It’s very interesting to me that the same people who for years ridiculed transgender people for identifying as the gender opposite to the one they were born as are now identifying as Catholic when they are not (SSPX obviously). I find myself torn because I respect trans people’s pronouns because I have little reason to disrespect people unnecessarily. Am I not being consistent if I don’t call a member of SSPX a Catholic when they clearly aren’t simply because they identify as such?
I’m definitely going to have to mull this one over, would appreciate hearing your thoughts.
Credit, this argument comes from Mary Y. Ayer’s amazing book “Masculine Shame: From the Succubus to the Eternal Feminine”.
First at the outset let me say I do believe in the reality of the Divine, without any doubt in my mind at all. This argument applies to how the Divine was refracted (aka twisted) by Bronze Age Patriarchal societies such as Israel of the Old Testament in what they wrote and in rules they created. I don’t believe the Divine herself ever does anything evil. The evil things commanded in the Old Testament were a projection of the evil of the Bronze Age War society onto the Divine and were more a reflection of those societies than anything the Divine commanded.
With that said there is good in there too and there is still contact with the true Divine, but there is plenty that is not such as the genocide of the Canaanites
I believe Jesus came to die to atone for the crimes of Yahweh of the Old Testament and other patriarchal religions (but most especially and specifically Yahweh). It is victim blaming to put the onus first and foremost on us as sinners, and I don’t believe that’s the true meaning. In the early centuries there was much debate about where the true significance of Jesus crucifixion lay, but what everyone agreed was the significance. The atonement for individual sin theory came much later and in my view is a distortion to change the message back into a top down deity pointing the finger at humanity, his own creation.
To the contrary, I believe Jesus came as a human man to accept responsibility for all the crimes and shame for what the patriarchal Yahweh and other male war gods had done, and had denied by projecting their responsibility onto their own people. Jesus is the son of Yahweh, the incarnation of Yahweh, and his submission to torture and death is Yahweh taking responsibility for his own crimes andactions and thus discharging them. That is why going forward humanity is freed, because before there was no one to resolve the contradictions. Jesus resolves the contradictions.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that, with many steps back along the way, the treatment of women begins to improve after this.
I was wondering how adults learn about the catholic faith. In my experience, being raised catholic, I did CCD but wasn't really that interested at the time. Once I was confirmed, there really wasn't much of a continuing education pipeline to be had (or at least, I didn't discover it). I hadn't read the bible (even the gospels in their entirety and honestly couldn't answer many questions on the basics of the faith).
I'd read that catholic school children used to use the Baltimore Catechism. So, I looked into that and I also read the bible (making sure that it was a Catholic bible with all 73 books, which I didn't know existed at the time lol).
I'd like to know for myself and for the software I'm developing.It's got automated bible tracking/reading, daily quizzes about Catholicism, catechism lessons based on the Baltimore Catechism, but it seems like I may need add the rosary to the prayer section. If interested, check it out: https://cornerstone-testers.vercel.app/ I feel like, at least in my experience at the parish level, we sometimes have bible studies, but they're not really promoted and can be somewhat intimidating. In my experience, it seems like a lot of people's knowledge base likely peaked at 13 or 14 when they were confirmed, but it's easy not remember and to become complacent.
hola, yo vengo de familia protestante y en específico pentecostal, mi abuelo materno es pastor y mis padres son ministros, tantos abuelos como padres van en la misma iglesia.
hace unos meses sentí un llamado o curiosidad por la iglesia católica, empecé a investigar y me di cuenta de las mentiras que los protestantes dicen sobre la fe católica, también de doctrinas anti bíblicas, como la sola fe y la sola escritura. empecé a indagar más en la historia de la iglesia y fue ahí donde me di cuenta que tenía que convertirme al catolicismo, no porq quisiera (me refiero a q en la cabeza de un protestante admitir q el catolicismo tiene razón es algo casi imposible) sino porq amo a Dios y tengo que seguir la verdad aunq me cueste.
desde hace semana y media le comenté a mi mamá, se puso “loca” me empezó a gritar y decir q “el diablo me cegó” (típico comentario protestante ante un católico) al día siguiente estaba como si nd y hasta perdón me pidió; hoy que le dije q este era mi último año en la iglesia se volvió a poner mal, me quiere llevar a q me “liberen “ y a hablar con el pastor, me dijo “apóstata” y demás frases manipuladoras.
me siento frustrado porque ya tengo 18 años (en méxico ya soy mayor de edad) y, aunque aún dependo económicamente de mis padres, legalmente tengo derecho a profesar cualquier fe q la q me impusieron mis padres.
y como cereza del pastel soy líder de jóvenes y parte del grupo de alabanza, pero todos estos nombramientos fueron antes de que yo siquiera pensaba convertirme al catolicismo.
no se q hacer, necesito ayuda
I'm agnostic and my wife is Catholic (leans more progressive as she supports LGBTQ and other progressive values). Something we agreed upon before marriage was that we didn't want kids for a while (if at all) and would re-evaluate that after a few years. We had a civil wedding due not being close to friends/family yet as we were moving across country. Now we're trying to have a Catholic wedding as my wife would love to have a church wedding and have our married recognized by the church. We're going through the process and the deacon start probing us on what are plans are for children and if we're taking contraceptives. They then tell us this is a mortal sin and married couples are supposed to unprotected sex and if kids happen, they happen. This took both me and my wife by surprise (I'm not well versed in Catholicism and my wife didn't know about this portion of Catholicism).
Is it all parishes that are like this? Specifically the portion of being invasive (in my opinion) into private matters and if you plan to have kids?
I'm trying to support my wife and here wishes of having a church wedding but now the church doesn't seem to want to do it because of the above. One of the ministers wants to have a discussion with our regarding having children.
Hello! Really unique situation here. I was born catholic, went away from the faith for a while, but really came back hard about 3 years ago. My teen daughter also became Catholic within the last three years. My husband is Lutheran & teen son was baptized after birth but doesn’t practice anything.
About 4 weeks ago, my husband of 15+ years came out to me as gay. This sent my faith into a tailspin. There was no cheating, no scandal, just born gay and suppressed it. He tried to do what he thought was the right thing, and we had a decent enough marriage that produced 3 children (1 ended in a miscarriage early on). I’m sad, hurt, and grieving, but I don’t hate him. We’re in the process of moving, so we’re kind of in a holding pattern until we get to our next place, but we plan to start therapy to see what our futures will look like (do we stay married and “lavender” for.. ever? do we separate but stay married? do we get divorced right away, etc).
Attending daily and weekend mass has helped reorient my response from one of anger and hate to one of love and compassion. He struggled for so long and I do love him. Yes, he absolutely needs to atone for the problems he caused in our lives, but he doesn’t deserve to be punished for his sexual orientation. While mass has helped, I still can’t wrap my head around how to be a part of a church that would condemn us both to a life of celibacy? I don’t even know what the church’s stance would be on all of this. Would I be eligible for an annulment?
Should I keep my faith surface level from now on? Do I still pursue a deep connection to the church? I don’t know how to do that second one anymore. I’ve talked to my priest but only vaguely (I don’t want to out my husband to people he has to see regularly). We are moving to a heavily Catholic area, so I will be able to find a lot of priests and churches to attend or seek out guidance from… but in the meantime I’m hoping to get guidance from the online crowd, for better or for worse haha.
Dear all!
I wanted to know how and where you all met your spouses. I am trying everything and also looked into other parishes in my city, but they are either married, have a fiance, want to be a priest or have no interest at all. I don’t know what to do. Maybe someone can tell me, how they did it?
All the best ✨
Hey! Wondering if there are any Catholic women’s groups around the city? Big plus if they’re Latina based/inclusive! For reference I’m 23!