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Why I'm Still Catholic (And Why Other People Aren't)
catholic365.com ^ | 6/24/2015 | y Anabelle Hazard

Posted on 06/26/2015 10:18:59 AM PDT by Morgana

My grandmother celebrates 100 years of being a Catholic. She will most likely be a Catholic till her last breath as all my other grandparents were. Me? I’m a mere forty-year cradle Catholic. I own that it hasn’t been easy to remain a faithful daughter of the Church, particularly during my turbulent twenties. There was a period I disagreed with, questioned, and criticized Holy Mother Church. There were times I watched people I love abandon their baptismal promises. Still, I remained true to my heritage.

Why? Why am I still Catholic? It’s for the same reasons why people disagree, question, criticize and leave the Church:

1. The Eucharist. A mystery or a symbol to some, but the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord in the host is clear as the Catechism 1376 puts it, “because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread.” I am more than happy to remain in the Church where Jesus is really and truly present, and where I can be united to Him in receiving Communion.

2. Blessed Virgin Mary. The Church exalts the Mother of God as the perfect apostle and bestows dignity to womanhood. Since Mary was “preserved free from all stain of original sin” (Catechism 966), she is the role model for every Christian. The scripture on the wedding feast at Cana illustrates that she is a powerful intercessor to our prayers and that devotion to her is the fastest, surest way to unity with Christ as she encourages us: “do whatever [Jesus] tells you.” Our Lady is, to me, all that and a mother who cares about my everyday concerns, with the end goal of the sanctifying my soul. “Don’t be afraid of loving Mary too much,” St. Maximilian Kolbe said. “You can’t possibly love her more than Jesus does.”

3. The saints. By the rigorous process of canonization, the Catholic Church venerates the saints as humans who blazed the path on how to live the Christian life and who “provide us with examples on holiness.” The saints also obtain favors for us as they “do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as the proffer the merits which they acquired on earth.” (Catechism 956). Just like any good friend, saints inspire and pray for me. The journey of my spiritual life is easier with their assistance.

4. Penance and Reconciliation. Undoubtedly, the Church houses both saints and sinners. Knowing our fallen nature, which tempts us to sin and often characterizes us as Pharisees, Christ established the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a means for contrite sinners to obtain absolution for our sins. Jesus told St. Faustina “When you approach the confessional…I myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden in the priest.” Never have I heard more powerful words than the merciful ones voiced at the Sacrament of Reconcilation: “I absolve you from your sins, may God give you pardon and peace.”

5. Purgatory. Purgatory is the place where all who die in God’s grace and friendship but are still imperfectly purified undergo purification after death so as the achieve holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. (Catechism 1030). Purgatory as a manifestation of God’s mercy gives me hope that even if I can’t overcome my faults during my life on earth, I still have an opportunity to be sanctified by God’s justice so that I can one day enjoy the beatific vision.

6. Suffering. Suffering is inevitable in our lives because of man’s free will. The Catholic Church makes sense of suffering when it teaches that suffering can be untied with Christ’s passion in atonement for sins. According to St. John Paul II, suffering also increases our capacity for selfless love and hones the virtue of humility. Since scripture says that carrying my cross is necessary to share in Christ’s redemption, the Church not only explains suffering’s purpose but also offers me graces from the Sacraments to endure sacrifice.

7. Magisterium. Jesus Christ established the Catholic Church as the “pillar and bulwark of the truth” to sift through the muddled moral issues that confounds our modern age (and every age) so that she can provide clear guidelines on right versus wrong. “To the Church belongs the right always and everywhere to announce moral principles.” (Catechism 2032) In every moral issue it has addressed, the Church has illustrated wisdom that only comes from the Holy Spirit. I rely on this wisdom to guard my soul from evil and to direct me on the path to eternal life as much as I rely on the promise of Jesus that “the gates of hell shall never prevail against [the Church].”

I could go on and on. The truth in the Catechism and experience of millions of Catholics over two thousand years are inexhaustible. I don't know how far back my Catholic roots go. But I hope I am not the branch that withers and rots off a steadfast family tree and I pray that I leave Catholicism as a fruitful legacy to my children, and generations after them.

Catechism 2030: “It is in the Church, in communion with all the baptized that the Christian fulfills his vocation.”


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic; Charismatic Christian; Evangelical Christian; Theology; Worship
KEYWORDS: catholic
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To: Mark17

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>> “I think Heaven will be filled with horrible sinners. Sinners who were so awful, they realized it, and fled to the Savior for forgiveness. Make sense?” <<

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Tons of it!
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301 posted on 07/02/2015 8:42:21 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: metmom
It wasn’t very popular to say that unbaptized babies didn’t go to heaven or never even had the chance to, so limbo has been essentially dropped.

LOL, so it was dropped? I disagree with their interpretation of the doctrine, but maybe this is what THEY mean by loosing something on earth, means it is loosed in Heaven, or Limbo in this case. 😂 I still want to know what happened to all those poor slobs that were in Limbo, when it was dropped? 😀😆😎 Sorry MM, I just can't stop smiling over this. Does that make me a basher? 😂

302 posted on 07/02/2015 8:44:35 PM PDT by Mark17 (Lonely people live in every city, men who face a dark and lonely grave. Lonely voices do I hear)
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To: Mark17

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>> “ I still want to know what happened to all those poor slobs that were in Limbo, when it was dropped?” <<

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Maybe they dropped down to “lower limbo?”
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303 posted on 07/02/2015 8:48:05 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: editor-surveyor; Mark17
Can you imagine how full the recycle bin on his computer must be? ... :
304 posted on 07/02/2015 8:53:20 PM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
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To: MHGinTN

Nuff room for us I hope!
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305 posted on 07/02/2015 8:59:46 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: editor-surveyor; MHGinTN; metmom
Maybe they dropped down to “lower limbo?”

LOL, a lower limbo huh? Well, sooner or later, some brainiac will figure out they need to will lower limbo out of existence too. Then we are back to square one. I thought maybe they were fat, dumb and happy in limbo, and suddenly they were sent to the flames of purgatory, to serve out their sentences. I bet they were not happy campers. Maybe they were thinking that someone must have bound something on earth, and it was bound in Heaven, and now they were burning up. Heck of a deal, wouldn't you say?

306 posted on 07/02/2015 9:59:24 PM PDT by Mark17 (Lonely people live in every city, men who face a dark and lonely grave. Lonely voices do I hear)
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To: editor-surveyor

“Everything about the RCC is sungod worship,”

We worship the Trinity. The Trinity is not any son god.

“and everyone but the catholics seem to understand that.”

No, actually only crackpots think that. The vast majority of mainstream and even Evangelical Protestants don’t believe that, no Orthodox believe that, no Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist believes that. Just crackpots.

“(everyone of any intelligence anyway)”

Clearly not since crackpots are not very bright.

“The timing of the RCC events being on the traditional ancient pagan days is more than a coincidence.”

This is Friday in your neck of the woods too. That’s according to the “traditional ancient pagan” calendar. Enjoy.

“Who could possibly be fooled by it?”

Since no one attempting to fool anyone - since there is nothing to fool anyone about and no desire to fool anyone - no one at all. Again, if someone is a crack pot, he’ll come up with all sorts of fanciful nonsense.


307 posted on 07/03/2015 6:10:43 AM PDT by vladimir998 (Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
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To: vladimir998

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This is the sixth day of the week for those of us that go by God’s word. It will be until sundown when my Lord’s Sabbath begins.

Fridays are strictly pagan in their origin, and usage, as are all the other sungod days that begin and end at midnight.

God’s events, and his people, do not abide by pagan times.
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308 posted on 07/03/2015 9:17:07 AM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: Mark17; MHGinTN; metmom

And they thought that Limbo was a great deal...

Then they find out that its “Outer Darkness.”

Maybe they’ll be able to get Bertrand Aristede’s autograph!
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309 posted on 07/03/2015 9:24:52 AM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: editor-surveyor

LOL, be too dark to see for confirmation.


310 posted on 07/03/2015 11:45:26 AM PDT by MHGinTN (Is it really all relative, Mister Einstein?)
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To: editor-surveyor

The problem is that many of the things you use everyday have essentially pagan origins: our language is mostly from a pagan people (the Anglo-Saxons), our days and months are named after pagans. If you had a wedding with a ring, white dress, bouquet, vows exchanged in front of witnesses, etc. - you had a wedding filled with what were originally pagan things.

Enjoy your hypocrisy.


311 posted on 07/03/2015 2:22:54 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
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To: Rockingham

You seem to forget the group you chose to believe has a long history of deceit. By the same scientist that have been caught lying, cheating, and adding false info to the global warming climate change debate. Most of which are atheists meaning their father is Satan.

John 8:44
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

They have and agenda whether you believe it or not and that is to discredit the Word of God and Jesus Christ. Try reading both sides of the debate and if you believe then you will discover the real truth.

https://answersingenesis.org/genetics/dna-structure/dna-what-does-it-prove/

Sure you don’t have to follow your Pope, but the tail always follows the head and that’s just reality like it or not. And now we see why Christ Jesus is the head of the Church and why a human leader wasn’t appointed or never meant to be appointed. Humans are sinful thus we can never ever lead the Church correctly.


312 posted on 07/03/2015 8:03:00 PM PDT by mrobisr
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To: mrobisr
The Catholic Church holds that the natural sciences are a valid set of disciplines with their own methods and authority. Ultimately though, as much as science may explain how the world works in material and scientific terms, it does not and cannot fully explain the spiritual dimension of human existence.

Notably, science points toward the creation of the universe as stemming from a moment in time -- indeed, a moment in which not just matter but time itself were created. Philosophically and theologically, this points toward a Creator, and belief in God as the Creator is an irreducible requirement for Catholics.

As for the creation of man, logically, it must stem from a specific moment or period in time and in some manner must involve the bringing into existence of not just man physically but also of his spiritual dimension. No matter how much science may use DNA and paleontological evidence and fashion scientifically credible explanations like evolution for when and how man physically came into existence, science still does not and cannot address how we acquired our spiritual dimension.

Part of that spiritual dimension is that we have not just a body but also a soul that survives our physical death. In crediting miracles, angels, demons, spirits, mystic visions, visitations, and apparitions, the Catholic Church sees our spiritual dimension as richer and more of a challenge to modern atheism and materialism than what is commonly on offer from formal Protestant teaching.

I am heartened though that individually most Protestants give great credit to prayer and things spiritual. Faithful Catholics and Protestants both know that Christ is our Lord and that His and His Father's will are at work in this world in many ways that we but dimly see and poorly understand.

313 posted on 07/04/2015 2:52:45 AM PDT by Rockingham
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To: vladimir998

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Bla, bla, bla..............

You’re not even unique; you’re just another Bible hater. We’re up to our ears in them these days.
.


314 posted on 07/05/2015 4:37:39 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: editor-surveyor

“Bla, bla, bla..............”

When you can’t make an argument just say “bla”?

“You’re not even unique; you’re just another Bible hater.”

No, actually I love scripture. I love it and therefore don’t foist something like sola scriptura upon it.

“We’re up to our ears in them these days.”

Perhaps you’re just easily overwhelmed? People who can’t make an argument usually are.


315 posted on 07/05/2015 4:52:35 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Apparently I'm still living in your head rent free. At least now it isn't empty.)
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To: vladimir998

LOL!

Overwhelmed with comedy?

You’ve presented no palpable argument, no scripture, no physical evidence of any kind, in support of your rejection of scripture.

Scripture is all there is, so of course Sola Scriptura!

Hate, hate, hate for God’s clear plan, and Matthew 7 is your dessert.

Piling it on, Matthew 5, 6, 7, and the catholic heresy melts before our discerning eyes.

Go build a gilded cathedral, while we feed his sheep.
.


316 posted on 07/05/2015 5:08:02 PM PDT by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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