I have studied the Roman Catholic Church extensively. I wonder if you really understand what the Church teaches. Have you studied Roman Catholicism as it is practiced outside of the US...very different from the American iteration.
Anyway, may your Lenten season be all that you need it to be.
Thanks for your kind thoughts.
Who knows, maybe I don’t understand Catholicism. On the other hand I do distinguish between a “denomination” as a social phenomenon and a the teaching of that group.
I mean, among some, Catholics have a reputation for being anti-sex. And it may well be that in Catholicism as in other groups, humanity’s endemic conflicts about sex show themselves in less than benign ways.
But just as one will find a lot of sick people in hospitals, so one can find a lot of confused people clustering around what just might be a source of truth. I mean it’s not clear that the, so to speak, “religious neurosis” of a lot of Catholics is caused by the Catholic Church, any more than the sickness of hospital patients is caused by the hospital.
The “story” about hot Baptist chicks in Jackson, MS was that since they were “saved” they felt perfectly safe in engaging in fornication. I’m not sure that was true, I’m just saying it was the story. But even if it WERE true, I wouldn’t blame it on Baptist teaching.
So who knows? Maybe I am provincial in my outlook. I just see you suggesting that a sense of oppressive anxiety about Lent which was exhibited by some people you spoke to is the fault of Catholic teaching.
I see the anxiety. I see the Church. I don’t think the Church causes the anxiety any more than I think hospitals cause obesity in the patients who consult physicians but do not comply and may not even understand what the physicians say.
That some people suffer from anorexia nervosa is not the fault of people who say that eating too much has undesirable health consequences. That some people have a self-defeating approach to Lent may not be Lent’s fault.
You avoid answering simple questions. I will restate, who ordained you, when and in what capacity?