For current or fallen Catholics

21 minutes? Maybe Boom said it...

 

The midday mass is usually abbreviated.

 

I can understand a "wafer watch" for pro-choice politicians. Not this, though.

New York is not mandating that Catholic churches marry gay individuals or even recognize those unions. The church does not recognize marriages conducted by public officials as it is now.

All the state law does is give gay couples the same rights and priviliges as straight couples.

If you want to withhold communion for this, then you damn well better withhold communion for the bastards (and females) who commit adultery and divorce for no good reason. Those individuals defile the sancitity of marriage more egregiously than any gay couple ever could.

 

I guess so. I only had time to yawn twice.

 

One other question -- what's your thought about dressing for church? (Stop it. Stop it, now! I know where you want to take that question and I won't let you. Move on to the next graf)

When I was a kid, I always wore dress pants/khakis and a polo or button down shirt. Only wore shorts if I was going to/coming from the church picnic.

Now, I probably wear jeans about 60 percent of the time, and I attend mass at 10:30 am. My son wears shorts in the summer. I feel a little guilty (or maybe it's self-conscious) about it because I tend to think of myself as a professional.

Is it too old school to think that you should dress up (or at least dress respectably) to go to church?

 

Jeans in the winter, shorts in the summer, collared shirt always.
There is a guy who sits by me that is a gauge of what his family does at Mass. If he's reading, he's in a tie. If his kids are reading or altar kids, he's in a collar shirt and slacks. No involvement in the Mass, t-shirt and shorts/jeans.

 

Went to Catholic school through high school. Contrary to what Billy Joel wrote, Catholic girls didn't start all that late...

Rarely ever go to church now. Almost a CEO (Christmas & Easter Only). Just can't see the point when it's the same frickin' format, week in, week out; the same readings, year after year, the same homily, often closing with a plea for us to open up our wallet and purses another time.

Masses regularly go 1:15+ here, partially due to the dearth of Catholic Churches in Baptist country, and partially because the priests are fine with that. I'm also on the one hour time limit duration. For right or wrong, after I'm dead and gone, one of the stories my kids will recant about me is how I would tap on my wristwatch as we're heading past the hour mark.

Hate the handholding thing. And of course, when I won't do it, I'm looked at as a direct descendant of Beezlebub himself (which may be true, but that's beside the point).

If they would get out of the middle ages, I probably would go more. Let priests marry; let them be female and male. Make Mass an event I want to come to--not that I feel guilted to attending. Change it up--add in some plays, films, stories, different readings. Make it more entertaining to where I want to go--you can still get your message across, just using a different format, and probably have it resonate more effectively in the long run. And for god sakes, at the very least, change up the format so you can't basically do mass by rote before you even walk in the door.

 

My feeling on dressing for church has always been that God doesn't give a shit what you wear so long as you take it seriously when you're there.

Short of wearing a ripped-up T-shirt or jeans anything is fair game as far as I'm concerned.

 

The issue of withholding communion has to do with refusal to repent.
If a catholic goes to confession, repents and receives absolution. No problem.
The priest tells you to stop committing adultery, and you agree. Absolution.
As long as you were sincere when you agreed to stop committing the sin, you're good to go.

Gay marriage is a different issue. If you go into confession and the priest tells to stopping being gay, you are likely to refuse. Therefore you are not absolved. Therefore communion is withheld. You intend to persist in your sin.

I knew of a couple that got married after each had been divorced. They continued to consider themselves catholic and take communion. If any given priest on any given Sunday knows their circumstance, communion should be withheld.

 

When Jim Marshall, once mayor of Macon, was a Congressman, he did not take the Eucharist at Mass because of his pro-choice stance.
For your non sequitur moment, he's also in the Ranger Hall of Fame at Fort Benning.

 

My Mom and stepdad did not take communion because they were a second marriage and didn't have annulments. My stepdad got one and my dad died so they remarried to celebrate their 25th anniversary. During this time, my mom (an extremely devout Catholic) willingly didn't take communion because she was 'unworthy'. They were two wonderful people who adopted two children of a drug addicted mother at the time of their marriage and thus never actually had a honeymoon.

My apologies to the faithful, but fuck the Roman Catholic church.

 

I once wore a well-worn muscle shirt to Mass. Probably wouldn't have been a problem because I stayed in the lobby listening during most of the service. In hindsight, deciding to walk up (and back) for communion was not the brightest idea. Got a share of stares, and my mom was less than pleased.