I’m the atheist PP you are talking about, and thank you for this. This is kind act on your part. Maybe one day the peace I feel going to Mass will turn into something further and I will go to Confession. Or maybe not. In any event, I can see why people get something profound out of it. I like St. Monica too, interestingly. |
There are many atheists and agnostics every week at church, sorry to break it to you. Not everyone has as rigid a worldview as you do. You cannot control everyone’s inner thoughts, as much as you want to do so. |
Sometimes you have to go for weddings or funerals. My husband's family is Catholic, and some of them still believe. You sit there thinking how weird it all is. I can't get over the funeral masses without eulogies for the person in the box up the front. One funeral I went to raised the tragedy of the split between the Catholic and Protestant churches as the reason Protestants couldn't take communion. Despite my disbelief, I have read the Bible and know enough to answer all the questions on Jeopardy. |
And Oh, please Left wing nutters are cafeteria Catholics too. |
Yes, just a coincidence you and the PP are self-described agnostic/atheist, still going to Sunday mass, still taking communion, and participating in a thread like this on the most sacred Christian holiday. You sound super disengaged with Catholicism and totally not some bored atheist troll on the religion forum on Easter weekend. Goodbye. |
If you read what I said, I'm not saying they aren't. Right wing nutters are the ones who don't think they are cafeteria Catholics, but they are. |
You sound like the only troll on this thread. The rest of the posters have been thoughtful. |
If you're agnostic or atheist, you're trolling the church and congregation when you attend Mass, especially if you're taking communion. But you know that, of course, which is why you're driving the point home trolling a religious forum on an Easter weekend. |
OP: I think you are getting way ahead of yourself worrying about the religious upbringing (or not) of children who do not exist and may never exist.
You say you feel drawn to religious practices and traditions but conflicted about, for want of a better word, church management and probably some “hot button” issues as well. Welcome to the club. What has helped me is to avoid becoming distracted by anything that does not immediately and directly concern me and my spiritual and moral relationship with God and others. Put another way, I make an effort to avoid intellectualizing in favor of trying to develop an interior life focused on the God of my experience. Before getting all wrapped up in debates about Church teaching think it is also important to (1) actually know the teaching and its nuances; (2) understand the philosophical, theological, traditional and human background of the teaching; and (3) understand moral discernment and the role of a well-formed conscience. At its core, Catholicism teaches that we were made to know, love and serve God in this life and enjoy eternal happiness in God’s presence in the next; that people are weakened by the sin of our forbears, which makes us want what is not really good for us and frequently unable to tell the difference; that God sent Jesus to redeem us and show us how to live; that Jesus established the Church as a community of believers whose job it is to help each other get to heaven; that the people who make up the Church will always be vulnerable to defects in understanding and make mistakes and even do evil; that forgiveness is available to one who is sincerely sorry; and that God will guide those who seek the divine will with a sincere heart. You might find it helpful to find an experienced spiritual director to talk over these matters. Getting in concrete service activity is another way to actualize belief and meet good people along the way. Being Catholic is about Faith. Faith is a living turning over of self to God. Christian experience is the fruit of a life lived in obedience to Faith. Here is something Pope Benedict XVI had to say: “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. [T]rue knowledge of God consist[s] in a personal, profound experience of Jesus Christ and of his love. And, dear brothers and sisters, this is true for every Christian: faith is first and foremost a personal, intimate encounter with Jesus, it is having an experience of his closeness, his friendship and his love. It is in this way that we learn to know him ever better, to love him and to follow him more and more. May this happen to each one of us! Christianity is not an intellectual system, a collection of dogmas, or a moralism. Christianity is an encounter, a love story; it is an event.” For each one of you, as for the apostles, the encounter with the divine Teacher who calls you friends may be the beginning of an extraordinary venture: that of becoming apostles among your contemporaries to lead them to live their own experience of friendship with God, made Man, with God who has made himself my friend. We, however, have a different goal: the Son of God, the true man. He is the measure of true humanism. An “adult” faith is not a faith that follows the trends of fashion and the latest novelty; a mature adult faith is deeply rooted in friendship with Christ. It is this friendship that opens us up to all that is good and gives us a criterion by which to distinguish the true from the false, and deceit from truth. Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom? . . . No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. No! Only in this friendship are the doors of life opened wide. Only in this friendship is the great potential of human existence truly revealed. Only in this friendship do we experience beauty and liberation. And so, today, with great strength and great conviction, on the basis of long personal experience of life, I say to you, dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life. Amen.” |
Your DNA ties you to your ancestors. Why don't you take up genealogy and teach your future kids about those people's stories. They were more than lighted candles and fish dinners. There are so many different religions in my family's history. |
Oh stop being so ridiculous. People who have never learned that they can’t control what other people think are so tiresome. |
This is an argument for Protestantism. |
My background is the same, op, and my kids are now older teens and above. I don’t know that I handled it well, basically they knew that I had been raised catholic but that’s it, really. We took them on and off to a mainline protestant church when they were younger.
One of my teens said something recently (after a trip to a catholic college) that made me realize fully realize how much they didn’t “get” Catholicism (which is of course makes sense since I left the church and didn’t raise them in it) but it still made me sad. |
What did your child say? |
Hard to explain but basically it was clear that they didn’t differentiate Catholics from baptists, lutherans, or Presbyterians, etc. Not in terms of not knowing historical background but just emotionally these were all equivalent to the teen and in the category “religions other than mine.” As I said, hard to explain but sort of painful. |