r/Progressive_Catholics

I'm a bisexual left-leaning cradle Catholic. Recently I've begun to feel tired of dealing with Catholicism's regressive tendencies and having to explain them away to others, so I've been feeling a pull towards the Episcopal Church. Since I'm considering jumping ship, I wanna hear the stories from the other direction. What made you decide to join the Catholic Church despite the issues it has? Did you have any horror stories in the process of conversion (like having to swear to follow all Catholic teaching without question) or was it smooth? Would you say sticking with it is a good idea?

I go to a parish that is very traditional. The priests and vast majority of the laity are Traditional Catholics. I've heard this said multiple times:

"You can't be Catholic and support abortion."

"You can't be Catholic and support gay marriage."

"You can't be Catholic and support ___"

My response is simple. If we lived in the 1500s, the TradCaths of today would be seen as heretics by the Catholics of back then. It used to be a capital offense to hear the mass in your native language, or to read the Bible.

This is why I love that this sub has a pinned post that says we believe in the Catholic concept of the conscience being our primary guide. God gives us a conscience. It's not perfect, we need outside guidance. But we are able to learn and grow as free individuals.

Let's be honest, if a person wrote Vatican 2 in 1555, they'd be burned alive. Non schismatic traditionalists will bend over backward trying to reconcile the Second Vatican Council with their beliefs, and schismatic traditionalists want to turn the clocks back to the Dark Ages. At least in terms of religious oppression.

I don't want to believe anything that violates my conscience, and praise be to the Lord that I don't have to. None of us do.

https://preview.redd.it/tq1k926661ih1.png?width=526&format=png&auto=webp&s=c24ef48dc86366205bbc28c8291732b3ba0e2aac