Why do some consider themselves Catholic?

Ok, I know reading my blog you may think I am full of myself, but that is not quite true. However, I can honestly say that I hold no one up to a standard that is as high as the standard I hold for myself... yes I do drive myself CRAZY with my imperfections. However, as a member of Catholics United for the Faith I am sworn to up hold and spread the teachings of the Mother Church in Rome! So here I go again on another fit!

I found this on the following website.... http://ncrcafe.org/node/378

Here it is....

Does the Church really need more vocations?Submitted by laudateeum on August 21, 2006 - 10:39am. --- Parish Life <http://ncrcafe.org/forum/12>

We frequently hear and talk about vocations, as if they were a special calling, a direct communication from God. The hierarchy and clergy ask us to pray for priestly vocations as if we could move God to make his voice heard loud and clear in the minds and hearts of gifted men, but of course not of gifted women. So that married and single people do not feel left out, we talk about vocations to the married and single state. Doesn't anyone question this stuff?If I had a vocation, the seeds of it were sown in my family life and in my catholic school education. My parents' respect for priests was unconditional, as was the respect of the nuns and brothers who taught me. To be a priest was the highest calling one could have, they said. Still I had never met a priest who was a role model. As persons they were remote from my life. Yet, I held them in awe. I thought that I had heard a call to the priesthood when I told a chaplain at college that I sometimes thought about becoming a priest and he said to me that I should be encouraging that thought, not discouraging it. Up to that point I had always discouraged the thought of priesthood because I wanted to get married and have a family but from that day forward I became obsessed with the idea of becoming a priest. My girl friend did not like the idea but I put her and her feelings out of mind. I was called by God to leave family and friends.After seven years in the priesthood, I decided after much soul searching that it was not the life for me. Those in authority readily agreed. They made it easy for me to go and never really cared what became of me. They still don't, almost forty years later.I left the active priesthood with the belief that I had to answer to God for the decision to leave. No one in authority, not even the Pope, could make that decision right with God if it were the wrong decision. It was either right or it was wrong and I believed that it was right.Perhaps because there was much that was positive in my life as a priest I soon subscribed to the view of others that there was a legitimate role for temporary vocations in the priesthood. No Christian Community called me to serve it as a priest. I decided that I wanted to become a priest. After doing the requisite studies, prayer, meditation, and observance of the rules I was accepted into the priesthood. Was doing all those things for many years a sign that I was called? I don't know.We can talk about listening to God in prayer and self reflection, discerning his call in the deepest recesses of our being where we evaluate the events and experiences of our life. This call is very imprecise and personal, at times, contradictory. Is it truly a call or simply a decision making process?If I were to pray today for vocations to the priesthood it would not be a sincere prayer. I am not sure that anyone should choose to become a priest nor do I think that there is any such thing as a vocation to the priesthood. Furthermore, I do not sense that priests are very happy, and why would I want someone to choose a life that is not happy. I realize that a recent survey of priests indicates that most of them say that they are happy. The question arises: why don't they show it? I would concede that some may.Joseph Campbell opined that we should follow our bliss. I could easily pray for this that all people would come to understand what their bliss is and that they be given the freedom and the opportunity to follow it. Some may find that their bliss is the priesthood. Then, by all means pursue it, unless, of course, you wear a dress. At this senior stage in my life I wonder why we need priests. Having them may be a blessing if they are true leaders, spiritually oriented, positive forces for good, scholarly in scriptural studies, gifted with a sense of warmth and humor, respectful of the intelligence of the laity, interested in the people of the parish, compassionate, non judgmental, and hospitable.If we do not have enough priests for all the parishes then let the celebration of the liturgy be communal. Parishioners can pray the mass together, responding to the invitation of our Lord to do this in memory of him. If in some mysterious way the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ, it happens through the power of God, and God's power can work through the whole community as it did in the early Church.We might just be more vibrant Christian communities if we lived and prayed the mass as co-equals. We might feel that we are the Church.Laudateeum

OK, first of all we do need vocations. There is NO substitute for the priest at mass. The members of the church CANNOT change the wafer into Jesus’ body, the wine into his blood! And anyone who claims to be Catholic and does not believe in the real presents is a LIAR. There is no other term for them. More importantly the Church does care about the priests that abandon their wives and mission (the church is his wife for any who is confused by that statement)! It is a shame that someone could possibly think little lone write that it is just fine to abandon ones wife to the wolves. However, I can say with that total lack of respect for the Church and her teachings… it is good that this wolf did not continue to lead a flock of sheep!

"The Catechism and proofs for the Resurrection"

Jesus Rose from the Dead? Prove It!
4/4/2007
The Catechism and proofs for the Resurrection

"If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain" (1 Cor. 15:14).

Easter, the high point of the Christian year, brings opportunities to witness to the truth of the Resurrection of Our Lord. With the eyes of faith, it is possible to see the Resurrection as a historical fact. That believers see it as a fact, though, does not necessarily mean that it can be empirically proven. In fact, the Catechism teaches that while rational proofs can be helpful, the faith is passed on through witnesses with the help of the Holy Spirit.

There are a number of "proofs" we can employ that give a defense for the hope that is in us (cf. 1 Pet. 3:15). We might show people that we’re not crazy for believing. We might show people that they wouldn’t be crazy for believing. The more ambitious might even use proofs in an attempt to convert others. While proofs are helpful, they can take us only so far.

What moves us to believe is not the fact that revealed truths appear as true and intelligible in the light of our natural reason: we believe "because of the authority of God himself who reveals them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived." So "that the submission of our faith might nevertheless be in accordance with reason, God willed that external proofs of his Revelation should be joined to the internal helps of the Holy Spirit." (Catechism, no. 156).

For an example of proofs, we can look to St. Thomas Aquinas’ five ways in which man can come to know the existence of God. These proofs are paths of reasoning that can be helpful in disposing a person—softening his heart—toward the work of the Holy Spirit. As the Catechism says,
Man’s faculties make him capable of coming to a knowledge of the existence of a personal God. But for man to be able to enter into real intimacy with him, God willed both to reveal himself to man, and to give him the grace of being able to welcome this revelation in faith. The proofs of God’s existence, however, can predispose one to faith and help one to see that faith is not opposed to reason. (Catechism, no. 35)

So man is capable of reasoning to the existence of God. In fact, St. Thomas teaches that the existence of God, because it "can be known by natural reason," is not an article of faith (Summa Theologica, I.2.2). St. Thomas teaches that the Resurrection, on the other hand, is an article of faith: "Some things come to our knowledge by nature’s common law, others by special favor of grace, as things divinely revealed" (Summa Theologica, III.55.1).

This is important for our understanding of the use of proofs. We can lead people to see that an article of faith, in this case the Resurrection, is reasonable, but revelation is also received in faith, passed down by witnesses. The Catechism says:
But no one was an eyewitness to Christ’s Resurrection and no evangelist describes it. No one can say how it came about physically. Still less was its innermost essence, his passing over to another life, perceptible to the senses. Although the Resurrection was an historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the apostles’ encounters with the risen Christ, still it remains at the very heart of the mystery of faith as something that transcends and surpasses history. This is why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples, "to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people." (Catechism, no. 647)

Thus, as St. Thomas said, it is the nature of the Resurrection not to be subject to proofs and known by natural reason, but is "beyond the common ken of mankind." Instead, the Resurrection was revealed by Christ to a few witnesses "by whose testimony it could be brought to the knowledge of others."

http://www.cuf.org/news/newsdetail.asp?newID=171

Sort of a retraction

I would like to make a sort of retraction from my previous post. It is not a full retraction because I am still saddened; however, I will retract the idea that they are not “good Catholics.” I should say they do not outwardly behave as such. Where being told this to some would be good, others not so good. So I will just leave it at the fact that I have been injured, but I will continue to pray for them and myself. If anyone is reading this, please do the same.

Love for the Mother Church lost

I know that all have felt the pain of losing a love one. Now I want to talk about the feeling of “losing” a love one in the spiritual realm. I am not sure if physical or spiritual loss is easier. It seems when we lose someone physically we can have comfort that they are now in God’s grace. When it is spiritual loss we still place them in God’s mercy; however, we are constantly fearful for them for as long as we/they live or until they come back home. I am sure my old friends and family feel that way about me coming to the Catholic Church.

What brought this to mind is I have a “friend” who started me on my journey into the fullness of the faith. He has a degree in “medieval” political science or something like that. He loves the church fathers and proclaimed to love the Mother Church. However, now he claims to love the Church, but does not follow her teaching. He claims to love the Mother Church, but does not visit her. He proclaims to love the Church, but does not wish to get closer to her. He married someone who entered into the Catholic Church, but she does not love the Mother Church enough to follow the teaching either.

I know I am being hard on them. I am really hurt. I have been shunned by my friend for asking him how his faith is going. Pray for me to help me get over the hurt and pray for him so he will come back in and start living the love he proclaims.

Sin after Death?

Hello all!

I was sitting at work one day thinking about God, Faith, Life, and such and started to think about sin and free will. I decided to post a question to see what responses I would get from all those who care to respond!

Will we sin after we get to heaven? I ovious answer is NO! But why is it no. We know that due to free will creation was able to sin in heaven (the fallen angels). We know that this was done with no outside tempation. We also know we will still have free will because God has free will so we will keep ours.

So what will keep us from sinning and losing our salvation after death?