Hi, Chris —

Be sure, first, that you are not confusing believing with understanding. Belief can be as simple as being willing to accept things you don't like or don't understand. The important thing is:

• On what authority are you believing or not believing, your own, or God's?
• If God's, where are you finding it and how do you know?

If you know that Christ is the Son of God made flesh, and if you think a bit, you will see that the Words and Power of Christ were passed to His Apostles (Luke 10:16), and in Apostolic succession down to the present Catholic Church. Once you know that, you believe the core teachings of the Church.

1. As for the particular issues, they all seem to revolve around a desire to disregard both the flesh and the holiness of God. Often rejection of a concrete Church starts with that.
   You want to avoid concrete Confession, even though it is Scriptural (John 20:19-23), preferring to have a secret spiritual confession with God, which is also necessary, but which alone, can leave us in an illusion and also without the special helps of the sacrament, which are its healing graces.
   
   
2. The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that protects the Incarnation: Christ's flesh was taken from the line of Adam, and came solely through Mary. Nothing unholy can belong to God. So it stands to reason that Mary would be perfectly sanctified from the first moment of her conception so that no sin, even original sin, would ever be part of what Christ took upon Himself.
   
   
3. Denying Purgatory also denies the concrete reality of sin and the holiness of God. Nothing unholy can be united to God. (Revelation 21:17) Purgatory purges the concrete effects of sin in us and the lingering sinful inclinations in us. It takes time to change. If we don't become perfect by cooperating with God's grace on Earth, then it has to be done to us later. There is Scriptural evidence for it: (1 Corinthians 3:10-16, Hebrews 12:29, as well as historical evidence: 2 Maccabees 12:39-46) but it is reasonable and in accord with our sense that we have done damage to ourselves and others by sin, and need to be repaired and help repair, others which we can do while on this earth.
   
   
4. The Church's teaching on contraception protects the holiness of God. Life and death is God's territory, not ours, and He has given us a share in creating life through love.
   To engage in love that is purposely deprived of being life-giving is to separate what God has united, and to falsify the concrete fleshly sign of love, marital union, making it selfish and making it a lie.
   

I hope this helps,

Mary Ann

Chris —

You don't have to leave. If you don't reject, but are just simply having a hard time accepting some truths, you can stay and pray for grace to believe. 

If you believe the Church is the true Church founded by Christ, keep in union with Christ in the Eucharist, and go to Confession to confess any pride you may have. If truth changed to suit the times, it wouldn't be truth.

However, if you do not accept either the Church or Her doctrines, then in conscience you should leave. Nevertheless, not accept some truths does not mean not liking or not understanding them. One wonders why you did become a Catholic so recently.

• What were you thinking when you made your profession of faith?

Mary Ann

Hi, Chris —

I just wanted to chime in on a few issues in your dialogue with Mary Ann. Correct me if I am wrong, but it appears that your initiation into the Church was done very poorly.

• Didn't they talk about these issues during your RCIA program?

You said:
I was actually somewhat surprised when I brought this up to one of the three different spiritual directors. One said that more people are leaving the Church and not even attending Confession or Mass; that with each generation the numbers get lower and lower.

Whether people are leaving the Church or joining the Church, as I believe, is irrelevant.

If we read John, Chapter 6, when Our Lord talked about the Eucharist, the end result was that many disciples (or followers) left Him. (John 6:53-66)

How did our Lord reply to the departure of his disciples:

• No, He turned to St. Peter and said, will you leave me too?

Popularity shouldn't be the measuring rod. Truth should be the measure rod. The martyrs of the Early Church and of the nineteenth century are a witness to this.

I believe what the Spiritual director told you but the reason is because most lay Catholics don't have a well-informed, well-catechized Catholic conscience or have one, but are choosing to ignore it while accepting the sex-saturated culture of the 2000's.

• When was the last time you heard anything positive about the Catholic Church during prime time on public T. V.?

You would have to go back to the televised show with Archbishop Fulton Sheen. This is why parents are key to instilling solid Catholic principles in their children in a non-rebellious manner; difficult I know.

You said:
To be honest, I think the Church is too legalistic and too slow to change with modern times.

Now I have a question for you:

• Is America too legalistic?

Is there any reason I can't:

• drive through a red light?
• shoot a person in the movie theater?
• drive 210 miles per hour on local streets?
• beat up old people I meet because I think they are getting too old?
  

Of course there is! Laws or rules are created to protect the public and the individual from doing damage to others and to themselves.

• If you are upset at the Church for being too legalistic, why aren't you also upset with your local community for being too legalistic?

These laws are meant for your own good and the good of the public; the same is true with the (laws|teachings) of the Catholic Church founded by Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ. While the local community is mainly interested in your physical well-being, the Church is more concerned about your spiritual well-being . . . your soul.

In my humble opinion, leaving for another man-made community would make no sense because many things taught in those communities would be based on personal opinion, not the Truth of Jesus Christ.

What I would do:

• find some time and go to a nearby Catholic parish and just go inside and pray about the issues you are struggling with.
• while in the Church ask the Lord to give you faith in the one Church he established on
  St. Peter and his successors, and
• ask him to show you how these teachings make sense; over time he will show you through acquaintances you run into.
• Going to a nearby Eucharistic Adoration Chapel is the best place to start plus . . . again, you never know who you will bump into.

Personally, I recommend doing this while praying the Rosary but reading the Scriptures can also be very enlightening. You can't do better then reading the very words of God (the Incarnate Jesus) Himself in the Gospels!

Just some thoughts,

Mike

Hi, Chris —

Thanks for the reply.

You said:

• Are you saying just to continue to pray about these issues?

You can't pray over issues that you have not been properly informed on. I would encourage you to buy a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and study it. Amazon sells them in used condition as well. Side note: Don't buy the Mass Market Paperback version, it's very, very small.
By our own human nature, we all struggle with certain sins of the flesh and temptations. That just means you, like me, are human Chris.

You said:

• Does this mean I'm in mortal sin and an not able to receive the Eucharist?

If you know contraceptive use and masturbation are mortal sins, which you now know, you should go to Confession first; it's not a big thing though. In most Catholic parishes there are one or more compassionate confessors on a Saturday afternoon who can hear your Confession.

Just don't do dumb things like receiving the Eucharist if you have committed a mortal sin, without first going to sacramental Confession with a priest. Our ultimate model of saintliness, Our Blessed Mother, (received|conceived) Our Lord in her body while she was totally pure; we should do the same thing when we receive Holy Communion every Sunday.

Let's remember Jesus provided this sacrament for all of our spiritual weaknesses. No man, by himself, can forgive sins, but through the sacrament of Holy Orders, Jesus uses the body of an earthly man to forgive our sins.

You said:
When I go to Confession I feel nothing, but when I pray to God at night and ask for forgiveness, He fills me full of grace and I can truly feel it.

The grace of the sacraments are not solely based on feelings. They have an effect on our souls whether we feel their effects or not.

Mike