Catholics of /int/ tell me about your faith and upbringing
>>60179289
It's the current year
Wasn't raised as anything, decided to check out Catholicism, liked what I saw so I talked to a priest, did some learning, etc. I try to attend mass every week but can't take communion yet.
I was baptised as a Catholic but still haven't been chrismated or anything yet. The Eastern Orthodox have a competing claim for being the one original Church and to say the least it isn't immediately obvious whether or not it's them or the Catholics who are completely correct.
I went through all the sacraments and whatnot and then we stopped going to church all of a sudden when I was in my preteens, somewhere in the early 2000s. I later found out one of the priests at my church was fired due to pedophilia allegations during the height of the whole thing.
I found out EVEN LATER that he was on the registry for dating a high-school girl while he was in college, so they were only a couple years apart.
Other than that yeah I dunno it wasn't much different than growing up in any other religion, I'd imagine. Catholic mass is super boring, I can tell you that. There's one part called the Homily which is basically just when the priest shares some kind of story or personal anecdote and there's some kind of lesson in there. My mom always let me sleep through that part when I was really little. Now, on the rare occasion I go, that's the only part that really interests me.
Anyway yeah I grew up catholic AMA I guess.
>>60179544
I'll say this, too. There are a whole bunch of phrases you're supposed to be able to recite and repeat back in certain parts of mass, and I barely even knew them when I went on a regular basis. But in the last couple years they fucking changed all of them just enough so that I have no idea what's going on. So when I do go for a family event or holiday or whatever, I have no idea what I'm supposed to say.
It's nice
Grew up Baptist, moved to my dad's house, attended a Catholic school, was convinced enough to convert
>>60179289
Raised as a catholic apostilic girl in a traditional religious family due to the strong beliefs of my Italian grandparents who migrated here in the 40's. I rarely ever miss Mass and my older sister is a catechist.
This thread is now about cute nuns
I went to catholic school, did all the sacraments, went to mass sometimes. It is more of a cultural thing for most people, I think.
I am not religious anymore but I have a respect for catholic and orthodox faiths, I hate protestantism
>>60179821
oo one thing i didn't like is the fact that catholic churches are insanely elaborate in areas of high catholic populations, my church was insanely ornate and huge and it wasn't even a cathedral
>>60179289
We complained about going to church every Sunday and swore/drank a lot. That's it.
>>60179619
>mfw those fuckers expected me to memorize the nicene creed
What seem to be very different from Orthodoxy or Lutheranism is the fact that well, you can't have children as a priest
Do you personally know someone so devoted who think that giving up your mundane life entirely is actually worth it
also nuns, how frequently you encounter them?
Here in Russia we do have monks and nuns but if you're not religious you have almost no chance to see them. They live very remotely from society.
>>60179892
>mfw those fuckers expected me to memorize the nicene creed
tfw silently lipsynching it at mass to pretend you knew it
tfw daydreaming about sex during the homily and getting really pissed off when it was over
Not a Catholic, but I went through baptism, communion, confirmation and confession, like almost everyone in Ireland, and had nothing but good experiences with the church.
I went through a period of atheism/agnosticism lasting about a decade which started because I was an edgy teen, but my attitude to religion softened progressively. Eventually, I realised I knew God existed and just didn't want to admit it because of my own pathetic stubbornness. About a year ago, I accepted Christ and don't think I've ever been happier. I'm not a Catholic because of various theological points on which I diverge; I'm an evangelical. Still, the awful attitudes towards Catholicism I've seen amongst American Protestants, in particular, is disheartening - in the modern period, Christians need to stick together, not be divided by sectarianism.
>>60179892
>mfw those fuckers expected me to memorize the nicene creed
*mumblemumblemumble* ONE HOLY AND APOSTOLIC CHURCH *mumblemumble*
That's about all I ever got.
>>60179922
>Do you personally know someone so devoted who think that giving up your mundane life entirely is actually worth it
yea i knew one guy, he was a few years older than me and everyone knew he was going to be a priest even back then
catholic priests are super approachable, i know some people who are othodox and i kinda noticed that it is a bit exclusionary to the point of triumphalism
>>60179922
>you can't have children as a priest
Latin Catholics generally can't (with very few exceptions, usually when an Anglican priest with family converts), but Eastern Catholics like Maronites, Chaldeans, Ukrainian Catholics, etc. can have married priests.
Also deacons can be married.
>>60180056
>Eastern Catholics
so like 10 people?
>priest says "go in peace, the mass has ended"
>everyone replies "thanks be to god"
best memory I have of church
>>60180083
Nah, there are millions of them, but if you're in a western country you're pretty much only going to find them in immigrant communities. Ukrainians have been around for a long time in places like Alberta so you'll find homegrown Ukrainian Catholics there.
Grew up Catholic in New Jersey, very happy with my upbringing. My parents are hardcore Catholics, so they sent us to Catholic elementary, high school, and eventually a Catholic college (which I transferred out of). All in all, most Catholics are really great people who mind their own business. Most of the crazy Bible Belters you hear about are American Protestants, like Joel Osteen-tier.
Speaking of, when I moved to Texas a few years ago I noticed that many people here have these weird stereotypes about Catholics, as though we're like a more hardcore version of Christianity, but people here are almost always surprised and/or judgmental about me being Catholic since most of the Catholics here are Mexicans.
>>60180056
Uniate Church is basically an Orthodox church that recognizes Pope am I right
>>60180207
>I noticed that many people here have these weird stereotypes about Catholics as though we're like a more hardcore version of Christianity
i know what you mean, i grew up in a catholic area of the country too and moved down south and have seen the same stuff. the funny thing is that at least in the US catholics are by far the most relaxed christians here. i only knew a couple families that were really weird about it,
>>60180248
Yeah pretty much. Like the only difference between a Ukrainian Catholic and a Ukrainian Orthodox liturgy would be that the Catholics say some prayers for the Pope and stuff like that. In some cases like with Maronites there is no Orthodox counterpart.
>>60179289
Mums side is catholic but they all live on the other side of town so I had no upbringing of faith.
Raised Catholic, but went atheist at 16. Not really public with my personal beliefs, unless some religious asshole says something completely dishonest or immoral and I have to step in.
Really glad I didn't become a priest, the amount of sexual-dysfunction in the clergy isn't overblown. And I'm not just referring to the child rapists, I mean the priests who have legal hetero/homo sex with adults as well. Also the amount of dishonesty and self-pitying is overwhelming. The College of Cardinals still regards Bernard Law as the "victim" of an unfair witchhunt.
Catholics love to belittle Prods for being cultural plebs, but if I ever became Christian again (not that I would) I'd go Anglican/Episcopalian. The Protestant love of liberty, literature, and work ethic may be history, but they at least had them at some point. Catholics call themselves intellectual heavyweights and civilization builders when the theology of Augustine and Ambrose was merely the whole Islamic "submission to God is the only way to be happy" stick. And their political rolemodels (off the top of my head) are the likes of Athanasius, a man who threaten to prevent the shipment of grain from Egypt to the rest of the empire, willing to let countless starve to death if Constantine wouldn't disenfranchise the Arians.
At least we should remember swiftly and deliberately they condemned the rise of fascism in Catholic countries and provinces like Spain, Italy, Croatia, Bavaria, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia. Just kidding, but at least they cracked down on Communist influenced-Liberation theology in Latin America right away.
>>60180359
Also should add that other religions have sexual problems as well, including Episcopalians. But if I ever went Christian again (which I wouldn't because was clearly no the greatest of all men, and I would argue wasn't even a good man), I'd go Protestant because of their actual contributions to Western Society and spreading of literacy historically.
Sure before the printing press that was almost impossible, and the Catholics preserved the works of the ancients and should always be admired for that. But the Roman Empire managed a 10% literacy rate before the printing press, while that number collapsed as literacy was guarded by Mother Church and their secular allies in the nobility. They had no problem with their congregations not being able to read scripture, nor did they try to increase literacy until they were basically shamed by the much more literate Protestant countries in the 19th century.
For reference in 1860 Britain and America managed an 85-90% literacy rate, France and Bavaria managed 70%, Ireland managed 45%, and Portugal, Italy, and Spain had less than 1/5th their population able to read.
>>60180359
>Catholics love to belittle Prods for being cultural plebs
It's because for the most part in North America the stereotypical/loudest Protestants tend to be Baptists, Pentecostals, "nondenominationals", etc. and they don't produce a lot of high culture. I mean Lutherans and Anglicans have produced art that is just as nice as Catholic stuff. For example Anglican hymns are generally the best in the English language, whereas Catholic English hymns are generally pretty bad (allowing the use of Latin to decline was a mistake)
>>60180714
>which I wouldn't because Jesus was clearly not the greatest of all men
ftfm
My mother was Catholic, so I was raised Catholic up until confirmation. I went to a catholic elementary school. She took me and my sister to church often enough. After confirmation my mom basically said I could choose what I wanted to believe in. I stopped going to church really but always continued to believe in God/a higher power, I just came to believe that it wasn't necessary to strictly follow the church to connect with God. Which was fine because my mother and sister pretty much developed into the same line of thought.
My father hates religion, is convinced it is the cause of every problem on the planet, and used to always laugh and talk shit when my mom took us to church. but he would still come to the important shit like first communion and confirmation.
So I guess I believe in a higher power because of my mom, but don't believe in strictly adhering to church rules so to speak because of my dad.
>>60180746
Agreed. I'm not saying there isn't a major pleb-culture in Protestantism (ie. Jesus Camp, Protestant Zionists, Mormons etc.). Just that Catholics don't have that much higher of a ground when it comes to debates over theology and culture. I'd disagree over Vatican II though, personally I think they made the right move allowing both vernacular and Latin masses. I know it takes away much of the sacred mystery when we lose Latin, but if I was African I would never join a religion that has a foreign language as "more sacred" than others. Of course Latin isn't "god's only language", but I wouldn't see it much different from Muslims claiming that Islam doesn't favor Arabs and their language, when through much of Islam's history that's been completely untrue. I think Vatican II was necessary at least to some extent, but whether it'll expand or kill the church in the long run may be too soon to tell. The church has made great progress in Africa after V2, but that may not last forever.
ayy
>>60179544
>on the registry
What's the registry
