Catholics, do you feel the Church represents you and your belief system?
153440
i was also raised catholic. didn't go to catholic school, but parents strict catholic and i'm one of seven (living). no way does the church represent me!\ndid you know that catholic priests used to be able to marry and have children? the priests were given a home but because the priest would give the home to family when he got old and died the church lost MONEY on the home and had to buy a new home for a new priest.\ni also don't agree with moving child molesters around to different churches. child molesters belong in jail. for life. period.(in my opinion).\ngay or straight priests can't have sex. i just don't think that's right.(my opinion)\ni also think that if you are going to belong to a specific religion and that one alone - you should believe with no question.\ni was also put off when a friend told me about her story of moving from n.e.coast to west coast by NO help from the catholic church. her dad left the family (pregnant wife and7 children) on the side of the road with a broken down car to go get help. never came back. after spending the night in the car she walked with kids to next town and walked into the first building she saw - a catholic church. "thank you lord!" she cried. after telling the priest what had happened he sent her walking across town to the salvation army who got in touch with the mormon church. the people there took her and her kids in. never talked about what church they were from never talked religion; they were only there to help. a collection was taken through the phone lines (this was 40 years ago in a small town) and a car and enough money was raised to get this family to mom's aunts house in wash. state.\nTHAT IS A CHURCH. any community who can do that for complete strangers in need of help - that's my kind of church. that's what i want to belong to. as for religion - sorry into that.
204811
I think you are speaking of the Catholic Church.  There are many denominations (such as mine - Baptist) that believe that there are only 2 levels - God, and us.
912087
The church is the body of Christ. Jesus intsructed Peter to institute it. Therefore the "church" is essential.\n\nI do agree that there is a lot of bad that can come from so-called "churches".\n\nI don't think that Jesus would neccessarily endorse every group of people that call themselves his "church".\n\nMany people claim to be christians, but do not follow Jesus' teachings. I believe this has given organized religion a bad name.
587065
All believe in Christ.\n\nEach Christian sect has minor views on attitudes.  \n\nI am Catholic, so I am biased to place Catholicism as the best.  I was baptized and confirmed at the age of ten-years-old.  I quickly went "South" and kinda spit on the Church and her ways.  Well, I spent enough time without God <which is Catholics definition of HELL> ... and I decided to attend the RCIA <Rights of Christian Initiation> classes and I relearned how beautiful, logical, and necessary God and the Catholic Church are.  Prior to taking the classes, "South Park" was my source of spiritual education.  Well, "South Park" had some truths, but now I can really laugh when I watch the show 'cas I understand the parodies, and truth.\n\nDid you know that Catholics provide medicine, education, and disaster relief to many of the Third World countries?  <http://www.catholic.org/>\n\nDid you know that Catholics own the most Telescopes outside of the USA Government?  They teach about evolution, and bending of time?\n\nDid you know that any man who is in good Catholic standing can become Pope?\n\nDid you know that Catholic means Universal and that the Catholic Church IS NOT a building but all the people who are Catholics?\n\nThanks for asking, and listening.  Peace be with you.
1123697
i'm catholic too..... but sometimes i wonder if i'm a very good one. lol. \n\nthats the whole idea man, we dont know where we come from. if you believe in god, how is it that god existed before everything else?? theres just no answer. and if you believe in the big bang, or anything else like that, well..... there was nothing, and then stuff just exploded? what caused that?\n\nsee what i mean? theres not any real way to explain it. but thats what faith is about. i dont care what it says in some book. no book has all the answers. but, faith is about not having all the answers, and just looking inside and trying to connect with what you really feel, whatever that is, and being able to believe in it, and believe that theres more out there than what we understand in this life.\n\nthat said, whatever you believe in, its fine by me. whether its god, or buddah, or allah, or jehovah, or whatever.... you can believe in a can of creamed corn for all i care. lol. its not like i have all the answers.
584589
i'm catholic and i feel the same way!\ni think that theres way too much emphasis on ritual (church practices, sacraments, masses, etc.) and whether or not the bible is word for word true in a literal sense, and not enough emphasis on just being a good person on a day to day basis. i could go on, but i'm betting you already think the same way about a lot of this stuff.
626392
I am Protestant, but I prefer to just think of myself as Christian - there are many denominations of Protestants that I do not agree with. I don't think that all Catholics are going to hell, and I can't say that all Catholics think I'm going to hell. \n\nIt's difficult to classify Catholics vs. Protestants today, owing to the fact that there are so many Protestant denominations with so many different doctrines and practices. I can therefore only offer the difference between myself and the Catholics (Roman) as I knew them at the school I went to. \n\nCatholics pray to Mary and the saints, I do not. \n\nCatholics christen infants (some Protestants do this too), I don't think that a person should be baptized until they are saved.\n\nCatholics have celibate priests and nuns, I find no basis for that. \n\nCatholics confess to priests/fathers, I do not believe I have to confess to anyone but God in order to be forgiven.\n\nCatholics believe in mortal sins and other kinds of sin (in other words, they "rank" sin), I do not believe that God ranks sin. I believe that they affect us differently on earth, but that the wages of all sin is death.\n\nCatholics have texts such as the Maccabbees that I do not follow. \n\nCatholics believe that the communion wine and bread really become the blood and body of Jesus Christ, I do not. I simply believe it to be a memorial practice. \n\nCatholics believe that Mary remained a virgin her whoe life and had no children other than Jesus. I believe she was a virgin only until Jesus was born, and that she had other children.\n\nCatholics have worship practices that differ from my own - they cross themselves, use holy water, pray the rosary, etc. Their masses, or church services, are often scripted - the priest will say something, then the congregation will reply (see the link). I disagree with the concept of holy water and praying the rosary. I don't disagree with crossig oneself, but I don't do it. Same with the statement/reply format. I worship in a different style and according to some different beliefs. \n\nThere are several more points of difference...\n\nNone of these differences takes away from the fact that both Catholics and myself believe Jesus to be the Savior and the Son of God (part of the Trinity) - and this is the most important and central belief of Christianity.
89313
It is because the UMC has to some extent maintained the early traditions.  The word Catholic means either "all embracing," or "according to the whole."  Universal really isn't a good translation.  For a church to be all embracing, it must not foster division.  For the Church to be "according to the whole," then decision making must not be local or according to small groups but rather according to the whole Church.  It is said because it is the condensed version of the creed at Nicaea.  Originally, it was used as a baptismal statement and lesson.
1024726
I have a number of gay friends who do - one is even the Australian leader of a worldwide christian youth movement. It was hard for them to reconcile the two lifestyles though. They are all Catholic and have been told they are wrong for a large part of their lives - luckily they found support within the church. I don't go to church myself but support them as I know how.
872116
I think your questions count as preaching, but I can tell you that I am not interested in a relationship with Jesus or the Christian God.  I do feel complete.  I do not feel vulnerable and alone - my beliefs empower me and surrounds me with the protections I need to enjoy my life.  Even with an army on your side, anyone can feel scared from time to time - but I am very safe in my understanding of the Universe.\n\nThe things is, that even in a Christian God model philosophy the point is not to life your live for god - the point is to understand your own divinity and to understand that you and god are a team.  If god is an ocean, we are each and everyone of us a glass of god, with tremendous power and divine right - no matter what we call this being.  To spend time steeped in any church dogma only brings you closer to understanding the church, not god.  \n\nI am glad that Christianity has helped you and I rejoice that you are happy on your chosen path.  I regret that you feel you need to school others or that you feel you have the only answer to the mysteries of life.  There is no way to truly know the Unknowable and there are many paths to enlightenment.  Worry about your own soul until someone asks you for help if you truly want to display the virtue of christianity.\n\nPeace!
347486
YES.  According to the good ol' American Heritage Dictionary, a Christian is one who professes "belief in Jesus as Christ or following the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus."  I'm a Catholic, and I know this describes me, as I'm sure it describes you as well.\n\nI have come to understand a bit more about why sometimes Protestants say Catholics aren't Chritistian, however.  Hopefully, these will help you understand your friends' logic:\n\n1. The Saints.  It's thought that by praying to saints, Catholics are worshiping them.  This isn't true, of course, for reasons I won't get into here - I'm sure you know them - but you can see how people might think you're not Christian if they thought this was true.\n2. The Bible.  Because Protestants don't have a Church structure the way Catholics do, Protestants often end up paying a lot more attention to the Bible, memorizing passages etc.  It seems to them that Catholics ignore the Scriptures and so the word of Christ.  This isn't true either, but it's a not-infrequent misconception.\n3.  The Eucharist.  Catholics say that the Eucharist is the essence of Christ, present with us.  We worship Christ in and through the Eucharist.  If you're Protestant, you (generally) think the Eucharist is bread, symbolic of Christ, but not actually Christ.  So if they see us worshiping God in the Eucharist, they think we're bowing down to a piece of bread.  You can see how this would seem sacriligious?\n4. Salvation.  Generally, Protestants believe that salvation can only come from accepting Christ as your savior.  Essentially, no matter how good a person is on their own, because they're not perfect, they wouldn't be able to make it to heaven if it weren't for Chirst's sacrifice.    Catholics believe this is true, but that you also have to 'walk the walk, not just talk the talk.'  Salvation is based on the acceptance of Christ as savior combined with good works.  The reason some Protestants have a problem with this is because they're thinking we're discounting the importance of Christ's sacrifice and that we think we could get into heaven on our own. \n\nSo you see, the concept of Catholics not being Christian is generally based on misconceptions.  Try explaining these concepts to your friends (without proselytizing) and try to find out why they think Catholics don't count as Christians.  We all believe in Christ as the source of eternal life.  Maybe you can help them see this.
292467
Hi,\nI'm LDS. And I love to be one. I was catholic before, and I'm happy that I found the true church.
276360
Of course I have been to church. I have been going regularly for many years. I look forward to it so yes it means a lot to me.
1043392
I am Catholic but i was not raised too strictly, sometimes i make my own beliefs. in my opinion there are lots of people out there that fit the word "saint" who are working, in a quiet way or not, to help others selflessly, and in turn bring out the good in others.
308220
Ok I have been reading these catholic questions for the past few days. Funny ppl who are not catholic seem to know everything on the faith. I am a catholic , no I don't know everything about my faith. Think about it . It's over 2000 yrs old. To answer your question. Yes we are CHRISTAINS. We belive GOD comes first before anyone else. We DO NOT worship mary or the saints. We DO Not pray to statues.We DO NOT worship the POPE either. He is the churchs leader. You know how others faiths have rev,minsters etc.  \n\n  Yes we have had some bad popes, priest etc. But if you research it theres other faiths out there that have had some rather questionable leaders. \n\n  Also I have never heard any priest, decon in the catholic church say that ppl from other faiths are going to hell. My own personal opionon is this, you must belive in Jesus Christ that he is our savior and died on the cross. Do your best during your life time to be a good person and follow the 10 commandments. ( if you break them then ask for forgivness ) and do good works charitys, helping those who have less then you and so on. \n\n  I'm not saying the Catholic church is perfect. But really think about it what faith is? We are all human beings. We are NOT perfect. \n\n  So before anyone feels the need to pass judgement on the catholic church . Remember we are not here to judge one another thats GODS job. Before anyone pass's judgement on the catholic faith. Take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself  am i perfect? , is my church perfect? Do sin against God ? \n\n Sorry not trying to come off nasty or mean. Just makes me ill when i see so many pass judgememt on something the really have no clue about. \n\n  God Bless ......
463003
This is EXACTLY how you should feel and I don't blame you a bit. I'm not catholic, but I have been wondering the same things. Why aren't more people in an uproar about this??
362569
No not at all....I'm thankful I have a religion a faith the opportunity to believe, and regardless of what religion a person may be someone is always going to put "their two cents" in on it...Believe in what's right for you...no one can do this for you....and I feel you shouldn't put others beliefs down either..Think about it my parents were raised catholic...so of course me and my siblings were all raised catholic...if they happened to be Mormon than we would be Mormon...like I said before believe in what's right for you as a person, to me God can tell the difference of people sincerity regardless of "what religion you may be" or "which religion you think is right"....