#catholic rant

[autumnsgambit]

Rant about Catholic Instagram situation

If you’re on Catholic Instagram (as I unfortunately am sometimes) you may know about a dude named catholicsam, who is, frankly, an arrogant and insufferable asshole. And like, I don’t find it useful to make a post ranting about how much I dislike somebody, in general. But guys like him are the problem with modern Catholicism. It’s not progressive Catholics, or Catholics whose primary “progressive” concern is really just basic empathy for the poor and war-torn and calling out systemic injustices and greed. It’s people like catholicsam who find it more useful to bash gay people and debate whether or not KISSING your partner before marriage is a sin than to actually use their faith to lift anyone up or to bring any meaningful kind of unity to Christianity. You can curate your online image and aesthetic around your faith, you can post edits about Jesus and post about how the pope has “aura,” and you can speak authoritatively on Instagram as a layperson, but none of that is worth shit if you’re doing it out of pride instead of compassion. If your “faith-based” content is centered around taking other people’s views (and sometimes jokes) disingenuously so you can exercise some kind of rude superiority over them, you’re not doing what Jesus or the church itself teaches you to do.

I don’t really care about the kissing discourse. It’s pretty apparent at face value how pointless it is to engage with. But as far as catholicsam’s homophobia and transphobia, I know that no one will be able to convince people like him that they’re wrong about “homosexual acts” or “mutilating your body” being sinful, and no pope has actually said that they aren’t; but they have encouraged kindness towards queer individuals, which means that getting online to put them in their place, so to speak, is in itself sinful.

Obviously, I’m a queer Catholic, and I don’t believe there is anything at all sinful about queerness. But there’s no point in giving my arguments as to why because people like catholicsam have decided that being Catholic on the internet is not about kindness or compassion or open-mindedness; it’s about telling people to “submit to Rome” and using the license of Catholicism to voice a deep-rooted egotism.

[converted-catholic]

The Catholic Church is the Church of losers and that's ok, we are willing to sit and eat with the wretched and the poor, we are sinners ourselves, but we are also the Church of love, founded by Jesus and given to Peter and the other Apostles, given through an event that inspires us and allows us to relive the event of God daily in the faces of those around us. Those around use are what inspire us to love to live in accordance with the Bible, because we are a Church of sinners and losers, but we know that all can be forgiven.

[myvinyllove]

Rant

My cousin shared a Young Turks commentary on the tension between Pope Francis and the 'conservative Catholics' with me today and I don't know if I have heard so much stupidity concentrated into 5 minutes before... and being called 'backwards' by a group named after 'social reformers' who exterminated 1.5 million innocent people really gets under my skin.

[ladygems-stuff]

So, I’m about to get full esoteric Catholic on main, but I need to get this off my chest. Politically and theologically I’m on the more liberal side of the spectrum but liturgically I’m very conservative. I veil, and I go to Latin mass (Extraordinary Form) every chance I get. I genuinely find it more beautiful than many of the ordinary form masses I’ve been to and I love the mystery and the history of it. That being said, it definitely attracts people who are conservative across the board. Some of these people say that the ordinary form isn’t a real mass and that those who attend it ( the overwhelming majority of Catholics, including my family and me most of the time since I prefer to go to mass with them) aren’t real Catholics. These people are very vocal online and are the reason I’ve be quite about how much I love the Latin mass. Today, because of those people, Pope Francis issued a decree severely limiting who can perform the Latin Mass. The Catholic news sources I follow are either all but declaring Pope Francis to be the anti-Christ, or are gleeful about the impending restriction of the Latin mass and how we are all the very worst stereotype of conservatives. And here I am, mourning a form of mass I have a real attachment to and wondering why this was higher up in the Pope’s priorities than addressing the ongoing sexual abuse issues or the covering up of the deaths of hundreds of indigenous children. I’m feeling rather alone and unheard by both sides of the issue right now.

[myvinyllove]

St. Pope John Paul II warned that faith without reason can wither into superstition.

"Deprived of reason, faith has stressed feeling and experience, and so run the risk of no longer being a universal proposition. It is an illusion to think that faith, tied to weak reasoning, might be more penetrating; on the contrary, faith then runs the grave risk of withering into myth or superstition"  - Fides et Ratio  (So can we please stop criticizing Catholics who want to know as much about their Faith as possible and gain a better understanding of Theology. We were made to know, love, and serve God and His Church!) 

[jewels-verne]

One of my continuing biggest pet peeves of living in the deep South is the sheer hatred and misunderstanding mainstream Evangelicals have about Catholic doctrine.  Like, if one more person tells me that me believing Jesus is present in the Eucharist is heretical and superstitious I will literally lose my mind. 

Y’all poor babies. Go home pick up a Bible. Go look at 1 Cor. 10:16–17, 11:23–29; and John 6:32–71

Most specifically to Quote our Lord and Savior Jesus himself in John:

51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

Y’all. He literally said to partake in Eucharist and that he is present in it. What is the point of eating the bread and drinking the wine (or in your case, grape juice) If he isn’t there? That is why having communion is SO SO important to us (the Churches who do it regularly and believe in the real presence; Anglicans, Episcopals, Orthodox, and Catholic) Not to mention the other stuff like our Mother Mary, or the intercession and recognition of Saints. 

You mainstream Evangelicals believe so many things that are odd and that I consider way crazy but you don’t see me getting all up in your face about it.  Like why get up into my face about it? What do you have to gain? Seriously, tell me? 

The same respect would be nice.

[jewels-verne]

On Christianity:

I am a liberal Roman Catholic with some serious leanings towards the American Episcopal Church.

Boom, lets just go on ahead and establish that. 

I love my church, I love the traditions, I love the history, I love the communion of Saints and Angels that guide me and help me when I need it most (a special shout out to Mary, the mother of God, and St. Anthony, along with St. Michael, for taking care of me like....all the time)  What I do not love are Christians of outside denominations telling me I am not a Christian.  I do not love Evangelical movement Christians telling me about the damnable popery of Rome like we are in Britain circa the Titus Oates plot. Like, forreal? At least the English Church had some reasoning to be upset with the Catholic church, you guys don’t.  I live in Northeast Louisiana, like duck dynasty level bs, and I just...can’t. 

I know you have “feelings” I know you were “taught” that we, the catholics (I’m also throwing in the Anglicans, Episcopalians, and Orthodox Christians because I know the Evangelical and charismatic movement here considers you just as bad) are idol worshiping heathens but....Nah, man. Its not true. We practice traditions that date back longer than your Christian denomination has existed, (Here is looking at you American Pentecostal movement) so leave us alone. Maybe pick up a book, or make a google search, and educate yourself before you come to me telling me I am a “pagan”.  ( farfromreverend I have finally snapped)

[nerdybeardedcatholic]

The Gollum Generation

This story begins at my work. I work at a YMCA like place, in a video game room. Whilst I was enjoying playing NHL 15 (great game by the way), I noticed a child 5 years of age whining about the game he was playing. He didn’t know how to do anything within the game. I went over to help him when I noticed he was in the tutorial mode so the instructions were on the screen. I told the child to read the help instructions on the screen but he told me he couldn’t read.

I wish that story ended there. About half an hour later the mother tells the kid it’s time to go. He immediately starts crying and begging for five more minutes. This goes on for fifteen minutes and he wins the battle. The mother turns to her 2 year old daughter that is watching YouTube kids videos on an iPad and tells her time to go. She shuts down the iPad and all I hear is a blood curling screech. I swear from the sound, the mom was killing her child. It was as if the Nazgul from Lord of the Rings was in the room and I was Mr. Frodo. Despite the poor mother’s attempts to calm the child, the 2 year old screeched until the mom gave her daughter an iPhone to watch kid shows.

Does it end there? No. No it doesn’t.

Once the 2 year old is secured in her stroller, the mother tells her son to turn off the game so they can leave. The son’s scream the came from him had the anguish of Gollum losing his precious. Gollum and his mother argued for ten minutes then finally left, literally being dragged out by the wrist.

It would have been funny if that was my first encounter with a little Gollum. But I work around children and video games often. It almost happens every time I work. I get to see a new version of Gollum almost every day. Parents these days are replacing themselves with video games and tv. Don’t get me wrong, technology is great but compare these kids (gollums and nazguls) to a family I know that doesn’t have a tv in the family room, has their children play and interact with their parents without technology and are home-schooled. Which of these families do you think will have children that will better contribute to society? My money goes on the second group of children.

All in all, technology is not an evil that we should shun. But it should not replace other human interactions and things like books. If and when I have children myself, I won’t allow them to be controlled by such technology. Just think about the story, a 2 and 5 year old acting like they were crack addicts screaming and crying for their next fix. The five year old didn’t even know how to read which is scary. It is not just these kids but whole generations. Don’t believe me? If you have children, or any sort of family any age under 16 that is on their game station, computer, tv, or phone most of the day, see what happens when you take those things away. I promise they will turn into Gollum right before your eyes. Want to change a generation of Gollums from becoming nonproductive members of society? Go camping, hiking, etc. Get out of the house. Read a damn book with your kid! I don’t care what you do just don’t let technology become their parents and their way of life. GOLLUM GOLLUM