#tradcatholicism

[paula-of-christ]

Pearl sounds like an anti-Mary protestant.

#catholic #catholicism #christian #christianity #pearl davis #tradcat #tradcatholic #tradcatholicism #not queued #Youtube

[sunkern-plus]

@roseblossombunny thank you nina...as a distraction, i just realized that the current conflict in street fighter as of “v” is...literally evangelical christianity OR reddit cults vs tradcatholicism

[paula-of-christ]

#queue me up (queue me up inside) can't queue up (queue me up inside) queue meeeee #catholic #roman catholicism #catholicism #christian #christianity #traditional catholic #traditional catholicism #tradcat #tradcatholic #tradcatholicism #traditionalcatholic #traditionalcatholicism

[paula-of-christ]

Please pray for me, my family is in turmoil and I use lustful thoughts in order to distract myself and cope, as well as being lazy. I know that this isn't the right path for me, but God feels so far away so all I can do is ask for forgiveness, even if only through asking for your prayers. I hope that soon I will find my calling, whether I end up single or married, and that God will one day forgive me and guide me away from my sinful nature. - G S

God has already forgiven you, my friend. He does not withhold His forgiveness, ever. But we must co-operate (intentionally separated for emphasis) in that forgiveness by 1) seeking reconciliation and 2) forgiving ourselves as well. There is a lot of shame tied with those sorts of sins and and part of healing from wrong things we do, regardless of whether or not they are sins, is by learning to let it go and forgive ourselves and others. We were created for goodness, and we are inherently made for goodness. Even should we stumble, God doesn't wait until we are sorry to forgive us. The same way that if someone wrongs you, but then never apologizes or speaks to you again, you can't let them know they are forgiven, God feels about us. He already forgave us, but we need to go to Him in order for the relationship to be mended.

I will also pray for your family situation, and I implore you to seek advice from a priest. One time a priest gave me the advice to go and eat ice cream and watch a movie when I start to feel that way, in order to distract myself with something tangible. Something similar may help you as well.

#queue me up (queue me up inside) can't queue up (queue me up inside) queue meeeee #catholic #catholicism #christian #christianity #traditional catholic #traditional catholicism #tradcat #tradcatholic #tradcatholicism #traditionalcatholic #traditionalcatholicism

[paula-of-christ]

What should I do if I struggle with same sex attraction (exclusively)? I don't want to live in sin, but I also don't want to spend my life on Earth in loneliness.

I hate to break it to you but even if you were in a relationship, you could (and there will definitely be moments when) be lonely still. Meaningful connections need to be made all the time in our human lives, some of those meaningful connections come from a significant other, but most of them don't. There is a large influence in our culture to only get emotional support, affection, and love from a significant other. But that's not what the human condition is and it's also not what St. Paul advises. When I was discerning religious life asking my priest for guidance he talked to me about how the life of a priest (or any celibate person) is not one of loneliness, there is rarely a moment where someone is not seeking his advice or wisdom or help in something. And he said it's the same in marriage, but that the primary person(s) who are seeking your guidance from is your family, rather than the Church at large. That even in marriage, a married couple, just as they did when they were single, had a duty to their parish to serve as they can. That service may change as they have children, but it is still necessary to have someone who can do those things which the priest cannot oversee. The more you volunteer at your church, the more people you will come into contact with, and form meaningful connections and moments with, and that isn't lonely. Even while in my own relationship, there are moments of loneliness, because I'm working and going through the monotony of life. I'm not alone, but on days when I don't have a meaningful conversation with a coworker or some other person, it bears down on me like a weight.

Romantic relationships don't fight loneliness, they just mask it.

#queue me up (queue me up inside) can't queue up (queue me up inside) queue meeeee #catholic #catholiism #tradcat #tradcatholic #tradcatholicism #traditional catholic #traditional catholicism

[paula-of-christ]

What do you think of girls altar serving?

I feel as though this is a rather loaded question, and that the only reasonable response could be construed as ambiguous or a cop-out. However, I will answer it anyways.

I don't know of any moral reason why girls can't or shouldn't be altar servers. It is a good way to learn Mass and learn how and why the Eucharist is so important to the Faith first hand. However, having been an altar server and hearing from young men who have served with women, I think it should be reserved for when and if boys or men are not available.

I think there has been a large movement, at least in the U. S. where I am, to only have children (between the ages of First Communion and Confirmation) be altar servers, which when you don't have many young boys in the parish, can become problematic. However, if parishes treated it like the Magisterium says it ought, which is for either the serving of parish needs or as a step in discernment of priesthood, it should be reasonable for men of any age to partake, so long as he has had his First Holy Communion.

From my own experiences I can definitely attest that there is a great misunderstanding that can happen in young girls when allowed to altar serve but then told they cannot be priests. They help the priest in every way during the Mass but then will never be able to do that themselves. I think it requires a portion of cognitive dissonance to say that, it ends up becoming a very arbitrary line drawn in the sand about what women can do in the parish and what they can't.

Preemptively answering a possible follow-up question, I don't think proclaiming the Word in the First and Second Readings falls under the same category, if only because mothers are meant to be the first person to teach children Scripture. As, of course, we see Mary do with Christ, and her mother St. Anne do for her. But having also done that, it is significantly different than altar serving.

Now, in a convent, or at a women's retreat, I think it is definitely reasonable, assuming there are no seminarians around to do so. However, when seminarians are around it is technically their right to do so over any other lay person, whether men or women, and I think that speaks to what altar serving is about.

It's why even Pope Francis hasn't officially instituted any woman into that role like he did with being a Lector. Because it *is* an exclusive right to seminarians, and only if a parish or chapel does not have any, does it fall to the next step which is men, since only men can be seminarians.

#catholicism #catholic #christian #christianity #traditional catholic #traditional catholicism #tradcat #tradcatholic #tradcatholicism #traditionalcatholic #traditionalcatholicism #queue me up (queue me up inside) can't queue up (queue me up inside) queue meeeee

[paula-of-christ]

Is everything forgivable? I feel like that's the concept I struggle the most with. I can understand the majority of sins, since none of us are sinless, but I really have difficulty accepting that even pedophiles, rapists, and the like would somehow also be granted forgiveness as long as they were honest in their conversion and admission of guilt. It just feels 'unfair' in a sense, and I can't wrap my head around those types of people being granted any forgiveness at all.

In a way, things like 'murder', are easier to justify to me- someone was forced to because they were protecting a loved one, or had a psychotic attack, or was enrolled in the army, etc etc. And a woman might abort because she didn't realise that it is a life already at that stage, and because her partner didn't want to take responsibility and she was fearful to end up destitute & alone and not be able to offer the child a good life. Or an alcoholic might've robbed a store in a drunken stupor due to addiction. But child molestation? Rape? None of those things can have any excuses.

I'm sorry if this is heavy material, but I'm up late thinking about this and I thought maybe it would help to get some advice. I'm on anonymous because I don't want to draw any hatemail as I often seem to get on this app.

Yes everything is forgivable by God. We are imperfect and so struggle to forgive, but that doesn't mean God has that same struggle.

In a perfectly just world, it would be unfair for those sins to be forgiven. And in a perfectly just world, they wouldn't be. However, God is not only Just, but also Merciful. Because He is those two things, He would not apply Divine Mercy in an unjust manner. It would be unjust for a merciful God to say 'that sin is not forgivable'.

God is the embodiment of Love, which we know from scripture amounts to mercy. Luke 10:25-37;

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”

28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

The man did not deserve mercy or love for what he did, two people passed him by because they thought he was unworthy based on his state. But God does not give mercy based on what we deserve, because none of us would ever come close to deserving it. See Romans 5;

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We must work towards forgiving those who we feel are unforgivable, but it is easy for God, and we shouldn't allow our shortcomings to dictate what we think God should be capable of.

#catholic #catholicism #tradcat #tradcatholic #tradcatholicism #traditional catholic #traditional catholicism #mercy #gods mercy #queue me up (queue me up inside) can't queue up (queue me up inside) queue meeeee

[paula-of-christ]

Why You Should Take Dating Advice Unseriously

I decided to go look and see what a former tumblr user is up to, who was rather infamous so I will not be saying who, and I'm astounded at the relationship advice they were giving out. Someone who has presumably not dated for over a decade, because they are married and have children older than that, giving advice to women that amounts to "radfem" hatred of men. As Catholics we ought to love all of our brothers in Christ, even if they can only afford "cheap" first dates, like coffee or drinks. I'm not sure the poster has been out to have drinks lately, but alcoholic drinks (and the food that generally goes with them) are not cheap. And is a good, casual place to go to so long as you 1) do not drink more than what is appropriate and 2) are in a well populated area. For safety reasons this should be adhered to on the first 5 or 6 dates. But even then, a coffee date which can turn into a walk in the park, is a great first date. Why should a man have to spend an exuberant amount of money on a first date, for someone he may not like, or for someone who may not like him?

The post was just so degrading to men as well as women. Saying women who pay for dating sites were just desperate and asking to be taken advantage of monetarily by men. And that men who cannot afford a subscription to a dating service that allows him to message someone back or allow the other person to see their message right away, are just too poor to date.

It boggles my mind because this is not how dating websites work. By and large, to be able to send and receive messages without waiting to open them, BOTH people must have a subscription. That's just how it works.

And even if for some reason only one person needs a subscription to view the message, you still won't be able to message them back. You might be able to send an emoji or react to their message, but actually having a conversation is impossible. So, how are you meant to meet this person? You don't put contact information into your biography or your profile. And if a man provides his contact information, this poster says that you should not be the first to message as a woman. So you are completely left to look at men whom you have no idea how to contact, and that you may not even be interested in. Since the advice in showing men how you are interested, is simply going to their profile, since dating sites will tell them that you looked at their profile. However, when I was on the market, I could not tell you how many men I wasn't interested in after seeing their profile, because of not having similar hobbies, or they didn't fully agree with Catholic Teaching, or because a different photo made me realize I wasn't attracted to someone. Many men, with the idea that I looked at their profile so I must be interested, messaged me, but I wasn't interested in them, so it was a waste for them to do so. This means it can take many months or even years for someone to find a person to even go on one date with, let alone to marry.

My point being, having a shallow view of men - that is, that they are not worth the time of day if they won't spend hundreds of dollars on a dating site every year, and in fact are stingy or cheap for not doing so - as well as a shallow view of women - that being sure of yourself and what you want and being direct about it - is not what we are meant to do. Yes, a man ought to pursue a woman, and continue doing so even after they have entered a relationship or marriage. But, a woman ought to equally pursue and show her significant other that she is interested in him. It will look different, but it is not wrong to have a crush on someone, and wish to further your relationship with them.

If you have the money and you feel it is worth the money, by all means, pay for that subscription. When I was dating it was not worth it, especially since I found my husband in person, and he is a man who does not use social media. But, there are plenty of good, solid men out there, that will respect you, earn a good living, and will not waste money paying an astronomical amount of money for dating sites, when they do not have a good track record.

#catholic #catholicism #christian #christianity #traditional catholic #traditional catholicism #tradcat #tradcatholic #dating advice #lifeadvice #tradcatholicism #traditionalcatholic #traditionalcatholicism #queue me up (queue me up inside) can't queue up (queue me up inside) queue meeeee

[paula-of-christ]

So I am struggling with where to go from here. I've been going to some aa meetings and of course it's in a church, most of them take place in a catholic church near me. And a huge part of 12 step programs involves finding "a power greater than yourself", and every single time I start to explore spirituality and religion I get drawn to Catholicism. I didn't have religious parents, not much influence of it in my life except for a few times my grandmother would take my brother and I to church with her sometimes when she'd visit. I've done a lot of really awful things over the course of my life (i killed someone by accident years ago) it's hard for me to believe in a God that cares about me. I'm certain something exists that created the universe, I don't know what to call it besides God. Anyway I guess my question is how would I start exploring Catholicism? Like should I just show up to a service on a Sunday and go from there, and what should I expect? I just feel so drawn to it as a whole but I have no idea what to do about it cause I've never been religious/gone to church much/etc. Any advice would be wonderful.

Boy did you come to the right place, my friend! I am glad you are going through a program to help recovery, I know that can be an extremely difficult thing to go through, realizing all of the things you've done that are not what you'd like them to be. I think the most important piece of advice I can give you regardless if you decide to become a formal Christian and join the Catholic Church, is to continue to look for that growth inside of you and the way you treat others. Sometimes it can remain hidden to us just how much we are growing.

I posted this recently about sins being forgiveable and if you just want to take a moment to read that, sit with it, and then continue on to my practical advice about how to actually convert. (under the page break)

The biggest reason I say you came to the right place is because of the patronage of my blog, St. Paul. He was complacent and considered himself a murderer prior to his conversion to the Church, and then after experiencing the Risen Christ, became the greatest evangelist in Church History. He wrote the majority of the new testaments. All of those letters authored by Paul, is the Paul that helped the temple officials find and stone many of our first martyrs, including a tradition where he helped martyr the first martyr, St. Stephen.

You can read his conversion in Acts chapter 9, but if you go a little bit earlier in Acts, you can read about the persecution of the Christians as well.

The first step to formal conversion, since I think you already have what you need for spiritual conversion (a desire to pursue Catholicism) is to just start going to Mass. You can try out a couple of different parishes near you if there is more than one. If you google "Catholic church near me" and look at the different church's websites to find their Mass times or go to MassTimes.org I believe it is called. I would say try out different parishes to feel it out. They will all have the same basic structure but maybe the people at one parish are more friendly than others.

Once you find a parish you like, they will usually advertise RCIA classes in their newsletter/bulletin, or you can simply call or email the parish office (usually in the bulletin) to enquire about RCIA classes. RCIA stands for Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. It is generally a 9 month class, where you learn more about Catholicism and how to live it out. At any point between signing up and the Easter Vigil, where people in RCIA are brought into the Church either through baptism or confirmation (both if you're getting baptized, but if you already are, just confirmation) you can decide not to become Catholic. If you need more time or if you decide to go with a different Christian Church. Ideally you stick with it, but it unfortunately does happen.

A note about sin and being sorry for it; through baptism we are saved. We have an obligation after that to remain in good standing with God, but we can always get back to good standing with God. The only reason we are alive, or the world exists, or for any of this to be here, is because God loves each and every small part of us, down to the very atoms, immensely, and wills for us to remain here. If God, who is Love, stopped loving us, we would stop existing. Just because it is difficult for us to forgive ourselves, does not mean that God has difficulty forgiving us. God understands our struggles, because "he was made sin so that we might become righteousness" (2 Corinthians 5:21) but he doesn't sin. He was tempted in the desert, and again in the Garden of Gethsemane, but He did not sin, because He is God.

I cannot stress enough how much picking up a Catholic bible is important, and reading the Gospels. I specify Catholic only because the Catholic bible has books in it that Protestant bibles do not. A good translation that I personally like is the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE).

Be assured of my prayers and please reach out on or off anon if you need some more encouragement!

#catholic #catholicism #roman catholicism #christian #christianity #tradcat #tradcatholic #tradcatholicism #traditional catholic #traditional catholicism #queue me up (queue me up inside) can't queue up (queue me up inside) queue meeeee

[paula-of-christ]

Had my recommitment to the Seven Sisters Apostolate and so I just wanted to plug that a little bit if anyone wants to start it at their parish. You can sign up on their website. It is laity-run. Seven (or more) women come together to pray one hour a week (each picking a different day of the week) in front of the Tabernacle or Blessed Sacrament, for the sanctification of their priest or bishop.

Also on their website you can sign up for the Fasting Brothers as well, where six men pick a day to fast from their choice for one day a week (excluding Sunday and Solemnities), also for the sanctification of your parish priest or bishop. They are beautiful practices and I highly encourage you to start one up! It does not have a member fee, and the only reason to sign up is so that you get the monthly newsletter, you can in theory do it without signing up, but they provide the guidelines and prayers.

The fasting does not need to be from food, and can be anything the man wants, whether it's fasting from technology or anger or food. It is led by the Spirit what each man individually can do.

Spend time with Our Lord in Adoration. We do recommitment around the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

#catholic #catholicism #tradcat #tradcatholic #tradcatholicism #traditional catholic #traditional catholicism #christian #christianity #sacred heart of jesus #queue me up (queue me up inside) can't queue up (queue me up inside) queue meeeee

[paula-of-christ]

#queue me up (queue me up inside) can't queue up (queue me up inside) queue meeeee #catholic #catholicism #tradcatholicism #tradcatholic #traditional catholic #traditional catholicism #christian #christianity #sound of freedom #Youtube

[paula-of-christ]

I'm wondering what your opinion is on this, is it selfish/sinful to get married but not have children right away?

Official Church teaching says that it isnt sinful to avoid pregnancy so long as you are open to life and are not denying each other your marital debt. I fully agree with this teaching. A few points:

Open to life: no use of birth control, either hormonal or barriers or IUDs are permitted by the Church ever. I agree with this teaching on both moral grounds and health grounds. Hormonal BC is terrible for you, IUDs are honestly barbaric, and barrier methods gross me out because it's largely plastic or other such materials that I don't want inside my body in a very sensitive area. This also means if you do get pregnant before you ideally would, you cannot kill the child. Should be obvious but I feel the need to say that.

Marital debt: if your spouse asks for sex, and it is reasonable for them to ask, you ought to olige them. "Reasonable" is vague and is going to be different for each couple. If you've both already agreed to avoid intercourse during ovulation, for example, and you or your partner is feeling intimate while ovulation is occurring, most people would say it is reasonable to say no, since you are saying "not right now" rather than "no not ever". This also means not using sex as a tool for manipulation or abuse. Something like "if you don't do [x] I won't have sex with you" is not only sinful because it isnt loving, it is doubly sinful when done within the confines of a Christian marriage.

But other than that, nah, it isnt sinful or selfish to avoid to the best of your ability to get pregnant right away. But you can't get married with the plans to never get pregnant/have kids. That would not be entering a marriage willingly.

#catholic #catholicism #christian #christianity #queue me up (queue me up inside) can't queue up (queue me up inside) queue meeeee #traditional catholic #traditional catholicism #tradcat #tradcatholic #tradcatholicism #traditional marriage #tradmarriage #traditionalcatholic #traditionalcatholicism #marriage #christian marriage #catholic marriage

[paula-of-christ]

Hello, I'll be quite brutally honest I'm a little hesitant to send this ask, as I don't know how you'll react and I don't know if I'll be ridiculed or helped. Either way, it's worth a shot, right?

Here's the situation. I'm figuring out religion stuff, though I know God exists. I don't plan on becoming Christian, though i have nothing against it, it's just not for me, it's... A lot, and I don't feel confident on commitment.

I will admit, I've said some things about God in the past. I don't want to have to worship him- that's just from personal experiences. However I do want to... Mend my relationship with Him?

I feel like, really drawn to talk to Him, tell Him something (though I'm not sure what). Maybe apologize? I don't really know.

Basically I'm wondering if there's a way to get closer with God, be able to let go of the anger I've felt towards Him. If not, that's okay, I'll deal with it, but this is like such a strong spiritual pull, if that makes sense.

So this is multi-faceted and I'll try to give you all the information possible.

TLDR: the good news is that yes of course you can have a relationship with God, the bad news is, without joining the Church (in this case it means the body of believers in Christ) via baptism, there is no substantial healing. God is the perfect gentleman, He will not force you to get baptized, but He will forgive you if you ask for it honestly.

The longer version is really more answered by you. What do you seek from having a relationship with God? If you aren't going to commit to a religion - that is, a set of theological opinions and moral understanding - why 'bother' getting to know God? I can guess at why that might be, and it's that God is calling you to know Him more, as He places in all of our hearts a natural inclination towards goodness, which is Himself. But then you have to ask yourself why God would be calling you and for what purpose? The Christian response is that God desires us for the sake of us. We don't give worship to God because He demands it, we see that in the scriptures of Jews and Christians, God says "if you love Me, you will worship only Me". He wants us to love Him which is Love, Light, and Life itself. The thing about having a relationship with Love Itself, is that naturally we begin to love Him, and that in and of itself is an act of worship. The Christian believes that agape love - total self-less love, the giving of oneself - is what we are called to do for every single person, because every person is good and has the breath of God inside of them, and this act of merciful, selfless love, is worship to the all-powerful God of the universe.

Since God desires us, and He is eternal, God also desires us to be eternally with Him. As a Catholic Christian, I believe that is through baptism and the Catholic Church. Christians believe that Jesus is God the Son, and that in the person of Christ Jesus, God came down from heaven clothed in human likeness, and died for our sins. However, it would be antithetical to an all-knowing and all-loving God, to leave without a way to continue to follow Him and spend eternity with Him. And so, bestowing upon Peter the Keys of Heaven, Christ left His Church - the Catholic (Universal) Church - to His people, so that throughout time, we might be brought up and directed towards the Light of God.

There is still healing the relationship with God before that point, you don't need to jump into the waters immediately. Most conversions are a long process, where God takes time to work on our hardened hearts. The first place you can go is in prayer, speaking with God on a daily basis. But also to Scripture, to the rosary, asking Our Lady for the intercession to have faith in her Divine Son. And when you are ready, maybe trying out a daily Mass in your area, and then also a Sunday Mass. Sunday Mass is usually longer, about an hour. You can sit in the back and you can just observe/not participate.

It would never be a bad thing to give God a chance. He is all-Good. The people that serve Him aren't quiet so good all the time, but Our Lord is.

Ad Iesu per Miriam.

#catholic #catholicism #christian #christianity #traditional catholic #traditional catholicism #not queued #tradcat #tradcatholic #tradcatholicism

[paula-of-christ]

I see a lot of tridentine catholics on tumblr, and I guess I just don't understand. Is Novus Ordo not valid in your eyes or is this more... strict I guess? style of mass like a greater affirmation of your faith to Jesus?

Firstly "Tridentine Catholics" aren't real because both those that attend Tridentine and Novus Ordo Masses are of the Latin (Roman) Rite of the universal Catholic Church. Secondly I'm not a goer of Tridentine/Latin Mass. I am a traditionalist, meaning I believe in traditional values, morals, and faith when it comes to the expression of our Catholic faith. These traditional expressions are rightly ordered in the Novus Ordo Mass, as was intended by the documents of the Vatican II council, subsequent councils, and post-council letters.

The general issue with most Novus Ordo Masses in the United States (and to an extent Canada from what I can tell of english-speaking online spaces) is that the Novus Ordo, by and large, deviate too greatly from the intent of the creation of the Novus Ordo. Since the 1980s-ish, there has been a stronger pull in the direction back towards those traditional expressions outside of TLM (Tridentine or Traditional Latin Mass), including in places like my parish, which is a traditionalist Novus Ordo Parish. This means traditional hymns, the use of Latin (or Greek) where appropriate, reverence in the sanctuary before and after Mass, the altar and priest Ad Orientem, among other things, that express the reverence and honor deserving of God.

It is not that if you do things differently that it is dishonorous to God, it is that things done differently, as we have seen in the past nearly 80 years since the introduction of the Novus Ordo, that it is an extremely fast and slippery slope towards dishonoring God. It should have nothing to do with how we feel, but about how we are treating God. When I go to a Novus Ordo parish that does not have a sanctuary befitting that of the reverence we should have for God, people act irreverently, and it is offensive because it is offensive to God. Their actions don't change my worship of Him, but their actions are not befitting a place where God is physically present on earth.

#queue me up (queue me up inside) can't queue up (queue me up inside) queue meeeee #catholic #catholicism #christian #christianity #traditional catholic #traditional catholicism #tradcat #tradcatholic #tradcatholicism #traditionalcatholicism #traditionalcatholic

[paula-of-christ]

Good morning, hope you're doing well! I'm interested in learning more about Catholicism however I am not really sure how exactly I could do that. My whole family is atheist, so growing up I haven't had any contact with any form of Christianity (or any form of religion whatsoever). Do you have any recommendations on academic books on theology (or something of the sort), or any advice in general on how I should approach this?

My biggest thing about approaching this is to not approach it academically at first. You should foster a relationship with Christ first, and start attending a parish (you can look up "catholic diocese [closest city to you/your town]" to find parishes near you. They generally have a search function by town]. Even not understanding what's going on at Mass, the priest giving blessings and attending different parishes to see the different styles that parishes offer is good to get to know. Maybe you like the priests homily at one parish more than another. Usually priests will be outside the sanctuary (where Mass actually takes place) after Mass to greet people as they leave. When you're comfortable you can introduce yourself and he will direct you on how to start taking RCIA classes. Classes have pretty much already started so you may or may not be able to join in the next month or two. From there the parish will handle theologically learning.

My biggest things for helping your prayer life will be learning how to pray the prayers of the rosary. It's ok if you are stumbling or have to stare at the prayers the entire time at first. When you are first learning it isnt going to be very meditative, after you have the prayers memorized, you'll be able to meditate on the mysteries or any other meditations you'd like to think about while praying (like if you want to pray for a specific intention/person). Doing this daily is best.

Get used to sitting in silence and without thinking for 5 minutes a day. Normal meditation stuff, because that will get you used to the environment of prayer.

Read the gospels. There are four of them, titled Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (in that order). Most bibles have notes at the bottom of the page, even non-"study" bibles have short notes. Getting a Catholic Bible (like from catholic online or in person bookstores) is best, since the notes will be approved by catholic biblical scholars. You can ask people online or Google other questions you have that aren't answered in the text. And, once you find a parish, you could ask your priest or RCIA director, that's what they are there for.

You are not expected to know anything about Catholicism before you start RCIA, and starting with the "logical"/theological part of religion before deciding to convert is silly. The RCIA class my fiancé just started is focusing on the relationship with Christ part, and then after he decides he definitely wants to continue with it, they will start going over Sacraments and theology and Dogma (official teachings).

If you want a history of Christianity book that's good I recommend The Story of Christianity (volumes 1 and 2) by Gonzalez. The first book is the Advent of Christ until the 1500s, the second one is the Protestant Reformation until the modern day. It talks about the historical reasons for certain theological developments as well as the theological assertions of most major Christian denominations.

Context of my fiancé starting RCIA last weekend from a background of atheism/lax cultural Christianity and the other gentleman in the class that also is coming from the same background. They both started going to Mass at the very start of Lent (the season right before Easter) and fell in love with it and decided to convert.

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[paula-of-christ]

I've been on a Trent Horn kick. If you can help support him I highly encourage it! He is a great source for Catholicism.

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