The Catholic Church has long been criticized and ridiculed for some of its most important and central beliefs. I now wish to tell you some things about my own faith as a Catholic and as a teenage American citizen.
The Catholic Church in no way whatsoever worships Mary, the Mother of God, as God. Mary is revered as the ever holy and sinless woman that she was. We do not Hail her despite your interpretations of the "Hail Holy Queen" prayer. She is not God and every Catholic on the planet would agree with me here so please never again ask me why my church worships Mary 'cause we don't!
A tough issue is that of gay marriage. I must say that I myself believe that gay and lesbian people should be able to get married as everyone else can. Do not tell me it's okay now because they can get civil unions and domestic partnerships, those are not marriages because they leave out certain rights and privileges. No one has ever given me a really good reason why gay people should not be able to get married. So what they can't have kids? Many of them adopt and besides, there are a lot of straight couples who are also physically incapable of having their own children too.
Now we get to the religious battles with gay marriage. As I stated earlier I am a Catholic and I will be confirmed next month (meaning I will be confirmed Catholic and be an adult in the church - it's one of 7 sacraments, look them up). My belief in gay rights and the right to marry clash with my Catholic faith but as my mother stated, the Church has something in it for everybody. My mom doesn't think gay people should be able to be married at all and is rather disgusted by them but I like her statement there. The Catholic Church has something in it for everyone. It doesn't necessarily matter if you don't believe in every little thing the Church teaches. Chris Rock says anyone who is one thing (conservative, liberal, democrat, republican) is a fool. Don't be one thing, be independent and listen to the whole issue.
I have tested my faith plenty. You can complain that because I had infant baptism and was raised in Catholic school I haven't been able to reconsider my beliefs but I have. In fact, for a while I was going to a born again Christian Church. I even got saved, talked in tongues, and got full water baptism. But in the end I came back to my good old Catholic faith and fell in love with it again. I like the community, my youth group, and the dedication to community service and volunteering I participate in. Confession and the Eucharist are all that bad either.
The last thing I want to say is that I absolutely love Lifeteen. Whoever invented Lifeteen is a genius. Lifeteen is an organization for Catholic teens that a lot of parishes adopt as a theme for their youth group. We follow the teachings and videos and fun activities that the Lifeteen organization offers with a bit of our own parish twist as well. It's absolutely spectacular and I have made tons of friends through it.
If anyone has a comment of question abotu the Catholic Church feel free to reply to this blog and I will reply as much as I can. HOWEVER, if you are only trying to bash me or my faith in an inappropriate manner, I will not respond to you.
Thank you.
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I dated a guy who was Catholic, and things were pretty serious between us, but it pretty much came down to the fact that I wasn't a Catholic. He was not open to any ideals about my faith (I'm a non-denominational Christian) and he pretty much told me that he couldn't marry me if I didn't agree to certain terms. So what exactly do you know about marriage and what you have to agree to and go through? I just think it's crazy that you can't marry someone out of the Catholic faith. I know people do, but it seems very hard.
Supposedly, you don't have to be Catholic to get married in the Catholic Church but in my church I know they like to look up the church you get baptised at. Catholics are very good record keepers. Everything goes back to the church you were baptised at so when you get confirmed or married or whatever they always get the baptismal certificate from the church you were baptised at.
I haven't really heard a lot about the rules about marrying non-Catholics at my church in real life but I'm sure it's okay. Your ex probably had his own special beliefs about that. Some people want Catholic spouses and some, like me, are open to other faiths. Non-denominational is great in my eyes but maybe not in his eyes. It really depends.
I'm sorry but I really cannot say for sure if it's okay for a Catholic person to marry a non-Catholic in matrimony.
Another thing you have to consider is that legal marriages are not relevant to the Catholic Church. If you aren't married in the Church, you aren't married in their eyes. And when you get divorced, you are still married according to the Church until you get an "annulment" which is the Church's way of saying your marriage was invalid and didn't exist.
It's really complicated and I'm sorry I can't give you a solid answer on that. I will ask and leave a post about it though.
Thanks!
In order to be married in a Catholic church, only one party has to be Catholic. You don't have to both be Catholic although the idea of half and half is greatly discouraged.
Regarding your blog, well said.
It's usually okay for a Catholic to marry a non-Catholic if the person is baptized Christian. Otherwise it is known as disparity of cult and you might have to shop around for a priest if you are a totally non-believer.
It's really simple to get baptized though. You can go to a born again/non-denominational Christian church and get born again and baptized every month. Although this isn't an honest thing to do if you aren't interested in it for real, it's at least a sign that you care so much for your partner that you will at least try to be interested or open to Christianity.
So whoever said that their bf broke up with them because there were non-denominational, you should have told your bf it was okay because you are a believer. If you weren't baptized, it's easy to get baptized.
Don't be one thing, be independent and listen to the whole issue.
I think this is a great quote, which i myself apply to.
A thing about marraige, I am a Catholic and as far as I know, we are allowed to marry whomever (opposite sex) as long as its through the church. The issue with marrying Muslims isn't allowed only because in the Muslim religion, you have to convert to Islam. I have nothing against Muslims or any other religion. I am just saying why we aren't allowed to marry some other religions. In this case it is religions that oppose ours.
Feel free to reply to my comment. I am not trying to offend or to be rude to anybody and i'm not 100% sure i'm right either, so if anyone wants to post their view, feel free.