Just So You Know, I'm Giving Up On Catholicism...

[Anastasia13]

I once went to an Orthodox church in Ohio. It was my first time, so rather bewildering. It's still all kind of a blur. But there is one thing I'll never forget. Here's that part from my journal:

 

"...an old lady approached me—one who must have been sitting behind me—and leaned over, saying softly, kindly, “What church do you go to?” her accent was straight out of My Big Fat Greek Wedding. “Roman Catholic,” i said, and smiled. “Oh!” she smiled back, with tender eyes, “We’re almost the same!” i laughed quietly, flashing back to, “That’s ok! I’ll make lamb!”"

 

Congratulations. :-)

 

Services are very different from Roman Catholic. Eastern rite is similar, but still a little shorter, at least in the Armenian side. I don't know what Byzantine would be compared to. The theology is similar, though some perspectives and approaches are a little different, especially compared to the Oriental Orthodox, but again, we are very similar.  Armenians might even allow a Catholic to have communion.  Armenians are among the more relaxed about such things. I'm not sure about Syriac. Coptic is much more strict.  Coptic services are the longest too.

 

Re: Congrats: Thank you. :)

[Anastasia13]

So the solution to being bored is to bump L&T's less than tactful conversion thread? :P

 

Did I mention thank you?

[Anastasia13]

Deleted.

Edited December 31, 2012 by Light and Truth

[Anastasia13]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you. Are you saying a partner has to be Catholic or Christian or do you mean has to be not Atheist? And I think the idea of becoming 'one' in marriage is a bit of a fairy tale. It's only practical to a certain extent. Marriage is tough and to a great extent you need your individuality to survive it. And people are very different. Just because a person is Catholic doesn't necessarily mean that makes them more desirable as a life partner. I have many agnostic friends who are more Christian than many of the Catholics that I know and I could never accept the God of love rejecting them. I can see him working through them without their awareness. It's only a small step for them to see Christ in what they do for others. I'd give up on Catholicism if it weren't for the fact that I see the devils work in the things that happen that would be my deterrent. We have saints at the top end, but unfortunately there is also a bottom end, so be aware. A person of Christian behavior would be far better than a failed Catholic. When I was house building I made the mistake of hiring only Catholic tradesmen because I thought they would do an honest job for honest charges. How wrong was that assumption! But as the Apostles said to Jesus. To whom would I turn? All other religions and denominations are full of just as many faults, but non would do more than the enormous amount of social justice that is done by the RC. And it's those good works that attracts me. Without the RC I would not have had my experience of East Timor and the lone sheep is easy prey for the wolf! For what it's worth my wife is Catholic and for her sake I became Catholic and raised our children as Catholic. Still haven't been able to decide if there was merit in that or not. Wife doesn't really practice Catholicism in a liturgical sense but is very Christian in her treatment of others My sons partner is Greek orthodox. They are private about their religious convictions and I don't intrude. My daughter is a cancer nurse and finds it difficult to come to terms with a God of love who lets her friends suffer and die horrible deaths when she shows so much love and compassion. But I'm working on that issue and I like to fool myself that I'm achieving something. The only thing that is important is Christian behavior. Only God is good, all that is good comes from God. Look for someone who is good.

 

Christian behavior will be affected by Christian faith. I want someone who will share that. It is the motive I want my kids taught.  I was listening to the radio the other day, and a dad was talking to his daughter about a story where a lady returned someone that someone lost (did the right thing), but did it because of karma, not because it was what God would have wanted. Motivation differed, and motivation matters.

 

As for your son and daughter example, they are Christian and that is good enough. I don't care much about doctrine outside of the basics of Christianity.  I may even disagree with certain things, but I do not see them as necessarily fundamental to the basics of Christian living or as particularly hazardous to the soul of the believer.  (Not all doctrines are of equal importance.)

 

As for your daughter, clearly she knows something of God to have such love, though there is room for growth. One can stay and struggle and ask questions and seek understanding, or one can give up on faith and walk away.

 

One of the things that I get from this is that your would say to look not for someone who has perfect doctrine or perfect religiosity, but someone  who has love.  I need someone who I know has faith, not just a theist, but in a loving God and in a savior, along with the fruits of the Spirit. It is my reason for love and I want to share that.

Edited December 31, 2012 by Light and Truth

[BG45]

You probably were night aware of some of the things I posted prior to 2009.

 

http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/36535-l-t-describes-her-faith/

 

http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/37183-odd-question/

 

I first set foot in an Orthodox church in 2007 or 2008, but then not again until 2010.

 

I totally missed them, sorry!  And you're welcome, how has actually being Orthodox treated you so far in this brief time?

[Anastasia13]

I totally missed them, sorry!  And you're welcome, how has actually being Orthodox treated you so far in this brief time?

 

There are no guys my age at my church, and I don't know if I will meet any at my other church. Making friends at church is awkward with higher ethnic level and generally speaking traditional church stuff-never good at meeting people there.  The old people can be really sweet.  I'm self-conscious when I go up for communion and occasionally am scared of doing something wrong. The Armenian priest is really Christian, not just in a religious sense but in a loving open sense, even if I don't talk to him much. I wonder what it is like in other churches that do actually private confession-Armenian does not. The Syriac church I visited had a priest's wife who reminded me of my old rabbi's wife (Messianic, raised Conservative): I think that is a Semitic thing or a good minister's wife thing. I'm intimidated to light the candles at the back of the church (also present at an Armenian Catholic church). It's weird and sometimes hard (if I come late or lose my place in the Armenian book) to follow a foreign tongued liturgy and I sit awkwardly reading the scripture in my bulletin and waiting during the Armenian part of the homily. It makes me feel semi-agnostic outside of certain basic Christian faiths as I do not like to reject and sometimes don't want to reject other church's teachings.The food is good. I hope to have dinner with this nice Syriac lady one of these days. And every time I look into something that I care about and is about what we should or should not do or something that someone says about it or about something religious and I get an Armenian or general OO answer, it makes sense in a way that is as natural or healthy as breathing.  I'm still looking forward to talking to the local Coptic priest, but they start early. :yawn: I am proud when I see one of our churches. I have realized that I really do like the teaching and approach of Oriental Orthodox better than Eastern Orthodox. In my EO conversations, there is more rigidity, even if more culturally familiar among the less highly ethnic populations of America.

Edited January 1, 2013 by Light and Truth

[Anastasia13]

No comment?

[Anastasia13]

There are no guys my age at my church, and I don't know if I will meet any at my other church. Making friends at church is awkward with higher ethnic level and generally speaking traditional church stuff-never good at meeting people there.  The old people can be really sweet.  I'm self-conscious when I go up for communion and occasionally am scared of doing something wrong. The Armenian priest is really Christian, not just in a religious sense but in a loving open sense, even if I don't talk to him much. I wonder what it is like in other churches that do actually private confession-Armenian does not. The Syriac church I visited had a priest's wife who reminded me of my old rabbi's wife (Messianic, raised Conservative): I think that is a Semitic thing or a good minister's wife thing. I'm intimidated to light the candles at the back of the church (also present at an Armenian Catholic church). It's weird and sometimes hard (if I come late or lose my place in the Armenian book) to follow a foreign tongued liturgy and I sit awkwardly reading the scripture in my bulletin and waiting during the Armenian part of the homily. It makes me feel semi-agnostic outside of certain basic Christian faiths as I do not like to reject and sometimes don't want to reject other church's teachings.The food is good. I hope to have dinner with this nice Syriac lady one of these days. And every time I look into something that I care about and is about what we should or should not do or something that someone says about it or about something religious and I get an Armenian or general OO answer, it makes sense in a way that is as natural or healthy as breathing.  I'm still looking forward to talking to the local Coptic priest, but they start early. :yawn: I am proud when I see one of our churches. I have realized that I really do like the teaching and approach of Oriental Orthodox better than Eastern Orthodox. In my EO conversations, there is more rigidity, even if more culturally familiar among the less highly ethnic populations of America.

 

Anything? At all?

[Anastasia13]

Point of recent observation: it really is culture and approach that I reject more than doctrine. I don't necessarily have any problem with the doctrines of the Catholic church, but I cannot exist as well in a Roman rite church (and their creepy hymns instead of classic prayers-why???).  It is unfortunate I don't have any Middle Eastern Catholic churches around to further explore this.

Edited May 8, 2013 by Light and Truth

[Anastasia13]

.

Edited May 8, 2013 by Light and Truth

[Ice_nine]

creepy hymns? Do elaborate.

[Nihil Obstat]

Point of recent observation: it really is culture and approach that I reject more than doctrine. I don't necessarily have any problem with the doctrines of the Catholic church, but I cannot exist as well in a Roman rite church (and their creepy hymns instead of classic prayers-why???).  It is unfortunate I don't have any Middle Eastern Catholic churches around to further explore this.

I do not like the hymns either. ;) If by hymns, of course, you mean the crummy set of silliness by the likes of Haugen. :smile3:

 

The propers should be chanted at Mass. After we have that down, then maybe we talk about some hymns.

[brianthephysicist]

I do not like the hymns either. ;) If by hymns, of course, you mean the crummy set of silliness by the likes of Haugen. :smile3:

 

The propers should be chanted at Mass. After we have that down, then maybe we talk about some hymns.

 

LOL

 

Our campus Mass has terribly inappropriate music.  Don't get me wrong, the musicians and singers are very talented, but songs are either the likes of Haugen or new popular stuff you'd hear on K-Love.  Heck, here's our Mass setting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bL4nRwlIHnk

 

:x 

 

Rustles my jimmies.

 

But the diocese switched our diocesan representative as well as our primary priest.  He's very legit and has been slowly shifting things towards more liturgically appropriate.  He's been slowly introducing more chant into the Mass and it's been beautiful.  At our most recent Mass, he chanted the entire Eucharistic prayer.  Beautiful.  It brought such a calming prayerful presence to the entire room.  You could tell that this wasn't some worship service and it wasn't some kind of performance, but something amazing was happening.  And then the choir breaks in with their version of the mystery of faith and there's this kind of resigned sigh that washes over the congregation.   :cry:

 

At the end of this semester the people that lead our choir are leaving, so I think he's been planning on letting them leave without saying anything, but then working on getting the new leader to begin moving in a better direction.  I'm genuinely hopeful.  

[Nihil Obstat]

:smile3: My jimmies are also rather rustled.

[Anastasia13]

creepy hymns? Do elaborate.

 

woman's voice with soft piano accompaniment and I don't recall the lyrics. If it is not part of the liturgy though, it doesn't belong in the service, imo, and if it did, it could still have a little style or life to it instead of some tranquilizing, emotionally manipulative lullaby like most worship songs I have heard around but usually avoid these days.