Ask a traditional Catholic

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
201

[QUOTE=FoieGrasIsEvil]
What is your take on the vows of celibacy that priests take?

I personally think this is one area that the Church should give way on, since it’s become abundantly clear as of late that many (many only being a quai-large number because the Church itself is so big, I don’t believe ar assert that a large percentage of priests sin in this way) priests are molesters or homosexuals, possibly due to the fact that their sexual access is restricted to only other males.

Why can’t priests marry and have children as they and the Pope tell the rest of us to do? I cannot believe that God confers any special powers to a priest just because he gives up sex (especially when in fact many don’t, they just have it with altar boys, gay members of the parish or other priests).

I can’t recall anything in the Bible that decrees that priests have to be celibate, IIRC this is strictly a Catholic doctrine thing.

And in keeping with this, what do you think about the Catholic Church’s attempts to sweep this sexual issue under the rug (for example, by simply moving a molester priest to a different parish rather than defrocking him…or whatever firing a priest is called)?
[/QUOTE]

Priestly celibacy is a discipline, not a doctrine, so it could change. In fact, Eastern Catholic priests are allowed to be married.

I think that any attempts to sweep sexual abuse by priests under the rug is horrible. I think that if someone knows that a priest is abusing minors, the person should report the priest to the police, and the bishop should make sure that if the priest gets out of prison, that he is not allowed to act as a priest.

202

[QUOTE=monavis]
I hope this ins’t out of place, but do you believe the sun spun and came closer to earth as some of the so called witnesses claim?

Monavis
[/QUOTE]

I believe that the sun appeared to spin and come close to earth by means of a miracle.

203

[QUOTE=Traditional_Catholic]
In fact, Eastern Catholic priests are allowed to be married.

[/QUOTE]

Technically, married men are allowed to become Eastern Catholic priests – not the other way around.

204

[QUOTE=FriarTed]
I don’t have the site handy, but I recommend the Msgr Ronald Knox translation of the Bible also. I hear it is also coming back into print.

And as a political libertarian, have you read anything by Ayn Rand?
[/QUOTE]

No, I have not.

205

[QUOTE=Sanders]
Technically, married men are allowed to become Eastern Catholic priests – not the other way around.
[/QUOTE]

:smack: That is what I meant.

206

[QUOTE=MissMossie]
Time number three, I believe: How do you define traditional Catholicism?
[/QUOTE]

I define traditional Catholicism as a belief system where the authority of the pope and every other Catholic doctrine and dogma is accepted, and where traditional practices, such as the rosary and the 1962/2008 missal, are preferred.

207

[QUOTE=Traditional_Catholic]
I define traditional Catholicism as a belief system where the authority of the pope and every other Catholic doctrine and dogma is accepted, and where traditional practices, such as the rosary and the 1962/2008 missal, are preferred.
[/QUOTE]

Do you include the Fatima Prayer in your praying of the rosary? Also, how well does the Liturgy of the Hours fit into your day?

208

[QUOTE=nashiitashii]
Do they take you to services every week? How does that work out? I’m assuming that they probably just drop you off if you’re not within walking distance of a Catholic church. Through what methods are you learning about your new religion? Are you actively going to classes at church, or are you doing this on your own? Do you plan to take communion?

Oh, also: are you unaware that there are religions outside of the Abrahamic three? You haven’t mentioned them at all, which is quite interesting.

I was wondering when someone was going to chime in with the specific dates for the Councils of Rome and Carthage, as there was quite a bit of work on organizing the church itself before the emergence of the current hierarchy with the Pope at the top. From what I remembered from [Missouri Synod Lutheran] Sunday school history, a good portion of the decisions regarding what went into the versions of the bible that we had today were decided before a Pope was established.

Back to Traditional Catholic: As a convert, do you feel that you are more religious than Catholics that have not converted to Catholicism? Do you look down on their relative lack of religious fervor or view them as “lacking” or “bad Catholics”? What makes you so sure about all the scripture that you have encountered? After all, you did discover Catholicism on the internet, and there’s a lot of bad information out there on all sorts of religions.

What’s the religious make-up of the area you’re in? Are you a lone Catholic in a sea of other religions? Are you exposed to people of other religions beyond Christianity and Judaism?
[/QUOTE]

I take the bus to Mass. I learn about Catholicism by reading spiritual books, such as books by and about Saints. I receive Communion.

I am certainly aware of religions besides the Abrahamic three, but I did not mention them because I did not have enough time to talk about every religion.

I do not know whether I am any more religious than most cradle Catholics, or if any one person is a good Catholic or a bad Catholic. I do not look down on cradle Catholics. Most of my information about Catholicism comes from non-Internet sources.

While they are many Catholics in the local area, most people are not Christian or Jewish. They are far more people who are non-religious, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, or members of another religious group than Christians or Jews.

209

Traditional, how does the Church recuse itself from the atrocities of the past, like the Inquisition?
Did the Church ever apologize?
As far as I can tell, missions are extremely important to the Church for not only benign reasons, but for conversions (which history illustrates can be very, ah, forceful), so has the Church acknowledged it’s waywardness in this area through papal doctrine?
There were some pretty evil popes during the Middle Ages…how is any of their rulings, writings, etc considered today in light of their political and war-mongering in the past?

210

[QUOTE=MissMossie]
Do you include the Fatima Prayer in your praying of the rosary? Also, how well does the Liturgy of the Hours fit into your day?
[/QUOTE]

I include the Fatima Prayer when I pray the rosary, but I cannot afford a breviary, so I cannot pray the Liturgy of the Hours.

211

[QUOTE=Zsofia]
Do you feel you are in any way betraying a rich Jewish culture? Do you still feel connected to Jewish culture, or do you not feel it is possible to be a Catholic and a cultural Jew?

Has anybody accused you of being a self-hating Jew?
[/QUOTE]

You may have missed this earlier. I’m not trying to be offensive, just to understand your position.

212

[QUOTE=Traditional_Catholic]
I include the Fatima Prayer when I pray the rosary, but I cannot afford a breviary, so I cannot pray the Liturgy of the Hours.
[/QUOTE]
If you’re looking for a good traditional breviary Traditional_Catholic, the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (aka the FSSP: Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Petri) has done a lovely reprint of the 1962 breviary, in two volumes. I got mine through them. They were based in Pennsylvania, but I think they’ve moved to Nebraska now. It was very reasonably priced too.

213

Check out the e-breviary. Also, if you have any religious communities in your area, there’s a good chance that they open their prayer to the community. I’m most likely biased, but there’s nothing like joining Benedictines for some good, contemplative Liturgy of the Hours praying.

214

This is a very different question from the rest in the thread, but as a cultural jew who is facinated by non-jewish beliefs (not interested in converting, people have made that mistake in the past, I just find other people’s world view interesting) I have always wondered:

What is the difference between the sects of Catholasism (sp?). Not protestant sects, but what is the difference between say the Fransiscans and the Jesuits? Greek Orthidox, Russian Orthidox, RCC etc.?

In terms someone who was not raised around much Christianity and even less Catholasism might understand.

Also, the trinity has never made sense to me. Could you explain that in simple terms? I don’t understand the whole holy ghost aspect. I could never figure what that represented. I get the father and the son (more or less).

Probably softball questions (the holy ghost one in particular), but ones I have never gotten clear answers on. I don’t know any practicing Catholics and I think the christians I know tend to assume that I have more background knowledge on the subject than I do.

215

[QUOTE=Traditional_Catholic]
While no one was, strictly speaking, a Christian until Jesus came along, Jews did believe that a messiah was coming and that he would be the king of the Jews.
[/QUOTE]

The Messiah in Judaism is nothing like Jesus. The Jewish Messiah was meant to fulfill certain conditions, and Jesus failed to do so. It is disingenuous to count early Jews as proto-Christians since Jesus was espousing heretical ideas and failed to meet the ones that were set out.

http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/web/faq/general_messiah-criteria02.html

216

[QUOTE=Traditional_Catholic]
According to His Holiness Pope Pius IX, those who do not formally belong to the Church because they are ignorant of Her, and follow the natural law are material members of the Church, and will go to Heaven when they die.
Those who know about the Catholic Church but do not join Her are not members of the Church. This includes most Protestants and Eastern Orthodox who have reached the use of reason.
[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Traditional_Catholic]
A member of the Church is anyone in the state of grace, in other words, any baptized person who has not committed any serious sins that God has not forgiven. The invincibly ignorant (the unbaptized who follow the natural law, but do not know that baptism is necessary for salvation) also become members of the Church upon death.
[/QUOTE]

This is a bit harsher than the Church’s position. “Those ‘who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church.’ With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound ‘that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord’s Eucharist.’” (CCC 838)

“The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims…” (CCC 841)

If I understand correctly, you imply that those who “know about” the Church, but do not join her, will not enter heaven. The catechism states:

“…they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.” (CCC 846)

“Those who, though no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience–those too may achieve eternal salvation.” (CCC 847)

Most non-Catholics may know many things about the Church, but very few of them know the Church.

There is a tremendous difference between rejecting the Church and rejecting one’s own conception of the Church.

I still have two other questions, if you’re willing.

217

[QUOTE=Telemark]
The Messiah in Judaism is nothing like Jesus. The Jewish Messiah was meant to fulfill certain conditions, and Jesus failed to do so. It is disingenuous to count early Jews as proto-Christians since Jesus was espousing heretical ideas and failed to meet the ones that were set out.

http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/web/faq/general_messiah-criteria02.html
[/QUOTE]

Sure sounds like Jesus to me. I clicked that link expecting way better arguments than what they present there. I’m curious to discuss this, but in the interests of not derailing Traditional’s thread, perhaps this would make an interesting Great Debates topic?

218

[QUOTE=NAF1138]
What is the difference between the sects of Catholasism (sp?). Not protestant sects, but what is the difference between say the Fransiscans and the Jesuits? Greek Orthidox, Russian Orthidox, RCC etc.?
[/quote]

The Franciscans and the Jesuits are different religious orders, with different charisms/specialties. The Franciscans are hippy poor guys. The Jesuits are Jedi Knights.

The laity are not typically affiliated with any religious order.

The Greek and Russian Orthodox are not Catholic. The Catholic and Orthodox churches split in 1054. There are, however, Eastern Catholic churches that are in union with Rome while maintaing the Eastern liturgy and traditions.

[QUOTE=NAF1138]
Also, the trinity has never made sense to me. Could you explain that in simple terms?
[/QUOTE]

The Trinity in simple terms… I’ll leave that one to Bricker. :smiley:

219

[QUOTE=NAF1138]
Also, the trinity has never made sense to me. Could you explain that in simple terms?
[/QUOTE]

You are aware that there have been thousands of scholars who’ve been trying to make sense of the Trinity for thousands of years, right? There’s a reason it’s considered one of the mysteries of the faith.

220

[QUOTE=Sanders]
Sure sounds like Jesus to me. I clicked that link expecting way better arguments than what they present there. I’m curious to discuss this, but in the interests of not derailing Traditional’s thread, perhaps this would make an interesting Great Debates topic?
[/QUOTE]

Try this link instead: http://www.messiahtruth.com/response.html

The fact is that the Jewish Messiah isn’t divine, and is supposed to accomplish several concrete things in his lifetime. Those weren’t met. It’s silly to assume early Jews as proto-Christians; it’s just factually incorrect.