The Papists

mariaishismiddlename:

Pornography is wrong not because it involves sex and human bodies, but because it is the exposure and commercialization of something that is meant to be intimate (between two people only) and holy (thus, cannot be bought,sold, or valued). 

Pornography is a bit like taking the Host out of the tabernacle, putting it on a paper plate with some cream cheese, and selling it at a snack bar.

Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it.

Or maybe you have, and had/are having trouble. If that’s the case, welcome to being human. The tension between our fallen nature and the greatness that we naturally feel we are meant for is one of the most painful things in the world, and we all experience it. Only through Christ can our cries of pain be answered.

Why in the world wouldn’t it be?

Also, I would like to qualify what Javi said earlier about Catholic actors portraying homosexuals.

There is nothing wrong with depicting something immoral in art. Look at Flannery O’Connor’s writing, filled with grotesque acts of violence, or a Hieronymus Bosch painting covered in nude people cavorting around with demons. In my estimation, moral problems in art start to surface when moral ills are depicted favorably, or in the case of an actor, if something immoral is actually done in the course of the acting. 

So, by this measure, it would be okay for a Catholic to portray a homosexual character as long as the stereotypical promiscuous homosexual lifestyle wasn’t depicted in a favorable light. Implied homosexual acts would even be okay, as long as nothing is actually committed. So, a Catholic probably shouldn’t be in a production of “Spring Awakening”.

Thanks! 

As a group we’ve kind of been slacking…we have over a dozen unanswered questions sitting in the inbox, some of them very old. A lot of us have been very busy (for example, Q just got married, Niko and Olivier have been out of the country), and some of us (read, me) are just very lazy. We’ll try to catch up ASAP, and in the meantime thanks for your patience! 

I don’t know much about them, but I do know that they are in communion with Rome. There are several “Neocats” at my diocese’s seminary. I know that there have been some issues with a few of their liturgical practices, but from what I have heard, they have cooperated with Rome on everything.

Anyone else have more information?

Commentary on a Previous Ask

This is a fantastic commentary that awkosaur wrote in response to the question from the former prostitute.  I overlooked the side of the issue that awkosaur and you-bird-was-true illuminate, and I regret the oversight. The ask was answered by me (mariaishismiddlename) without consultation with the other Papists, so it should be taken as my error and not reflective of the other authors. Here’s the commentary in full:

you-bird-was-true asked: have you seen the former prostituted minor’s question on the papists? they talk about God forgiving her…but don’t really address the fact that she was probably the victim of abuse and exploitation They tell her to study Mary Magdalene bc she was an adulteress…which isn’t really the same thing as prostitute. at all. :\ the whole thing just makes me uneasy. Am I missing something here?

Sigh. No I did not see that until just now because I tend to avoid that blog. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I’ll tag this as catholic and hope that the anon sees it by chance. You are not missing something. Your uneasy feeling is spot on.

Anon, you were exploited and you were a victim. Know that first. And whoever responded to your ask over at the papists was right about one thing: God has a special love for you, and that is because you’ve suffered.

I would encourage you not to be self-condemning, since you were victimized and exploited when you were most vulnerable by the real villains in this situation: human traffickers & pimps, and depraved, disgusting men who would go to a child for a service like sex. They are the ones who should be shaking with the fear of God, not you. Prostitution is a terrible evil that is committed against prostitutes, but child prostitution is unthinkable. Again, you are a victim here. I commend you for having faith in God, and know that right now, God is just relieved that you are no longer in a situation where you are in danger and being exploited.

In the response over at thepapists, Mary Magdalene was mentioned because she was an “adulteress”. That’s not really analogous to this situation, but I will evoke Mary Magdalene again in saying that God does not condemn you.

Even though I think your culpability in all this is negligible, I would recommend that you find a kind priest with whom you can go to confession. Sometimes it’s easier to accept that we are forgiven and not condemned when we hear it in the confessional. If you are experiencing any sort of financial difficulty, or even residual trauma from your experience (which wasn’t that long ago), I would encourage you to contact Catholic Charities if there is one in your area. They work extensively to protect the victims of human trafficking and prostitution, and they may be able to point you in the right direction with regards to resources that can help you. If you aren’t in an urban area where there is a Catholic Charities, you can always ask your priest for help if you decide to go to confession.

God bless and please know that you have all the prayers and support I can offer. Feel free to message me privately if you want to.

-awkosaur

I would even take it a step further and assert that all prostitution, even when it seems to be consensual, is abusive and exploitative. Thank you two for bringing this to our attention. Anon, please accept my apology for not addressing this. 

Pax

Troy

God will forgive anyone of anything. In fact, He already did. He loves you, my dear anon. Let me rephrase that. Among all of the billions of people on this earth, he loves you. 

Here’s a direct quote from the big guy:

Come now, let us set things right,

says the LORD:

Though your sins be like scarlet,

they may become white as snow;

Though they be red like crimson,

they may become white as wool.

-Isaih 1:18, NAB

I don’t know if you’re Catholic, but if you are I would advice you to talk to a priest and receive the Sacrament of Penance ASAP. Otherwise, it might still be a good idea to talk through it with a pastor/someone of great faith whom you trust. Above all, never forget that God loves you, and the fact that you love Him makes His great heart go pitter-patter!

p.s. Check out the story of Mary Magdalene. She was an adulteress (by some accounts a prostitute), but that didn’t stop her from being one of Jesus’s best friends when she repented for love of Him. She pops up a lot in the Gospels.  

That’s quite the hypothetical! I guess it would depend on the nature of the zombies. If it’s a virus, then it probably would alter behavior rather than actually reanimating a dead person like it does in the movies. Viruses can’t function well on dead tissue, so real viruses generally try to keep their hosts alive long enough to transmit to new victims. If that’s the case, then your wife would not be dead, so I would say no, you could not remarry sacramentally. If the zombies were more supernatural in nature, maybe some kind of inexplicable reanimation of the already deceased or something that obviously kills the victims but makes them still run around looking for brains, then maybe things would be different. However, if that happened, something tells me that marriage would not be on the top of your to-do list.

The point of Adoration is to spend time face to face with Jesus. By spending time with Him in Adoration, your appreciation for receiving Him in the context of Mass often increases, and you get a lot of other graces, as well.

It’s nice because there is a lot of room for individualization. There are no set prayers or methods for Adoration, other than what the Priest and faithful do as the Blessed Sacrament is exposed and Reposed. You can do it in groups or alone in the dead of night. You can pray “formulaic” prayers like the Rosary, or just spend time in silence. You can even sleep, according to some people. I find it’s the best time to go to God with specific problems or decisions to be made, since there is nothing specific to be concentrating on like there is during the Mass. 

Now, that said, there are some ways that you can sort of plan your time with the Lord. A “Holy Hour” is customary, which often includes a Rosary, open ended contemplation/adoration, petitions, stuff like that. Here’s a decent site:

http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/pea/holyhour.html

If you’re really having trouble and feel like you’re just staring at the wall or something, try really hard to address Jesus in the second person: “I love you, Lord”, or something like that. If that doesn’t work at all, then maybe you could offer up your boredom/spiritual dryness itself to Jesus: “I’m really not sure what I’m doing here, but I’m doing it for You”. It’s okay to go through that; everyone does and I understand it’s actually a pretty important part of spiritual development. I hope this helps at least a little bit. God bless!

There’s most likely some sort of complicated theological answer that makes very little sense unless you’re well versed in that sort of thing. If that’s the answer you want, just check a Catechism. There’s a searchable one courtesy of KofC here.

But there’s also a very simple answer: The Church wants people to be freed from their sins. The way to do this is via Confession. 

“If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained’” (John 20:21–23)

Would you confess a serious sin that is also a crime (for example, murder) if you knew that the priest would report you to the civil authorities while you’re saying your Hail Marys? I wouldn’t. The priest’s responsibility is to grant absolution and proscribe a penance. Although a sin may have temporal consequences such as an arrest and a sentence, it is not the priest’s responsibility to bring any temporal consequences about. I hope that clears things up a bit. If anyone else has anything to add to this, please do so.

-Troy