Catholicism in the South: Once a Strange Religion, Now Forging Ahead With Evangelical Fervor

The National Catholic Register ^ | 7/1/12 | Dana Lorelle

[crosshairs]

Catholicism in Louisiana goes back a long way.

Yep. They gave us Mardi Gras.

[crosshairs]

And if she went to a Catholic school or CCD classes, she also learned all of the Bible.

I went to catholic school for 12 years and we never cracked open the Bible. Studied a lot of catholic encyclicals though.

[Cronos]

they have been a disappointment to me on a few occasions well, quite frankly, we should not look only to individual members but rather at dogma. There are good Southern Baptists and there is Jimmy Carter. One can't judge SB dogma by Jimmy

have found way to many leaders in the church that are not trustworthy and I think this has spilled over to make me hesitant to trust Priests. -- oh, you'll find dumb priests too, but the beauty is that the priest is just the ministerial priest -- we're all priests and during the mass we have our ONE High Priest, Jesus Christ, present in the Eucharist. It's Him there, at every mass all over the world, presiding.

That weak, fallible tool that is the ministerial priest is just a tool for the High Priest.

Ditto for confession, we are confessing to God, the priest is a tool for this. the priest doesn't forgive the sins, God does and the priest follows.

[Cronos]

” He said that the sin is in being a drunkard but that drinking wine in itself was not sinful. He said that drinking wine (in moderation) was even encouraged as being healthy and good for the body. “ — that’s straight from proverbs. God gave us a mind to control, we are not animals...

[Melinda in TN]

Thank you Cronos. I think I’m really a closet Catholic at heart. It’s really odd how I have always been drawn to the Catholic church but have been a Baptist all my life.

[Cronos]

We get blessed by folks revitalizing the Church... but, the main thing is that you are seeking to imitate Christ. That’s the best any of us can try for.

[Mad Dawg]

Melinda, we need to talk.:-)

I’m putting you on my prayer list! Daggum!

This is not the official theology on sacramental confession, but it’s part of how I think of it: IF we think that IHS truly forgives us when we repent, IF we think that His forgiveness more than over-balances our own self-condemnation and the judgments of men, If we realio-trulio thought that through and through, we’d have little difficulty in confessing our sins to one another, much less to some guy in his office or “the box.” [cue scary music.]

So one thing I think I’m doing when I approach confession is that I’m training myself in my belief that the most important thing is not the opinion of men but the Love of God. It’s a version of “put your money where your mouth is.” Leaving aside the sacramental part, it’s just a good discipline. I need to do it more than my current once a month, more or less.

(Also, you get to make GREAT jokes. One priest and I keep promising ourselves we’re going to put up a sign outside his “box” saying, “EXPRESS LANE — 7 sins or fewer only!”)

---

A young (mainland Chinese) man who was baptized this Easter passed me the other say grinning like an idiot. I said, “Aoxing! What’s up?” He said, “I just made my first confession. It was GREAT!”

---

A lady I sponsored into “full communion” about 6 years ago was so anxious about her first confession that she asked me to sit with her until she went into the pastor’s office. So we kind of sat there awkwardly the way you do before surgery or something. Then she goes in. Maybe 20 minutes later she comes out smiling. I said, “Well?”

She said, “THAT’s the best weight-loss program EVER!”

---

IMHO, they both had taken a step deeper into their own faith; they had ACTED on their belief that the Love of God is stronger than their shame and guilt. And they were immediately blessed by the consequent reordering of their priorities.

So, leaving aside the “hafta-gotta” side of it, those Catholics who have had a personal experience of Christ’s love and “know [at least a little] Him whom they have believed” usually experience confession as happy thing.

[GeorgiaGuy]

“Where are they building it?”

Here’s the story:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/09/08/1469341/cathedral-will-go-up-in-west-raleigh.html

[terycarl]

I went to catholic school for 12 years and we never cracked open the Bible. Studied a lot of catholic encyclicals though. I also went to Catholic school and it was always understood that everything that we read was biblical. You say that "we" never cracked open the bible....who"s "we" ?? if you were interested in learning YOUR religion, perhaps you should have placed it in context and followed up on its history...Catholicism is, of course, the only true Christian religion therefore anything that you read in the bible is of Catholic origin. Your Catholic education should have provided you with an impenetrable force field through which cult or protestant nonsense would be ineffective'

[terycarl]

Catholicism in Louisiana goes back a long way.

2012 years

[terycarl]

The only real problem I have with the Catholic faith is their error in believing that they have to confess to a priest to keep themselves out of trouble. The Catholics that I know at work have the attitude that they can do anything they want (curse, lie, ect.) and just go confess it tomorrow and it will all be fine. Forgiveness for sin comes with responsibility to not do the

you couldn't be more wrong....Protestants believe that since Jesus died for the remission of all sin, they can act as they please and reccieve forgiveness.... Catholics recognize the redemption qualities of the crucifixion, but also recognize that Jesus said to His apostles, whose sin you shall forgive, they are forgiven, whose sin you shall retain, they are retained. We bvelieve that confession can forgive sin but ONLY WITH THE CONDITION THAT WE REPENT OF THE SIN AND TRY TO NEVER REPEAT IT.....not quite do as you please...