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To: NYer
Strong Catholic preaching coming from the pulpits, solid meat and potatoes Catholicism has largely been replaced by a psychobabble that is no better than “chicken soup for the soul”. And this present reality has had serious consequences. The first I call “Latin flight”- people leaving the very rite that they grew up in, the Latin Rite Catholics that they are, and they begin to head towards the east, knowing that the Church “breathes with both lungs” they have found more “spiritual oxygen” if you will in the Maronite, Byzantine or Melkite Rite. Furthermore , some have headed off to Fundamentalist Protestant groups, where at least they can hear a sermon that Christ is Lord and universal Savior of the human race, and the bible being utterly inerrant.

I thought of you when I heard this...;-)

2 posted on 10/20/2005 10:34:44 AM PDT by murphE (These are days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed but his own. --G.K. Chesterton)
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To: murphE
I thought of you when I heard this...;-)

Lol. That's quite interesting, though. As miserable as I was, the thought of leaving the Catholic Church never occured to me. The only rational explanation for a catholic joining an Evangelical Church, would be poor catechesis ... VERY POOR catechesis. Who would abandon the Sacraments for a bible thumping preacher. On the other hand, as I watched the steady changes in the Latin Church, I truly believed that these were approved. Why else would a priest do something contrary to catholic teaching?

It is through this forum, that I learned about other options. Even then, I never gave up until the other parishioners let me know that restoring the Crucifix to the Sanctuary did not interest them. They were not aware of the GIRM and, worse yet, did not want to know. With so many churches closing in the diocese, they were grateful to the bishop for assigning a vibrant pastor when the previous one died. They loved their parish - first! - and were determined to work with him to keep it alive.

It's somewhat reversed in my Maronite parish. The Church was built as a shrine and only converted after the actual church was destroyed in a fire. These families are very attached to this small building and resentful that we will be moving to a larger one. But the neighborhood is no longer safe and the move is necessary, for their own good. As we prepare to celebrate the parish Centennial, I am at great peace with a beautiful and reverent liturgy, and an orthodox "meat and potatoes" priest.

The awesome beauty of the Catholic Church is beautifuly expressed in the Catechism:

"From the beginning, this one Church has been marked by a great diversity which comes from both the variety of God's gifts and the diversity of those who receive them... Holding a rightful place in the communion of the Church there are also particular Churches that retain their own traditions. The great richness of such diversity is not opposed to the Church's unity" (CCC no. 814).

3 posted on 10/20/2005 1:49:47 PM PDT by NYer (“Socialism is the religion people get when they lose their religion")
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