Chastity And Faith

[ithinkjesusiscool]

Pax!
Can you be chaste (practice chastity) without faith or have faith without chastity according to Catholic theology?

[CatherineM]

Lots of people practice chastity who aren't Catholics. Many faiths teach as we do in that regard. Even those without a specific faith can realize what a wondrous gift our sexuality is, and treat their bodies as treasure rather than amusement park ride.

You can also believe that the Catholic faith is the true faith of God but yet not believe in everything the Church teaches us. There are lots of things our parents tell us are important that we don't agree with usually until we are older. That doesn't mean we don't still love our parents and belong to our family.

[CatherineM]

I'd like to clarify that you can call yourself a Catholic, believe in most of our tenants, but disagree with somethings, and still have faith. You should always try to properly form your conscience though and work towards complete acceptance of the Truth that the Church teaches. It doesn't mean you don't have faith if you disagree. It means you are human and have some learning yet to do.

[CatherineM]

I was asked to elaborate a bit on at what point a person is allowed to call themselves a Catholic. The bottom line is that anyone who wants to can call themselves a Catholic. There are certainly people I wish wouldn't, but it isn't my place to make that determination. There isn't a checklist in the catechism that you get graded on. You don't have to pass a background check in order to enter our parishes.

My mom was never baptized a Catholic, but went through instruction twice, raised all her kids Catholic, did the funeral dinners at our parish for 35 years, made nuns' habits and priest's vestments, and basically believed every tenet of the Church. When she went to the hospital, she always put Catholic on the admission form. She was buried with her rosary. Was she a Catholic? There wasn't many people who knew her who would be brave enough to tell her she wasn't.

Nancy Pelosi is proud of being a Catholic. She publicly dissents from core teachings. Lots of people wish she'd be excommunicated. That is all above my pay grade, so I certainly don't have the right to tell her she can't call herself a Catholic. Yet, she was baptized a Catholic and my mom wasn't.

Again, in an ideal world, we'd all be Catholic and we'd all believe every little line of the catechism, canon law and all documents that have ever come out of Rome. We should certainly believe all the big stuff. If we don't, why would we want to be called Catholic?

It's okay to think. It's okay to question and wonder about stuff. That's human. If you want to be a faithful Catholic, the stuff you don't understand or don't agree with, you should try to learn more about. You should try to understand why the Church teaches what it does. If you just can't agree, then at least try to follow the rule any way. Lots of people don't like paying taxes or following speed limits, but we do it anyway.

Jesus will come to us where we are. Never stop learning. Never stop inquiring. Maybe you aren't a Traditional Catholic, or a devout one, but that doesn't necessarily make you a bad one. Labels are silly really. I am an Irish Catholic, married to a Schizophrenic Catholic. Our friends include cradle Catholics, catholic converts, and Ukrainian Catholics. Our pews are full of all kinds of Catholics. The important thing is that we are all on the journey together.