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 ❤️
Over here in GA we have a lot of people born and raised with certain beliefs in, and loyalties to, our country. We have all had these deeply held assumptions of truth slowly, painfully, but surely peeled away as corrupt earthly mockeries of the truths we wanted to be real. In other words, the country we love is being destroyed before us, but we are still patriots, believing in the original reasons and principles, and we are here re-dedicating ourselves to those ideas.
I'm not Catholic, but I know how you feel. A nation and a church are different, but I'm sure you can see the similarity of the situations. Seeing the old die is painful. A new republic, or a new rebirth of the old one, is coming whether we are prepared or not.
The Roman Catholic church has been an enormous institutional hierarchy our entire lives. It has always housed a great diversity of opinion. But God cannot be fully and eternally contained in any earthly institution. The Catholic church has been corrupted by the world, and the only question is to what degree, and whether it can still be saved. Is the solution to fix the church, or to create a new one? I think you know the answer: Trump is not Saint Francis, and neither is the Pope. It will be a difficult journey, but God has a place for you whether you work to rebuild or to build a new. Let prayer guide your path.
I know a lot of prayerful, righteous Catholics in your situation. Even within the church, some are guided by faith more than others. Let God and prayer be your guide.