Ideally either a mixed lot or cheap singles.

As the title states, I’ll be visiting Stubenville in a few weeks. Is there anything specific that I should see? Also, looking for any suggestions for mass while I’m there. Any help would be appreciated.

I've Been a Sacristan for a few years now I'm in my late 20s, I do the job down to a tee and pretty well good at it I must say. I like being in the whole setting of the church, setting up and being in the whole element of things. The only snag that has been at me lately but never bothered me much before is "thanks to the choir, thanks servers, ministers, final pray" like I'm just standing there kinda awkward like hey I just literally set everything up I in fact go beyond my duties half the time only because I enjoy it but still no recognition... Seriously... I suppose I get over it and move on and stop thinking about it but is it because they don't want the attention on the Sacristan? Cause they know they didn't do a single tap.. literally the book is open.. yet if one little thing is not right they make a big fuss over it and make you feel like U are in the wrong or even worse useless. Yet U busted yourself to do everything right. I don't know what others here think but the role is way under appreciated still and a lot is expected for little. Thoughts?

Could they have because they are nontrinitarian heretics?

Hello,

Is it allowed to receive Communion, get baptized, and receive confirmation while menstruating? I come from an Eastern Orthodox background where some parishes don't allow it. I was wondering what this take is in the Catholic Church.

Thank you

I have talked to quite a handful of Jehovahs witnesses in my day. The similarity between them? Why are they in the faith? It's not because they have some complex theological reasoning behind it. The bulk of them are simply practicing it because it's the faith they were raised in. It's as simple as that.

For most people, I think a similar thing is going on here. Take Catholicism for example. The vast vast bulk of Catholic Evangelization isn't so much targeted at Protestants or Non Denominational Christians.....it's targeted at former sacramentalized Catholics who were raised in the Church!

This reality made me realize 2 things.

1. Virtually all of us are nerds. If you are hanging out on a Catholic forum in your free time chances are you are a religion nerd.

2. I overthink spiritual things. So often I'll consume stuff online and eventually it just starts to confuse you. The "Catholic Answers" conversion high wears off pretty quick. I think most of us just need to chill out and just do your best.

Since I discovered the Thomistic theory of predestination, I've fallen into a sort of depression. I can't accept that God could save everyone and chooses not to if He is good. I feel better accepting the Molinist theory, but I still feel sad knowing that the Thomistic theory might be right, since the Church hasn't defined the matter.

I decided to clean up the title but it’s in the same vein as another popular subreddit. Basically me and my boyfriend have been together for about three months now but have known each other for longer. I won’t lie, he’s not religious and I have one foot in the church and one foot out of it so our relationship does not employ much chastity.

However, something has thrown me. He told me that last year he got someone pregnant and they had an abortion. When he told me I was shocked, but then told him I understood it. Now even though I’m not sure about a lot in the faith, abortion is a line I will never cross and I consider myself pro-life.

Here’s the kicker though. Before I met him I was sleeping around and to make a long story short I got on birth control and most likely had a chemical pregnancy/early miscarriage and didn’t find out until it was way too late.

Anyway, sometimes when I look at him it’s all I can think of. He told me he feels guilty about it and refers to that baby as “he.” I feel bad for judging him for it when I basically did the same thing, but I’m also not making any real effort to be a catholic outside of mass when I do go. Idk it’s really strange. We’re really young and still in college so I know there’s room for growth, but his bothers me more than mine does.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Does anyone here do a jail/prison ministry? I’ve been reading a lot about it and as one who is discerning the permanent diaconate, it seems like a good place to go.

Any comments greatly appreciated!

I don't believe in evolution, so I want to know that. If he created gradually over time, did He do it like the man, taking them from the dust of the ground?

I (21m) have been friends with a woman (21f) who lives and glorifies a very promiscuous lifestyle of hooking up, casual sex, and clubbing for almost a year. Of course, this lifestyle is completely to her detriment, as she has gotten pregnant (resulted in a miscarriage due to an accident) and is a very unhappy and depressed person who is failing university. I have prayed for her and preached the gospel to her, but she has shown no interest in quitting her lifestyle over the past 8 months, and is completely absorbed with media personalities who promote this way of life.

She has also cheated on a previous partner (in order to initiate a breakup) with other people in committed relationships, despite knowing that the hurt that would result from it. And though she does show some guilt, she believes herself to be justified in her actions because she believes they were necessary and doesn't regret it. This pattern repeats itself with the many other people she's hurt in her life.

Despite being one of her closest and only friends, whom she is very attached to, my relationship with her has been causing me a lot of friction with my other friends, who I've known for much longer. They have repeatedly told me she's a whore and that I should cut off all contact with her, and they absolutely despise her, considering her to be childish and stupid. Furthermore, they know people who she's been involved with and who have told them some of the terrible things she's done. I must admit that all of these factors have eroded much if not all of my goodwill and friendship towards her. I have done my best to set a good example before her of the Catholic faith, but this hasn't changed a thing, and I feel like I am forcing myself to maintain a friendship I have no desire to maintain.

The reason I am asking about this here is because I would like to know what other Catholics think about this. I am considering cutting her off completely, despite knowing that this would be very painful for her. I cannot turn to people I know in real life as they are too biased or are not Catholic.

I would like to clarify I have never had any sexual relations with this woman, though she has attempted to initiate them several months ago, which I refused on religious grounds. Nor do I have any sexual or romantic desire towards her.

About 11 years ago before I was baptized I purchased what I thought was a rosary. I've had it in it in original box the entire time and when I went to use it to pray I realized it only have 4 decades on it. What is it for? Am I missing something? I have at least 4 or 5 other rosaries and they all have 5 decades. Can any one explain it?

Thank you in advance 🙏🏾

I haven’t really found a straight answer. Do you guys know?

So alot of people love to say it was removed from the bible because of what it contained, but i dont think so.

Enoch is a book thats was supossedly was made by Enoch. It is part of the OT, but Jews neither Chrstians ever thought it was scripture.

There are passages where Jesus and Jude mention it. But Jesus usually says "have you not read" or "it is written" before cross referencing a OT verse.

Jude qoutes it too, but that doesnt make it scripture.

Epimudeas was a greek poet who was quoted, but we dont think thats scripture.

Enoch also lives before the flood, and im pretty sure everything before the flood would be gone by now. For example, most of Egyptian history is gone, and that was after the flood. Its highly unlikely any text would stay.

I really dont know why people believe it.

A youtuber i like made a vid saying enoch was scripture and that the trinty is a lie, i made a comment saying hes wrong and now were aguring over it

heres the vid, the comment were aguring on in by a guy called the_eternal_demon

Hello,

I have 6 months left until I finish catechesis and receive the sacrament of confirmation. I already know whom to invite, but I'm afraid it might be too early. Should I invite her now or wait a little longer?

Hello, fellow Catholics!

A Protestant friend of mine is interested in attending Mass (more specifically, TLM) with me. And I’m wondering what’s the most respectful way he can do it (like, should he stay sitting? standing?) without forcing him (he doesn’t believe that Jesus is present in the Eucharist so I don’t think he would kneel during the consecration, for example).

The only thing I’ve already told him was that he shouldn’t receive communion and he said that’s fine. Maybe I should warn him about showing up in nice clothes as well.

I pray for his conversion, but I also don’t think I should force him, right? What do you think? How would you approach this situation?

Thanks!!

Do you ever feel like a social pariah at your church? I really wanted to just participate in the mass only, but decided to try to some extracurricular things and some were along the way I did said something or did something.

Hey, I'm a newcomer christian/catholic and I'm trying to see if I can obtain my own kind of heaven when I die. like I want to go to heaven but I have my own idea of it involving coming back but into a new resetted universe and doing something different. new parents, born In a different state, like lousiana or Florida.

can I achieve this if I ask god for such a thing, as my own idea of salvation?

I want to know if anyone has any experience with this sort of situation. I don’t want to give too many details but basically a person dear to me was abused by someone. When myself and a few others were made aware, the abuser didn’t show their face for a while after. However, recently I saw the abuser leaving mass where the victim is a parishioner. Is this a matter where, after the pastor has the situation explained to him, he could tell the person that they should go somewhere else for mass? I don’t know where this falls under canon law and such. Sorry for the lack of details, I’ll provide more as necessary.

Here’s my dilemma. My boyfriend and I are in college and discerning marriage together (basically we agree that if things go the way they are heading we will most likely want to marry each other. We will have to wait a few years because both of our families would strongly disapprove of us getting married before graduation). So we’ve talked about what we’d do if we got married etc and even though my boyfriend isn’t really practicing he wants a Catholic wedding for me and because he thinks being brought up catholic would be best for our kids.

Because people will probably ask about how catholic he is exactly: my boyfriend’s family stopped going to mass in highschool and he started going with me a little bit to Mass. currently he goes to mass for about 75% of Sundays but doesn’t receive communion because he ‘doesn’t really believe in catholicicm’. We’re both about half way through reading the Bible together.

Here is where I’m concerned because although he is baptized and confirmed I’m concerned about whether we’d be allowed to have a catholic wedding considering if you’d ask my bf he would say ‘I’m not catholic’. Even if we were allowed he said he would not go to confession and repent before our wedding in order to take communion which I feel like would somewhat defeat the point of a church wedding. I also want to know what other changes there would be in the liturgy because of his disbelief.

Is there anything you guys think I should know?

I've been studying this self-proclaimed Bishop of his lone church in Australia. He sounds really good and is gaining a following of people who fight for him more than I've seen most American Christians fight for Jesus. I agree with a lot of what he says and I like him. With that said, something doesn't feel right about him. So I started looking into him further. He definitely was Nestorian. He definitely made himself a Bishop of a church without hierarchy or anyone to vote him in. He started this church and is the only minister. Why does he wear clothing like a Bishop? Why does he give himself a title of Mar which the Assyrian Church of the East names their Bishops? The ACE rejects him and is threatening to sue him for falsely proclaiming he's a member of their church.

Let's say that I am 100% sure of the Catholic church and it's truth. Mar Mari is constantly making claims against the Catholic church and after his excommunication from his Nestorian church, has created another denomination to add to the 30k to 45K denominations out there already. Any thoughts on Mar Mari Emmanuel as a practicing Catholic?

Bit of context, im currently a Pentacostal Christian, though a lot more organized than your usual Pentacostal churches. Anyway the place i am from it’s just kind of a normal thing where, if you are not a Catholic you just dislike them, i mean me and all my friends are Christians, and somehow we all dislike Catholics with the usual objections of, they worship Mary, or they commit idolatry to saints by venerating them etc, the whole works.

Now im also a big apologetics fan one of the guys i watch is now a Catholic, before he became one, he said he is scared to insult the ancient churches because if anyone does something right, its gonna be them, this was somewhere last year, and so it just kinda stuck with me. Creating a bunch of answers with questions. As this continues, im attending a theological course thats a year long, where we do evangelism and do the syllabus and what not. My leaders also highly dislike yall as i have realized in my attempts to make him stop his comments.

Now i am aware yall do t actually worship Mary and what not. But now i need to ask you guys, why Catholicism and not Protestantism?

One time I was listening to the radio and the speaker said that during the Irish mass (I don't really remember which denomination) the rite starts by mentioning and bessing the Armenian church. Is it true?

Regarding the common practice of the church/ priest giving a blessing at mass to mothers for Mother's Day - and asking mothers to stand for this - the church and the priest should be fully clear, and should communicate, that this blessing is for all mothers, including those who have miscarried. It can be up to all mothers as to whether they want to stand or not but the blessing should be clear that it is imparted for all mothers, those who have given birth to a child and those who have conceived and had a miscarriage (suffered a miscarriage is a better verb). Obviously this does not include abortion, the grave offense committed (Catechism, Canon Law etc.) But the church needs to be clear and consistent, the Catechism 2270 is explicit that life begins at conception and thus motherhood (and fatherhood) begins at conception.

Expressing this clarity takes nothing away from mothers and their living children, and we all know those are the mothers who stand and are blessed and applauded for each Mother's Day. It's very clear that the blessing is for them... But that's not the full truth and Christ came to bear witness to the Truth. Instead including mothers who have miscarried, in this blessing, does two things: it supports and reinforces the church's teaching on the inalienable right to life (Catechism 2273) and secondly, including these mothers does not further aggravate and misunderstand the suffering that mothers of miscarried children bear for their entire lives (including those who may never know the blessing of giving birth and raising a child due to miscarriage(s)).

This takes nothing away from celebrating the love and self-sacrifice that mothers give raising and loving their children in this world from birth to death. Nothing changes that. But that's not the full story of our Catholic faith. Our faith is about the journey and hope toward life eternal with God and parenthood, we know, is not of our human making, even though we're more and more confused about this. For everyone, children are just a gift of stewardship entrusted to us by God, to care for the child's life and soul. We are parents from conception where we recognize in truth, and in reverence to God, that life begins.

Catechism
2270 Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.^(72)

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.^(73)

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.^(74)

I am wholly unfamiliar with the Passionists.

St. Gemma Galgani died on April 11th, and Passionists don't follow a different calendar like the Orthodox do (please correct me if I'm wrong).

So why do they celebrate her feast on May 16th rather than April 11th?

So say your in a desert, all alone and you know your gonna die and your in mortal sin, so you decide to spend every living second praying and repenting your heart out for like 3 days. So would you after dying due to starvation be saved and still go to heaven?