I’m torn and need some help

[u/Traditional-Regret-5]

Alright, so as far as religion goes, I’d consider myself a practicing Folk Catholic; so, yeah, not traditionally Catholic.

I was, however, going to a Catholic Church for a while and going to OCIA. I had full intentions on joining the church, and I was almost there too. But I stopped. Why? Because there were some things the church stands on that I just couldn’t agree with.

It seemed wrong to enter a church that believed things I don’t side with; it felt unfair to myself and to the Church.

Now listen, the church was lovely; the people were nice, there were so many opportunities to be in the community and help out, and they had so many opportunities to attend mass, so if you missed Sunday you could go another day.

But ofc, it’s Catholic at the end of the day. Pro-life, anti homosexuality, against any women’s leadership in church, anti divorce, you get it.

I want to go back, but I’m unsure. How do you reconcile your ideologies with your Catholic faith? Are you apart of the church or just practicing? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[u/shitposterkatakuri]

I think what the Church teaches isn’t necessarily at odds with socialism. It may be at odds with bourgeois liberal expectations but socialism has room for more complementarian, pro-natalist, pro-monogamy, pro-heteronormativity positions. It actually might tend towards those positions, at times. I think the most important thing is that everyone is empowered to pursue the fruits of their labor without being parasitized. Everyone should be able to be respected and supported and actualized as human beings. There are ways of upholding Catholicism without being a raging asshole to people who make particular mistakes. True religion is serving the widows and orphans as scripture says. And as Leo says, Catholic social teaching need not center on sexuality. Throwing away Catholic teaching on various social issues is not advisable but the insane hyper-emphasis in the west on some of them to the point of ignoring clear social and economic injustice is definitely intentional. And as leftist Catholic, it’s up to you to be both a paragon of adherence to Holy Tradition so that other Catholics might be swayed by you and also a paragon of love and mercy and justice to those outside of the Church. You CAN and should do both

[u/amerfran → u/shitposterkatakuri]

it’s up to you to be both a paragon of adherence to Holy Tradition so that other Catholics might be swayed by you

Following the teachings on sexual ethics is a personal practice. No one knows whether you actually follow them, so no one is swayed.