ThreeInOne,
I am sorry to hear that your situation with your parents has not always been a healthy one, however, I also encourage you to refrain from using this as a means to shape your view of the Catholic Church. It might very well be true that your parents do not really know what it means to be Christian, but that is not a problem isolated to some Catholics. Many people allow religion to lapse into nothing more than comfortable rituals (whether they be formal rituals of an institution or simply the human ritual of going to church on sunday and being in a familliar setting).
Catholic Christians or Protestants Christians can both lack in knowledge of Christ. In fact, there are many people who read the bible constantly, yet lack any real knowledge of Christ. Ultimately, encountering Christ is not an intellectual thing but an actual experience that pervades both heart, soul and mind. Some of the most devout Christians I know are Catholics, including immigrant grandmother, a hard working and wonderful woman who lived through too much poverty and hardships to acquire a proper education. The actual text of the bible, in many cases, would probably not penetrate her in the same manner that the scripturally rooted
practices of the Church do. In her case, she knows Christ through the Church, through the Mass, through the stark simplicity of an oral tradition.
On the flip side, the intellectual tradition in the Church is very strong and those with high education are also capable, through their learnings, to acquire a deep appreciation for Church ritual.
I guess my point is that there are others ways to transmit the message of the bible than just congregating around the text. Especially when considering the various different types of people out there and their learning styles. The Church always encourages being learned in scripture, however, for Catholics scripture comes to life and is actually engaged, proclaimed and dramatized in the rituals of the Church.
I am sorry to hear that your situation with your parents has not always been a healthy one, however, I also encourage you to refrain from using this as a means to shape your view of the Catholic Church. It might very well be true that your parents do not really know what it means to be Christian, but that is not a problem isolated to some Catholics. Many people allow religion to lapse into nothing more than comfortable rituals (whether they be formal rituals of an institution or simply the human ritual of going to church on sunday and being in a familliar setting).
Catholic Christians or Protestants Christians can both lack in knowledge of Christ. In fact, there are many people who read the bible constantly, yet lack any real knowledge of Christ. Ultimately, encountering Christ is not an intellectual thing but an actual experience that pervades both heart, soul and mind. Some of the most devout Christians I know are Catholics, including immigrant grandmother, a hard working and wonderful woman who lived through too much poverty and hardships to acquire a proper education. The actual text of the bible, in many cases, would probably not penetrate her in the same manner that the scripturally rooted
practices of the Church do. In her case, she knows Christ through the Church, through the Mass, through the stark simplicity of an oral tradition.
On the flip side, the intellectual tradition in the Church is very strong and those with high education are also capable, through their learnings, to acquire a deep appreciation for Church ritual.
I guess my point is that there are others ways to transmit the message of the bible than just congregating around the text. Especially when considering the various different types of people out there and their learning styles. The Church always encourages being learned in scripture, however, for Catholics scripture comes to life and is actually engaged, proclaimed and dramatized in the rituals of the Church.
