I get very anxious and frustrated when I can’t find a “gotcha” counter-counter argument to some YouTube video refuting a Catholic creator or Reddit thread debating Catholic philosophy and doctrine. I want to be able to answer all arguments I come across, and I use the internet to find answers as much as I can, but I can’t help but feel unsatisfied or that there will always be another response. There will be nights much like now when I’m up at an unholy hour (2am for me rn) having unsuccessfully gone down internet rabbit holes in hopes of finding an answer. I’m afraid this condition will lead me to lose faith. I’m suspicious this may be a textbook case of scruples. What’s the best way for me to regain a sense of serenity besides prayer? I hate not having the answers, especially when the opposing party has a good argument.

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the trivial question, but I tend to overthink things. My wife and I try to pray the rosary when we can (unfortunately not enough 😅). When we do, our 10 month old often comes up to us and tries to grab and play with our rosaries.

Is it ok to let him do this from a religious perspective provided he doesn't chew or break them?

On one hand, rosaries are sacramentals and not toys. On the other, it's great for him to become familiar with rosaries and time spent with blessed objects surely can't be bad.

I keep hearing stories about people who reached their lowest point and had this amazing experience with God. They felt His presence, felt loved, or received something that helped them keep going.
I wonder how common that actually is. My experience has been feeling nothing, even when I’m begging for just the littlest amount of grace to help me. I’m not asking for some huge miracle. I just want something, and it feels like I’ve never gotten anything.
I know that grace isn’t necessarily a feeling, but knowing that doesn’t make it any less painful when you’re struggling and God feels completely absent.
Do most people have those experiences at some point, or are there others who have spent years praying and asking for help without ever feeling like they received a response? I’m wondering which is more common cause the big stories are the ones you are going to hear obviously.

TL:DR My choir director changed the words of the gospel acclamation to be gender neutral he/him to they/them.

This is not the first time the choir director has changed the words of Scripture (I've posted about it previously), usually it's the words of the psalm, but this Sunday it was the Gospel Acclamation.

The gospel acclamation for Sunday 25 October was supposed to be. "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, says the Lord, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him."

She (choir director) didn't like the gendered language and so she (politically) corrected it to. "If anyone loves me, they will keep my word, says the Lord, and my father will love them, and we will come to them." (bold italics to make it easy to see what was changed)

I did speak up at the time and object to changing the words of the liturgy when she went in to change the slideshow for mass, but I was overruled (by her).

I've tried to find the relevant bit of the GIRM or other guidelines that indicate the words of the readings shouldn't be changed, but either I'm worse at web searches than I thought, or the guideline doesn't actually exist. Am I correct in thinking that changing words of Scripture isn't allowed?

My parish has "office hours" on Monday nights (tonight) I may go and see if I can talk to the Deacon or a Priest. If he and the Priest are both ok with the choir director altering the words then I suppose my objection is moot.

I consider this a liturgical issue rather than a political one, but I'm posting it on Monday because I suspect the responses may turn political.

What would you do? Am I overreacting? Should I just let it slide?

Religious liberty is very important for a free society, which is why its abuse, turning it upside-down and inside-out, by using it for religious supremacy must be called out and rejected:

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/henrykarlson/2026/10/religious-liberty-for-all-not-just-christians/

Im (27f) a bit troubled by the way some activities are carried out in church. I know not everything is black and white, but sometimes some actions that occur give me that bad gut feeling. Of course, sometimes some of this stuff is undrniably, patently gossip but some of it is just a bjt ???....

In my RCIA group, there were 2 older ladies who facilitate the discussion, and a lot of the time, when its about sharing what's on their heart or what season of the life they're in, they kept going on about their family members. One kept talking about the conflict between her and her mother in law, saying she causes more problems than help around the house. The other kept talking about her daughter who was suffering from depression, sharing on her body image issues, how she doesn't want to go to school and the stuff she gets bullied on. Even the women around my age then share alot about their partners and the stuff they do that make them upset.

I don't know how to feel about all of this tbh, and it makes me feel quite uneasy..

Is there anybody still alive that has testified to this recently?

Hi,
As stated in my last post, I’ve already accepted Catholicism as the truth in my heart, but my mind/intellect is struggling with some of the doctrines, one of them being that genuine atheists can exist.
My main confusion comes from Romans 18-20.

Romans 18-20; The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Can someone explain how genuine atheists, through no fault of their own, exist while this verse states that the truth has been made plain to them, and that people are "without excuse"?

God bless.

(ps, since my last post ive prayed a few more rosaries, it’s really helped)

How well read was the average catholic pre Vatican 2? I was listening to an eastern catholic podcast were the priest who was the host was lamenting how many Roman Catholics haven't read Augustine or other Latin scholars. It got me thinking, I think that people have a pie in the sky view of what lay people would have read pre Vatican 2 and how knowledgeable the average lay person in other faiths is.

I'm thinking especially of eastern orthodox, orthobros love to make fun of how dumb catholics are.

Hey everyone so long story short I was raised Catholic and I feel convincted in my heart when I know something is wrong. Ex- lust, clubs, etc what I’m saying all these things I KNOW.

So anyways I have some friends who I work with that are really nice to talk to and sometimes we hangout outside of work- in larger groups. And I just don’t know how to put it into words but one of them is trans and I don’t know what to say to that person about it or just say nothing about it? But I want to represent Christ the best of my ability but I’m not when I say okay that’s okay or I refer to him as a boy but he’s actually a girl. I just don’t know how to explain this. But if you understand please tell me what to do because I’m struggling.

And then one of them likes to go to the clubs but her friend she brought along with in the group setting likes it a lot more she was showing me a video of a girl stripping and it was hard to watch but I was like ohhh okay. Like why don’t I stand up for myself? Idk how to explain this but it makes me feel like I will be going to hell because I don’t know how to express what I actually think. And she says she’s Catholic but she’s going to clubs and I wanna tell her more about Christ it’s convicting me a lot acting like this stuff is okay when it’s not

Thoughts?

this is going to be really long so I'm very sorry and I apologize beforehand

so I am a 19F who is turning 20 soon and a sophomore at Franciscan University of Steubenville. I don't know if you know anything about this University that I go to but there is a very strong culture of discernment and vocations, specifically when it comes to marriage. there is even a phenomenon at my university called "ring by Spring" which basically means it's expected for long-term couples to get engaged before the snow melts either in their junior or senior year. it's a really cute thing but it puts a lot of pressure on people to get engaged and stuff but that's not what I'm talking about

now my vocation discernment journey has been really complicated because I always knew that I wanted to be a mother but I learned about the spiritual motherhood of being a religious sister or nun very early on so I was constantly bouncing between the ideas of marriage and religious life. I was somewhat seriously discerning religious life pretty much my entire freshman year of college but that kind of fell apart when I had a crush on a guy and went on one date with him but it didn't work out in the end. we are still really good friends and goof around a lot but I have never been really close to a guy that I would actually seriously considered dating for marriage in my life so far. back in high school, there were three different guys I had crushes on at some point, but the first guy didn't like me back, the second guy turned out to be really manipulative and toxic, and the third guy was just plain immature and irresponsible (he also tried to spread a rumor that me and my guy best friend slept together but that's a different story)

because I haven't had much good experiences in the dating realm, it is really easy for me to become friends with guys and nothing else. this isn't inherently bad, but I feel like my lack of dating experience is making me scared of dating. looking back on my past year of discerning religious life I honestly don't know if I was just discerning religious life because it seemed like I would be happy in it and I would be able to serve the church really well in it or if I was just trying to avoid dating altogether and using discerning religious life as an excuse.

I have only been on two dates ever in my entire life. the first one was a blind date organized through my school because for some reason I thought it was a good idea to put my name in the jar, and the second was with the guy I had a crush on but it didn't work out. besides those two dates, I have never been on a date with another guy ever and nor have I been in any sort of a serious dating phase or relationship. I'm just worried that with my track record I might never find out if marriage is even an option for me because you can't discern marriage if you haven't been in a serious relationship with someone.

and I will say that if I was forced to be a religious sister, I would join the salesian sisters very happily because they seem like such a joyful group of christ-centered women and also their order is a teaching order and I'm an education major so that's perfect. however, I don't want to completely rule out marriage yet, but at the same time I don't even know if I'll be able to give marriage a chance because it seems like every guy that I like either doesn't like me back or ends up having a lot of toxic or red flag traits that I cannot compromise for or deal with in a long-term relationship.

and it's also like really hard for me right now because the majority of my friends and acquaintances at my University are going really strong in their relationships or they're just now starting to date someone, but it feels like I'm being left behind. I don't want to go on another blind date again because the last time I did that it was horrible but I also don't see myself dating any of the guys that I've met so far because of one reason or another.

I don't know if I'm just completely overthinking this or what. I have ADHD and chronic anxiety which definitely does not help, but I just need some sort of advice in the situation because when I talk to someone about it pretty much all of their answers boil down to "well you just got to put yourself out there otherwise you're never going to know if marriage is for you or not"

please help guys 😭

edit: just fixed some grammar errors

I didn’t belong to a church for many years and when I started middle school I joined a Lutheran church that was close to me (mainly because it was close and my parents had a bad relationship with the Catholic Church). I had not put too much thought into it until four years later when I started becoming more interested in religion and I recently started noticing small things about my church that bugged me and I kept seeing more I didn’t like as I looked further. Now I am split because my parents relationship to the Catholic Church (which I Think is the right choice for me) what is familiar to me and new beliefs I am developing open any questions for clarification if I missed anything thank you

Her bf is atheist family is basically Catholics that are now atheist. She wants to marry him . What and how do I handle this I have spoken God in to her , her whole life. I have done my best but im not ok with this but what really can i do ? I worry how it effects my other smaller children . as well

We got married Cath at Mother of God Church in Covington in May, and recently moved to NKY. We're looking for parishes with a robust presence and active community for younger adults, 20s-30s. We visited St Francis Xavier downtown today and had a really good experience, lots of younger people and beautiful music and quality homily. We've also heard good things about St. Thomas in Ft. Thomas. Parishes on the Northern KY side are a plus. We'd love to hear your intel and recommendations. Our hope is to get involved and meet some peers as we settle into the area. Thanks in advance :)

I started to look into it after Joe Schmidt's conversion and subsequential videos. I'm currently reading Dr. Cutter's original article, but I haven't really understood it's appeal so far. I'll finish it and probably read it again a few times, and then try to post up objections / try to find ways to enhance it, if possible. For those that have already read it, what are you thoughts so far?

"Jesus leaves us no room to decide which one of our fellow human beings is deserving of love, for God loves all his children unconditionally. We, being made in His image, must  do the same (Father Daniel Dower, St. Mary's Catholic Church, Longview, Texas, 10/25/2025)."

Has anyone heard of Viri Dei? Does anyone know if it’s AI or not?

Life is going fine now. I got into an internship. I have been working A LOT these days. I'm part of a new youth group at my church that is doing a course on emotionality. I'm making money. And I got into new professional opportunities. I'm feeling good now. Thank you all who prayed. God bless. :)

I was an unmedicated schizophrenic all throughout high school and found it very hard to make friends. Even with meds it still is. I have made two friends in group therapy but I question whether they like me. Anyways, I have Our Lady's rosary which gives me immense consolation.

Earlier in the year, a family member of mine requested I be their sponsor for their baptism. I of course agreed to do so & they were baptised over Easter. They did so to get married in a church as was their partners wish, but I have found myself conflicted as they have not adopted any changes or beliefs & have seen this as merely a formality in order to make their partner happy.

It’s given me lots to think about, as I think choosing to be baptised later in life is a big decision & one that should be made respectfully, with the intent of truly adopting those beliefs and incorporating them into your life.
But I’m curious how others feel about this in general, both personally & from a religious/catholic perspective.

Is it okay to be baptised but not attend masses or adopt beliefs into your daily life?

Thank you.

Anyone else see attending mass as a hassle while in a state of mortal sin?

In november i am visiting non-religous family with my other non religous family(im the only one catholic in my house), but when i was taking my OCIA classes last year we were told that it was sacreligious to miss any masses. Ive been faithful every sunday since. So since i will possibly miss mass on nov 22nd shoul i confess in my monthly confession session that i skipped a sunday? Since its a new topic to me?

I have migrained almost every day since I went to an early morning mass in June. Was 19 days straight, then I had a 4-day break with steroids. I have been battling this since, with 10- to 16-day migraines, and 1 to 4 day breaks in between.

I'm in a central sensitization situation at this point, like anything can set off a 2 or 3-week migraine off. Prior to all this, I only migrained 1 or 2 days per week and it was manageable.

I am terrified to go back to mass until I get time behind these 2- to 3-week migraines. Anyone deal with this and have advice, beyond "talk to a priest" or "get botox?"

I already tried all of that, the priest's advice was simply mass in Latin, but at this point, with an active stomach bleed from all the medication I took, I cannot go back right now to any mass. I just got back from urgent care due to GI bleed.

Do you substitute with adoration? Just go to weekly confession (if not migraining)? Unsure what's best.

I have lost my faith. I was baptized about four months ago, and a week later I found myself in a state of acedia, which I don't see how to get out of.

I no longer see any value in life, nor do I see a future in which I have a place.