Calling all cultural Catholics!

[Anonymous]

I think it's fine OP. And note to PPs, she didn't say she was trying to get a whole community to do this--just something with her daughter.

The biggest mistake maybe was sticking this under the Religion forum. Religious people would probably not get this. I think the historical and traditional part of many religions is interesting and beautiful, and if you want to just explore some of that, it is a very cool idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cafeteria line Catholics (as they used to be called around here) are the only sane ones!

My advice:find a group of similarly minded friends and avoid people whose parents still attend daily mass and who'll try to drag you back into the fold.

Don't expect too much change in the hierarchy, BTW; as long as the Pope has cowardly secret meetings with crazy girls who go to jail for not issuing marriage licenses, the church leadership will not be marked by forward thinking.

The rest of us will have to take a wait-and-see attitude while the world spins merrily on.

The difference is that while there is as a PP noted "a well-established community of cultural Jews" the Catholic church has a love-or-leave-'em attitude towards its flock, which is why attendance peaks at around 20% in Europe. If you want to observe Cultural Catholics, just look to the EU: people have moved on with their lives and still enjoy Christmas and Easter, weddings and baptisms and funerals, but get to live a mostly secular life. Guessing by declining church attendance here, we'll all be that way soon, except for those who already are.

If you want some immediate spiritual gratification, stroll the gardens of the Francisan Monastery in N.E. or the campus of CUA and then drop into the Basilica.

Good luck!

Or go to the national cathedral and enjoy its beauty while listening to a concert, with no pre- or post- "blessing" and no involvement of clergy -- just musicians.

Also, I think the US headed to where the EU is today regarding religion -- and people like OP are making it happen.

[Anonymous]

I loved advent wreaths growing up.
I loved buying gifts for "a poor kid" and telling my mom what a kid like me would like, and then often, Santa would also give me the same thing!

My friend's family did a pagaent at home with cousins.

Check out Busted Halo (site) around the holidays to see little videos about the significance of different rituals.

You should also make a pintrest board WITH your kid and decide together what sounds like fun.

How deep you dig is up to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ridiculous that people are criticizing you for this. Many of the traditions are lovely, so why not.

Make or buy and advent wreath. (Three violet, one rose candle)
Or do a Christmas Pyramid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_pyramid

Make or buy and advent calendar

Celebrate your child's name day:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_day

If she doesn't actually have a saint's name, pick the closest equivalent. She gets a small gift like they do in France.

Sing Christmas carols. Go to sing-alongs.

Follow Christmas Eve feast traditions, e.g., the Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes

+1 these are examples of the good things that derive from religions -- they make people feel good without being divisive or frightening or making false promises.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's fine OP. And note to PPs, she didn't say she was trying to get a whole community to do this--just something with her daughter.

The biggest mistake maybe was sticking this under the Religion forum. Religious people would probably not get this. I think the historical and traditional part of many religions is interesting and beautiful, and if you want to just explore some of that, it is a very cool idea.

OK, then I misread. I was focusing on the OP's point of comparison with cultural Jews who brings friends into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ridiculous that people are criticizing you for this. Many of the traditions are lovely, so why not.

Make or buy and advent wreath. (Three violet, one rose candle)
Or do a Christmas Pyramid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_pyramid

Make or buy and advent calendar

Celebrate your child's name day:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_day

If she doesn't actually have a saint's name, pick the closest equivalent. She gets a small gift like they do in France.

Sing Christmas carols. Go to sing-alongs.

Follow Christmas Eve feast traditions, e.g., the Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes

As I said, I wasn't trying to criticize, I didn't realize OP was trying to create traditions within her family. And even if she wanted to include others she should go ahead but not be surprised if others don't jump aboard.

[Anonymous]

I actually did the sacraments... baptism, penance, 1st communion and confirmation.

We celebrate Xmas, do the 7 fishes, Easter, Lent, read the bible (as liturature, fictional stories that teach good things), we watched the Bible show (my kids are older) and discussed how crazy the stories are and how certain words show up in vocabulary (Sodom for example), we did an advent calendar... but I kept forgetting to open it each day, I like taking a name from a Xmas tree and giving a gift to somebody in need, I like the advent candles.

I like to discuss how each religion has similar traditions... like fasting... Catholics have Lent, Muslims have Ramadan

[Anonymous]

I consider myself a cultural Catholic too. I'm doing advent wreath, self-improvement for lent, and of course Christmas, Easter, Halloween, St. Valentine's Day, etc traditions. I also do saint's days with the kids, mostly because they are twins and it gives them a special day to themselves in addition to their joint birthday.

With all these traditions and celebrations I focus mostly on the seasonal changes of the year and the many stories humans have told about the cycles of nature throughout history, including Catholic ones among others. After all most of these traditions came out of pagan nature-based religions before being appropriated by the Catholic church, so I feel no guilt whatsoever about evolving them once again away from a Christian context.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ridiculous that people are criticizing you for this. Many of the traditions are lovely, so why not.

Make or buy and advent wreath. (Three violet, one rose candle)
Or do a Christmas Pyramid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_pyramid

Make or buy and advent calendar

Celebrate your child's name day:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_day

If she doesn't actually have a saint's name, pick the closest equivalent. She gets a small gift like they do in France.

Sing Christmas carols. Go to sing-alongs.

Follow Christmas Eve feast traditions, e.g., the Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes

As I said, I wasn't trying to criticize, I didn't realize OP was trying to create traditions within her family. And even if she wanted to include others she should go ahead but not be surprised if others don't jump aboard.

Sounds more like you were trying to discourage her -- and still are trying to discourage the idea of celebrating advent outside of organized religion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I consider myself a cultural Catholic too. I'm doing advent wreath, self-improvement for lent, and of course Christmas, Easter, Halloween, St. Valentine's Day, etc traditions. I also do saint's days with the kids, mostly because they are twins and it gives them a special day to themselves in addition to their joint birthday.

With all these traditions and celebrations I focus mostly on the seasonal changes of the year and the many stories humans have told about the cycles of nature throughout history, including Catholic ones among others. After all most of these traditions came out of pagan nature-based religions before being appropriated by the Catholic church, so I feel no guilt whatsoever about evolving them once again away from a Christian context.

good for you, pp!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ridiculous that people are criticizing you for this. Many of the traditions are lovely, so why not.

Make or buy and advent wreath. (Three violet, one rose candle)
Or do a Christmas Pyramid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_pyramid

Make or buy and advent calendar

Celebrate your child's name day:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_day

If she doesn't actually have a saint's name, pick the closest equivalent. She gets a small gift like they do in France.

Sing Christmas carols. Go to sing-alongs.

Follow Christmas Eve feast traditions, e.g., the Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes

As I said, I wasn't trying to criticize, I didn't realize OP was trying to create traditions within her family. And even if she wanted to include others she should go ahead but not be surprised if others don't jump aboard.

Sounds more like you were trying to discourage her -- and still are trying to discourage the idea of celebrating advent outside of organized religion.

No. I'm sure we all know plenty of folks who celebrate without being devout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's ridiculous that people are criticizing you for this. Many of the traditions are lovely, so why not.

Make or buy and advent wreath. (Three violet, one rose candle)
Or do a Christmas Pyramid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_pyramid

Make or buy and advent calendar

Celebrate your child's name day:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_day

If she doesn't actually have a saint's name, pick the closest equivalent. She gets a small gift like they do in France.

Sing Christmas carols. Go to sing-alongs.

Follow Christmas Eve feast traditions, e.g., the Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes

As I said, I wasn't trying to criticize, I didn't realize OP was trying to create traditions within her family. And even if she wanted to include others she should go ahead but not be surprised if others don't jump aboard.

Sounds more like you were trying to discourage her -- and still are trying to discourage the idea of celebrating advent outside of organized religion.

No. I'm sure we all know plenty of folks who celebrate without being devout.

so it wouldn't matter if pp invited others or not

[Anonymous]

I'm an actual Catholic who fails at celebrating the smaller feasts (lots of reasons), so I wish I waS friends with you and could share in your celebrations.

You might try looking at Waldorf education websites for ideas. I think they celebrate a lot of the saint days in a more Secular, artsy-craftsy way.

[Anonymous]

How old is your daughter? A lot of Tomie De Paola books have Catholic themes and you could maybe get some ideas for celebrating form them.

Also, the idea of celebrating the feast day of a saint whose name your daughter shares is very nice. Many of the female saints were strong and independent in the face of disapproval from conventional society. They can make good role models for young girls to learn about.

[Anonymous]

OP, I think most cultural Catholics were more involved as children and fell away later. I think you'll find it hard to do these things, because they'll essentially have no meaning for you.