When in Rome…
We did our practice run today for the sacrament of confirmation, as expected it was chaos. They spent at least 5 minutes debating the process, it seemed no one had the plan. So the Father wanted to it one way, the RCIA director another, and I just sat and waited. It was like watching your parents fight over the best route to get somewhere.
Again we got herded and treated like schoolchildren, I just kept quiet and did what I was told. Walk here, walk there, be in line, stay in order. Once things finally settled down, it was fine, but there was so much focus on the non-essentials that I worried that the essentials would get lost. That’s really been my complaint all along, we focus on the things that just don’t matter so much. And there is a tendency to gloss over the critical items, a friend who is going through the process said essentially the same thing. Her sponsor ran RCIA many years ago, and has been frustrated with the lack of depth in the program.
I would have made an agenda, had agreement before anyone showed up. Handed out the agenda and then just do a simple walk through, it could have been handled so much better. But that’s me, I over prepare, and I like to be organized and work through things first.
A humorous moment, was when we all stood for confirmation and then went back to our seats. The order got wrong and that caused confusion, I watched amused as they tried to solve the problem. Finally the RCIA director gave up and said “just sit back down, it doesn’t matter!!”. To which I smiled and said “She Gave Up!!!”, she laughed and asked for my certificate back, I told her she, the Father and I would need to talk about that! We all cracked up laughing, it was a good way to add some levity to the process. Father Len was very lighthearted which also helped.
We are ready, everything is in place, I won’t drop the host. Or spill the wine, I know what to say, and what to do. I’ve done my confession, I’ve spent time with my sponsor to make sure he knows I’m ready. I’m not a ceremony guy, I don’t really like all the pomp. But I’ll make an exception here, if done with reverence, I might even shed a tear or two. It’s been known to happen from time to time 
And then we will be done, and what I am looking forward too the most, is on April 30th, at 5pm. We will do our first Communion at our new parish, with our new family there. The Church won’t be packed, it will be the small crowd. Mass will be quiet and dignified, and then I’ll finally feel home. That is what I have been waiting for, I’ll no longer be an interloper. I’ll be able to finally celebrate, I can’t wait. I’ll reserve my tears of joy until that time.
-Paul-
WILMA!!!!!
Michelle and I met with our sponsor this week, and had a fabulous get together. John and I are on different planets, but we both come from protestant backgrounds and in that respect are alike, we also both tend to be bookworms.
A funny conversation came up about the KofC, I asked John what he knew about them and if he had actually joined. Because if there’s anyone I know would would, join it would be John. Sure enough, he was approached and to use his words, “joined to make someone else happy”. But it didn’t last, he did the “secret” ceremony, attended a couple of meetings, and then just lost interest. He said he didn’t need a hat with feathers, or a sword, and that it just wasn’t for him, and he really joined for the wrong reasons.
I told him about my experience, and how that I just can’t help but think of the Flintstones every time I see a KofC member. Maybe it’s a sin, but it just happens. By his expression I don’t think it ever had occurred to him before and we all got a good laugh out of it.
Again another blessing on this journey, I wanted to meet with John for the simple reason that we had not gotten together and I wanted him to know our progress. The official RCIA rules clearly state that the sponsors job is to affirm that the candidate(s) are fully ready to be received into the church. Honestly, to this point no one asked. So I took it upon myself to make sure that our entry into the Catholic Church was fully honest and that we got all the pieces right, it’s important if I’m going to commit. But we got so much more out the meeting, it was good to share fellowship with someone who had been there, laugh some and finally come to peace with this process.
Its Good Friday, we both have the day off and are just resting (well we have lots of little chores to do), but we are finally ready. Yesterday I read an amazing article written by Jeff Dunn over at internet Monk:
I was sitting at work at the end of the day and this piece brought everything together for me, I was very happy with our reconciliation experience. But it didn’t match up with what others had told me about, I know that’s a dangerous thing to do, but I’m human after all. But this piece nailed it straight into my heart, it finally brought the message of salvation, grace and mercy all into a neat little package. And showed that the Catholic Church again, has the right of an issue that so many protestants just don’t understand, or worse don’t want to.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about a simple faith, simple belief, and simple worship. The Parish we are joining, is very modern and austere, and it’s starting to impact my idea of worship. I still love a good Gothic style cathedral, but there is a certain beauty in a sparse presentation. Growing up around the desert, my family always talked about how that the desert was God’s handiwork, it took me years to figure that out. But I think they where right, this is something I’ll elaborate on later.
I’m two classes away from finishing Philosophy 101, it’s been fun. I get up every Saturday morning at six, eat breakfast and we run off downtown to Boise State University. I do 3 hours of mind bending study, and Michelle does the weeks grocery shopping. I had a friend tell me I would hate Saturday morning class, but boy was he wrong. I LOVE it, I get to argue about God, Philosophy and some great thinkers. I jump sides and argue from the atheist position, and generally just have a blast. And it’s really effected the way I look at my thought processes, the tests suck, but I’m test phobic by nature.
But I’m looking forward to being off for a while and just settling down a bit, I need a nap now
Blessings
-Paul-
Coming Clean
We did our first reconciliation last night, this was the thing I was the most nervous about, and caused the most apprehension. Our group did a standard reconciliation service, with everyone going together as a single event. We just didn’t really feel comfortable with that. So we set up a private appointment at our local parish (RCIA is run at a different parish, which makes things a little confusing sometimes).
We arrived to a dark and empty church, oddly quiet and still. Father Chuey was already seeing the few that came for confession, so we sat and waited. Out of nowhere a woman approached us and started talking about her experience, it had been a long time since she had done a confession and was so moved she wanted to share. I think it was divine providence, what better example for someone doing this for the first time, nervous, scared, than to have a soul who was overflowing with joy at feeling so clean.
It made the waiting easier, I told Michelle that we must look like the church information service, because we always get approached with questions (and we aren’t official members yet). Michelle was going to go first, because I was still stressing about doing this. But God intervened and I got invited first, so with fear and trepidation I went in. I was so befuddled that I couldn’t even recall everything I needed to. So I covered the big ones, we talked, and the father, insightful as always. Told me to forgive myself, do my penance and move onto serving God. I would not say I was glowing when I left, but I wondered if Protestants actually understood what they where missing. The whole sacrament allowed me to move on, to start letting go of things that where poisoning my faith. I did feel cleaner, and I intend to do this again. It will now be part of my normal routine, what a blessing, and next time I’ll know what to say
Michelle and I when younger made some mistakes that have haunted us for years, finally we were able to get those out of the way. It had a big impact on us, Father Chuey showed such compassion in his advice and understanding and gently guided us through the whole process. So now on the other side, I’m finding again the simple beauty of the Catholic orthopraxy (right practice), my sponsor mentioned he goes once a quarter to confession. I’m thinking that’s not enough for all the trouble I can cause, and I like that our service was quiet and allowed me time to reflect and just be still.
We sat in the car and shed some tears together, finally able to put behind us things that have been on our hearts together for a long long time. We both feel like we are finally coming home, I only wish my Protestant brothers and sisters would stop and actually learn what the Catholic actually teaches, and be open to the blessing it has to offer. We are now believers in what the sacrament of reconciliation can really do in the lives of believers.
Now onto Easter Sunday and our finally partaking in the Eucharist, it’s been a long time getting here. And the journey is just beginning….
Into the final stretch
It’s Palm Sunday, we are one week away from completing our journey to the Catholic Church. We studied the creed Thursday which was actually pretty good, I enjoyed the history lesson and the story behind both the Apostles and the Nicene. It was good have to a class that stuck to the basics. But the other parts of the RCIA have really started to heat up, we have been told now at least 10 times what to wear on Easter Sunday. The schedule is so convoluted and twisted that I just gave up, and Michelle is in charge of making sure I show up at the right time at the right place (at least I know what to wear!).
Had it not been for our discussion with Fr Chuey, I would have stopped this ride on thursday night and just given up. Michelle has expressed the same frustration with the process that I have, we have been treated like 10 year olds from the very start. I’m not trying to be disrespectful, but I can count on one hand the times we actually learned something deeper than an RCIC class would get. I’m pretty sure that after about the 3rd lecture on what to wear everyone (who is over 18) would have gotten the message of what to wear on Easter!, seriously! perhaps talking more about the REVERENCE for the Mass, and WHY we are there would accomplish the same goals.
So today we go to mass (our last as interlopers! ;), then we have a ‘retreat’ that lasts most of the day. To give you an idea of our mindset at the moment, we are honestly thinking that this retreat will just be another “How does that make you feel?” exercise, and have nothing to do with what we do next Sunday. When RCIA becomes about the how, and NOT about the why, you start to lose people. Honestly, as bad as this sounds. We just want to get it over, so we can finally worship at the Eucharist. We have friends who feel the same, the RCIA process has become a circus of ceremony, and the middle we feel lost and alone.
Last week marked one year since Michael Spencer (aka the Internet Monk) passed away, I know this seems like an odd statement to make while lamenting the RCIA process. But go with me on this, I found Michael Spencer at the suggestion of a fellow theology student. At the time we where searching for a home church. When I started reading his works, I was floored. Here is someone who understands why I don’t trust ‘Church People’, who understands the pain of someone who doesn’t measure up to fundamentalist standards. Who saw the evangelical circus for what is was, and didn’t mince words. I found Michael too late, he was already sick when I ran across his site and he passed away before I ever got to meet him. Michael’s wife Denise converted to Catholicism a few years back, and it was his writings on the Catholic faith that made me curious. He could never leave his baptist upbringing, but he did find the same reverence that we have found in the normal Catholic services.
Neither Michelle or I, would be here at all. If not for Michaels ability to say it like it is, to express the pain and frustration that we went through. Our road to rome really started with a minister who himself could not get past infant baptism, or the marian doctrines. But he loved Catholics, the same that he loved any of the other faiths. I guess you could say our journey to rome, started with a baptist preacher. And that’s a pretty amazing thought, at times we have felt compelled to do this, while I am frustrated at this point of the RCIA process. I desperately want to be on the other side and be a full member. I want to sign up for the Eucharistic ministry, and spend some time server the Church. And more than anything else, I want to reach out to Protestants interested in the Catholic Church and show them the depth and reverence of what it means to be Catholic.
Thank you God, for your Grace. For your church, and for using men like Michael Spencer to show us a way out of the Post-Evangelical Wilderness. I just want this to all be over, so I can share in the Eucharist. We have waited a long time, we are parched and tired. Next Sunday cannot come quickly enough…
-Paul-
Remnants of the old world…
Friday we sat down with our Parish priest to discuss some issues that caused us to question our going through the final ceremonies to join the Catholic church. The Father was very kind, and had some great advice that we have taken to heart. We decided based on the conversation, that going forward and joining the Church is the right thing for us to do. So a little less than two weeks and we will finally be able to partake in the Eucharist, we are very excited. It will be good to finally be through the RCIA process.
We spent friday evening eating a meal prepared by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization of men who honorably serve the Church and their community. Everything was going fine, until I was approached to join the KofC. Not once, but over the period of a few short hours, multiple times. It was incredibly uncomfortable, to the point that I had a very negative reaction to being so aggressively sold on membership. Because there’s nothing more pitiful than a man, sharing a friday dinner with his wife and not being part of a fraternal organization. I have nothing against the KofC, like it was pointed out to me multiple times, they do great work for their community.
But here’s the thing… So do the Mormons, and all the other faiths. The KofC has no proprietary claim on doing good for the community, or their Church. Any good christian person (Catholic or not), can do the same deeds, membership isn’t required.
The whole experience felt so ‘antiquated’, from the aggressive nature of the KofC member who sat at our table. To the shiny badge he and others wore, to just the way they carried themselves. If I didn’t know any better I would have assumed they were masons!, and they do some great work as well.
But I have never seen the need to be part of a fraternal order, or any society that keeps secrets to deepen my faith. Both Michelle’s Father and Grandfather where masons, and to be honest the whole thing seemed like a bunch of men who felt the need to part of something important (and wear silly hats). Membership made you a better person, and unfortunately fed a sense of false pride. I was doing a little research today on the KofC and the one thing that I heard over and over from KofC members. Was all the good that they did, as if that cleared them of any wrong doing, and made them pure and untouchable.No doubt they are a great organization of men, but they do have their secrets no matter how much they deny it. They make the same exact argument that the masons and other groups make for the secrecy of their ceremonies, that is to say that if the information is publicly known. Then it detracts from the impact of said ceremonies. One can find all kinds of straw man arguments, begging the question, and inductive reasoning to defend the secret parts of their ceremonies.
For me, as a protestant converting to Catholicism. The last thing I’m going to do is join *any* group, no matter how much good they do, if they can’t openly and honestly share what they do. The argument from my side is not about the content of the secret, it may be just 4 little ceremonies. It is the fact that in our modern world, we are surrounded by groups who spend all their time doing good. While harboring secrets like this. Like it or not, that doesn’t bode well for groups like the KofC. In my view it is unwise to simply trust that the ceremony is a good thing, if you can’t explain it to me in detail before I get there, then I want nothing to do with you.
The same thing applies to the RCIA process, in our discussion with the Father friday he shared the reasoning behind some of the things the RCIA does. Why we had to find that out at the very end, is simply beyond me!. We have grown increasingly frustrated with lack of information about the RCIA process, and at times we have both felt like the RCIA leaders where keeping us in the dark for our own good. I have learned more researching online about the RCIA, than I ever learned going through the process.
And that is something that the Church is going to have to address, there is a whole generation of people out there who have been hurt by ‘Christianity’. They no longer trust any organized religion, they still believe but they don’t want to be hurt again. Catholics for the most part seem blind to this movement, and that’s a shame. Because we have found the depth, and reverence we so desperately needed in the Mass and teachings of the church. There have certainly been some sticking points, and there will always be. But the Catholic Church has so much to offer, it just needs to wake and realize whats going on.
I think our single biggest frustration has been just how inane some of the RCIA process has been, at time we have honestly just gone through the motions to avoid causing problems. At some point the current process needs to be revisited, more than once I was ashamed at how bad it was. If you take a group of protestants, who are already nervous about Marian theology. And instead of actually making a biblical and historical case for it (which one can do), have a member of the Marian admiration society talk who has no idea what to say, other than to prattle on about Fatima. And your going to start losing people, I’m surprised more people haven’t abandoned the process.
Pope John Paul II, in his last cyclical talked about bringing the church into the modern age of communications. Pope Ratzinger is meeting with a group of bloggers, the day after John Paul II’s beatification (fitting). And I for one think both John Paul and the Holy See understand that the Catholic Church needs to start adapting to the modern age. Not compromise the message, but like the current Pope is doing, reach across the table and show the love of Christ to the rest of the Christian world. Groups like the KofC are going to have a hard time as we move into this new age, there are a lot more like me who don’t want anything to do with secrets or silly ceremonies anymore. We want the real thing, give me the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Or go away…
Hmmm, that sounds like a good idea for a T-Shirt!!!.
-Paul-
Trouble in Paradise
We are finally within reach of our goal of joining the Catholic Church, between work, Philosophy, RCIA, and intermittent bible studies. Our life has become one long blur of running from one task to the other, to be quite frank I can’t wait for RCIA to be over, so we can just rest.
I have to admit to a bit of frustration at the amount of ceremony we are going through to do this, I’ve done my homework. I’ve asked tough questions. And the core things that the Church believes in, I also believe in. That does not mean that I have become a Catholic fan-boy, there are things that I don’t fully support. Fatima is a good example, there are enough questions and what I would consider, dubious situations to cause me doubt. Some of the Marian doctrines like the assumption are based on tradition, and do not really have full historical or scriptural support. And after much questioning, I don’t *have* to full believe in those things to be a Catholic.
Actually I’m not all that concerned about things like the Assumption, they don’t mean that I don’t believe. It’s just that I have questions which have not been answered, there will be things I will always question. But I’m not going to let it stop me from doing what I know in my heart is the right thing. I believe in the Apostles Creed, the Trinity, The Resurrection and the basics, do I really need any more?
I’ve heard that unless I’m ready to fully submit to the Church’s teaching, I’m simply not ready to be Catholic. Does that include *ALL* the cyclicals?, every single thing in the CCC? I have yet to meet one Catholic who believes that way, I’m going to question if I’m not sure. Call me a modern age Berean if you will, I don’t buy into something just because someone from the Church tells it is so. If I’m not going to exercise my mind, question and investigate before I believe then I can fall for anything that comes along.
The other part that I’m struggling with, is we did the rite of acceptance, now we do the rite of sending, then the right of election. All this so I can say that I believe in the Apostles Creed, the Trinity and the faith of the church? Honestly, can’t someone just sit down and ask me a set of questions, to make sure I know what I’m getting into. No other Church I’ve been a part has this much ceremony to partake of the Eucharist. Even the Anglican Church, simply discussed what we believed and allowed us to partake. We have abstained and done as asked while on this journey, but it’s really starting to wear on me at this stage.
An interesting note in all this was the teaching on the morals of the Church, the woman who came to teach. Used the class as a sounding post for her radical political views, and a very healthy dose of Catholic guilt. It was so bad, Michelle who is normally more patient than I am, actually had to leave before the class was finished. I stuck it out, but it was very disappointing to come face to face with what protestants call Catholic guilt. Our RCIA host was just as displeased as we where, and expressed her frustration and how bad it was. But it was one incident and in the end we got a good laugh out of it.
So the journey continues, I wish it where over. I know what I need to get through this now, I’m ready for reconciliation and to finally finish our journey.
-Paul-
Why Catholicism – Part 2
For the past 5 months, Michelle and I have been attending RCIA. For those unfamiliar with Catholicism. RCIA is the program you go through to become a fully functioning Catholic. Next Easter during the celebration of the Resurrection, we will finally be able to partake in the Eucharist.
I won’t sugar coat our journey, its been difficult. We have both struggled going from a Protestant mindset, to a Catholic one. We have felt like dropping out at times, and each time that happens, we find grace in the people who make up the Catholic Church. And so we stay, seemingly until the next issue arises. This is certainly not the process we envisioned, but like I said its been a difficult journey so far.
Simplistically, Catholicism has three core systems that govern it:
The Dogma:
This is the core belief of the Catholic Church, it covers the trinity, the resurrection, and all the basic components you find in a standard christian belief system. Catholics add a couple more, like the perpetual virginity of Mary, and the Assumption of Mary.
The Doctrine
This is the rule book for Catholics, known as the Catechism. Its part of what Theologians call the deposit of faith, maintained for over two thousand years. It lays out how a Catholic should behave, what limits they have, and what things are considered mandatory.
The Cyclicals:
These are opinions handed out normally from the Papal seat (the current Pope), and can cover a wide range of topics. Pope Pious the second for instance put one out stating that going over 30 miles an hour was a mortal sin, there have been others just as silly. But they can also be incredibly deep, such as the Humane Vitae put out by Pope Paul the second.
More than anything else the Doctrine of the Church has caused us to stumble, for instance the Church has defined what it terms as ‘Days Of Obligation’. These are days when you are required as a Catholic to attend Mass, and a refusal to do so is considered a grave sin. However, these rules exists only in the Catechism. Scripture makes no such claim, the days are decided by a group of bishops. For the United States its a different set of days than anywhere else in the world, in our RCIA class one of our table leaders actually took the days of obligation chart and marked off all the non-essential ones. To further confuse the matter, you can be excused from committing a grave sin, if you have to work on a day of obligation, or are sick.
For Michelle and I the issue is that if your going to tell me that not attending is a grave sin, then you need to back it up with scripture or make a compelling case. From our viewpoint the Church can do neither, when you add that the days are open to interpretation by men, and the Church added clauses to allow people out of the grave sin portion. The position for us become untenable, it reeks of the very thing that Christ admonished the pharisees for. Adding onto the law Moses, and setting up a system of extra rules.
On the flip side of this issue, I’ve only encountered one Catholic who defended the position of the Church. Using Hebrews 10:25 (you could also use Acts 2:42) the position still does not equate to a mortal sin. Yes you can argue that believers should attend, but to then make the jump to what type of sin this amounts to, ignores the function of grace. I’ve heard the same argument from Baptist churches where piety, not belief is the key focus. The majority of Catholics I’ve talked to don’t worry about rules like this. Instead they take Doctrine positions like this apply them only as they see fit.
This is the dichotomy of our journey to the Catholic faith, the words used in the Catechism are very different from what we get from the laity of the Church. Even the Dogma, which is the basis or core of the Church’s belief, has different levels of authority attached to each piece.
The other issue that has torn us, is that it’s so easy to find bad information. Over the years you hear so many false things about what Catholics actually believe. It becomes hard to find the actual truth, the Marian doctrine is a great example. You can even find former Catholics more than willing to opine about how the Church worships Mary, but the actual dogma is much more subtle than protestants can fathom. It’s much easier to simply believe the worst, and to be fair, there are valid concerns with how some have deified Mary.
The more we have time to dig, and look at the foundations of the faith. The more we find depth, history and a reasonable well thought out belief system. We are finally nearing the end, I’m not sure how many more issues we have to work out. But at this point we are committed to finishing the journey, when you begin to understand the deep historical and biblical nature of how the Church operates. The more we realize far we have come, and how far we still have to go. Coming up soon is reconciliation, another topic for another time.
I’ve been actually sitting on this article for some time, In December I finished two classes, along with RCIA and other things going on it was a crazy time for us. I’ve reduced down to one class this semester, so I should have a little more time to keep the site updated. Next up I’ll talk about the Catholic take on salvation, and the Marian doctrines. Honestly some of the more difficult ones we had to work through, another story for another time.
The places where I stand
It’s early in the morning, no ones up yet, and I’m sitting here typing out my heart. Pretty standard for a Sunday morning for me, today I’m weighing whether I should attend Mass or not. I’m still struggling with the Catholic Church, and I can’t seem to get my arms around it just yet. Some parts I find are stunningly beautiful and others make little sense to me, and what frustrates me so much about all of them is that I have no one to talk to about my questions. Yes I’m in RCIA, and I have a sponsor, but I don’t think he understands me and my need to understand before I commit. So I’m left on this road, forging it alone.
I read and study what I can, there are a plethora of conversion stories out there to choose from. Some great resources for research, but research done in a vacuum will always get off track. I’m doing my Bibliology and Hermeneutics with Michael Patton, but he’s fully protestant (and a little Calvinist, but I don’t hold it against him) and of course he thinks I’m making a mistake. So I get little tidbits of things from him like how it’s a Mortal sin if you skip mass, he picked a good topic because I could see his point. His question to the Catholic community was if a Catholic skipped Mass, then died before they could repent. Would they go to hell?
Valid question, and the response on catholicanswers.com where all over board, while his argument may be a bit of a straw man, it’s still a good question and the answers quite frankly concerned me. It’s just another thing that I’m going to have to resolve before I move much further on this.
Michelle and I have decided that we are pretty much at the end of our ropes right now, there is no turning back to any of the protestant faiths. The more we study the more we realize how far off most of them are, and we are not interested in heading back in that direction. But at the same time we both have deep concerns about the Catholic Church, and to be quite honest it’s take a lot of time and effort to research this information. It’s a slow, expensive process. Expensive in that I probably have 30 books now on this issue and more on the way, we both are reading everything we can find. The council of Trent is coming up shortly, because the protestants that we know all go to trent to talk about why Catholicism is so bad.
There may be an answer to prayer in all this yet, we have struggled with the light nature of the RCIA and Michelle talked with Mary who is running it at Holy Apostles. She has setup an appointment with one of the Deacons to see if he can spend some time and help us come to an understanding of the issues that are hanging us up. At some point I’m going to have to validate what I’m finding and work with someone smarter than I (which should not be hard to find) to figure all this out. I can’t do it alone, that much I know for sure.
I think the core of the issue boils down to this:
I can submit myself to Christ, there’s no question about that in my mind.
But I’m not convinced that the Catholic Church has not been corrupted, added onto the Gospel and setup and institution of man with rules, regulations and extra biblical systems.
Until I or should I say we can resolve that, we will both be out here in the post-evangelical wasteland
-Paul-
Humanae Vitae – And Why I Think The Catholic Church Violates It’s own teaching.
Humanae Vitae literally means means “Human Life” in latin, it is the church’s teaching about abortion and contraception, as well as issues pertaining to human life.
The concept here is that Human Life is precious in all forms, Marriage and it’s most private activity are meant for the purposes of procreation. Abortion and any form of birth control that prevents conception are forbidden according to the church. The churches stance on these issues can be found here: Vatican Response, and before I delve into where I think the church has gone astray let me say that they raise some very valid points.
But in their zeal to maintain their doctrine they cross lines that should cause any free person to pause, this week while driving home I heard a conversation on EWTN (Catholic Radio) about contraception and how it’s done so much damage to this society, but here’s the thing: Contraception isn’t a new thing, it’s been around since the beginning, so has abortion. It’s circular reasoning to say that birth control leads to abortion. Because the whole point of birth control is to stop pregnancy in the first place, I’m always skeptical when experts roll out ideas like this. The fundamentalist church is full of people who swear that watching a movie will send you on a path to hell, or that evolution is destroying our society. Study’s have estimated that up to %80 of practicing Catholics are or have used birth control, I’m not saying I agree with that, just that those are the numbers.
Where I start to have a problem is while listening to the radio a gentleman called in and was remiss that he’d had a vasectomy and was converting to the Catholic Church (I’m in the same boat), but he looked into getting it reversed, it was way out of his price range. The host and the “expert” on the airwaves proceeded to offer up information, advice and encouragement to find other ways to have it reversed, I almost crashed my car yelling at the radio. I’m sorry but Humanae Vitae is either about how life is precious or it’s not, PERIOD. To suggest that you should look for cheap surgery to get a reversal or that you really even need one is so far outside the scope of not just common sense, but decency that I can hardly contain my disdain. It’s like saying “Hey Honey, I love you. Now go have this SURGERY that I found on the cheap, don’t worry you’ll be just fine”. To what end does it benefit this man to cut his body up MORE for a *possibility* of having it reversed?, and how irresponsible and BLIND do you have to be to endanger a mans life while proclaiming the virtues of Humanae Vitae…
I thought I was done until I found this on Catholic Answers:
Catholic Answers On Contraception
The first question is from a woman whose Dr has told her that she should abstain from getting pregnant for a year, and her Priest, being a man who obviously cares for his parishioners tells her it’s OK to use birth control. The answer left me stunned, so they are telling her that despite what her Dr said, she would be committing a mortal sin if she used contraception. But if she got pregnant she could lose her life and possibly the life of her Child, is the church so fixated on it’s doctrine that it can’t even stomach grace in a situation like this?
The more I read the church’s position on this issue and the more I hear the acolytes who push this doctrine, the more concerned I become that the Church is violating the very nature of the doctrine they are espousing. Further to use the Mortal Sin card as a stick to get people to follow your doctrine is even more heinous in my view, Joseph Smith (of Mormon fame) would tell woman that if they did not marry him they would go to hell, is this any different?.
I’m not sure right now I can trust the RCC with issues like this, the marriage chamber is a holy institution that to be perfectly honest the Church has *no business* meddling into. I’m not advocating that they radically change their position, but certainly a little common sense might go a long long way. The Humanae Vitae as described by Vatican is not that radical, but the Church has set loose a wave of zealots who would happily violate the nature of the doctrine to force people into submission. From a scripture standpoint the bible is silent about abortion, that doesn’t make it right. But it’s really even more silent about contraception, and you can’t use Gen 38 as your crutch, because if you actually *READ* the story Onan gets a *DIRECT* instruction from God and disobeys that. It’s not about him spilling his seed, it’s about him disobeying God. When you have scripture that is directed at one person, you can’t use that to apply to everyone. The only scripture you can logically use is Genesis 3 where God tells Adam and Eve to go forth and multiply, again a direct commandment. But in this case it could be applied, however the bible is silent on contraception.
One more thought, 2000 years ago the infant mortality rate was incredibly high. So you needed to have 10 children to raise 5, that’s no longer the case and the Church has even forbidden NFP (Natural Family Planning). That matters because today our mortality rate is incredibly low, so odds are very good if you fail to practice some form of NFP your going to be overrun with children. Never mind that you might not be able to support them, the Church doesn’t care. Just don’t violate it’s doctrine.
-Paul-
Why Catholicism? – Part 1
It’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately, why go down the road to Rome, why even consider it?
First before we consider the Roman Catholic Church (or RCC from here on out), let’s talk about the current state of Protestant religion, because it’s here that so many are now leaving and looking for an alternative.
According to the current numbers there are around 30,000 different Protestant denominations in this country alone, and more and more are being created every day. Even the Church of England has split into factions, some holding to the traditional values and others becoming more like the world around them. It’s gotten so bad that the Anglican church in Rwanda has started to send missionary’s to America to help heal our fractured state.
To make matters more complex and dark, there are fringe elements that have gone mainstream. Southern Baptist ministers who’s brand of fundamentalism would be funny if it were not so dangerous, the recent media circus with a congregation and pastor making a political statement by threatening to burn Koran’s is just the tip of the iceberg (and now we have copy cats). You have a new breed of Calvinist who think that the 5 point system isn’t enough, they want to be more hardcore. There are the young earth creationist, they are a special breed all to themselves, I know. I’ve been around them, it’s not about actually thinking through the question around creation and Genesis, it’s a dog and pony show to make new believers. Heaven help you if you challenge any of their notions, you’ll find out quickly that if you don’t hold to their line of thinking you simply can’t be a real christian.
Church after church is splitting, fighting is nonstop and the congregation shallow in their belief. Even within denominations one church will not fellowship with another, because they don’t hold the same exact belief. No one can agree on anything, and everyone is right. It’s a battleground and the bodies being left behind are people who simply wanted to know God better. We call that place the post-evangelical wasteland, it’s a dark and lonely place. We are sick of the fighting, the arguing and the shallowness.
Then there’s the issue of depth, there is a myth that if you just read the bible you will be all right. Everything you need is right there, you don’t need theology. Who needs historical context, or systematic theology?, just read your bible. It’s frightening that so many believers don’t even understand the basic concepts of Justification, the incarnation or that most of them are Pelagius in belief.
Hosea 4:6 – My people perish from a lack of knowledge.
Churches have become training camps more for soldiers going to war with other faiths than they are for actually teaching the word of God, and anything that has the appearance of being christian is brought in without a second look. No one’s checking anything anymore, I’ve personally seen Pastors who purposely hid portions of a teaching series because they where far to embarrassing for even worldly people, so instead of being honest they simply skim over the garbage and present the rest as Gospel.
Michael Spencer, the late Internet Monk predicted that there was a collapse coming for the Evangelical church and I think he’s right. More and more evangelicals are leaving their faith and looking for something that’s stable, something where there is depth and understanding about our faith. They want the ancient, the original tried and true versions of Christianity. The liturgical faiths like Anglican, Reformed, Lutheran and Methodist are starting to see new people showing up, and for quite a time now the Catholic Church has been seeing converts. it’s happening all over, people are getting up and leaving and looking, some simply never find anything and go away for good. Others work through a number of faiths until they find one that fits their needs.
I’ll detail more about my journey and the personal side of in the next installment, but bear this in mind. In my RCIA class (Catholic Conversion Class for Adults) there are 80 people who are signing up, 80! that’s more than some churches have as a total of members. And they are coming from all walks of life, the exodus is starting and whether God is calling them out, or they are just sick of all the nonsense, I’m not sure. But I’ve met and am meeting more and more of them all the time.
I think Michael Spencer was right and I think it’s happening faster than anyone can imagine.
More to come
-Paul-
