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Hi, Antonia —
Thanks for the question.
You said:
I've just started
a one-on-two RCIA course and am looking
into the Catholic faith (with a nun who seems to get easily offended, so I don't want to ask her the difficult questions).
After years of having
anti-religion preached to me in church,
I feel pretty nervous about the Catholic
Church . . .
I think it is important to separate bad
behavior from divine
doctrine which can never change.
Yes, we have our fair share of sinners
in the Church, including myself. That's one of the reasons I love being Catholic. I can be a saint
and a sinner : )
Despite the scandalous behavior,
personally and publicly, your focus
should be on the one Church Jesus
founded on St. Peter and finding
a Catholic parish with a priest that
you feel at home with.
RE: the nun
We all have had bad days.
I would encourage you to strive to
look at the person's best side.
If you find that either the nun or
priest are not faithful to the Church,
find another Catholic parish nearby
that better meets your spiritual
needs. What would be unfair is to
generalize and say, because this
nun or priest acted this way, they
all must be the same.
That treats those that are faithful
and in leadership unjustly.
You said:
- How can we know
that total submission under a formal
religion, as we see it in the Catholic
Church, is really what God is
expecting and hoping for us and what
is universally and utterly best for
us?
Our faith in the Church is based
on the reality that the Second Person
of the Blessed Trinity,
(Jesus Christ, Our Incarnated God), gloriously rose
from the dead on the third day after
he was killed by his own people.
He did this out of pure love for
us and for our salvation.
For over 2,000 years, Christians,
with all their sins and shortcomings,
have put their faith into the Church
that Our Blessed Lord founded on
St. Peter and his successors. When
you stand back Antonia, and take
a broad view of history, rather than
the narrow or shallow-minded view
the local news media takes, you will
see an amazing, divine Church with
over 1 billion, 125 million members
to date . . . and growing.
- Can you tell me how any faith
can have this many members and not be a formal, organized religion?
Put another way, any informal, unorganized
religion would reflect the founder
of that Church: informal and unorganized.
When someone submits to a scandalous
leader in authority in the Church:
- that scandalous leader will
have to address his behavior at
his Particular Judgment, and
- the one submitting, will receive
blessings for doing so with a
good heart.
What we have to remember is when
we submit to the teachings of the
Church, we are submitting to Jesus
Himself.
To repeat what you said:
- How can we know
that total submission under a formal
religion, as we see it in the Catholic
Church, is really what God is
expecting and hoping for us and what
is universally and utterly best for
us?
By the testimony of practicing Catholics
who have both the highs and lows
in their lives.
Putting trust in Our Lord and persevering
in prayer is the answer.
You said:
- Could my fear, on the other hand, simply be an indication of a large amount
of guilt? e.g. Fear hath punishment the
Bible says. (1 John 4:18)
Don't worry about any guilt you
have. I strongly recommend you develop
a daily prayer life.
I personally recommend the Rosary. If there are issues separate from
your RCIA classes, yes, I would make an appointment to see the priest:
- to address any spiritual issues
in your life, and
- to ask him what ministries his parish offers. Getting involved in parish ministries is a great way to meet new friends who have similar backgrounds as your.
You said:
You guys are
a huge help when I don't know where
to find the answers!
Thank-you for the kind words. I have
great team helping me.
Mike
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