Posted on 05/10/2006 5:48:08 PM PDT by sionnsar
That's very true. We enjoy going to different parishes when we are travelling.
However, we do more at our parish than just attend Mass. We have Religious Education, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, youth group, and other activities. One need not do any of these things at a Catholic parish, of course, but we like to be involved. Changing parishes because this or that element wasn't to our taste would be disruptive to our whole family.
If you think something in a parish is dangerous, as opposed to just "not ideal," then you have an obligation in conscience to go somewhere else.
The task of rearing one's children in the faith falls first and principally to oneself. The more help one has from one's parish community, the better, but a mom and a dad who do their best to practice and teach the faith are the crucial element.
Very true...but there has to be a minimum level of support from the Church in this endeavor. The average parish (save one which has now also soured) in the Archdiocese of Baltimore does not meet that minimum level, IMHO. During our whole time there, we were never registered at a parish, and I was quite reluctant to ever want to convert anyone to only have them exposed to the nonsense in these churches. I feel that we have to fix our own house first (by fix, I mean only the necessary things for salvation) before we bring anyone else in. Terrible to say, I know.
Renewal of the Church will start from the home. I feel that I fixed my own house (myself and my family) now with our recent move, but in no way will I let my guard down in rearing my children in the faith.
I think by "fine line" I was specifically referring to liturgical practices.
Examples of what would be dangerous IMO:
Priests changing the words (ad-libbing)at Mass, whether essential or not because this makes a mockery in either case.
Homilies bordering on and/or overtly heretical
For children, seeing bad example in the worship accorded to Our Lord in the Eucharist
Examples of what is not dangerous, but not ideal:
Bad music
Bland homilies
Lack of parish community
The fine line lies in what one considers to be dangerous or not. Not all will necessarily agree with my categorization above.
Persecution, therefore, will never be lacking. For, when our enemies from without leave off raging and there ensues a span of tranquility—even of genuine tranquility and great consolation at least to the weak—we are not without enemies within, the many whose scandalous lives wound the hearts of the devout... So it is that those who want to live piously in Christ must suffer the spiritual persecution of these and other aberrations in thought and morals, even when they are free from physical violence and vexation.
St. Augustine
As a Catholic, my faith tells me that the Church has a divine origin, but my own experience tells me that it must be divine because no human institution run with an equal mixture of ineptitude and wickedness would have lasted a fortnight.
--Hilaire Belloc
I'm Jewish and always will be but if I were to convert it would Eastern Orthodox. They seem more real and traditional. Much less concessions to modern life and frivolity. Their married priests make sense to me - I know not all are allowed to be married
No, we all put our lines in different places, or even have a different graph.
However, if non-Catholic churches are inside the lines, then there's a much more substantial issue. Although I respect the Eastern Orthodox (as a generality - they have lemons just like every other church), there are serious theological differences between Orthodoxy and Catholicism. They are not interchangeable. (Here I'm addressing the thread subject, rather than you personally :-).
excellent quotes, brother. Ol' Rod has gone off the deep end. Good thing for him he wasn't alive early in the 11th century when the public pederasty and homosexuality of clerics was so scandalous that St. Peter Damien had to write Gomorrah.
You're joking, right?
Nope. Something to do with what started out as a good topic(family dinnertimes), flooded into a discussion on how we look at home. Personally, I don't worship food, I eat food...
I look like a slob at home. Salespeople at the door regularly take me for the nanny, and I don't correct them :-).
We eat food here, too. I don't think Rod Dreher has enough children to really understand this point.
I'm not sure whom you're addressing as "you all," and I can't be offended at "the tendency to follow the man not the institution," because I don't know what you're talking about.
That said, my family's practice has always been to attend the closest Catholic church. The only time we would not do this would be if there were serious problems with doctrine; sometimes one just gets a moonbat priest.
I also found Rod Dreher's "CrunchyCon" stuff to be an aesthetic pose, rather than real ideas. However, that might just be farm-kid reverse-snobbery on my part :-).
I only have this to say to Mr. Dreher: the only person who can protect your children from abuse by priests (or anyone else) is YOU! The only thing you have to do to make sure that no priest ever gets his hands on one of your sons is to make sure that one of your sons is never alone with a priest. It is that simple. Every case of abuse I’ve ever read about occurred b/c the parents
trusted the priest and the child was therefore allowed to be in the company of the priest for extended periods of time with no one else present. And if he is so foolish as to assume that he can avoid having to deal with this problem by transferring his allegiance to the Orthodox (or any other Christian group for that matter),then he’s not nearly so bright as I had thought.
It also sounds to be like Dreher is angling for some increased attention from the Church. Perhaps the local priests are not “sucking up” enough.
I'll take your word for this, because I've never noticed this particular line of criticism. But I wasn't looking for it, either :-).
I have posited this idea and never get what I consider to be an honest acknowledgment of this trend.
I have known Catholics who chose a parish other than their local church, for various reasons, including the pastor. I don't know if the percentage of "non-local" attendees is significant enough to be a "trend", but it's possible.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.