georgesbluegirl

Totally forgot to respond about George! Yeah, he only got basically his quota per album of like one or two songs, which is sad but the Beatles were so dominated by the Lennon/Macca songwriting presence. Everything just compounded at the split, between John and Paul fighting, George releasing solo stuff, and Ringo feeling left out. Personally one of my favorite George songs is the Concert for Bangladesh version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" with George and Eric Clapton playing double leads. It's AMAZING. I love "For You, Blue" and "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something" "All Things Must Pass" and all the Wilburys's stuff. "Brainwashed" rocks my socks, George does in general!

Yeah...I mean, I'm trying not to make generalizations here because there are plenty of Protestants who set aside my being Catholic and just let it be (whooa...total subconscious Beatles ref), and friendship goes from there. Then there are some others, whom I was referring to before. Mainly people tend to bring up "the Mary thing" or the saints. That always strikes me as kind of a weird thing to start with but for some reason it's the most common...it's like no matter how many times you explain that we ask saints for help and prayer like friends, not false gods, it isn't enough (personally most of my saint prayers are to Saint Anthony - the patron saint of things lost =P...needless to say, I'm not very organized). Anyway, that usually comes up when people are trying to convert me (it happens every so often), but it seems like not that big a thing to me! Just one little difference...now the transubstantiation I get why people would question but I do believe in that and there IS Scripture to support it. Bugs my last nerve when people go after priests too, treat them like they all abuse children. My mom used to work as a VP at a seminary so I grew up there knowing lots of priests and I still have close ties to a lot of them. In general, they're some of the coolest people I know, totally dedicated to serving God. I know this twenty year old guy who is smart and could have a future just about anywhere...he's popular, athletic, and cute...but he's decided to become a Jesuit after graduating from college. It's annoying when people automatically judge priests just because of the horrible scandal that the Church is trying to sort out these days.

Okay, just anybody that knows, I'm curious. But back to my original question...why do you think there is such a clear stigma around Catholics to a lot of Protestants, particularly non-denominationals? Why can't some people just accept me and my beliefs? And do some people really believe I'm going to hell just because I'm Catholic? I've heard these things said to me, and more.

Actually, the canon - including the deuterocanonicals - was finalized in something like 383. Martin Luther and the following Protestants took them out of the Protestant Bible because they were not compatible with Protestant theology. That's as far as my knowledge goes about the Protestant reasons for leaving them out.

Me too. Thanks for the welcome, everyone!

Oh, I forgot a response to Jade, so here it is: I have read the Bible. Contrary to what most people believe, Catholicism places a lot of weight on the Bible - that's why we have two readings, a psalm and a Gospel at every Mass. Every Catholic is supposed to read it. I have, several times. Here's the difference in Catholic doctrine (several Protestant sects view the Bible this way too): we believe in Divine Inspiration. That is, that God came to humans and inspired them to write the books of the Bible, interpreting His Word into human words. The books were thus necessarily crafted through the lens of a time period thousands of years ago and are therefore subject to interpretation. Believe me, it took me years as a kid to sort this out, since my best friend kept telling me that God wrote the Bible at the same time I was learning about Divine Inspiration in CCD! Anyway, I love God. God is love, God is great. Here's a question for you, I'm actually curious. I know Martin Luther took them out, but what's the reason that most Protestants leave the Deuterocanonicals (Protestants call them the Apochrypha) out of the Bible?

Not at all, not at all. Thanks for acting so quickly! Anyway....anyone else want to discuss anything? Ask anything? Really, I'll give you my perspective and not just shoot doctrine at you.

It's not that people make decisions for you. It's just that when you reach the age of "discernment" (I think that's somewhere near the correct terminology), which is usually early teens, you are asked if you really want to be a Catholic, and if so you take classes and prepare to announce your decision, your confirmation of your faith, in a ceremony before the people of your church (or, as in most cases, a packed house of teary relatives armed with cameras and congratulations cards!). It's just like parents would raise a kid in the family faith in any other religion, it's just got a few extra steps added in with infant baptism. Confirmation is like when you are baptized older in many Protestant churches. Really, it's not all that dissimilar. Catholicism just has a lot of dogmatic explanations. So in conclusion, yes, your parents make the decision to raise you Catholic, the same way Lutheran parents raise their kids Lutheran or Jewish parents raise their kids Jewish. But it is required of a practicing Catholic at a certain age to step in front of the congregation and announce their willing committment to the Body of Christ, the Church. YOU make that decision. As far as other religions...I feel called to my faith life as a Catholic. I am very active in Youth Ministry at my church, participating in leadership and service events and ministering to younger teens going through the Confirmation process. I have always felt comfortable as a Catholic. I believe in the Consecration, and I have great admiration for Mary. I enjoy celebrating Mass with my family and friends. Truly, it is a gathering about community. I have friends of many different religions, and while I have great respect for them all, I have never felt the same calling or enthusiasm about any other religion. I apply my Catholic faith to my worldview (which means that I'm a liberal...). I am Catholic, it is a major part of my identity, and although I've struggled with my faith before, I always wind up more dedicated to the Church...although she could do with some REFORM. PEACE AND LOVE.

I chose to be Catholic because I was born into it, like many people were born and raised in their religions. Like most Catholics, I was baptized as a baby, which technically means that I was accepted into the community of the Church and that my parents and godparents promised to the Church to raise me to be a person of faith in the Body of Jesus Christ. I chose again when I was fifteen and received the sacrament of Confirmation, which is a renewal of the baptismal promise...only this time, you are deciding yourself to be a Catholic. I'm a member of the Church because I believe in its teachings and doctrines - even though it does need some serious reforms in a few areas. I'm actually sort of a Dorothy Day subset: a lot of my love for my religion comes from our social justice principles. Plus Vatican II reformed a lot of stuff and made mainline Catholicism more tolerant of other denominations and religions in general. But yeah, I believe in the trinity, the communion of saints, in Mary as an example for us all, an amazing woman to ask for help, and the basic, good Catholic stuff. I'm also into exploring my religion, and I've never been afraid to ask questions of it, yet I'm still a Catholic. And as far as George Harrison goes, he is my hero and my favorite Beatle and an amazing musician. Even if he did leave Catholicism and then become Hindu. Beautiful music, beautiful man. "Shout in the name of the Lord and you'll be free, for the Lord is awaiting on you all, wait and see." ~ you guessed it, George

I have to say, I looked up this site because I was curious to see what non-denominational Christians thought about Catholics. I'm Catholic, and I have a lot of friends who are non-denominational and just accept that my religion is a part of who I am - after all, we do believe in the same God. But from other non-denominational Christians, I've gotten a lot of hate just for being who I am and I don't know why. There seem to be quite a few misconceptions about my Church floating around, too, and I'm educated enough about Catholic dogma to clear those up if anybody has any questions or is confused about anything. But I genuinely do want to know...why do people shy away from me at Christian events if they "find out?" I don't get how you can judge someone just because you think you know their religion...I certainly don't judge my non-denominational friends. It just doesn't make any sense. Thoughts? "Love one another." - the last words of George Harrison