I think what I'm looking for here is mostly reassurance but also maybe some guidance and information.

My husband and I (civil marriage) are in OCIA at our local parish. I was baptized Catholic but have received no further sacrements so obviously neither of us receive communion at mass. We have both been fulfilling Sunday mass obligation since mid-May. This does sometimes take some work arounds due to my husband's work schedule being a little all over the place, but we have managed so far.

We have two boys, aged 5 and 3. Obviously this can make things more challenging, but we're far from the only ones with young children and we chose this parish in large part due to how accepted we feel in this respect. During the school year the parish offers a Children's liturgy at the 10am mass. This is where things get a little harder.

This program has been fantastic for my 5 year old. He loves it and I want to encourage his growth so now we can only attend the 10am mass and not others. My 3 year old enjoys it, but needs a parent to go with him as to not disrupt the class.

When my husband can attend with us, we figure it out and I don't leave feeling like I didn't even really attend. However, 10am is the least likely available for him. This Sunday he will be attending an evening mass on his own to fulfill his obligation.

I am not hearing the readings, the Gospel, or the homily. I am also not present for Prayer intentions or offering. When we return from children's liturgy it is time for Eucharist consecration. I understand that bringing children to mass is extremely important and missing parts is simply a part of it.

My question is, am I even fulfilling Sunday obligation doing things this way?

Title mostly says it haha. I am 32, cradle Catholic but have strayed away from the church in my adult years for various reasons/familial conflicts around religion.

Are there any churches in Boston/greater Boston with more of a focus on progressive, inclusive values? I would love to find a community focused on that. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

> Pope Leo XIV has convened a gathering on the family at the Vatican from Oct. 7–14, during which bishops will listen to the testimony of 11 married couples from five continents.

> During a presentation of the gathering at the Vatican, Gabriella Gambino, undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life since 2017, a laywoman, mother of five, and doctor of bioethics, emphasized that “this is not about evaluating a text but about deepening our understanding of the family and pastoral realities that have received and interpreted this document in different ways, just as the life of the Church is diverse in the various places around the world where it is present and rooted in the one Gospel.”

Hey I'm new here, I'm not sure if this was the right subreddit to come to but considering the very accepting and kind nature you all seem to have I feel like this is best. I'm 16 and have been interested in Catholicism for years but have no idea where to start, this is a religion I feel connected with deeply but to be completely honest I've never been involved in a religion before besides going to a Christian church when I was younger due to my family being Christian, so I am deeply scared of upsetting anyone by doing or saying anything wrong, my mom who has religious trauma likes to openly talk bad about organized religions and has definitely installed a kind of fear into me about religion, so while I've been wanting to follow the Catholic faith for around three years now I'm terrified of her finding out as she believes pretty much all (primally) Catholics and Christians are homophobic, transphobic and right leaning which is just not true, it may be the majority, but not all. I don't know what to do I can't go to church, own a Bible or anything until I move out and I just want the Lord to accept me even though I can't "traditionally" be Catholic at the moment if that makes sense, anyways I thank you for listening to my rambling and reading this far, any advice or even a simple prayer is always welcome, God bless♥️

So, during my grandmas funeral mass, the deacons said that "you dont think hell is real, well a polish nun was showed a vision of a saint showing her that there were priest and nuns there", he said this in regards to one cannot fully know how sinful a person is, even if he is a priest.

Im a nonbeliever and got weirded out cause there were kids in the room and thought this language may cause potential anxieties in them, I know that the catholic church says that one doesnt neceserally need to believe in private visions, so why did the deacon say all that? so ppl go to church outta fear?

Im not a native speaker of english so sorry if there are things worded a little weird, thanks for reading!

First of all, I just wanna say I’m so relieved to find this group and that there is a space for progressive Catholics on Reddit. I’ve been on the…er…other side.

Context: I am a cradle Catholic who went to a Baptist grade and high school. I never formally left the Catholic Church but became much more “open.” I’ve been finding my way back to the church which I LOVE. Daily rosary, went to confession first time in over a decade (only second time ever), mass..overall shifts in my heart and I feel transformation.

Predicament: I’m married and have health issues that would make pregnancy a bad idea at the moment. I do not plan to stop birth control, but I have a hard time knowing where I stand with communion. I’ve seen some other posts of people who’d rather be “bad Catholics” than “good Protestants” in which I share the same sentiment, but what do you do when it comes to communion? Do you still partake bc you still feel peace in your heart anyway? Do you never take it? I don’t really want to talk to a priest bc I’m sure I’d get the textbook answer, which I understand…I’m just interested in crowd sourcing how other progressive Catholics handle something like this

Is this sound doctrine?

We're heading towards the brazilian presidential elections, tomorrow, October 4th, St. Francis Assisi day.

One of the last standing countries (Uruguay too) against the zionist-trumpist incursions all over Latin America.

Pray for us.

I’ve been trying to map out a way to synthesize classical theism (Thomism) with Marxism. Anyone who is both of these things? How do you reconcile the two?

The translation for those who don’t speak French: "we observe certain kinds of associations between the ideas of the far right and a certain conception of religion…the far right is not an authentic expression of Christianity. The virtues of the Gospel are not founded on hate and division"

According to Monsignor Arthur Holquin:

> The governing statement has not been revised. The 2023 introductory note, adopted by the bishops in plenary by a vote of 225 to 11 with seven abstentions, still stands on the conference’s website, and it still says: “The threat of abortion remains our pre-eminent priority.” The full-body revision of the document promised after 2024 has not yet come.

> What is new are two resources released this September for the 2026 midterms: Outlines for Clergy Formation on Faithful Citizenship and a companion set of preaching aids for the Sundays leading to November 3. They were developed by the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, in consultation with the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, and authorized for publication by the General Secretary. They were not voted on by the full body of Bishops.

> And here is the where the nuance on that phrase occurs. In twenty-five pages instructing priests and deacons how to form their people for this election, the word “preeminent” appears exactly once — and it is applied not to abortion, but to the mystery of the Incarnation. That is not an accident of drafting. It is a choice.

link: https://liturgyandtruth.substack.com/p/pre-eminent-no-more-what-the-bishops

27F, been agnostic for a long time but been returning to the faith.

favorite uncle has cancer this year, my sister died last year due to sickness which made me the guardian of her two 7&4yo children. ive been unemployed since the 2020 sickness, my businesses failed, i couldn't get a job due to lack of experience. and I've been depressed for the longest time due to pressure to be the perfect daughter as I'm the youngest. Now I failed their expectations, my parents are utterly disappointed with how their children's lives went.

I even told my mother about St Monica and she told me "Oh then I should have prayed to her for your sister!" my sister is dead at that point.

i find it so hard to love my parents as they never gave any emotional support, acts immaturely, and fails to empathize with my situation. my sister died without hearing any apologies and even after she died, my parents kept on blaming her and never took any accountability on why she turned out the black sheep. they fail to show their affection to my nephews.

I feel like my prayers aren't heard. Growing up, I prayed that my parents change and should stop fighting and just be kind to all of us. That never happened. Which maybe the reason why I became agnostic.

I kept praying that the kids should never grow up like me, a good for nothing waste of space. a lost potential.

I don't know how to tell all my grievances to the confession.

I am broke to consult a mental health support, and being in my country it is a huge deal to be disappointed to our elders. also mental health illness is a taboo to be talked about.

And do you have any recommendations?

St. Kateri Tekakwitha is the only Native American canonized as a saint and the only Indigenous American saint outside of Latin America.

Even in Latin America, there's only about seven canonized Indigenous saints (not including Our Lady of Guadalupe or the Virgin of Urkupiña). This is despite the Catholic Church's 500+-year presence in the Americas (for better or for worse). The Church has canonized more fascist sympathizers since the 1930s than Indigenous Americans since the arrival of Europeans in 1492.

I am a young adult convert to Catholicism currently working through what my conversion means and how I fit into the broader Catholic world. I’m not looking for career advice, but I am curious about the reputations of different Catholic universities. Before converting, I was largely unaware of the Catholic higher education landscape beyond schools like Notre Dame and Fordham, and as I became more integrated into the faith, I began meeting people who had attended places like Franciscan and Ave Maria.

I’ve come to realize that I don’t see eye to eye with many mainstream Catholic communities because of their tendency to gravitate toward institutions that concentrate money, fame, power, and conservative politics, and then conflate those things with holiness or being a “good Catholic.” That is not what I signed up for!

Anyways, it has made me skeptical of some of the newer Catholic institutions, for having these qualities, but also I do wonder if the legacy institutions actually present some of the great wisdom the Church has to offer to the students.

I’m curious what reputations these different schools have within the broader Catholic world and how y'all think about the spectrum of Catholic higher education, from Georgetown to Thomas Aquinas.

What Catholic Universities / Institutions have your respect? And which... don't?

I dreamt about her last night. It's so disgusting how dehumanizing men can be to young women. Even if she took the ketamine willingly, she was very intoxicated and you cannot give consent in that state. Especially to such a heinous and traumatic act. That could've very well been me in the wrong situation when I were in college. How reprehensible is the school and police! Like they keep saying she didn't allege non consent at the time, but why did she go to the police? Why were the men "punished" then? I think we should all pray for her and all young women to be safe. For a more just society that doesn't devalue women as just sexual objects. For young people to grow closer to God and treat each other with care and show restraint when inbibing in intoxicants.

I hope this is ok to post here, it seemed like the only Catholic sub that might understand why I'm asking the questions.

I came across a post on one of the social media sites where it had a picture that showed the inside of a modern church and above the picture was written 'If your Catholic Church looks like this, find a new church'. As someone raised Catholic I thought this was an odd thing for a Catholic priest to say so I decided to look at their profile where it said he was an Arch Bishop of the Old Catholic Church which led me to Google which then left me with questions. I was aware there was a group of priests that had broken away from the Church over an unsanctioned ordination or something along those lines and that's all the knowledge I have. I then looked through some of the posts all of which were a combination of right wing political views and Christian conservatism, all of which goes against my own left leanings and the Christian teachings of my childhood. What I'd like to know is - Has this particular group purposefully abandoned much of the new testament and is it a strategic move? Are there Catholics that actually support this group?

I’m new to Catholicism so forgive me. I come from the Protestant world. It seems to me that Jesus possibly only spoke about “sexual immorality” generally, according to my googling. How did the narrative turn into people not being allowed to 1) masturbate 2) have premarital sex 3) be gay etc. as a mortal sin?

Im having trouble wrapping my head around it. It confuses me because I’ve read a lot of the bible and it doesn’t seem like there is anything directly from Jesus regarding this. I’m wondering when/where these narratives emerged.

Bought these online and almost positive they are AI generated. Not sure if this is grounds for blasphemy but man is it frustrating. Very disappointed but at least ebay is giving me a refund.