January 16, 2012

I am Catholic, Offended and Sad

So here's the deal.  I'm Catholic from the cradle, and by choice as an adult.  I've had my ebbs and flows with the Church, but in the last five or so years, my faith and my understanding of the Church has grown so much.  I am humbled every time I go to Mass, and I am so eternally grateful to have the Catholic Church as my compass.  I have no intention of turning this blog into a Catholic digest of sorts, but since late last year I have felt the need to be more open about my beliefs and my spiritual life.  It is not my intention to turn any of you ten faithful readers away, and if this post is not your cup-o-tea, try back later for a different flavor.  I assure you, my girls will continue to be the main focus of the blog- they are just too darn cute!

I got pretty riled up inside last week, and I felt that this was a good place to share more publicly my personal feelings on the matter.  I'm sure that several of you saw the video that ambushed You Tube and FaceBook late last week (if not, there is a link below).  I couldn't help but feel angry and offended at first.  It seemed backhanded and passive-aggressive to me.  And then, later I felt so sad for all of the people that whole heartedly liked the video and thought it was a genuine Christian testimony.  I felt sad because they do not understand the gifts, tools, grace and beauty that the Catholic Church has to offer them.  They mock and criticize what they do not understand.  To me it is the saddest and cruelest form of bullying.  Protestant or Catholic, we are all Christians, and have Jesus at our core.  As a child and teen, I never knew that there were other Christians that had hatred towards Catholics.  It has only been in the last three to five years that my eyes have been opened to other Christians that have anti-Catholic feelings, and share those feelings as if they were their religion.  I was brought up in the Catholic Church as a Christian and taught to love my neighbor and respect the differences that we might have.  How does my way of faith and religion affect your relationship with God?  If you do not agree with how I practice my faith, fine.  But do not judge and condemn what you do not understand.  Ask questions to the source.  Study your Bible more closely- I guarantee its all in there.

I am a Catholic, that is my religion.  My religion gives me the guidelines and the tools to deepen my relationship with Christ.  And my relationship with Jesus, well that's between Jesus and I.  But I can tell you this, it wouldn't be what it is without the religion that He gave us.  The history and Tradition of Christianity is preserved completely in the Catholic Church, from Jesus to Peter to every pope and priest there after.


To see the video that started it all: 

To see some great responses to the video: 

To read some great responses:


3 comments:

AJ and Cindy said...

hooray for your post! I love how you are standing up for your beliefs, that is such a great quality. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints {Mormons} I know what it feels like to have people be misinformed, make fun of, and disrespect the religion and faith I believe. Thanks for sharing your thoughts :) You will never turn me away as a reader

Anonymous said...

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Anonymous said...

James 1:26-27 NLT

If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

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