Does Your Pastor Teach Against Contraception

[thessalonian]

Catholics are about the same as general public for abc use. Sad.

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/13/religious-women-use-contraception-regularly-report-says/?iref=allsearch

Maybe you should send him this article.

Edited April 18, 2011 by thessalonian

[OnlySunshine]

My new pastor has already spoken against the subject of contraception. He has been there less than a year and I can already tell that he is very faithful to Catholic teachings. People are already having trouble with it, though, because the former pastor was there for so long and wasn't able to stand up to people. Anytime he would speak out against something, some would rebuke him about it and he would clam up. My mom and aunt were under the impression that because he refused to speak on any of these things for fear of trouble, that it was OK.

I already see a change in my mom and aunt. Both of them are changing for the better. My mom never wanted to go to Confession because she thought she didn't need to. After our new pastor said that Confession is absolutely necessary and gave good reasons for it, she wanted to go. It also helped that I am trying to set a good example for my family by going to Confession often. I was so very happy when my mom started going!

I have fought with my mom for a few years about contraception. She has had the mindset that it is up to each married couple--it's their business and no one elses. I even argued with her when she told my cousin that she should have her husband go to get a vasectomy because they didn't want anymore children. After that argument, she and I had to stay away from each other for a while. She refused to hear the reasons why she should not be encouraging people to use contraception as it is against life. I think her mindset is changing about this because of my new pastor speaking on it. I pray that she sees the error of her mindset and stops believing that it is OK to use birth control.

[Lil Red]

MM - you touched on part of the problem, in my opinion. Priests who are stationed at a parish for 10-30 years.....it's honestly ridiculous. A cult is developed around the priest instead of around Jesus Christ and the Church. A priest gets too comfortable with the parishioners he is serving, and therefore feels uncomfortable condemning certain practices (like contraception, abortion, gay marriage) because he doesn't want to alienate or insult his friends. piffle.

[Piccoli Fiori JMJ]

[quote name='Lil Red' timestamp='1303102463' post='2229699']
MM - you touched on part of the problem, in my opinion. Priests who are stationed at a parish for 10-30 years.....it's honestly ridiculous. A cult is developed around the priest instead of around Jesus Christ and the Church. A priest gets too comfortable with the parishioners he is serving, and therefore feels uncomfortable condemning certain practices (like contraception, abortion, gay marriage) because he doesn't want to alienate or insult his friends. piffle.
[/quote]

Our pastor has told certain parishioners that work for the church that he does not want them to come to him for confession. And I understand this as well, although there is not much a cult of personality with our pastor who has been here for nearly 20 years (I think). He's retiring this June though, and I hope we will get someone like MM's new pastor. I think we need someone to start injecting some more good stuff instead of leaving all the controversial stuff for the page he writes in the bulletin. We sorely need to pray for our priests, especially those who have been in one place for a long time.

[OnlySunshine]

[quote name='Lil Red' timestamp='1303102463' post='2229699']
MM - you touched on part of the problem, in my opinion. Priests who are stationed at a parish for 10-30 years.....it's honestly ridiculous. A cult is developed around the priest instead of around Jesus Christ and the Church. A priest gets too comfortable with the parishioners he is serving, and therefore feels uncomfortable condemning certain practices (like contraception, abortion, gay marriage) because he doesn't want to alienate or insult his friends. piffle.
[/quote]

Exactly! You hit the nail right on the head! Several people left after our former pastor retired because they didn't like our new pastor's style. It was extremely sad. That's not why you attend a Church--to go because a certain priest is there. You go because you want to worship Jesus Christ.

I still have issues with my mom rebuking our new pastor in private. She and my dad have said horrible things about him. I keep trying to stand up for him, but sometimes it doesn't work. He is the best pastor we've had and I hate hearing such negative things about him simply because he is trying to stand up for Church teachings. It takes a very special priest to be able to stand up to people nowadays and not be intimidated. I think he's doing so well because he went to law school. He was studying for the bar exam when he decided he wanted to be a priest and answer the call he received from Christ in his childhood. I thank God everyday that we have him in our Church. He's amazing!

[OnlySunshine]

[quote name='Piccoli Fiori JMJ' timestamp='1303142605' post='2229799']
Our pastor has told certain parishioners that work for the church that he does not want them to come to him for confession. And I understand this as well, although there is not much a cult of personality with our pastor who has been here for nearly 20 years (I think). He's retiring this June though, and I hope we will get someone like MM's new pastor. I think we need someone to start injecting some more good stuff instead of leaving all the controversial stuff for the page he writes in the bulletin. We sorely need to pray for our priests, especially those who have been in one place for a long time.
[/quote]

I honestly don't know why certain pastors are able to stay in one parish for so long. I don't know how long our former pastor was assigned, but he was definitely there too long. People, including my parents and aunt, moved to our current parish because he was there. As much as I love our home parish, it did arise a certain difficulty when he retired because people were of a certain mindset. It's definitely going to take some time for people to get used to our new pastor--hopefully sooner rather than later.

[sixpence]

[quote name='MaterMisericordiae' timestamp='1303145069' post='2229809']
Exactly! You hit the nail right on the head! Several people left after our former pastor retired because they didn't like our new pastor's style. It was extremely sad. That's not why you attend a Church--to go because a certain priest is there. You go because you want to worship Jesus Christ.

I still have issues with my mom rebuking our new pastor in private. She and my dad have said horrible things about him. I keep trying to stand up for him, but sometimes it doesn't work. He is the best pastor we've had and I hate hearing such negative things about him simply because he is trying to stand up for Church teachings. It takes a very special priest to be able to stand up to people nowadays and not be intimidated. I think he's doing so well because he went to law school. He was studying for the bar exam when he decided he wanted to be a priest and answer the call he received from Christ in his childhood. I thank God everyday that we have him in our Church. He's amazing!
[/quote]

I've come to realize that this very thing happened in my parish when I was younger, but at the time, I think I was too immature to understand. We had a pastor for a long time, I think almost my whole childhood. Apparently, there was a number of people who left because they did not appreciate how he would stand up for certain church teachings etc., by the time I was old enough to really pay attention to what was going on, I knew that he was still willing to tell people what was what without hesitation. Then when he retiredl, the same thing happened with the new pastor; people left. This time it was because the new guy was more into Latin hymns and adding all these little decedent frills to the Liturgy than he was interested in the lives of the parishioners.

[Nihil Obstat]

The only priest I have ever heard talk on 'hot button' issues is the local FSSP priest. His sermons are very powerful; they make you uncomfortable, and they should! As far as I'm concerned, there isn't another priest in the entire diocese that can measure up.
This is him. He works out of a kind of ugly parish, but they do a good job with what they've been given.
[img]http://www.fssp.org/album/VPC2008/imgp0263.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.vancouvervtms.com/wd/Vancouver/VTMS/Fr.%20Blust6.jpg[/img]

[Ed Normile]

[quote name='Piccoli Fiori JMJ' timestamp='1303142605' post='2229799']
Our pastor has told certain parishioners that work for the church that he does not want them to come to him for confession. And I understand this as well, although there is not much a cult of personality with our pastor who has been here for nearly 20 years (I think). He's retiring this June though, and I hope we will get someone like MM's new pastor. I think we need someone to start injecting some more good stuff instead of leaving all the controversial stuff for the page he writes in the bulletin. We sorely need to pray for our priests, especially those who have been in one place for a long time.
[/quote]

I was in need of confession and I went to a church I do not usually go to as I was too far to make confession at the regular one, anyway, I had seen earlier the time was 4:30 to mass starts at 5:00 so I got there about ten minutes early and there was no one there in line for confession, Stroke of luck I thought ! Then finally at about 4:35 a little old lady showed up. I asked her when the priest was coming for confession as he was 5 minutes late and she said, Father Random name, is doing mass tonight and he does not like to hear confessions??? I said your kidding right, the priest chooses not to hear confession as he does not like to? She said yes, St. So and so's is just 20 miles, but I think there confession is over at 4:00. Needless to say [i]I missed confession that day.

ed
[/i]

[Papist]

I have yet to run into a priest that teaches counter to the Church on birth control. However, I am sure some I would not be surprised if they did, but I haven't actually heard them sepak on the issue. The priests at my parish never shy away from the topic in thier homily and are obedient to the Church's teaching.