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Mike Humphrey
wrote:
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Hi guys,
I was talking with a good friend, Liz, who is a nurse at a hospital. After sharing
with her
what I have been doing for the past twelve years, I gave her my AskACatholic.com
calling card.
She said she was taught by the Daughters of the Presentation,
who had come over from Ireland. They told them, as young Catholics, just to believe
what they were taught. Period.
They were never allowed to ask questions or wonder Why? Just to believe. My concern is, we may have more then a few, elderly members in the Church
today that have had a similar, if not identical experience.
The result is we may have a type of benign tumor in the Body of Christ, where elderly Catholics in the
Church have been taught, all along, not to ask questions that seek an rational understanding
of what Catholics believe and why.
They go to Mass and say their prayers, but don't know why and don't ask questions
about these issues.
Because that's the way they were taught and they don't want
to seem unfaithful to what they were taught, even if they have good, reasonable questions about the faith.
This is the sense I received from Liz.
What is currently a benign
tumor among our elderly Catholics, can turn into a malignant tumor if not addressed appropriately.
The years following the Reformation, probably weren't the best for faith-sharing
due to a bitterness on both side; but I have a hard time understanding how 92-year
old, faith-sharing Charlie Catholic can be persuasive in encouraging others to consider joining the Church by saying:
In our Church we just believe and don't ask
questions.
- How can that attitude respect any non-Catholic faith seeker's intellect?
Her question would be:
- Whose right, Michael?
- The Catholic nuns that taught me or your group
who are willing to answer my questions?
I gave her an answer but also wanted your feedback
as well.
I also welcome
feedback from other readers of this posting, whether they are Catholics
or former Catholics.
Thanks,
Mike
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Were elder Catholics correctly taught not to ask questions about their faith but just to believe? }
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Bob replied:
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Hi Mike,
Here's my two cents:
Since even Jesus at about the ripe old age of twelve was seen in the temple asking
questions(Luke 2 :43) and having intellectual dialogue regarding the faith,
we should be no less interested in deepening our understanding.
And of course Peter says,
"Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone
who asks you a reason for your hope."
1 Peter 3:15
- If you don't know the underlying reason for your hope, how can you give an explanation?
Peace,
Bob
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Eric replied:
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Hi Mike,
Please pass this on to Liz:
There is the whole venerable tradition of faith seeking understanding
(St. Anselm). [Wikipedia]
If you want evidence that the Church does not demand blind
faith, that is it.
Which brings us to a distinction:
There is faith, and there is blind faith.
The Church does not want us to doubt, in an untrusting, malicious sense,
but she does not want us to be uninformed and ignorant, either.
Scripture exhorts us to believe like little children but there is a balance.
I would encourage intelligent questions motivated by a desire to understand,
but discourage willful doubt.
Eric
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Ann
replied:
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Hi Mike,
My husband had a similar experience when he was a child, but I think it
was more due to the fact that his lay teacher was not properly trained.
I do remember my mother's friend, Norma, who was a devout Catholic,
saying that the nuns at her school, here in Richmond, wouldn't allow the
students to question anything.
Perhaps a priest who is closer to your friend's age or to her teacher's age
should be consulted about the matter.
Ann
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Maryellen replied:
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I just want to throw in my 2-bits worth.
It's not just the elderly that were not allowed to ask questions.
In the 1960's, my eldest daughter was in the third grade of Catholic School.
She was a bright child and she asked questions. Her lay teacher told her
she should not ask questions. The teacher became very irritated with her
because she continued to ask questions. She wasn't being impertinent; she
honestly wanted to know. Sadly, she couldn't ask her parents (my hubby
or me) because we wouldn't have known the answers. We grew up believing
it was a sin to question the Faith.
Even worse, this teacher reported her to the Principal, who called
her to his office and laid down the law informing our daughter not to ask
any more questions or he would have to expel her.
If she had talked to
us about it, we probably would not have sided with the school. I learned about
this in recent years, when I asked her why she is so hostile to Catholicism.
She told me they lost her in third grade, and related her experience with
fire in her eyes. She went through all the motions of being Catholic,
in obedience to her parents, and was well behaved but she was not Catholic
in her heart.
My whole family was lured away from the one true Church. One by one, some
of us have come back. Actually my hubby never left, but he grazed in Protestant
meadows with me, believed in
Sola Scriptura with me.
- Then, I came back.
- Later my youngest daughter and husband came back, and
- In the Summer of 2007, a son
and a daughter in California came back.
We've been on our knees ever since
1990. That was the year we got a sample copy of a magazine called This
Rock, [now, Catholic Answers Magazine] in the mail. Up until then, I had never heard of Catholic Apologetics.
I thought it was something only Protestants did.
There are Catholics in our present parish who still have their head in
the sand. Mass on Sunday is a wonderful privilege but that little dab
won't do ya. The Eucharist is a tremendous gift to those who receive it
worthily, but many Catholics don't believe in the Real Presence. If a person
wants to learn, they need to read the books you often recommend to seekers,
or read the Church Fathers, or read the Popes' encyclicals.
Read and learn.
Peace,
Maryellen
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