r/Catholicism

I started OCIA at a local parish a few months ago, and I've spent a few hundred hours researching catholic theology since then. One thing I keep noticing is people saying something like, "The church held X doctrine (or tradition) for 90% of church history, until Vatican II changed it." Are these types of things as prevalent as social media makes it out to be and, if so, how should I reconcile that? This has been the hardest thing for me to deal with since I started this process.

May His love surround you, His grace guide you, and His presence remind you that you are never alone.Whatever you're going through today, trust in His timing and keep your faith alive. God is working in ways we may not always see.

🙏 May everyone reading this receive a blessing they have been praying for.

If God has blessed your life, share His love with someone today. You never know who needs a little hope.

Have a peaceful and blessed Sunday.

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I have just started OCIA classes at my local Parish. I have been off and on going to Sunday mass for 2 years. I started going for the first time with my boyfriend who is now my fiance. I have never been religious I've always been not interested in it. I find it hard to just believe in something. I'm not sure why. Religion was never pushed on me by my mother because she was forced to be a Jehovah's Witness from her mother. I considered myself agnostic, I believe there has to be something more in this world just not sure what. My fiance really wants me to become Catholic so I'm trying to do that. I also struggle with mental health and he says it could be good for me to find God since that's the only method I have not tried. I took the Alpha course and really enjoyed it, I felt something I'm just not sure what. It's like I'm parallel to it I see what people see I just can't find that connection to fully believe and have faith. I enjoy the community and I'm involved more than my fiance is. I also struggle with some of the beliefs but I feel like to fully commit to a religion I need to feel more and actually have faith and believe 100% or else it feels like I'm lying to God. My fiance says I'm not trying because I'm not adding an effort or reading the Bible or I don't understand certain parts even though I am trying. As a person trying to enter with no previous religion is there any resources someone can recommend or advice on how to get into it more? My fiance said I should just read or watch videos on the history and art and architecture since those are areas of interest but I'm just looking for more information or maybe advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation.

Warning: I’ve been reading a lot of continental philosophy.

If we 1) affirm that God is Being, and thus contains the set of beings as it were, and 2) that the set of beings does not include nothingness, and 3) that sets themselves are not among their contents, should we not conclude that the innermost essence of God is a kind of nothingness or emptiness since Being is not one among the set of beings (or everything)?

Or to put it Thomistically, if God is purely active and has no capacity for passion, and if we take passion to be an essential potential for actual existence, would it not be the case that God’s essence is a kind of nothingness or emptiness, and that his existence (something) precedes his essence (nothing) because “nothing” precedes his existence in a literal sense? That seems like equivocation, I know, but I’m not trying to be sneaky; I propose that it is literally the case that “nothing” can be predicated of God’s essence. I understand some have a problem with this view because it seems to undermine the priority of the Trinity, but if we take nothingness as something ontologically prior and not temporally prior, the problem seems to dissolve. We might for instance affirm that the Father is this nothing-essence of being, which ontologically conditions the something-existence of being, and the relation of the something-existence of being to the nothing-essence of being to be the Holy Ghost (which follows logically since Being adheres to Being).

I understand that this kind of hyper-intellectual view can make God seem impersonal, but it fits remarkably well with the ethic of Christianity, I think, which asks us to be nothing so that Christ can be all-in-all.

Thoughts? Especially would appreciate insights from any clergymen or religious here.

EDIT: If you’re not gonna engage with any of the propositional content, you’re engaging in idle talk. I’m not interested in idle talk.

Me, 22M, recently de converted from Christianity after years of belief. I live in the south, and grew up Presbyterian. I’ve always loved science, philosophy, and theology, but recently I’ve had some irreconcilable issues with the New Testament especially that slowly drifted me towards agnosticism. I’ve been agnostic for a few months now, but recently met a new Catholic convert around my age. He’s gone through a lot of similar experiences as me, and Catholicism has always been on my radar, even when I was a Christian, but I haven’t been convinced.

I’m gonna try to go to OCIA and learn more, ask questions, and see what it’s about. I don’t know the etiquette for Catholics, do I wear a suit to mass? Am I welcome in mass? Just what would you say to a person approaching conversion in terms of being respectful.

My wife (36F) and I (33M) just celebrated our first year of marriage, however we still haven't had sex and it's really making me feel hopeless. I'm not Catholic, but my wife is, and I attend Catholic mass with her (and did all the pre-marriage classes and we're married in the Catholic church).

On our wedding night, she was too tired. On the honeymoon, she was on her period. I totally understand those, and do not feel bad that we hadn't consumated at that point. However, when we returned, I assumed that it was time to make the marriage official. But she told me it was too cold. After weeks of excuses, she admitted she felt she didn't know me well enough to have sex. That really hurt to hear, and I've worked really hard to have her know me better, not fault on my husband duties, and make her feel comfortable. When we talked about it again she said that I had mentioned at one point wanting to wait for kids for a year or two, while we travel, and settle in to married life.

After that, I told her that while my preference is if we could have kids in a year or two, that I am open to them now (God willing) and would like to finally consummate our marriage. I know contraception is not allowed in the church, so we took a course about the Billings method of natural family planning (recommended by another member of her church), to better plan a potential baby, but every time we discuss her starting the tracking for it, she gives me an excuse why she can't do it. This has been going on for months now and has left me feeling hopeless.

Sure, we kiss and hug, but there is not much more going on than that. Anytime we try to talk about sex, she seems to have a very childish attitude and tbh I think she's been conditioned to think of sex (even sex with her husband) as something bad.

I'm wondering if anyone else has been in a similar situation and has any advice? I posted in r/marriage and many people recommend annulling the marriage, which unfortunately has crossed my mind many times lately.

Thank you in advance for helping me better understand my wife through the Catholic perspective.

Hello,

I’m visiting a Byzantine Catholic Church for the first time this Sunday. I was confirmed a few years ago at a basic novus ordo Parrish, and then I went full trad for a little bit going to a FSSP Parrish. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m too traditional for most regular diocesan parishes around. I crave tradition and reverence. But I’m also too novus ordo for a strict TLM community.

I absolutely love the TLM. I love the traditional chant, ad orienting, the silent canon, and the overall mystery of the Eucharist and the reverence these parishes have. I’ve also realized these parishes can be very legalistic. On the flip side, I’ve found many novus ordo parishes to almost be too lenient, too loose with their liturgy, and I can’t help but feel like there should be a little more reverence and tradition there.

Funny enough, I was on a work trip taking an uber to the airport, talking with my driver who was a Byzantine Catholic who somehow completely understood where I was at. He strongly recommended attending a Byzantine Catholic Church and talking with the priest.

What should I know about the liturgy? Can I receive the Eucharist there? Are there any Byzantine Catholics who can share their faith journey and experiences? Are there any Latin Rite Catholics who attend a Byzantine Church or changed there canonical rite?

I want to hear some of your stories why you chose Catholicism. Ideally it would be stories of people who made the intentional choice to selec Catholicism, but if you were born into it but still came to the realization that it’s the correct faith for you then I would love to hear. Please share your stories.

My background:
I was born into a Muslim family (not practicing family. Just in name due to our country of origin), grew up in the U.S., became atheist from a teenager until a couple of years ago where I would say I leaned towards agnostic. The past year or so I’ve had a genuine interest and openness towards Christianity. I never knew what it truly meant to be a Christian or what the faith entailed until the past year.

I’ve been to nondenominational churches like 3 times because one of my friends goes there but I didn’t feel connected to the worship style, music, and overall flexibility with interpretation. As I have taken many hours the past year or so to learn about the different denominations, I have recently been curious about Catholicism and whether or not it might be the right path for me.

Last month I attended a retreat, after which I felt the Holy Spirit move within me after ages. It was 5 days of nothing but prayer, adoration, fasting, daily Mass, rosary etc. I came out feeling like a new person.

I noticed that I was happier, though nothing specific changed in my life. I tried to keep up the daily Mass and Adoration, and I sometimes caught myself smiling euphorically at the Eucharist. I am a cradle Catholic, but I never felt God’s love in such an overpowering way before. Often I was moved to tears. I also noticed that I treated my family more kindly, I had more patience. I stopped procrastinating. Social media was suddenly boring to me.

Unfortunately, I fell back into a particular mortal sin since the last 2 days. (Pls say a Hail Mary for me if you can), but all that changed was that my daily prayer reduced. Over the weekend I was slacking and gave priority to meeting friends and having a good time, none of which are bad things, but should have been secondary to prayer. I do feel terrible shame but I fully intend to go to Confession tomorrow and restart my prayer routine in full force.

What surprises me is just how much my life changed by just increasing the amount of prayer in my life. Friends, social media is great but it is taking away from our spiritual lives. Nothing beats your own personal prayer time. Talk to God, Adore Him, Consume the Eucharist reverently- your life will change.

God bless you all. Do share your similar experiences if you have any!

I have family members who are constantly asking me for very petty things — foot rubs, looking stuff up for them, things normal people should be doing themselves. But for some reason, our dynamic is such that they grown accustomed to asking me to do things for them. And if not, they throw a tantrum, give the silent treatment, basically completely overreact for something people usually don’t ask other people to do. It’s every time I pass my parents/ older siblings or if they even just see me.

I personally feel like straight up telling them “I’m not your butler/attendant. Didn’t you learn to do things yourself in kindergarten? Do it yourself!” But I don’t feel like this is what a right conscience would do.

Anyone experience this?

What would Jesus do?

I’m am a 60 year old divorced Grandmother. I was never Baptized and had very little religious exposure as a child. My Daughter married a Catholic man and eventually went through RCIA and was Baptized, Confirmed and took her first Communion Easter Vigil 2018. She ultimately started teaching Faith Formation (Catechism) to the little ones. I would help her with the weekly lessons. Not at the Church, but did the Power Points and admin stuff. I learned things I never knew. I thought John the Baptist was a Baptist, as in Southern style. Learned that Eve’s eating from the forbidden tree is what caused women to have pain in Child Birth. I learned the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were all one and not 3 separate people. Made me hungry for more. So I started OCIA last month. I am the only one there that is not Baptized. As a matter of fact I am the only one in this class that doesn’t know the difference between scripture, the gospels and Holy Spirit. I pray but feel nothing. So I write letters to God…. I still feel nothing. I’ve been doing the Bible in a Year thing, but am only at Exodus. The Bible is no easy weekend read. It is intense and quite brutal and shocking. When can’t I feel him. Why is there no sign. Nothing. Are people telling the truth when they say the feel his presence ? I had late stage Ovary Cancer 15 years ago. I am the only survivor in my group. I may have made a deal with the devil to let me live. Is the devil blocking me from the Devine ? Any advice would be so appreciated.

Does anyone have wonky problems with the Universalis app? It’s either that or I should smash my cellphone.