Hi frens...I’ve been an active poster over in PW since the Donald days...but I feel like this post is more suited for the GaW crowd....I wonder if there are any other Catholics that can empathize with how I’m feeling right now, and can maybe offer some guidance... I was born and raised Catholic, and still practice—in fact, have been incredibly involved with the music ministry in my church for over a decade...it’s something that gives me great joy and peace to share with my parish family. But each day, I see more and more diocese announcing vax mandates with NO religious exemptions, and my heart just breaks. I find myself thinking that I might leave the only church I ever knew over this—and it’s really the only constant thing that I’ve had in my 41 years of life, so it’s a terrifying thought. But, how can entire dioceses turn their backs on, and abandon a central tenant of our faith SO easily, and so callously? If they can, it just doesn’t seem like it’s the right faith for me. For other Christian anons out there—maybe even some ex-Catholics—did you find a new faith home in a certain denomination, or did you feel most comfortable in a non-denominational setting? I’m not sure where to even begin to look. 😢
Thanks for reading, my friends ❤️
You don't actually need to leave the church, you also don't need to agree with or follow everything the church says. Catechism part 3 article 6 sections 1776 to 1779:
1776 "Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment. . . . For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God. . . . His conscience is man's most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths."47
I. THE JUDGMENT OF CONSCIENCE
1777 Moral conscience,48 present at the heart of the person, enjoins him at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil. It also judges particular choices, approving those that are good and denouncing those that are evil.49 It bears witness to the authority of truth in reference to the supreme Good to which the human person is drawn, and it welcomes the commandments. When he listens to his conscience, the prudent man can hear God speaking.
1778 Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already completed. In all he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right. It is by the judgment of his conscience that man perceives and recognizes the prescriptions of the divine law:
Conscience is a law of the mind; yet [Christians] would not grant that it is nothing more; I mean that it was not a dictate, nor conveyed the notion of responsibility, of duty, of a threat and a promise. . . . [Conscience] is a messenger of him, who, both in nature and in grace, speaks to us behind a veil, and teaches and rules us by his representatives. Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ.50
1779 It is important for every person to be sufficiently present to himself in order to hear and follow the voice of his conscience. This requirement of interiority is all the more necessary as life often distracts us from any reflection, self-examination or introspection:
So in other words everyone could potentially have a catholic variant of faith. :)
Exactly. Thank you. It is hard to remember all of that when the worldly stuff is coming at me so hard. As a convert to the Catholic Church, I try to remember what brought me to that decision. I believe Jesus directly set up his church on Earth by assigning that task to the Apostles. Looking at history, I see the Universal church has been attacked frequently by evil. The Bible and Tradition are needed to understand the plans God has for His people. Looking at the martyrs from the early church has been inspirational. To believe so completely and to never deny Jesus no matter the threat to their lives is the most courageous act of Faith. We have never experienced that level of persecution here for our Christian beliefs. It has always made me think about that level of faith. For Christians to attack other Christians is such a difficult situation to watch. That is basically what having so many denominations has done to Christians. We must look to what we have in common and act as Jesus would have us act.
With the mission to go and spread the word to the world became a very large organization, bureaucracy becomes necessary. They basically invented record keeping and such. Layers of management.
Men have corrupted the church.
True but God won't let them prevail.
Well said!
Beautiful. Thanks for posting.
Thank you for this awesome response — I’m reading it over and over again.