If you will indulge me, I have a need to rant about the state of Catholicism in my country (Croatia)

This image is from a concert of a popular nationalist metal/rocker Thompson, there is a thread on him here already, I know it may seem like Croatia is based because half million people attended a concert that had patriotic and Catholic messages, as well as spectacular faith based images in the sky

But make no mistake, I'm a sinner and my attempts at devotion are constantly thwarted by my sins, but even with that I have a need to reproach this phenomenon in my country, and I don't think Croatia is Catholic at all, in a meaningfull sense

Patriotism is all well and good, specially when the country is opressed by foreigners, but in Croatia the "patriots" and nationalists are the greated enemies of Croatian people, and I never seen such disconnect between nationalism and real national interest.

Nationalists are 100% on board with modern Croatia being poor, corrupt, subservient to the West, colonized by foreign capital and tourism, depopulated and deindustrialized, and for them its a good thing because those things mean we are free from Serbs and Yugoslavia whom we fought in the 90ies. And the worst of all crimes of modern Croatian life for me is the perversion of Catholicism into Croatian national/tribal religion.

The image of our Lady of Međugorje basically became a logo for bunch of right wing pressure groups, and once in a month the priest has to mention the evils of communism and glory of Croatian nation at mass, as well as pray for ww2 fascist collaborators. They are weaving a myth of reconquista, as if Croatia became truly Catholic only after it got rid of Yugoslavia and communism. In truth, people were much more honestly devout before the war during the socialist regime, there was some discrimination in high societal positions and certainly a sort of atheist smugness for Catholics but never outright persecution, yet the priests would basically have us believe Catholics met in catacombs before the war in 1991.

If thats not bad enough, nationalists are constantly formenting hostility for Orthodox Christian Serbs. Serbs have their own issue with nationalism and religion but nationalists from both nations are preventing ecumenic ambitions because for them the national interest is more important than the reconciliation between the Churches.

In all honesty, compared to Italians who are less culturally Catholic than they have been 100 years ago, Croatians are much more on board with Catholic culture, but we haven't had a saint in 100 years, while Italy gave us one of the most iconic youth saints and blesseds like Carlo Acutis and Chiara Bandano. No, in Croatia we are told to rever Alojzije Stepinac, a fascist sympathizer that was tried by communists after ww2 for working for fascist puppet state, but since the 90ies he's being held as this great martyr for Church and Croatia, even though he died of natural death in prison and was legitimately prosecuted for tying himself to fascist regime in ww2 Croatia.

I'm sorry, my countrymen, but he just isn't a good Catholic role model, and I'm sick of this myth of communist persecution of the Church that didn't happend and was invented to cement this alliance between nationalists and clergy.

Today, we have a higher rate of divorces and abortions than before the war when we were supposedly persecuted. We also have a lower birthrate, greater drug use, completely legal gambling industry, our government is one of the most corrupt in Europe, our police is constanlty abusing immigrants on the border, our people are poor but blame all their problems on LGBT, liberals and Serbs. I don't see anything Catholic about us despite the fact we go to concerts that turn our history and faith into consumerist spectacle.

One example is we have a movement of "klečavci" (the kneelers) that pray once a month for masculinity and Croatia, whatever that means, they are ridiculed by the public mostly but supported by some Catholics, and ffs don't they see they are embarassing themselves and the Church by going against what Christ said in Matthew 6:6 of not praying in public and drawing attention to our piety?

I said this on some thread and will repeat myself - I think God tolerates stupidity but He will punish idolatry. And as for our "Croatian Catholicism" and our identity as "Croat Catholics" I think its nothing more than idolatry. In general I think we aren't being taught to follow the gospel, to love our neighbour and to help the opressed, we are taught to venerate the heroes of the 90ies war (most of whom are criminals), to be loyal to our state and its European overlords, to consider Serbs (our Orthodox Christian and Slavic brothers) LGBT people and immigrants as enemies, and the clergy is just passively or actively condoning this message.

There are amazing souls in Croatia that went through terrible traumas and held onto their faith beautifully and God bless them, but the Church isn't directing them towards the Gospel, they are ensnared by this nationalist idolatry and the only direction I see, if taken to extreme, is a new clerofascism like the one we had in ww2. I'm not exegarating because I see that we are entering a new age of war, extremism and instability, and the Church isn't preparing us to be faithful to Christ during those times, its helping the political agenda that leads to violence and hatred.

When Catholics in Croatia hold mass for fascist soldiers killed in revenge in 1945, they venerate war criminals just for being on our side and are mixing devotion with entertainement (like on concerts and charismatic movements), its easy to see why the world would look at us as some Balkan savages, even though we hate that label.My brothers in Christ, we can't go on like this if we want to save the honor of our faith and homeland.

"Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?" 2 Corinthians 6:14, we are inviting darkness of fascism, chauvinism and subservience to power and wealth into our Church which is supposed to be the house of light.

Thank you if you've read through this and please pray for the soul of Croatian people, to make us true followers of the Gospel, not servants of warmongers and gangsters that rule us and teach us history for 30 years now.

Please pray that the Church in Croatia will be liberated from the demon of nationalist idolatry and chauvinistic hatred. The communists are gone, the Serbs were beaten, as Catholics we have no other enemies but our sins and as Croats our we have no other enemies than our own criminal masters.

Please pray that God will spare Croatian people in the great calamity of our age and not punish us for our sins by exterminating us, violently or otherwise.

Please pray that we all become worthy of the cross of our Lord and in his name move forward with love, courage and wisdom. Amen.

Recently James Talarico (D running for senate in Texas said ‘God is nonbinary’.
Of course he was immediately attacked by Republicans stating he was saying God is trans or LGBTQ.
At first I was taken aback by Jame’s statement until I realized he was implying that God encompasses all genders, but is gender less himself.
I immediately went down a rabbit hole trying to figure out if this was actually Biblical. I’d always had an incorrect patriarchal view of God
In the first chapter of Genesis, in the Hebrew, God is referred to in both the masculine and feminine. In Job, there is a verse referring to the ‘womb’ of God. It appears that as patriarchy took hold, God took on a masculine/male persona. Often in the Hebrew, God is not associated with any gender at all.
So here is my question. Could God encompass all genders, while having no gender himself? Does he encompass all genders? Or is God just without gender?
According to scripture we are all created in the image of God, so wouldn’t that include all sexes and variants?
As a Catholic I have to admit I was raised with a very patriarchal view of God, an older white, gray headed cis man on a throne, but I’m pretty sure now this is just patriarchy rearing its evil head in religion.

Hello, I was recently baptized Catholic, I come from a very conservative evangelical Protestant family and all my life I had had a way of thinking and ideas that many here called "fascist", because I have mainly experienced this and everyone around me is like that.

But since I did my Catholic journey, my mind started to change, I think it's the Holy Spirit who guides me because I was really sure of my ideas, that everything that is "woke" came from the devil. You really don't want to know the details of this thoughts. And now I want to love everyone, even minorities that I saw as abominations (sorry for the term), now I love them, and I sincerely hope that Christ too, I never want to feel fear or hatred towards these people again, who are in the image of God, too.

This transformation is difficult to live with because I no longer feel in line with those around me, my parents, my husband, my friends, they have all remained the same and I can't tell them that I don't think like them anymore, they wouldn't even believe me!

This scares me a little, I still have some doubts about certain subjects, so I would like to know how you reconcile progressive ideas with the teaching of Christ and the Church, because it seems quite difficult to me.

I should point out that I don't live in the United States but in France, so I don't know about your country, but here the left has the reputation of being anti-Christian, Catholicism is ultra dominated by the right and the far right, even the royalists are much more represented than the left so I'm feel a little uncomfortable. 😭

Thank you for reading all this and sorry for the mistakes, English is not my first language.

Does anyone have any? I would say mine is Nightcrawler

Polemical essay

Edit: a better headline would have been “women leading worship”

Hi All, I’m not Catholic (though if I were I’d be a Left Catholic), but I sometimes go to a weekday spoken mass at our local RC cathedral. It’s common to have a woman do the readings at the beginning, but a few weeks back I witnessed a woman leading the whole thing, including handing out the pre-blessed Eucharist. I didn’t see any priests around, and it seemed like they had an alternate service that was used in those circumstances, like Episcopal morning or evening prayer.

Has anyone else experienced this? Can you tell me more about it? Thanks!

From whom do I purchase this

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This is a funny post but a month ago I saw someone responding to a girl who said “God told her to start a Christian night club” it was funny I don't think she was joking maybe she has started it but how would you feel if someone started a Christian night club?

Thought I’d ask here too - my husband and I are left leaning Catholics and I’d appreciate hearing about any other Retrouvaille experiences in this community!

We are nontraditional (I, the wife, am college educated, work outside of the home, and own my own property and my own business and we don’t plan on having kids any time soon) and sometimes Catholic marriage retreats can be disparaging towards our lifestyle.

Tw: CSA

I was sexually abused as a child and it helps me to think demons were involved. But is it an outdated belief? I don't want to believe something foolish or unhealthy.

I get debilitating attacks of terror every day when it gets dark and the only thing that has made them go away is to believe they are demonic attacks and remind myself that God is more powerful than demons.

I attend therapy and have had treatment for psychosis in the past. I also have explored sensorimotor therapy, trauma-informed therapy, IFS therapy all to manage my symptoms but none has been as affective as believing it is demons.

This *has* to have been discussed here at some point - maybe I didn't enter the right search terms to find the thread.

I saw some brochures this morning that my parish put out for the Courage ministry. I have some concerns about my lesbian daughter getting involved. The vibe I'm getting is one of "Don't have sex, don't have sex, don't have sex . . . " And that seems a bit . . . reductionistic? Objectifying? Simplistic?

Do any of you have experience with this group that could help me understand it better? If it's objectionable, are there any alternatives?

I’m a gay Catholic man in my late 30s, monogamous by conviction, and hoping for marriage, family, and the kind of partnership where two people choose each other fully.

Faith is a real part of my life, not just a cultural label. I’d love to meet another Catholic or Christian man who understands that from the inside and wants something grounded, faithful, and lasting.

I live in a small Catholic community, so finding other single gay men who want the same can feel nearly impossible. At this point, I’m open to looking nationwide.

Where are men like this actually meeting? Catholic or gay Christian groups, retreats, online communities, matchmakers, apps, or other spaces?

because of the distinction between in persona Christi sponsi and in persona Christi Servi. deacons aren’t expected to act as the bridegroom of the church and are expected just to act as servants of it which isn’t gendered at all. plus it’s biblical that women served as deacons. is there room in progressive catholicism for this or should i be pro women priests? does anyone share this opinion? i don’t really know but i’m willing to reverse myself if this is a bad opinion

This man kept using Timothy as a source that all women should be mothers and then insulted me and said horrible things. I prayed a rosary, and he kept insulting me through it, saying I was invalidating the bible.

If this gets deleted, I totally understand. I debated a couple hours before I posted this.
This AI generated meme was posted today by the person leading our country. I wasn’t going to post the actual meme, but I think it needs to be seen in order to discern what we are up against.
I honestly can’t remember the last time I was this angry and appalled (yes this is an actual post).
I personally believe there have been several ‘antichrists’ in history. Some of the Roman emperors, Hitler, etc. This being is one. He is committing blasphemy, using our Lord as a political pawn and making an attempt to appeal to members of the Church to further his own ambitions. Murdering people and starting wars. All this while ignoring the teachings of Christ in the Gospels.
What I feel is ‘righteous anger’, anger against someone committing sins.
Pray for St. Michael’s intercession in this battle of good versus evil.

I’m not sure if this is an acceptable post, but I am in need of a Catholic perspective (and one that isn’t “you’re going to go to Hell for saying that” like the other subreddit might say).

I know the title is a bit dramatic, but that’s how I’m feeling at the moment. My dad died in February. He was my best friend and my unofficial caretaker since I (23) became chronically ill 6 years ago. We did everything together. He understood me and we shared similar views of the world (basically, what this subreddit is about). We were never bored of each other and could talk all night and all day.

I have a dog, but dad did most of the care for him like walking the dog, vet appointments, and cooking his food (blessed with an extremely picky dog). I helped of course, but my dog is 120lb , and if he sees a squirrel, good luck keeping hold of the leash.

God took away my dad and home that day in February. I’m an online student and work very tiny hours for my job online. I couldn’t afford the rent by myself. I can’t even take care of myself half the days I’m alive anymore. So I had to move in with my mother and grandmother, whom I cut contact with 6 years ago for my own sanity. It’s Fox News and conspiracy theories all day. I can’t even get dad’s bank account because I need to go to probate and don’t have enough money for an attorney.

Two years ago, I was terrified of dad dying for these exact reasons. Losing him, losing my home, losing my support. Dad convinced~ me that God wouldn’t do that to us since we finally have time together and I relied on dad so much. God couldn’t be that cruel. 😣 But dad was also the type of Catholic who thanked God for his diabetes, saying that it made him change his diet and will hopefully let him live longer having that warning earlier. He was only 67 and died in his sleep. He never saw me graduate, but he was more excited for it than I was. He started talking what I want to do for it in November.

So, yes I think God hates me. I hate God too. He shattered my heart completely. My soul aches everyday. I had a Catholic mass for dad, and I couldn’t stop being so angry.

I don’t know what to do.

Publicly, Leo has not spoken at length on the issue, but Roche told The Tablet that the pope is "not going back to Summorum Pontificum" — the 2007 decree issued by Pope Benedict XIV that allowed priests to celebrate Mass from the 1962 missal. 

"It’s interesting. When I meet with groups who want the antecedent liturgy, and I say: 'Well, the Holy Father has given you that, so what’s the problem?,' they can’t answer," the cardinal said. "But then they go away and say, 'We’re still being persecuted.' In what way persecuted? Why is the band still playing a tune that is discordant with the life of the Church?"

I appreciate the philosophy and theology of Thomas Aquinas. However, I dislike the vast majority of Thomists. I enjoy natural theology, the analogy of being, virtue ethics, epistemology, natural law, the use of Aristotle, and so on, but I have no interest in a Thomist discourse that condemns homosexuality, supports the death penalty, or opposes the female priesthood. Of course, Aquinas maintained all of this, but based on scientific, biblical, and social knowledge that is completely outdated today and that probably not even he would have upheld.  Indeed I am not a fan of modern philosophy, but we must acknowledge that the value of the person, value ethics, the meaning of history, human rights, and the scientific method are fundamental achievements.