Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2017 22:14:57 GMT -5
Good Evening,
I was born and raised into the Catholic Church (only learning about 2 years ago this is called/considered the Novus Ordo). So when I use the term Catholic Church, just understand there is what I was taught and what is considered by some to be the reality, but I digress. I was born less than 10 years after the close of Vatican II, in within just a few years after the new mass was instituted. Therefore, to say the least, what I knew of the Mass and Catholicism was what I received from the early 70's through the early 90's. I was raised in Catholic School, which was attached to our church.
My parents moved to a largely Polish area of Western, NY, where Catholicism reigned in the city of Buffalo (in the Italian and Irish sections) and in the Polish enclaves in the suburbs. The only thing I knew about the Latin Mass was that being the youngest of 9, my parents were born in the early 30's and were raised in the pre-Vatican II church. So anything my dad told me about the mass being in Latin and the priest facing away from the faithful was foreign to me.
Fast forward to the early 90's, college, M-tv generation grunge era, and what was what I considered Catholicism of the past, I was slowly drifting away from the faith. Once I had been through confirmation, I literally felt I had "graduated from religion." I ran across some fundamentalist "born again" believers, and felt wholly inadequate about the Bible and any of their challenges. I later, "accepted Christ as my savior" and from 1995-1997 attended the Catholic Church and a Baptist Church. By 1997 I had moved to the Bible Belt, only sticking with Catholicism a short while before apostasizing away from church altogether only to land in a Southern Baptist Church where I was eventually "re-baptized." By the turn of the millennium I had moved out west and was for all intents and purposes a committed protestant Baptist (having a short stint with the Pentecostals). I received a Master's degree in theology from a Protestant seminary, was out of the church nearly 20 years, the constant flux and change of Protestantism caused me to deeply immerse myself in the early church. It was not long after reading the church fathers that I realized Protestantism was a sham. I can even say as my waning years in Protestantism came to a close I found myself having to defend Catholicism from the most ornate Protestant ideas.
I stumbled across Eastern Orthodoxy, of which I knew nothing. While I decided to not land in the Eastern Orthodox Church, they were instrumental in helping me to learn about the early church deeply. There were a few Eastern Orthodox priests, who were very charitable to me and one Greek one in particular who really helped me slam the door closed on Protestantism for good. I spent some time among the Eastern Orthodox learning the liturgy. I did initially return to the West, but something felt particularly unnerving once I worshipped (again after over 20 years) in the Novus Ordo as compared to the Divine Liturgy. I almost left Catholicism for the Eastern Orthodox because I loved the liturgy so much as well as the mystical theology. However, there were a few traditionalists and again an Orthodox priest who helped me to find the Eastern Rite and I found a small Ukrainian Eastern Rite Parish. I grew to love the church of the east more and more and later learned (and continue to learn) about Eastern Catholicism after I returned to the Church. I am 100% Sicilian, and have discovered also there were deep Eastern Rite roots in the south of Italy among the Italo-Albanian Catholics near where my family came from.
Another side note, my grammar school, which was the last Catholic School in what was a robust Polish area closed in June of 2017, further making me realize there was some sort of crisis, particularly considering the drops in vocations and school closings.
I am here for honest conversation and to learn and share with everyone. Thank you
I was born and raised into the Catholic Church (only learning about 2 years ago this is called/considered the Novus Ordo). So when I use the term Catholic Church, just understand there is what I was taught and what is considered by some to be the reality, but I digress. I was born less than 10 years after the close of Vatican II, in within just a few years after the new mass was instituted. Therefore, to say the least, what I knew of the Mass and Catholicism was what I received from the early 70's through the early 90's. I was raised in Catholic School, which was attached to our church.
My parents moved to a largely Polish area of Western, NY, where Catholicism reigned in the city of Buffalo (in the Italian and Irish sections) and in the Polish enclaves in the suburbs. The only thing I knew about the Latin Mass was that being the youngest of 9, my parents were born in the early 30's and were raised in the pre-Vatican II church. So anything my dad told me about the mass being in Latin and the priest facing away from the faithful was foreign to me.
Fast forward to the early 90's, college, M-tv generation grunge era, and what was what I considered Catholicism of the past, I was slowly drifting away from the faith. Once I had been through confirmation, I literally felt I had "graduated from religion." I ran across some fundamentalist "born again" believers, and felt wholly inadequate about the Bible and any of their challenges. I later, "accepted Christ as my savior" and from 1995-1997 attended the Catholic Church and a Baptist Church. By 1997 I had moved to the Bible Belt, only sticking with Catholicism a short while before apostasizing away from church altogether only to land in a Southern Baptist Church where I was eventually "re-baptized." By the turn of the millennium I had moved out west and was for all intents and purposes a committed protestant Baptist (having a short stint with the Pentecostals). I received a Master's degree in theology from a Protestant seminary, was out of the church nearly 20 years, the constant flux and change of Protestantism caused me to deeply immerse myself in the early church. It was not long after reading the church fathers that I realized Protestantism was a sham. I can even say as my waning years in Protestantism came to a close I found myself having to defend Catholicism from the most ornate Protestant ideas.
I stumbled across Eastern Orthodoxy, of which I knew nothing. While I decided to not land in the Eastern Orthodox Church, they were instrumental in helping me to learn about the early church deeply. There were a few Eastern Orthodox priests, who were very charitable to me and one Greek one in particular who really helped me slam the door closed on Protestantism for good. I spent some time among the Eastern Orthodox learning the liturgy. I did initially return to the West, but something felt particularly unnerving once I worshipped (again after over 20 years) in the Novus Ordo as compared to the Divine Liturgy. I almost left Catholicism for the Eastern Orthodox because I loved the liturgy so much as well as the mystical theology. However, there were a few traditionalists and again an Orthodox priest who helped me to find the Eastern Rite and I found a small Ukrainian Eastern Rite Parish. I grew to love the church of the east more and more and later learned (and continue to learn) about Eastern Catholicism after I returned to the Church. I am 100% Sicilian, and have discovered also there were deep Eastern Rite roots in the south of Italy among the Italo-Albanian Catholics near where my family came from.
Another side note, my grammar school, which was the last Catholic School in what was a robust Polish area closed in June of 2017, further making me realize there was some sort of crisis, particularly considering the drops in vocations and school closings.
I am here for honest conversation and to learn and share with everyone. Thank you