Calling all cultural Catholics!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here. Easy to follow teachings of Jesus without organized religion.

And easy to celebrate holidays or carry out rituals without the beliefs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think your thinking is fine (celebrate holidays without a religious meaning, lots of people do) but trying to label it "Catholic" and as part of a culture is unnecessary and confusing.

Join the rest of the US on St Patrick's day (clearly no one is honoring a saint) or leave out eggs on Easter.

Why do you have to associate any of these things with Catholicism? It's an unnecessary reach.
Just do it to be curious and have fun, you're tripping yourself up by trying to make a relationship that isn't there

upsetting perhaps to people with a limited view of what Catholic culture is or should be, but not to people who can enjoy the rituals without the beliefs.

In a few years, maybe the advent calendar and other rituals will have gone the secular way that St Pats day and Halloween have gone -- and where Christmas is heading.

[Anonymous]

You know we shouldn't discourage someone from cracking open the door to these traditions. Who knows where the path may lead. And if more people are invited to participate then that widens the circle of community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think your thinking is fine (celebrate holidays without a religious meaning, lots of people do) but trying to label it "Catholic" and as part of a culture is unnecessary and confusing.

Join the rest of the US on St Patrick's day (clearly no one is honoring a saint) or leave out eggs on Easter.

Why do you have to associate any of these things with Catholicism? It's an unnecessary reach.
Just do it to be curious and have fun, you're tripping yourself up by trying to make a relationship that isn't there

upsetting perhaps to people with a limited view of what Catholic culture is or should be, but not to people who can enjoy the rituals without the beliefs.

In a few years, maybe the advent calendar and other rituals will have gone the secular way that St Pats day and Halloween have gone -- and where Christmas is heading.

Exactly, but its not Catholic then. The ritual without the belief makes it not Catholic . why the obsession with trying to label it Catholic? Just do it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Perhaps you shouldn't tell people you are not acquainted with what has no meaning for them

Lighting candles without believing has no meaning.

Lighting candles bring light into darkness, with or without belief

So does flipping a light switch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think your thinking is fine (celebrate holidays without a religious meaning, lots of people do) but trying to label it "Catholic" and as part of a culture is unnecessary and confusing.

Join the rest of the US on St Patrick's day (clearly no one is honoring a saint) or leave out eggs on Easter.

Why do you have to associate any of these things with Catholicism? It's an unnecessary reach.
Just do it to be curious and have fun, you're tripping yourself up by trying to make a relationship that isn't there

upsetting perhaps to people with a limited view of what Catholic culture is or should be, but not to people who can enjoy the rituals without the beliefs.

In a few years, maybe the advent calendar and other rituals will have gone the secular way that St Pats day and Halloween have gone -- and where Christmas is heading.

Exactly, but its not Catholic then. The ritual without the belief makes it not Catholic . why the obsession with trying to label it Catholic? Just do it

because it' a tradition that grew out of catholicism -- just like Christmas traditions have grown out of Christianity, and before that, grew out of other ancient myths (e.g. Mithras, Osiris, Sol invictus)

It's hardly an obsession -- it common sense and tradition through the ages.

[Anonymous]

Yup, I was raised catholic but am now atheist. I still celebrate xmas and with it, I do all the things my mother did. advent calendar and all those fun xmas things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know we shouldn't discourage someone from cracking open the door to these traditions. Who knows where the path may lead. And if more people are invited to participate then that widens the circle of community.

and any old person could walk in. People who don't know what it means to really be Catholic and would break all the rules and think it was OK.

Actually that applies to a lot of cafeteria Catholics now. They believe in something and may even pledge to a parish, but they only follow the rules that make sense to them.

Perhaps the church should route them out and demand full compliance or drop them from the rolls.

But if that happened, the Catholic church would go broke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know we shouldn't discourage someone from cracking open the door to these traditions. Who knows where the path may lead. And if more people are invited to participate then that widens the circle of community.

and any old person could walk in. People who don't know what it means to really be Catholic and would break all the rules and think it was OK.

Actually that applies to a lot of cafeteria Catholics now. They believe in something and may even pledge to a parish, but they only follow the rules that make sense to them.

Perhaps the church should route them out and demand full compliance or drop them from the rolls.

But if that happened, the Catholic church would go broke.

Are you kidding? Do you know how much gold and priceless artwork the vatican owns?

Demanding full compliance already happened btw--it was called the Inquisition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know we shouldn't discourage someone from cracking open the door to these traditions. Who knows where the path may lead. And if more people are invited to participate then that widens the circle of community.

and any old person could walk in. People who don't know what it means to really be Catholic and would break all the rules and think it was OK.

Actually that applies to a lot of cafeteria Catholics now. They believe in something and may even pledge to a parish, but they only follow the rules that make sense to them.

Perhaps the church should route them out and demand full compliance or drop them from the rolls.

But if that happened, the Catholic church would go broke.

Are you kidding? Do you know how much gold and priceless artwork the vatican owns?

Demanding full compliance already happened btw--it was called the Inquisition.

Oh, That's right -- they wouldn't go broke until they sold off all the gold and priceless art work. Plus if they invested wisely, they could go on indefinitely, without the need for any churches at all. Maybe they are planning that right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Perhaps you shouldn't tell people you are not acquainted with what has no meaning for them

Lighting candles without believing has no meaning.

Lighting candles bring light into darkness, with or without belief

Never were truer words spoken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You know we shouldn't discourage someone from cracking open the door to these traditions. Who knows where the path may lead. And if more people are invited to participate then that widens the circle of community.

and any old person could walk in. People who don't know what it means to really be Catholic and would break all the rules and think it was OK.

Actually that applies to a lot of cafeteria Catholics now. They believe in something and may even pledge to a parish, but they only follow the rules that make sense to them.

Perhaps the church should route them out and demand full compliance or drop them from the rolls.

But if that happened, the Catholic church would go broke.

Even if only one person is moved to be closer to God, let them come.

[Anonymous]

Have an epiphany/12th night party with king's cake! I did not do this growing up, but worked for a catholic non-profit for several years which did this instead of a christmas party. It is a nice way to bring some brightness to a cold January day.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would stay away from the more religious traditions/prayers and do the more fun folk traditions.

Here's what I would do if I wanted to incorporate "cultural Catholic" stuff into my family's life.

Advent wreaths are meant for prayer with the family. I would not include that without the prayer part. An advent calendar would be fine, though, because it doesn't include the prayers, the "Yay, Christmas is coming aspects." (Lego sells some cute ones.) You could also include a Nativity scene as decoration. There is a lot of lovely religious Christmas music, so include that in your holiday prep.

You might want to put up an ofrenda for Halloween/All Saints Day. They are a very pretty way to remember deceased family members.

Mardi Gras is the celebration before Lent. Lent involves giving something up, so people party before it. Learn about those things and do them. Ie. "I am giving up Starbucks for Lent and giving the $5 per day that I spend on it to the poor."

For Easter, you could have baskets and an Easter Egg hunt.

There aren't a ton of Catholic holidays in the summer, but May is one of the months that Catholics celebrate Mary. During Mother's Day, when I was in Catholic school, we always crowned a statute of Mary with roses for Mother's Day.

Some Catholic parishes celebrate pet blessings in the summer or the fall. St. Francis's Day is October 4, and there are also animal blessings on that day. A parish near where I grew up always had a "blessing of the fleet" in the summer, which involved parading the boast before a priest on a dock or a boat who then blessed each one. That's pretty fun to watch.

Lots of Catholic parishes have parish picnics in the summer. Those are pretty fun and can involve pretty good ethnic (German, Polish, Mexican, Italian) food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I would stay away from the more religious traditions/prayers and do the more fun folk traditions.

Here's what I would do if I wanted to incorporate "cultural Catholic" stuff into my family's life.

Advent wreaths are meant for prayer with the family. I would not include that without the prayer part. An advent calendar would be fine, though, because it doesn't include the prayers, the "Yay, Christmas is coming aspects." (Lego sells some cute ones.) You could also include a Nativity scene as decoration. There is a lot of lovely religious Christmas music, so include that in your holiday prep.

You might want to put up an ofrenda for Halloween/All Saints Day. They are a very pretty way to remember deceased family members.

Mardi Gras is the celebration before Lent. Lent involves giving something up, so people party before it. Learn about those things and do them. Ie. "I am giving up Starbucks for Lent and giving the $5 per day that I spend on it to the poor."

For Easter, you could have baskets and an Easter Egg hunt.

There aren't a ton of Catholic holidays in the summer, but May is one of the months that Catholics celebrate Mary. During Mother's Day, when I was in Catholic school, we always crowned a statute of Mary with roses for Mother's Day.

Some Catholic parishes celebrate pet blessings in the summer or the fall. St. Francis's Day is October 4, and there are also animal blessings on that day. A parish near where I grew up always had a "blessing of the fleet" in the summer, which involved parading the boast before a priest on a dock or a boat who then blessed each one. That's pretty fun to watch.

Lots of Catholic parishes have parish picnics in the summer. Those are pretty fun and can involve pretty good ethnic (German, Polish, Mexican, Italian) food.

Useful advice for someone wanting to be more Catholic, but OP does not -- just wants her kids to be involved in some of the traditions. Thus, it doesn't seem useful to tell her that prayer is needed with an advent wreath -- that's only if you believe in prayer and want to do it the proper Catholic way. The same with giving up something for lent. OP might be OK with the idea of giving something up, but it wouldn't have to be in conjunction with Catholic beliefs.

The last idea of attending parish picnics seem like a way to put OP and child in a situation where they will be encouraged to return to the church not just chow down on ethnic food -- which you can get at a restaurant. It's hard to imagine an outsider showing up at a parish picnic just for the food. A better option would be the festivals that some churches have, that are meant to raise money -- like the greek festival at St. Sophia's. They welcome all comers and people can get a taste of the religion without indicating any interest in joining.