Greetings to everyone out there on the inter-webz...
I have a research assignment I'm working on for my college English course. We're supposed to pick a theme for the semester. Being that the byline of my blog title says "A Catholic College Student's Perspective...", I decided to use the misconceptions that people have of the Catholic faith. Here's a quote from the late Servant of God, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen:
"There are not a hundred people in America who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions of people who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church — which is, of course, quite a different thing." (circa 1938)
I think that in order to form a more perfect paper, I could use the input and any misconceptions of my colleagues at the University of Memphis. Anyone can Google but it takes a true researcher to gather the opinions and thoughts of others.
So I ask all of my faithful subscribers to this blog and anyone that happens to read this: What are your thoughts on the Catholic faith? If you're not Catholic, what about the faith is contrary to your own beliefs? I'm not looking for hospitable comments. I want complete honesty. If it's hurtful or could be controversial, that is no problem. I have heard plenty worse.
I think that by hearing contrasting opinions from my own will help me to write pieces that are more informative. Thanks for checking this out and sharing your own opinions!!
Pax,
Drew
I’ve been brought up catholic and been through all the major celebrations in the church (first communion and confirmation), but I, honestly, could not tell you much about the catholic faith. I went to Sunday school up until 8th grade but the teachers never made it interesting so I never paid attention and didn’t learn anything. As I’m getting older I wish I paid more attention and learned more about the catholic faith. I go to mass almost every Sunday and pay attention to all the reading but I still have a lot more to learn. I hope this helps somewhat with you research or whatever. Ha
ReplyDeletehalf italian/ half irish... so despite being raised presbyterian i think i've been to more masses than many catholics i know:) i guess an issue could be made about some of the past mistakes that have been made in the name of the catholic faith, but since they've mostly been acknowledged and apologized for that wouldn't really be much of a problem considering that biblically there's kind of an assumed degree of fail inherent in the church. i do however struggle with some historical issues. neutrality in the second world war is slightly harder to accept than nation neutrality for instance with the swiss because it seems like the church has a bit of a mandate in issues like that. also, as concerns the papacy, infallibility is a rough pill considering all the simony, hagiography, and of course the lovely times when up to 3 different popes were around at once claiming exclusivity. rome, naples, nice(i think it was nice). that being said i know vat2 kind of covered alot of these bases, and in a large way tweeked the definition of "infallible". also though i respect the concept of transubstantiation it's roots seem far more reactionary to communal evolution, and the witholding of it(communion) from many different peoples (or at least half of it) throughout the middle ages in europe. erasmus did well fixing alot of this but honestly having a core doctrine of the faith show up as strict catholic theology, and as a necessary sacrament hundreds of years after Christ, and even then being often withheld from many catholics for various reasons... seems to have locked alot of people out of a necessary thing for far too long for it to actually have the weight, mystically and salvifically, it is given now. this all being said, i think there are far more holes in the american evangelical church at large than there have ever been within catholicism from peter to present. which is mildly impressive given the comparative lifespans:D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the well thought out reply, Bobby.
ReplyDeleteI can't respond to everything, for the sake of time, but the one thing that sticks out is the withholding of the Eucharist from parishioners. I think, personally, that we are not to keep Christ from anyone. As Catholics we believe that Communion is the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We do not believe that it is merely a symbolic act. That being said, I don't believe we should hold Jesus back from anyone, even if they are making morally and theologically wrong decisions. We should provide Jesus as spiritual food to our brethren and let God speak to their hearts.
I really appreciate the thoughtful act of replying with more than a superficial comment. Glad to see it had some "meat" to it. :)
I truly hope that more people will share as you did. I guess I might have to make more crass posts for people to share their opinions. That's not me but I can do it if it will bring people out of their shells. :D