I am amazed in this global, cookie cutter world that people are more compartmentalized that ever before. Everything has to have a ridiculous amount of labeling to identify it.
I am an American.
That should be enough to say. Right? Nope, now we have Mexican-Americans, Polynesian Island-Americans, African-Americans and on and on and on.
I am an American. My not so distant relatives immigrated to the United States of America and became American. I guess they could have gone anywhere in the world but they wanted to be American. Not German-Black-Forest Region-Americans. Just Americans. They fully understood what they were doing. They chose to be American.
And now of course the country is split into a million smaller political titles: Demo., Rep, Liberal, Conservative, Ultra-Conservative, etc.
You get my drift.
But I am telling you I am tired of it.
I stay away from the medical professionals as much as possible and choose a more natural approach to taking care of my health. People try to figure out what that means. Are you a child from a couple of hippies? Are you some kinda vegetarian? No. The one I like best was, "Oh, she's a conservative. You know like one of those conservatives." Huh? I just like to eat healthy food.
I've made the joke before that everyone needs a title to identify themselves.
Mine would be something like this: I am a Catholic, 100% Pro-life, carrot eating, dirt digging, vote for the good guy or the best of the duds, German-Black Forest Region, Mid-Western, Rhubarb lovin', pig chasin', wood-cuttin, book readin', white girl American mom. PHEW! That was exhausting!
I feel like I am back in Science class trying to figure out the classification and order of a dung beetle.
That wouldn't be long enough either because even after that someone would say, "You one-a-them traditional Catholics?"
HUH?
I keep hearing this phrase and I sadly bought into it until last night.
Where and how did ALL of these labels get stuck in the front of the word CATHOLIC? Into my faith?
If you want to tell me which part of the church you belong to you had better say, "I am Church Militant Catholic." because the rest of the Catholics are dead and either in Church Triumphant or Church Suffering.
NEVER have I read in a Catechism about Traditional Catholics. Or Liberal Catholics, Or Sunday morning Catholics, or whatever else there is.
When I got out on my own, I would say, "I am a Catholic". I realized if I called myself that I had better know what that meant. Really meant. I then asked myself, "Self, do you REALLY believe all that the Catholic Church teaches and not just because your mother raised you Catholic? Yes, I do."
It is ALL SPELLED OUT PERFECTLY!
I feel like I am in a bad redneck joke.
You MIGHT be a Catholic if you think contraception is not a sin."
(Laughter erupts from the crowd)
You MIGHT be a Catholic if . . . . . (go ahead there are a bunch of fill in the blanks)
I HAVE A FIX FOR THIS WHOLE PROBLEM!!
It is cheap and easy.
Lets have everyone who "thinks" they are Catholic meet with a priest and fill out a questionnaire. Employers can do it. The Church can to!
Let ask, oh, lets say 20 questions. I guess for some who think this is humorous, we can call it 20 ?'s to see if you are Catholic or not.
They would be something like:
1. Do you believe in God?
2. Do you believe in the Immaculate Conception
3. Do you believe that life begins at conception and should be protected?
4. Do you believe that contraception is a grave sin?
and some more and end with -
20. Do you believe Christ is truly present, body, blood, soul and divinity in the Holy Eucharist?
They would be scored like they do for the word challenge in Readers Digest.
20 Correct - Fantastic! You are Catholic! Please see a priest if you have any other questions.
17-19 Correct - Congratulations! You are probably a Catholic. See a priest to answer any questions about the ones you missed but until then I am sorry you are NOT able to go to communion.
10-16 Correct - Your not doing TOO bad but you shouldn't call yourself a Catholic yet. Keep reading and praying and you will get there if you want to. You are welcome to come back anytime and retest.
0-10 Correct - Wow! You have some serious differences with the faith. Sorry. You are not a Catholic. We hope to see you back for a retest.
This is not mean or uncharitable it is honest. Why be and say you are something you do not believe in 100%? There are PLENTY of different sets of faiths people can belong to in this country and abroad.
A recent poll stated that only 30% of "Catholics" believe in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
NEWS FLASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you don't believe that transubstantiation occurs and Christ is present, if you support ABORTION, if you never go to church, if you support euthanasia, etc. than you are NOT A CATHOLIC. You can't be. You can change you view points but you are not with those beliefs.
I found the following:
I am a Muslim and we cannot eat pork (pig) or any animal that consumes meat or is beneficial to mankind, like a horse for example. The number one reason for Muslims not eating pork is because it is an order from Allah and we must obey his command.
What would happen to someone who said they were Muslim and kept showing up for prayer after eating a ham sandwich or kept giving bacon to other Muslims because, "BACON IS SO TASTY! You guys don't know what you are missing!"
That is pretty silly example but there are CORE beliefs that MUST be adhered to and practiced to say you are part of ANY defined religion.
It is SHOCKING to me that the most grief I get about my religion is from other "Catholics" when I am defending DOGMA!
They don't want to listen to the messages of Fatima, Lourdes, many saints, etc because it is personal revelation (which no Catholic is commanded to believe) but they turn around and say, "Well, God told me that contraception, women priests, etc are really okay." Isn't that private revelation too? Double talk everywhere.
Let me be perfectly clear about this also: The church has in place a remedy for people who have gone against the teachings - CONFESSION. And thank goodness for it. I, myself, have had to refrain from receiving communion in my life and had to correct error of my own BECAUSE I am Catholic and believe Her teachings. If you are in grave sin you cannot receive communion because it is a sacrilege. This is just one of the many ways the Church loving guides her flock and propels them to correct the sin they persist in.
The law says if you speed you will get a ticket. If you steal you will go to jail.
The church laws and dogma always end with something like:
Let him be ANATHEMA!Here is a link to show you what I mean from the 1st Vatican Counsel http://www.dailycatholic.org/history/20ecume3.htm
What does anathema mean? This is from the "freedictionary" online.
anathema [əˈnæθəmə]I know some might gasp at that severe language. Why? If you don't believe it why do you care? If you do care about being a Catholic then those are the rules and laws. If you break them, you obviously excommunicate yourself.
n pl -mas
1. a detested person or thing he is anathema to me2. (Christianity / Ecclesiastical Terms) a formal ecclesiastical curse of excommunication or a formal denunciation of a doctrine3. (Christianity / Ecclesiastical Terms) the person or thing so cursed4. a strong curse; imprecation
[via Church Latin from Greek: something accursed, dedicated (to evil), from anatithenai to dedicate, from ana- + tithenai to set]Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
What does excommunicate mean?
Roman Catholic Answer
Excommunication is the most severe punishment that the Church hands out, it is indeed a punishment meant to bring an erring sinner to their senses before they lost their eternal salvation, from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
1463 Certain particularly grave sins incur excommunication, the most severe ecclesiastical penalty, which impedes the reception of the sacraments and the exercise of certain ecclesiastical acts, and for which absolution consequently cannot be granted, according to canon law, except by the Pope, the bishop of the place or priests authorized by them. (See Code of Canon Law, cann. 1332; 1354-1357) In danger of death any priest, even if deprived of faculties for hearing confessions, can absolve from every sin and excommunication. (see Code of Canon Law, can. 976)Most excommunications are automatic, in other words, you automatically excommunicate yourself (this is called latae sententiae) when you do certain things: apostasy from the faith, throwing away the sacred species, a person who uses physical force against the Roman Pontiff, a priest pretending to absolve an accomplice against the sixth commandment, a bishop who consecrates someone a bishop without a pontifical mandate, a priest who violates the seal of the confessional, any person who procures a successful abortion incurs an automatic excommunication.
from Canon 1331 in the Code of Canon Law:
An excommunicated person is forbidden:
1. to have any ministerial participation in celebrating the Eucharistic Sacrifice or in any other ceremonies whatsoever of public worship;
2. to celebrate the sacraments and sacramentals and to receive the sacraments;
3. to discharge any ecclesiastical offices, ministries, or functions whatsoever, or to place acts of governance.
There you go folks most excommunications (see high-lighted pink area) do not need a formal process! If you break the law that is the penalty.
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| See, it is true and has happened before. |
When I have made grave errors in my life, I had two choices: correct the problem or quit calling myself a Catholic. I AM A CATHOLIC and chose to return and follow my faith as faithfully as I can.
Believing all of this doesn't make me a "TRADITIONAL" Catholic. It makes me a Catholic.
I bet if people REALLY saw and knew what it was to be a Catholic there would be a "Chick-fil-A" effect. There would be many people who return to the faith.
So, would the 70% of the people who call themselves "Catholic" but don't uphold the teachings of the church, please step aside and re-educate yourselves or stop calling yourself Catholic. Don't put a title in front of it like Pro-Choice Catholic or New Age Catholic because that is as wrong as arsenic candy. And don't stick "Traditional" in front of mine because I AM NOT DEAD YET. I am part of Church Militant fighting to uphold the teachings of the Catholic faith and LIVE AND BE MY FAITH so that one day, God willing, I will spend eternity in Heaven with God. The God I so deeply love and adore.
I AM CATHOLIC!
