The Sci Fi Catholic Yak Module
I've been able to find quite a couple pretty ladies at my conservative (uptight) Catholic churches...
As for "felt needs," just remember: if it's a real need, it'll kick you somewhere and make you "feel" it alright.
Histor
As for alcohols and Christianity, the Gallican heresy went well with champagne, cranky English Catholicism is only ever served with English beers (boo!) and American Catholics and most any decent red wine go together well.
Histor
"Felt need..." I was unfamiliar with the term so I had to Google it. After reading several articles it described almost perfectly some of the MAJOR reasons I left the Presbyterian Chruch...the straying away from mainstream theology, where church ended up being someplace you went to be "entertained", and you could wear whatever you wanted, and the preacher couldn't discuss "controversial" stuff because some people might be "offended", and where the people chose the pastor based on how well he "met people's needs and expectations." And if the pastor flubbs up just a little bit folks will boycott the church.Well Deej--it's not working because people are leaving the mainstream churches in droves and just like some Catholic Churches they are turning into "cafeteria" churches.. Unfortunately too many folks use the church as a social gathering--which is not a bad thing, just as long as it's not the entire reason why they are there. If I have to miss Mass for any reason I feel a real sense of loss, because I get into the Mass. I love meeting Christ in the Eucharist, and I love being a Eucharist Minister..I just love being able to assist folks in receiving the Precious Blood, and I try real hard to keep myself in a state of grace so I can do that role. Unfortunately for many folks nowadays attending church is just a hour of their day, and it BETTER be entertaining..
Speaking of imbibing..one of my good Southern Baptist friends is absolutely FLOORED that serve wine and beer at some of our fundraisers.. 
And some churches even will have Casino night...EVIL!!
And Deej--you should know by now..when you move to Utah you're supposed to bring your own wife/husband with you, especially if you're not of the local faith.. There's pretty slim pickens here, and I hate say it only gets worse as you get older...for some reason there's a real adversion for previously married folks to getting proper anulments accomplished.
You have my rant.. let the fur fly... and enjoy your book I need to bury myself in St JOC... and I'm really enjoying my (new to me) Daily Missel..
I grew up in a mostly "lapsed catholic" atmosphere; I went to church for all the required sacraments: First Communnion, Confirmation, ect. My dad's family is very devout Catholic; my grandmother listens to nothing but catholic radio from morning till night; her brother became a priest and one of her sisters was a member of the third order Secular Fransciscans. My other grandmother became a Born Again Christian twenty years ago. But religion wasn't really big among other members of my immediate; religion was something you just *chose* to do.
It wasn't till I met Mr. Hill, one of my favorite teachers who was a very outspoken and orthodox Catholic. He introduced me to the of Peter Kreeft (Catholic philosopher) http://www.peterkreeft.com/home.htm C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton, that I began to see Christianity in a new and refreshing light. Lord knows I have some big hurdles to get over in my quest to become a better catholic, but sharing the journey always makes it easier to travel
Thomas--I call that "growing in holiness", and I try to do a little bit each day, even if it is just a "pay it forward" type of action. Over the course of time it will bear much spiritual fruit...promise What I am really working on now is trying to be a nicer driver as well as trying really hard to be more pleasant in the morning around my coworkers who are a bunch of grouchy grumpy folks..and I am a TErRiBle morning person.. As St Therese said about her Little Way..doing little things for the Glory of God..
What is also helpful too is doing a bit of spiritual reading every day...even if it is just 5 minutes. Lives of the Saints are good. And try to remember to say the blessing at meals..we get so busy in our daily lives that we so often forget to invite God along.. But if you forget as it does take awhile to establish a habit tomorrow is a new day. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you remember. And I'll pray for you too
...American Catholics and most any decent red wine go together well.
That must be why I've had more luck with port than Lewis apparently had. Anglicanism is probably better with bourbon.
Sara, I think you pegged felt needs exactly.
Annulments...oh dear, a subject for a future rant. I've chickened out of talking about those about two or three times because that's as close as I get to heterodoxy. I don't believe in annulments...er, most annulments...some annulments...I mean I just don't trust them!
Hey, when I have "felt needs" I go to the local art shop, which has a nice selection of felt goods. They make some very interesting things with felt these days.
But I confess that my chocolate needs are much greater than my felt needs.
Sara,
Thanks for the encouragement, and my high school was named after St. Therese of Liseux. The thing that really got me slightly angry after I graduated high school was that none of my religion teachers taught me about contracepton being an immortal sin, or why women priests should not be permitted ect. For the most part we had to read Bible passages and discuss them. Ironically, it was in my philosophy class when I was 17 that I really started to become intersted in my own religion. Mr. Hill taught that class, and he showed us a lot about St. Thomas Aquinas' philosophy, and I was surprised at how complex the saint's thought processes were. Mr. Hill didn't teach us anything about post-Enlightenment philosophy, because he felt modern philosophy suffered from too many mistakes. We read a great book to show us why: "Ten Philisophical Mistakes" by Mortimer Adler http://www.amazon.ca/Ten-Philoso...07745578&sr=1-
1 I highly recommend reading it, it's very easy to understand for novices like me.
I'm still a little bitter that most of what I know about Catholocism is from looking at apologetics on the internet. No wonder so many people leave the Church; There's so much misunderstanding brought about by very bad (IMO) religious education.
Great reflection, honestly; it strikes at one of the ways we too often give into the world with those little insidious values..."does this suit my needs?" "What do you get out of this?" etc.
There all secret ways to make it about us and how we feel, rather than about how God feels about us. And how God feels about us we call "Jesus Christ."
After all, the powers of hell are all to happy to have us be religious, as long as we worship ourselves.
"felt needs" is one I haven't heard. If I had to deduce what my pastor thinks are "felt needs" around here, it would be Truth, good liturgy,and Eucharistic Adoration for priestly vocations. God bless him!
Sara--you could add a prayer for Vocations to Grace.
Thomas--be part of the solution. Teach the Faith. Young, male catechists are desperately needed & if you ask your DRE, I bet she'd pair you with an experienced catechist while you learn.
Xena said "Thomas--be part of the solution. Teach the Faith. Young, male catechists are desperately needed ..."
Ditto ditto ditto! In our parish, there is only one male catechist in all the grade levels, including the confirmation class. Thanks be to God, my ds had this wonderful man as his teacher for two years and learned more from him than from all the other years combined, as well as seeing a real-life example of a believing male. I join Xena in her exhortation for you, Thomas, and for all men of The Faith, of any age, to teach the young -- show them that someone other than just mommies cares about The Faith!
I've not heard the term before. In fact, I spent the first couple of paragraphs thinking "felt needs" meant "for those banners we'll need 3 yards of blue felt, 4 yards of green..."
Not sappy romantic girls' fiction? Really?
One thing I HAVE remarked upon since joining the Catholic is the lack of adult education at the parish level. Every Protestant church I attended had at least one (and usually more) adult "Sunday School." And several studies, mens groups, and womens groups, or couples groups sprinkled throughout the week, daytime and evening. I think that is right in line of what Thomas said earlier, that it is prety sad that you get more religious education off the Internet than at your own parish. At my parish there are childrens classes at 9:30, but also Mass....get rid of the 9:30 Mass and have that time open for religious education for ALL ages.. I for one would attend an adult class.
Oh, Sara, you do tempt me to a rant of my own. Have you ASKED anyone at your parish -who could do something about it- for what you what? It varies a lot from one diocese to another, but it might be that your diocese offers opportunites your parish can't--just call the chancery. They might also have a collection of videos that could be shown or some other reseources. If you're close enough to a Newman Center, you might check with them, too, 'though they might have less stuff in the summer.
And ask the Lay Carmelites where they've found good stuff. Maybe they'll find an apostolate. One of the Lay Carmelite groups in Houston made up a series of 1 hr. presentations on different kinds of prayer (7, I think) and then offered to do the series at any parish in Houston where the pastor invited them. And this in a dioc. with 5 retreat centers!
The gift of inspired teaching (I Cor 12) is still with us.
You'll have no argument from me, I fear. It would be more true to say that the Church's job is to minister to our unfelt needs.
(Speaking of felt needs, sometimes there's a banner ad for the Playboy store in the combox!)
D.G.D.
Sometimes I use the offending phrase to distinguish between real needs ie. people act of of felt needs instead of real needs. Spiritual growth, it seems to me, is about learning to distinguish the true good, from the percieved (but false) goods and pursuing the true.
Port goes well with Cheese, and much of modern Christianity is...Well, perhaps Lewis was right after all.
peace...
Felt needs? Felt needs... *wham!!* Feel that yet? No? How about now: **WHAMM!!!** Feel that? Need any more? Good!
Actually, I made it through that whole rant (and half the comments) reading "knelt feeds" (yes, I do occasionally suffer from the ocular spoonerism) and thinking that Utah seems to be suffering a severe dining room furniture deficit. Not enough Amish out there. I mean, it really isn't traditional to put the pries-dieu in the dining room. One would spill the port.
Well, it is time to learn felting.
Well Smiter--no Amish out here that I'm aware of....however we DO have a nice Mennonite community about 10 miles to the north..they sustain themselves by making jam and jelly (GOOD stuff!!), natural soaps and hand creams. I'm sure they get confused all the time for being polygamists, as they dress in the old-fashioned style, and the Kingston clan (MAJOR polygamists) lives right up thataway also. Them's BAAAAD folks..
My brother and SIL live in Eastern Kansas..lots of Amish and Mennonites out there... One of these days when I win the Lotto I would love some Amish furniture..either a nice bedroom set or a china cabinet..
I like a nice white zinfandel myself (with dinner), but I'll drink whatever you're pouring.. And I try hard not to spill..
There's a relevant funny cartoon over on "What Do The Prayers Really Say"--scroll down till you get to the chicken cartoon labeled "Four Last Things"
Oh, and one of the bishops named today is a convert to the Faith. Deo gratias!
Xena-- Thanks for suggesting the Website. Fr. Z has alot of good thoughts. His podcast on receiving communion in the hand was excellent. Did you see the photo of his view (I assume of his flat) of the cityscape of Rome?? Just wow...
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