The Roman Catholic Church. A respectful, civil, sharing of thoughts.

Leann said:
I wonder what precipitated this topic and subsequent discussion? Is it because bashing Catholicism is just low-hanging fruit? I find it offensive and yes, I'm Catholic. Why did you pick Catholicism and not another broad-based, historic religion like Islam or Judaism?

Odd how the OP provides a forum title then removes herself from the discussion. Nothing but a pot-stirrer. It takes a LOT to get me riled or offended but this topic has. You're a real class act @LadyEmeraude :mad:
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It s good form and good manners to after setting a topic, to remove oneself from the discussion for a while to give others a chance to respond.
I feel pretty sure, the OP will retrn later, which is quite normal.
 
i've had involvements with the organization since my youth and have been baptized into the religion. though it had it's eccentricities, i later found some opportunities to create my own space in the organization. even later when i chose my own heart's path, it's been an honor to have remained with many of those connections.

to satiate my own curiosity, i researched the sources of their coffers and have witnessed incredible wealth. it really puts a perspective on ultimate power and that can be a bit of a thrill.

unfortunately there are unseen battles going on between certain organizations which makes it a tightrope to walk my path.
 
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An interesting informative thread unfolding, by the way I just returned from my work shift
at my job. So jumping in here ok. First of all, I thought it could be a good topic, as I have
heard reference to the Roman Catholic Church is past posts on actually other topics since
I have joined. I was raised in a division of my one parent preferring Catholic, while my other
preferred Lutheran. So I was raised in the Lutheran Church and as was my religious upbringing.
This topic for me was not posted as a convenient hanging fruit bashing Catholicism, this is not
what the topic was intended to be about. All religions I think should be welcome for discussion
and as I said in the other topic thread being referred to by some or at least one.

Carry on, discuss what you each chose, as for me I am good and glad to have been exposed
to both Catholic and Lutheran points of views and upbringing. I find positive in both...
 
Pepper said:
I am currently angry with the church as my grandson will be forced into it. Can't stand the thought of his first communion or confirmation or whatever it is. Big discussion with son yesterday on this topic. He told me to feel free to be honest with grandson, but I will wait until he talks about it. Like, I wouldn't tell him now there's no Santa Claus.

Since he was born, I was worried about the first time he mentions 'baby Jesus.' If/when he does I might just go ballistic.
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what is the point being angry with the church...they are not the ones who are forcing your grandson surely?
 
Catballou said:
She posted this because she got annoyed with me on another thread when I expressed my opinions about religion. She's trying to bait me into sharing my views about the RC Church, as a former Catholic and now atheist. I have many issues with the church, but I'm not playing this game out of respect for the Catholics here. I warned her that this thread might turn ugly, but it won't be me stirring the pot.
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A series of recently opened Vatican archives are shedding new light on the relationship between Pope Pius XII and Hitler as he led Nazi Germany during World War II. A new book takes a deeper look at these revelations. Historian David Kertzer, author of “The Pope At War: The Secret History of Pope Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hitler,” joins Amna Nawaz to discuss.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/v...annel-between-pope-pius-xii-and-adolph-hitler

(Godwin's law made me do it. :ROFLMAO: )
 
Jamala said:
I agree, she is a "class act" and may I add, you do not have to read the thread, zip on by if you are getting "riled up."
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She's nothing more than a pot-stirrer and I won't engage in responding to her any longer. Somehow it's acceptable to bash one religion over another. But it's also a sign of intolerance, too. I can read, react and respond to whatever threads I wish as can anyone else.
 
Whether one is religious, spiritual or other..it is certainly remarkable that the sacred texts of religions have maintained their degree of importance and popularity for so many thousands of years and will continue to do so.

This is testimony to the fact that these texts clearly have a message…they speak to us and reach a deep universal part of the human psyche.
Holy Books are also historical books …and…are absolutely essential for reference!

About 85% of the world's people identify with a religion and read at least one Holy Book.

Be it: The Torah: Bible: Quran: Gita: Ramayana:

Vedas: Buddhism: Baha’i Faith: Jainism: Sikhism:

Zoroastrianism

Religion. Sprituality and Prayers go hand in hand.

No one is forcing anyone to read this thread, you do so of your own free will. Being respectful is a grown up thing.

Have a great day all!
 
oldaunt said:
Oh DO keep on! I love laughing at........well you can fill in the blank, if you can get past your self-aggrandizing. :)
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It seems there is a lot of openly laughing at others going on in this thread, from all sides, as there was in the previous, “Being religious or Spiritual” thread. Some of you stand out on this more than otheres. It’s really starting to get immature, as it was in the previous thread. Sometimes I struggle to see where the seniors are on this Seniors Forum. This laughing at each other’s comments thing is really is now starting to look childish & pathetic.

At times I can't help thinking I'm observing a group of early teens talking to each other around a table. And using their laughter towards others simply as a dismissive.
 
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Michael Z said:
I will state right off that I firmly believe that I am saved by Jesus sacrifice for my sins and not any works of my own or works or traditions of any person or church.
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I presume you are refereeing to Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross for your sins. In what way do you feel that sacrifice saved you?
 
Arriving late to this topic, allow me to air my thoughts.

Like many others I was taken to a church to be 'christened' by non church going parents. It was a Methodist church.

As a child I was sent to the nearest church to our house for Sunday School. It was Baptist.
In secondary school, for the weekly scripture lesson taught by visiting teachers, clergy or lay members of various denominations, I chose to attend Church of England classes with my girlfriend. Later I switched to Methodist because there we had teachers who young male students training for ministry. It was a purely venal choice.

On Mum's side, her mother was RC and her father was Methodist but non attending. Grandmother was excommunicated for marrying Pop in the Methodist church. Consequently, her descendants, myself included, had little knowledge of catholicism. My Mum referred to RCs as members of "the other football team". I had never spoken to a nun in my life and thought they were rather weird.

By rather mysterious means I found employment in a Catholic Girls High school in my early 30s. I was not only 'non catholic', I was also an atheist but I didn't despise believers at all. I simply thought them misguided.

I liked the nuns but the visiting parish priests? Not so much.

While at the school (25 years altogether) I learned a lot about the Mass, the meaning of sacraments, the history and changes of religious practices over time. I discovered that Catholicism is a broad church encompassing eastern and western traditions where in some traditions priests marry and have children. In the Roman (western) tradition they still do not. Anglicanism is a western tradition where priests marry but it is no longer in communion with Rome. I knew none of this before.

I learnt most about the nuns' order and its foundress, and the ethos that underpinned their service. I observed that ethos in the way the school approached education - preferential treatment for the poor and disadvantaged. I had not seen that in the public schools. I became part of their work to the point that I was considered an honorary catholic. In this very liberal religious environment I was able to receive the Host along with the catholic staff, attend weekend retreats and be part of team teaching of the RE program.

After my epiphany of faith I could not bring myself to join the Catholic Church because there was no way that I was going to submit to priestly authority. I'm too much of a Protestant for that. I was once very judgmental, rather Cromwellian in fact, but the nuns modelled tolerance, forgiveness and compassion so well that I changed. They also had a passion for social justice and liberation theology which they imparted to the girls.

The Roman Catholic Church is a mixture, a mosaic of strengths and weaknesses, and it is a very broad church. One of my favourite nuns used to say that the word catholic means all sorts. It was her way of saying all are welcome, saints and sinners alike.

I'm still a Protestant but a kinder, more tolerant one, and I look back on my time as an honorary catholic with much affection.
 
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When I was 18, I was engaged to a Catholic boy. His mother was not at all happy about it. My parents, staunch Protestants, were not all that overjoyed about it, either, but they liked the young man so they were going along with it.

To get his mother off our backs, we started going to "Pre-Cana classes" (pre-marriage counseling) at his church. The parish priest, a hell-and-brimstone-breathing traditionalist of the old school, had it in for me from the git-go and kicked me out after the third session. I think he exorcised the place after I left. At that point, I refused to have the wedding in a Catholic church. Eventually, for reasons that had nothing to do with religion, the wedding was cancelled.

Three years later, I was engaged to another Catholic man who had spent eight years in a Benedictine seminary. He was one of eleven children and was the one they were "giving to the Church". He left before his solemn vows, so he could have still had a relationship with the Church if he wanted. He didn't. As far as I can tell having met many former seminarians, the seminary turns out two types: priests and people who want to get as far away from the Church as possible. He was the latter type. Needless to say, his family exploded, kicked him out of the family, tried in every way to sabotage our wedding, and he never had a good relationship with his parents afterward. Surprisingly enough, I had a better relationship with his mother eventually. We didn't hold hands and sing Kumbaya, but we were civil to each other. She stopped referring to me as "The Wh0re of Babylon"....LOL. No, really.
 
Michael Z said:
I will state right off that I firmly believe that I am saved by Jesus sacrifice for my sins...
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Even as a child I struggled with the concept of Jesus dying on the cross for my sins. A crucifixion has got to be one of the most barbaric, painful & exhausting ways to die. The concept of someone taking responsibility by dying in this way for my sins doesn’t sit well with me. Even as a child it didn’t sit well with me.

I wouldn’t want someone to pay a fine on my behalf, nor would I want someone to be punished in anyway on my behalf so that I could then be ‘saved’ & move on with my life. I can’t think therefore why I would want to place my sins on someone, using that person as a ‘scapegoat’?

This seems to me to be unjust -- where’s would my self-accountability be? I can’t help thinking in what way was Jesus’s barbaric death on the cross necessary. Forgiveness of other peoples sins is an internal thing; I don’t see how it requires someone’s torture & death. Where’s the morality in that.

Is the Roman Catholic Church telling me that I’ve got to accept this? As a child, many Catholics, & Christians in general for that matter, said yes.
 
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