beginning and it suddenly changed? Did you remarry without seeking out an annulment?

 

[Original Happy Camper]

I don’t know pdudgeon. Why not seek out an annulment? The desire to marry should have no effect on receiving the Eucharist. What side of town you live in should have no effect either. Why were you allowed to receive the Eucharist in the beginning and it suddenly changed? Did you remarry without seeking out an annulment?

Question

Is the issue of not being able to remarry tradition or Biblical?

If it is bibllical can you provide the verses.

I have a friend that is not catholic and her church has told her the same thing.

 

[pdudgeon]

And no, neither of us were Catholic when we married.

 

[Michie]

And no, neither of us were Catholic when we married.

Pdudgeon, that would not keep you from communion. And you are not answering questions. You need an annulment and that should take no time.

 

[Michie]

Question

Is the issue of not being able to remarry tradition or Biblical?

If it is bibllical can you provide the verses.

I have a friend that is not catholic and her church has told her the same thing.

You can get remarried after an annulment. If she refuses to get one then all this grousing is really unnecessary. But it seems that she will not answer a direct question.

 

[Michie]

I agree with you.
Adultery has always been a sin, and a reason for divorce. But the Catholic Church doesn't see it that way, because adultery happens after you are married, and they only look at what happens before you are married, when considering whether you were rightly married.
In my case, it should have been an open and shut case by the marriage tribunal, because while I had never been married before, he had been married and divorced before we ever met.
So apparently once the case has been thru the tribunal, it cannot be appealed or tried again.
So I am stuck and cannot marry in the Church, until he is deceased.

Pdudgeon. I do not know why you are pushing this narrative. You know that not true. You were not married in the Church, he was an adulterer, go get the annulment. It still makes no sense why you were allowed the Eucharist and suddenly were not allowed. The side of town you live on is a non-issue.

 

[Valletta]

And when I unknowingly expressed a desire to re-marry, my privileges as a Catholic to receive the Eucharist were denied.
None the less, I continued attending mass, and quietly moved to the back of the Church, sitting under the Station of the Cross where Christ, beaten and scourged, falls for the first time.
I knew how He felt.

Unknowingly expressing a desire to re-marry is not a reason to be denied the Holy Eucharist. I assume from your comments that your petition for an annulment failed, while it can always be appealed, usually you would have to produce new evidence, such as a spouse thinking that cheating would be OK at the time they were married or for other reasons. Those who are denied the Holy Eucharist are in an obstinate state of sin with no repentance. For example, if you remarried in a civil ceremony against church law and decided to remain in that relationship you could not receive the Eucharist until you changed your mind.

 

[Michie]

Unknowingly expressing a desire to re-marry is not a reason to be denied the Holy Eucharist. I assume from your comments that your petition for an annulment failed, while it can always be appealed, usually you would have to produce new evidence, such as a spouse thinking that cheating would be OK at the time they were married or for other reasons. Those who are denied the Holy Eucharist are in an obstinate state of sin with no repentance. For example, if you remarried in a civil ceremony against church law and decided to remain in that relationship you could not receive the Eucharist until you changed your mind.

My understanding is the Church recognizes legal marriage but it is not considered a Sacramental marriage. Getting that annulment, this where she should have no problems. It means she could get her current marriage validated in the Church and she could then receive the Eucharist. I mean, an ex spouse hardly is needed in the process anymore especially if they were not Catholic when they married. But I do not know if pdudgeon has remarried or not. And living in the wrong side of town? Her marital status is widowed. Direct answers would be nice so other Catholics could advise her and help her.