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Experiences of our Catholic Upbringing; What keeps us in & what brings people back?
Topic Started: Friday, 4. May 2012, 23:08 (508 Views)
Rose of York
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Gerard
Saturday, 19. May 2012, 14:45
Sorry mate - too depressing to dwell on.

Had some nice women school teachers, though, who knew God was not the tyrant presented by the men in black.

Gerry
I was 40 before I heard a sermon stressing that God is a LOVING father. There is more to him than an old man with a grey beard looking sternly down checking up on who is sinning today. When we do he wants us to respond to his call to return to him.

There have been times when other people (lay and clerical) could have driven me out of the Church, but its not about them is it? If I had not been so well drilled in the meaning and importance of the Mass and Holy Communion, I suppose I might have wandered off to some other place where it was "nicer" in human terms.
Keep the Faith!

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Rose of York
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Most Catholics now feel more able than in the past to speak openly about doubts, and about their concerns about anything they consider to be amiss.
Keep the Faith!

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Derekap
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"Most Catholics now feel more able than in the past to speak openly about doubts, and about their concerns about anything they consider to be amiss"

I agree Rose!
Derekap
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Emee
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My childhood memories are: wearing a white dress with a veil for my First Holy Communion and being very excited and knowing we were special and wearing the same dress and veil for May Procession that year. Also Corpus Christi processions. All great fun. But in those days I didn't have a clue what it was all about. I didn't even know till much, much later that "Corpus Christi" meant "Body of Christ". To me Corpus Christi was synonymous with a procession that was all.

It was not until I left the Church and became a Born Again Christian that I learnt to realise I could talk to Jesus directly as a friend and have a personal friendship with Him. Don't you think that's a bit odd? That I didn't realise that until I joined an evangelical church? That I wasn't encouraged to have this personal friendship in my own Church and had to find it elsewhere.

Bernard, the reasons you state on another thread for why you stay in the Church are also those that brought me back: the Real Presence, "Lord to whom shall we go?" and also the concept of Apostolic Succession, and I eventually accepted it it also Biblical to have the Saints support you and cheer you on. That cleared up my last few queries for me in terms of which Church I should be in.

I am now at peace with my relationship with God in Church and love to sit in front of the Tabernacle for a quiet few minutes for I believe Jesus is truly present there in a special way. But I also believe I can see Him in individual people outside of Church too.

I find people generally welcoming in Church though I have to say no one does cliques that Catholics can. Still I just ignore that. Though I'll say "Hello" to anyone in Church it's not for social reasons I am in the Church so cliques don't bother me too much. If I want to be part of a social group I'll join a club. I just see that we're all just sinners together meeting up under God, the God who is strong enough to save each and every one of us.
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Rose of York
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Emee
Sunday, 20. May 2012, 14:12
Bernard, the reasons you state on another thread for why you stay in the Church are also those that brought me back: the Real Presence, "Lord to whom shall we go?" and also the concept of Apostolic Succession, and I eventually accepted it it also Biblical to have the Saints support you and cheer you on. That cleared up my last few queries for me in terms of which Church I should be in.
I love to be quietly alone with God in a church (Catholic or otherwise). When the Blessed Sacrament is not there I feel a strong sense of emptiness, especially if it is pre-Reformation. Whatever happens in the Church, administratively, architecturally or communally, our Church retains Apostolic succession, and God given authority to teach. The Methodist church near me has a friendly praying well run community and a lovely building, but it is worth the effort to go the extra miles to Mass.

If in the unlikely event of our chapel of ease closing, we were to share the Methodist church that would not bother me and I do not think fellow parishioners would object. Mind you, a Saint Patrick's day ball on Methodist premises would have no bar. That would be a break with tradition. :rofl:
Keep the Faith!

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Derekap
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"Mind you, a Saint Patrick's day ball on Methodist premises would have no bar. That would be a break with tradition"

As you and I know, Rose, there are many Catholics who do not wish to break with tradition - either Spiritually or/and spiritually!
Derekap
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OsullivanB

The Tablet 9th June 2012
 
"The problem of divorced and remarried persons is one of the great sufferings of today's Church. And we do not have simple solutions." Pope Benedict admitted in an unscripted question-and-answer session at a witness vigil on Saturday night. "I see here a great task for a parish, a Catholic community, to do whatever is possible to help them to feel loved and accepted, to feel that they are not 'excluded' even though they cannot receive absolution or the Eucharist," he continued. The Pope said it is possible to be "spiritually united to Christ in his Body" even without receiving the Eucharist, through a "life of faith based upon the Word of God and the communion of the Church".
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation." Herbert Spencer
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Mairtin
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I would dearly love somebody to explain to me where Jesus laid down conditions for people receiving His body and blood - or where He said that NOT receiving them could be every bit as good as actually receiving them.
Edited by Mairtin, Friday, 8. June 2012, 23:22.
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Angus Toanimo
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Rose of York
Sunday, 20. May 2012, 14:42
Emee
Sunday, 20. May 2012, 14:12
Bernard, the reasons you state on another thread for why you stay in the Church are also those that brought me back: the Real Presence, "Lord to whom shall we go?" and also the concept of Apostolic Succession, and I eventually accepted it it also Biblical to have the Saints support you and cheer you on. That cleared up my last few queries for me in terms of which Church I should be in.
I love to be quietly alone with God in a church (Catholic or otherwise). When the Blessed Sacrament is not there I feel a strong sense of emptiness, especially if it is pre-Reformation.
Strange as it may sound Rose, but I have visited many pre-Reformation Churches that are now in the hands of the CofE and I actually don't feel a sense of emptiness, at all. I feel a connection. I feel the same way in an empty pre-Reformation Church as I do in an empty Catholic one (yes, one built prior to the 60s!). It's a feeling hard to describe but I always feel like I'm not alone, that Someone is there watching me, or watching over me.
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Derekap
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OsullivanB
Friday, 8. June 2012, 22:14
The Tablet 9th June 2012
 
"The problem of divorced and remarried persons is one of the great sufferings of today's Church. And we do not have simple solutions." Pope Benedict admitted in an unscripted question-and-answer session at a witness vigil on Saturday night. "I see here a great task for a parish, a Catholic community, to do whatever is possible to help them to feel loved and accepted, to feel that they are not 'excluded' even though they cannot receive absolution or the Eucharist," he continued. The Pope said it is possible to be "spiritually united to Christ in his Body" even without receiving the Eucharist, through a "life of faith based upon the Word of God and the communion of the Church".
Surely a married person who goes through a civil divorce or separation so long as he/she does not cohabit with another person can receive absolution and Holy Communion?
Derekap
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Derekap
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Contrary to you, Angus, I do feel an emptiness in pre-reformation churches and any other non-Catholic churches. I feel warmer in Orthodox churches particular if they celebrating Holy Mass. The one unusual exception, for some completely unknown reason, is that during a sightseeing tour of Helsinki we visited a brand new Lutheran church or cathedral and somehow I did not feel the emptiness. Years ago I went with a colleague for a concert of Christmas Carols in one of the Protestant churches in Hamburg. On the walls were hung huge painted portraits of extremely solemn men looking down disdainfully on us - a real put-off to the otherwise joyous occasion.
Derekap
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OsullivanB

Derek, as I read it, the Pope is speaking of those who have divorced and remarried.
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation." Herbert Spencer
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James
James
Although,in my working life I had little contact with catholic people on a daily level, I now appreciate the experience and viewpoints with others without losing my own beliefs.
Modifying them ,perhaps, as many beliefs were semi- rural as well as christian.
I was aware of, and had to develop a means of communication quite early that did not involve "church jargon" or "biblical quotation"
More philosophical I suppose, but served it's purpose.
I became aware never to confuse with unfamiliar words not in daily use.
Never one for combing the dictionary to find a word that would "impress and baffle"

My childhood was in a seaside town similar to Brighton - but in Ireland.
I loved it and we, the altar boys, had good memories.
There were six altars in the church and each priest said his own mass - in latin then.
One altar boy per priest.
Communion was only on the "high altar" mass.
Priests, on holidays, queued up to say masses which went on from 6am to noon - averaging 25 minutes a mass.
We were in and out all the time.

Some priests gave "tips" and the altar boys knew which ones they were.
So, if an altar boy , at his altar, was aware that the priest on the next altar was a "tipper" he would move over so that the priest then had two altar boys and the other had none.

We served sometimesin the soldiers camp and the convent. We served at funerals, weddings, benedictions. , Whatever - we we there with the latin responses.
I recall going to the cinema after benediction smelling very strongly of incense.
We used to get free tickets to the circus when it came to town and other seaside shows .
All gone now.
Only one altar left in the church.
Changing times.

James

Could tell you some stories.
Edited by James, Saturday, 9. June 2012, 14:42.
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OsullivanB

James
 
Some priests gave "tips"
The best tip I ever had was from a priest - at the Tralee Festival meeting. The horse had a string of zeroes for form and won very easily at 6-1. That is the only holiday I have ever returned from with more money than I went with. This was not only thanks to the horse - the tipster and his fellow-priest were terrible poker players.
"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation." Herbert Spencer
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James
James
No quarter given then Bernard.
Hope he wasn't gambling with the "collection"
Edited by James, Saturday, 9. June 2012, 15:50.
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