Comments | loveneverfails: Catholic Answer Girl!

loveneverfails

Catholic Answer Girl!

Apr 08, 2009 11:43

Ok, LJ! Does anyone have any theological questions about the Catholic Church that I can help with? Confused as to why the Church opposes contraception? What's the story with stuff about condoms and Africa? Why the hell should you listen to a bunch of old celibate white guys about what to do with sexuality? Do you have any questions about Holy ( Read more... )

catholicism, theology, lj

Comments 88

lneef April 8 2009, 16:38:54 UTC

I'd like to hear a little bit about priest celibacy. I understand the intent behind it, but if the intent is so strong that they hold to it even in the face of a serious priest shortage, then why make exceptions for converted Lutheran/Episcopal clergymen?

loveneverfails April 8 2009, 17:09:38 UTC

The "priest shortage" has many facets, and not every diocese has it. For example, one of the most orthodox dioceses in the US (Diocese of Omaha, Nebraska) is brimming with vocations. The same is true of the most conservative religious orders, in some of which the average age of the sisters is in the mid to late 20s compared with average age of sisters in their 60s or older in many of the more liberal orders. In Asia and Africa, many seminaries are overflowing to the point where seminarians are coming to the US. It's in the softer, less orthodox areas where church membership is fading and where there are no vocations. There is almost a silent schism in American Catholicism, so understanding this stuff can be very complex ( ... )

ariellejuliana April 8 2009, 17:17:59 UTC

You are correct in that Orthodox must choose marriage or celibacy before ordination to either the diaconate or the priesthood. You cannot marry after either of those ordinations.

I'm guessing this would also be the rule with Eastern Rite Catholics, who do allow married clergy.

lneef April 8 2009, 17:19:09 UTC

It is dicey, you're right. The logic doesn't hang together for me. Getting married would take the priest's focus away, but a married man is already capable of giving the focus the priesthood requires? Seems a better way to do it would be to say they have to be just one or the other for X number of years. If you've been married 10 years, you're considered capable of sharing the focus, and if you've been a priest 10 years, you're considered capable. That seems more in line with the logic allowing the exception.

Sean actually has a family friend who's a married priest so I've been aware of that anomaly for a while and read an article in the Det. Free Press about it just recently. The priestly celibacy thing bugs me a bit on a number of levels, considering historically it hasn't always been the case and this exception is there. Did you ever read the book Acts of Faith, by Erich Segal? It was a number of years ago, but it dealt heavily with this topic.

Thread 14

ifeverangelsbe April 8 2009, 16:52:59 UTC

I don't have any burning questions right this moment (even though I am sure that I epicfail as a Catholic sometimes). I just wanted to say that this is one of my favourite features in your journal, as I always learn something.

Of course, nothing matches all of the cute that you post about the kids, but I digress :)

loveneverfails April 8 2009, 18:05:09 UTC

LOL! Glad to help! :-)

addienfaemne April 8 2009, 17:08:45 UTC

What is the Catholic Church's position on fate and predestination versus the role of free will?

loveneverfails April 8 2009, 18:21:46 UTC

Hmmm... I'll answer this as best as I can ( ... )

bonny_katie April 8 2009, 18:51:45 UTC

I think the fact that God exists outside of time can confuse people with regards to predestination. He fully knows the past, present, and future, but knowing it isn't the same as "predestinating" people to it. Like you said, He knows our choices, but that doesn't mean He's making them for us.

Predestination drives me nuts. And, by proxy, Calvinists. (No offense, Calvinists!)

blakdove April 8 2009, 18:54:08 UTC

C.S. Lewis describes the whole God-as-outside-of-time thing very well in Screwtape Letters.

(Sorry, I'm bored at work and apparently taking it out on your poor post!)

Thread 13

ariellejuliana April 8 2009, 17:15:57 UTC

I'm Orthodox, so there is plenty we have in common, but the ages of baptism/first communion/confirmation totally confuse me. I even read the Catechism on this and didn't get it ( ... )

ariellejuliana April 8 2009, 17:45:45 UTC

PS I like this post. I used to listen to "Catholic Answers Live" back when I worked for the Catholic family (it was on the same station as the dad's show), and I miss hearing the answers to everything people would call in with.

This is like "Jana's Catholic Answers Live" :)

loveneverfails April 8 2009, 18:58:45 UTC

:-) It's a good Holy Week activity, I think!

blakdove April 8 2009, 18:32:44 UTC

Our priest liked to say that the babies and children, in their innocence, know EXACTLY what they're receiving!

Thread 6

primroseburrows April 8 2009, 17:23:24 UTC

Does the Church officially condemn lesbianism, and if so, how does it justify this given that lesbians are never even mentioned in scripture, let alone admonished?

loveneverfails April 8 2009, 17:28:09 UTC

That is factually incorrect. Romans 1 specifically cites lesbianism as wrong. And there is a huge difference between saying that homosexual sex is wrong and saying that someone with same sex attractions is a terrible human being to be "condemned."

addienfaemne April 8 2009, 17:29:11 UTC

What's always rubbed me the wrong way is that people with same sex desires are supposed to never act on them according to Catholic teaching? Or that if they do it's sinful. Am I correct? Why is this? Don't seem right to me.

loveneverfails April 8 2009, 18:00:24 UTC

Ok, in order to make a good explanation for this the first thing I have to say is that marriage is the highest natural reality that we know in the Catholic Church. It is the zenith of our original design, not just to be human but to be spouses and love with all that we have and all that we are. Any deviation from that at all is wrong, and it's not like one alteration is worse than any other ( ... )

Thread 12