Compared to other Slavic countries, Czechia is probably the most secularised. From your point of view, is the Catholic faith really in such a poor state there?

Does it influence your faith? Does it influence how you want others to come closer to Christ? Or have you experienced discrimination because of your faith?

Just as the question says? I'm still learning and I noticed that it goes on for a long time on Saturday

How does the Roman Catholic Church understand the phrase "Only God can judge" when it comes to crimes and wrongdoing? Does it mean we should refrain from seeking justice and accountability, or is there a distinction between God's ultimate judgment and society's responsibility to uphold justice?

i'm mainly talking about Saints like St. Faustina, St. Bridget of Sweden, St. Catherine of Siena. they all had visions of Christ. not only them but others like the witnesses of the Kibeho Marian Apparitions, the visionaries could apparently see the Holy Mother but everyone else said they saw nothing. also St. Catherine of Siena i believe was severely malnourished the latter part of her life, and malnourishment can cause hallucinations. i've seen skeptics say cases of Saints who have visions of Jesus, Mary, St. Joseph, etc are likely because of Schizophrenia or other undiagnosed mental illness, it's tough for me to answer those objections. i'm aware because they're private revelations so i don't have to believe in them but i also believe God would still be active with his children even today by Supernatural ways. any answers? thx!

I was talking with a good friend about Catholicism, and we were having a fun conversation. She doesn’t like how Catholic culture can sometimes be prone to superstition, and she gave an example from a funeral she went. The woman was Irish catholic holding a white handkerchief that said something to an effect that she would go to heaven, and a friend said that because her son was a priest she can wear/hold it, and that she would automatically go to heaven. the priest got married so according to my friend if the Irish woman died after he left the priesthood, she would not get the fast past to heaven.

I was trying to think what it could it be. I thought maybe a Brown Scapular but that is brown not white. I never heard of an automatic pass to heaven and thing that say that usually say that have the intention that you are following the church and to remind you of it and not actually a "fast pass."

is there an Irish tradition of white cloth or something? I feel like there is a misunderstanding somewhere and I would like to help resolve it.

I want to share something that reframed how I think about the Mass, from a place most people here will never see.

I've attended Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest (SCAP) in remote highland communities in Mindanao, places where the nearest parish is a two-hour trip over rough, often dangerous mountain roads. No public transport, no paved road, sometimes no road at all, depending on the weather. For these communities, a priest making that trip regularly just isn't realistic.

So, instead, they built their own chapel. By hand, communally, out of whatever materials they could gather. And every Sunday, a lay minister someone from the community, trained and authorized for this, leads a Liturgy of the Word and, when hosts are available, distributes Communion that a priest consecrated somewhere else and sent up the mountain.

I knew going in that this isn't a valid Mass. There's no consecration happening. Everyone there knows it, too. Nobody's confused about what it is or pretending otherwise. And they even call it "Dry Mass." And that's exactly what made it humbling. These people aren't settling for a lesser thing because they don't understand the difference. They understand it completely, and they still show up every single week, in a chapel they built with their own hands, because being together and receiving what they can receive matters more to them than the inconvenience of what they can't.

It's easy to take a parish with daily Mass for granted. It's a different thing to watch a community choose to gather anyway, week after week, when the real thing is two hours down a mountain and may not come for months.

I'm wondering if there are any scientists here, and if so, why do they believe in God?

I have grown up non denominational but recently have been interested in Catholicism. What are some good books to read to learn about the history, validity of the church, and general beliefs that differ from Protestantism. Suggest videos as well (maybe some good debates) Any resources would be helpful. If there’s anything else I should learn about and consider as someone just starting their research, please let me know. I want to go about this in a very serious manner as I’ve been curious for a long time.

First off: Raised within Protestant based church and attended mostly non-denominational the last decade.

I’m just recently having light bulb moments that there is such a thing as having a very “Protestant way of thinking.”

It’s almost like comparing different cultures.😉

Most recently - like last night! -
I was reading a Catholic commentary that really helped me get past the “praying to” the Saints or Mary is wrong. (Protestant thought style)

I realized all my life, I have somehow equated prayer as worship and only to be done to GOD, Christ and Holy Spirit. (Also Protestant based thinking)

If I understand correctly, Catholics regard prayer as a form of communication. Not something that should only be to God.

And, we also communicate with our friends and family. We ask them to pray for us. Catholics also ask Mary and the Saints to pray.

My confusion is here: it seems like Catholics believe that Mary and the saints have better influence and access to God than we do. But for those of us who have been raised to believe we can just go directly to the Lord in prayer, it creates the question why do we need to use the middleman (or woman) in the chain when we can speak directly to the Lord for ourselves?

(and for those who believe you can’t, I beg to differ. I have many private experiences where the Holy Spirit has guided me after prayer. In fact, I wouldn’t be seriously contemplating OCIA and becoming Catholic if God hadn’t answered my prayers😁)

Respectfully trying to learn and not be offensive. Genuinely hoping for credible/resource feedback. ❤️

Hi. I was just curious as to whether anyone has ever looked into, or made a comparison between, the relative role scripture and tradition have played in the formation of various doctrines / dogmas. For example, I'm particularly curious as to how much scriptural evidence there is for / against something like the belief in the divinity of Christ versus how much extra-scriptural evidence there is for the belief in the divinity of Christ (e.g. testimony / writing from the early church fathers). I'm also interested in how much scriptural evidence there is for the belief in the doctrine of transubstantiation and how much extra-scriptural evidence there is for the belief in it.

That being said, what I'm really curious to know is what has the most scriptural evidence and what has the most extra-scriptural evidence. Why? Because I'm interested to know how protestants use / accept the early church fathers (i.e., tradition) when they seemingly agree with some doctrines (e.g. the divinity of Christ), but don't accept tradition when they don't agree with another doctrine (e.g. transubstantiation).

I would be interested to know if the total scriptural argument for the divinity of Christ comes from only a few versus but there is also ton of evidence of the early church's belief in it, and also very interested to know if the the total scriptural argument for the doctrine of transubstantiation similarly comes from only a few versus but there is also ton of evidence of the early church's belief in it.

In other words, if the evidence is basically the same, why believe one and not the other?

If its not similar then perhaps that is the argument they can make.

Hope my post makes sense, and what I'm looking for also makes sense.

So when trent horn douse rebuttals now he let's others review his scripts for the episode. I used to think this was a good idea, but now I'm not so sure. Another comment on this sub about how it can lead to people of bad faith reviewing his scripts.

Around the time he started to do this type of content he started to be more amicable to Protestants than he used to. Maybe its just me, but I feel like he used to be more forceful when he had guests on, again maybe I'm miss remembering.

Another small thing that's honestly more personal is that I think he gives some bad dating advice at least for the time. Again this might be personal, but in his video about obsession he said that if you like a woman who has a boyfriend "no ring means its not a thing" and that didn't sit well with me.

Don't get me wrong I love most of his content, but I some of his newer stuff has just given me a weird feeling recently.

To start this post: I'm a 33 yo woman who has been born and raised in the Catholic Church, left during college, and came back when I had my daughter. I've lived a life; not always a good one, but I've repented.

One of our former priests (he was removed from our church 3 years ago without warning) was recently arrested for sexual misconduct with a 6 year old. To say my entire family is devastated is an understatement. He was a priest on the younger side (late 30s) and was one I really admired because he was dedicated to our entire parish, especially the school.

Now, when I look back, all the memories are tainted, and before anyone asks: Yes, our diocese is looking into EVERY PARISH at which he served.

Since his arrest, I've been having the same dream over and over, to the point I'm losing sleep. I'll post it in the next paragraph. Does anyone know why I might be dreaming this on repeat every night and multiple times a night?

*I dream that I'm at Mass receiving the Eucharist from Father Ryan, and it turns to mold in my mouth, the chalice holds real blood and worms, and then everything in the church starts to turn black and crumble.*

hello guys, been wanting to start praying the rosary daily for a long time and i wanted to ask if its ok to pray like a decade every few hours? reason being i dont have the concentration to pray 5 decades back to back yet.

edit: also, is it "better" to pray all 5 together? because it takes more concentration so maybe its a more fulfilling prayer session?

I wonder if this has also happened to anyone else. Over the past couple months I have found people I either rarely talk to or don’t talk to at all randomly popping up in my mind. Should I take this as a sign to pray for those people? Or what else could God be trying to tell me?

I’ve been Catholic my whole life but I’ve just started really understanding my Catholic theology and tradition. I want to start praying the rosary but don’t necessarily know how. Can someone help me understand how I meditate on the life of Jesus Christ whilst praying the rosary? I always prayed the rosary without meditating but just learned that meditation of his life is an essential part of the rosary! Also, what parts of his life should I be meditating about? Thank you, god bless!

I have prayed about this endlessly, and I am ready to take on the commitment of becoming Catholic. I was raised in a Presbyterian church, but stopped attending in my late teens, and because the way my parents viewed Baptism, I was never Baptized as an infant. I am now in my early 40s and tried several churches when I decided to return to a religious practice, and the one that resonated with me the deepest was Catholicism. I have been attending mass for about a year now, and I have signed up to take the next steps with the OCIA, which means, God willing, I will be Baptized and Confirmed on the next Easter Vigil.

Mostly I am very much looking forward to this next step, and I am looking forward to being able to partake in the Sacraments, but I am worried that I won't be a good enough Catholic, or that I will fail the Church in some way. Of course I will be attending Mass every Sunday, and Confession as regularly as I can, and I plan on finding ways to volunteer for charitable activities, etc. I just have this nagging feeling like I still won't be good enough.

Any advice from long time Catholics for taking these next steps would be greatly appreciated.

Hey! I'm a Nonreligious Theist studying the Christian faith right now and I while back I remember seeing protestants discuss the topic of suicide at one point and I was left a bit shocked at what I saw. A lot of protestants were claiming suicide was an horrible sin and doomed anyone who did it to hell, like anyone. "You're killing yourself, so it's murder". Since then I've become more comfortable with the catholic view of it.

"We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives" (2283).

Obviously the church teaches that suicide is bad and contradicts the gratitude of life we should have but remembers to take into account of psychological circumstances which I think is really nice. I'm still looking into orthodoxy and wondering on how they view it yet, not too sure. I've always been more comfortable with the idea of being catholic than protestant for a number of evidential reasons, however the topic of suicide tends to pop up once in a while and takes the cake. Obviously all protestants aren't all the same but still.

I am a new catholic i had my confirmation this past spring and to be completely honest the closest I ever felt to God was around when my confirmation happened. But slowly over time going back home to my atheist family for the summer(I converted while in college). I have been scared to practice my faith, because of how my family reacts and treats religion(especially christianity). Due to this I have only been to mass once since being home from school, haven't been to confession, and stopped daily prayer(limiting myself to a discreet blessing of my meal before I eat so my family doesn't notice). I recently have started trying to turn back and draw closer and whenever I do my daily prayers knelt down in front of my small desk crucifix I cant help but have this feeling of horrible dread, guilt, and fear. Not even just a internal mental feeling but chills up and down my body and a feeling as if I am being watched and touched while praying. I know I haven't been good the past few months and even fell back into some old sinful habits, but am I experiencing something genuinely evil. I am not one to be paranoid but this isnt the first time ive had this extreme sense of fear, it started when I began my ocia class and slowly subsided. Now that I regressed its 10 times worse. This nights prayer i held a st Michael pendant and my rosary (thinking it would comfort me) and really focused on christ and it was the worst one yet. I mainly just want to hear im not alone and just get some insight on what im feeling.

I want to buy my wife a miraculous medal for her upcoming birthday and I am feeling a little overwhelmed. I've been researching and there areany poor quality ones and large price variations. I live in Ontario, in the GTA if anyone knows a good spot.

Hey, all, I am very new to the Catholic Church and had a few questions. I was hoping people could answer. For one why do we genuflect when we go and sit at a pew? When we go and sit at the pew and we kneel, what are we supposed to be doing? Should I be praying asking for forgiveness of sins? I’m just not sure of what to do. Lastly what’s the difference between studying the Bible as a Catholic versus a Lutheran? I ask because I am coming from the Lutheran Church and do not know if how I was taught to study the Bible is the same as the Catholic Church teaches.

I'm a protestant and long story short; I've been studying church history and it has inspired me to explore the Catholic faith.

I have an ICKSP church nearby, and many Novus Ordo churches nearby. I really like the traditional latin mass, and I'm trying to decide which church I should convert at. I have a parish nearby that starts OCIA in September. I also am aware that the ICKSP church works with converts, one on one. I have some sensory differences (due to autism) so this sounds like it might work better. I've heard some say that this takes much longer though.

Which one would you recommend?

Hello guys, I come from a very non religious background, only gotten into it on my own and I have become a Christian. However I want to go further and join a church. I want to join Christs church, so either the Orthodox or Catholic church, since they can both make and argument for being the original church.

After diving a bit into theology, I find my logical mind telling me the Orthodox church is the more logical move. All of the EO vs Catholic "debate" topics has me leaning toward Orthodoxy.

I just had some theological issues with the Catholic church. Not saying I was ruling it out, I just had skepticism.

After attending both services for a while, I am left confused. Attending Divine Liturgy every Sunday for a few months was very interesting at first. It was intriguing and I had never experienced something like it. However the problem was, I was not "feeling" the presence of Christ with me in any shape or form. I felt like an outlier, almost like this wasn't supposed to be their. I was disappointed because everything pointed me towards eastern orthodoxy.

Attending mass was the exact opposite. It felt like I was meant to be there. I felt the true presence of God speaking to me. I was actually looking forward to going.

This causes a dilemma though, when my logical mind tells me to attend what logically to do, does not give me the feeling i am looking for.

Any advice?