Can you reconcile remaining Catholic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You’ve posted this a million times over the past few days. People have rebutted your myopia and hate a million times over the last few days. Pointing out, for example, that you can effect change better by working from within rather than spewing hate anonymously from your keyboard. Or that they don’t want to defund the hospitals.

We get it, your post above tries to justify your blind hatred for Catholics by claiming that any Catholic who stays is supporting pervert priests. You’re drooling over your dream that the Catholic Church mignt be annihilated. We all know that’s not going to happen.

Isn’t it time to stop? We see through you.

I am not the poster you are replying to, but just in case there is any doubt on your statement in bold that someone is "claiming that any Catholic who stays is supporting pervert priests":

In my opinion, any Catholic who stays is supporting pervert priests. So you are correct.

I do hate what the Church has done here. But it is not blind. My eyes are wide open.

+1.

I agree. You stay, you give them money, you enable them to continue. The money still pays for these people to live and retire in solitude. If you really wanted them to change, stop giving them your money and tell them to release the accused to law enforcement for charges. Tell them to take them off of the payrolls/retirement. Tell them to punish the perverts.

But the reality is: that's not happening in this country. There will be no reparations. Your leaders aren't doing that: they're saying "I'm sorry, it was long ago in the past, please forgive us." And you're still staying. And you're still giving them money. And they're still doing it: Latin/South American has the highest concentration of Catholics and the scandals don't appear on our news feeds. But I'm sure they still happen.

The system is broken. It's been broken for a long time. We're seeing fewer instances now, but it doesn't mean that your donations are going to good works. Your donations are still going to the feeding, the housing, the clothing of retired perverts. So you have implicitly forgiven them and that's what we say you're supporting the perverts. And when it happens again, you will still be a staunch Catholic, and you will still give them your soul.

And that's you. As a former Catholic, it's not me. I cannot abide risking my soul to that kind of damnation. I sleep better at night now too, knowing that I don't support that.

I can hear the former Catholic bitterness in your heart. It is sad to hear. As a practicing Catholic I sleep well at night. The men of the Church are not my faith. My faith is in my heart, how I live my life, how I interact with God, how I pray to Mary, how how I treat others and how I raise my children. You can't take that from me, nor can a priest or even the Pope. If every priest is gone I will still be a proud and loving Catholic. The layity will correct this, like we have done in the past and will continue to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You’ve posted this a million times over the past few days. People have rebutted your myopia and hate a million times over the last few days. Pointing out, for example, that you can effect change better by working from within rather than spewing hate anonymously from your keyboard. Or that they don’t want to defund the hospitals.

We get it, your post above tries to justify your blind hatred for Catholics by claiming that any Catholic who stays is supporting pervert priests. You’re drooling over your dream that the Catholic Church mignt be annihilated. We all know that’s not going to happen.

Isn’t it time to stop? We see through you.

I am not the poster you are replying to, but just in case there is any doubt on your statement in bold that someone is "claiming that any Catholic who stays is supporting pervert priests":

In my opinion, any Catholic who stays is supporting pervert priests. So you are correct.

I do hate what the Church has done here. But it is not blind. My eyes are wide open.

+1.

I agree. You stay, you give them money, you enable them to continue. The money still pays for these people to live and retire in solitude. If you really wanted them to change, stop giving them your money and tell them to release the accused to law enforcement for charges. Tell them to take them off of the payrolls/retirement. Tell them to punish the perverts.

But the reality is: that's not happening in this country. There will be no reparations. Your leaders aren't doing that: they're saying "I'm sorry, it was long ago in the past, please forgive us." And you're still staying. And you're still giving them money. And they're still doing it: Latin/South American has the highest concentration of Catholics and the scandals don't appear on our news feeds. But I'm sure they still happen.

The system is broken. It's been broken for a long time. We're seeing fewer instances now, but it doesn't mean that your donations are going to good works. Your donations are still going to the feeding, the housing, the clothing of retired perverts. So you have implicitly forgiven them and that's what we say you're supporting the perverts. And when it happens again, you will still be a staunch Catholic, and you will still give them your soul.

And that's you. As a former Catholic, it's not me. I cannot abide risking my soul to that kind of damnation. I sleep better at night now too, knowing that I don't support that.

I can hear the former Catholic bitterness in your heart. It is sad to hear. As a practicing Catholic I sleep well at night. The men of the Church are not my faith. My faith is in my heart, how I live my life, how I interact with God, how I pray to Mary, how how I treat others and how I raise my children. You can't take that from me, nor can a priest or even the Pope. If every priest is gone I will still be a proud and loving Catholic. The layity will correct this, like we have done in the past and will continue to do.

NP. Growing up I always thought my family was a regular crazy Irish Catholic family. All the stories from my parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents were a joke: the sisters or brothers beating you in school, getting told you were going to hell, being called a whore by the sisters for wearing a skirt above your knees, giving your grocery money to the collection plate, being mentally ill, having a substance abuse problems. All of that was normalized. Now I'm dealing with elderly parents with PTSD. I always thought my family's mental health was because we got bad Irish genes, but now I think it might be the culture of dysfunction and abuse, much of it either perpetrated or allowed by The Church, that caused those mental health and substance issues. I don't actually know where I'm going with this, but I wish the people who stay had more love and empathy for the suffering.

[Anonymous]

Whoa. That is a big stretch there PP. I guess if it helps you to blame the Church for your elderly parents mental health issues helps you deal with it then you have to do what you have to do.

But now I really have heard it all.

[Anonymous]

"The men of the Church are not my faith. My faith is in my heart, how I live my life, how I interact with God, how I pray to Mary, how how I treat others and how I raise my children. You can't take that from me, nor can a priest or even the Pope. If every priest is gone I will still be a proud and loving Catholic. "

Maybe I should start a spinoff thread, but if you take the heirarchy of the Church away, what's still Catholic about it? Not asking as a way to be critical, but I thought priests as having a special intercession between the laity and God were actually a key part of Catholicism? And that the ability to have a direct relationship with God was actually a big theological reason for the Reformation? If there's no priests, who administers the sacraments that define Catholicism?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whoa. That is a big stretch there PP. I guess if it helps you to blame the Church for your elderly parents mental health issues helps you deal with it then you have to do what you have to do.

But now I really have heard it all.

Get your head out of the sand. It's totally possible that abusive religions can cause life-long problems. How many Catholic families and women were stressed beyond limits by having too many children? My own family deals with some of the stuff PP mentions. Mental health & addiction may have been there anyway, but exacerbated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whoa. That is a big stretch there PP. I guess if it helps you to blame the Church for your elderly parents mental health issues helps you deal with it then you have to do what you have to do.

But now I really have heard it all.

Get your head out of the sand. It's totally possible that abusive religions can cause life-long problems. How many Catholic families and women were stressed beyond limits by having too many children? My own family deals with some of the stuff PP mentions. Mental health & addiction may have been there anyway, but exacerbated.

Hey, I said “get your head out of the sand” yesterday in response to someone like you. Plagiarize much on the way to blaming everybody else for your family’s probably genetic/social problems?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whoa. That is a big stretch there PP. I guess if it helps you to blame the Church for your elderly parents mental health issues helps you deal with it then you have to do what you have to do.

But now I really have heard it all.

I'm the PP, I could get into the specifics which are awful and mirror abuse issues raised in many of the recent scandals, but I'll spare you. As I said, I wish people who stay in The Church has more empathy for the suffering, but I realize most want to blame the victim, minimize, or turn away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whoa. That is a big stretch there PP. I guess if it helps you to blame the Church for your elderly parents mental health issues helps you deal with it then you have to do what you have to do.

But now I really have heard it all.

I'm the PP, I could get into the specifics which are awful and mirror abuse issues raised in many of the recent scandals, but I'll spare you. As I said, I wish people who stay in The Church has more empathy for the suffering, but I realize most want to blame the victim, minimize, or turn away.

Good for you, PP. don’t be intimidated by the totally non-empathic, non-Christ like Catholic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whoa. That is a big stretch there PP. I guess if it helps you to blame the Church for your elderly parents mental health issues helps you deal with it then you have to do what you have to do.

But now I really have heard it all.

You are an insensitive, ignorant, unfeeling person.

Trauma never causes mental health issues, though, you're right. That's never been established. And you definitely know this person's family and history, so you are in such a great position to negate this person's experience and concern. I'm so glad you're here to help this family with your wisdom. Nevermind what I said about you being insensitive, ignorant, and unfeeling. You're a trauma expert come to save this poor soul and his family from their false memories. Thank you, oh wise one.

[Anonymous]

Unapologetic Catholic: Why are you praying to Mary? There is no one you need pray to besides God the Father / Son / Holy Spirit. Anything else breaks the first Commandment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"The men of the Church are not my faith. My faith is in my heart, how I live my life, how I interact with God, how I pray to Mary, how how I treat others and how I raise my children. You can't take that from me, nor can a priest or even the Pope. If every priest is gone I will still be a proud and loving Catholic. "

Maybe I should start a spinoff thread, but if you take the heirarchy of the Church away, what's still Catholic about it? Not asking as a way to be critical, but I thought priests as having a special intercession between the laity and God were actually a key part of Catholicism? And that the ability to have a direct relationship with God was actually a big theological reason for the Reformation? If there's no priests, who administers the sacraments that define Catholicism?

You should.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"The men of the Church are not my faith. My faith is in my heart, how I live my life, how I interact with God, how I pray to Mary, how how I treat others and how I raise my children. You can't take that from me, nor can a priest or even the Pope. If every priest is gone I will still be a proud and loving Catholic. "

Maybe I should start a spinoff thread, but if you take the heirarchy of the Church away, what's still Catholic about it? Not asking as a way to be critical, but I thought priests as having a special intercession between the laity and God were actually a key part of Catholicism? And that the ability to have a direct relationship with God was actually a big theological reason for the Reformation? If there's no priests, who administers the sacraments that define Catholicism?

You are correct. The Catholic Church set it up from the beginning for the laity to need the clergy to be an observant catholic and ultimately to get into heaven

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unapologetic Catholic: Why are you praying to Mary? There is no one you need pray to besides God the Father / Son / Holy Spirit. Anything else breaks the first Commandment.

Catholics are encouraged to pray to saints, asking them to “intercede” for them with god.

For instance, if your name is Catherine, you might like to pray to st Catherine and ask her to pass on your requests to god. He might pay more attention if one of his saints asks him than he would if asked by a mere mortal.

It’s kind of like having friends in high places and pulling strings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whoa. That is a big stretch there PP. I guess if it helps you to blame the Church for your elderly parents mental health issues helps you deal with it then you have to do what you have to do.

But now I really have heard it all.

+1. Being Catholic normalizes substance abuse and mental illness?

I have a big family with lots of Catholics and lots of non-Catholics. I can assure you that there are plenty of both that ended up as alcoholics and that in every case religion had 0% to do with. (Actually, the religious people sometimes stayed away from the drink more, but whatever.)

Maybe your family is just messed up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whoa. That is a big stretch there PP. I guess if it helps you to blame the Church for your elderly parents mental health issues helps you deal with it then you have to do what you have to do.

But now I really have heard it all.

+1. Being Catholic normalizes substance abuse and mental illness?

I have a big family with lots of Catholics and lots of non-Catholics. I can assure you that there are plenty of both that ended up as alcoholics and that in every case religion had 0% to do with. (Actually, the religious people sometimes stayed away from the drink more, but whatever.)

Maybe your family is just messed up.

No, being Catholic can lead to substance abuse and mental illness.