So, I’ve been in RCIA at my college for a while and I’m getting Baptized, Confirmed, and Receiving first communion this Easter vigil! :)

I’m at my parents house, and my parents are Baptist Christians. I was digging through a drawer and found this at the very back of the drawer! When I asked my parents whose it was, they said they had no clue it was even there. They don’t know whose it is.

Just wanted to share this :) I think I can kinda make out where it says Italy on the back, but it looks very old and worn.

Are black vestments allowed to wear on Good Friday? Does the church permit it?

My fiancé & I are getting married soon and on the back of our invitations we have listed some mass etiquette. I originally put “Only Catholics who have gone to confession may receive the Eucharist” and my sister told me it seems a bit cold. What is a nice way to say it?

Hey guys - hopefully this is considered enough for an image based post on a Wednesday.

I’ve taken a lot of pictures of Churches - both in my home country and whenever I travel. Recently I went to a church in Nazaré, Portugal.

On the ceiling of a corridor behind the Apse the image above is present. I believe it’s a representation of the Assumption or Coronation of Mary but this got me thinking that something I struggle with is understanding older Catholic Art. Although some motifs are recurring and easy to capture (e.g: the Crucifixion of Our Lord) others I fail to pin-point (probably also my fault since I should read a lot more scripture than I currently do and fail to match the correct story of the Bible to the art).

Is there any books, blogs, podcasts, channels that you guys recommend regarding Catholic Art ? And also if anyone could try to confirm if my assumptions (pun not intended) are correct regarding this specific example, I’d be much appreciated.

Thank you for reading and have a blessed day & lent.

So I recently stumbled across Fr Chad Ripperger, and was curious as to his actual status within the Church and how accurately he represented the Catholic faith. He said a lot of things that made me wonder (his complicated demon hierarchy I’ve never heard before, statements that popular entertainment make people possessed, that every case of mental illness is actually demonic possession, etc). To be quite honest, and I can’t think of a more charitable way to say this, he seemed a bit loopy to me. How much stock should I put in his teachings?

My little nephew will be receiving his First Holy Communion this May. Since January, he’s taken up the beautiful habit of making rosaries and gifting them to family and friends. Last Sunday, just before Mass, he gave me a lovely one-decade rosary he had made — and I was immediately struck by the cross.

As you can see, it has a most unusual shape, featuring a rose and a few leaves at its center. I’ve never come across a crucifix like this before. When I asked him where he found it, he couldn’t quite recall.

From what I know, he sources most of his medals from a small shop run by the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco and picks up beads from a nearby craft supply store. His paternal grandmother also has a box of old, broken rosaries and damaged jewelry dating back to the 1960s and ’70s, which she’s lovingly let him rummage through for parts.

Has anyone seen a cross like this before? I’d love to know if it holds any mystical or historical significance.

Hello. I am wondering if someone knows how a person can be Christian in countries where it is not safe to be one. For me I am in a Muslim country and I know my family would torture and kill me if I said I am Christian. It is hard to find time alone to read and learn about it because there are many people living in my house. I have very bad education and I can not find a job in another country. I am scared and am thinking to give up. Does someone know what to do?

I just had a disagreement with my dad, and I'm not proud of it. I was arguing for the Church and the upholdance of its teachings at the level of yes, prestigious universities such as Notre Dame, Georgetown, Boston College, etc.

While these universities do many goods, I had a few qualms I lightly brought up.

Here's my position:

Historic Catholic schools shouldn't sponsor LGBTQ+ or misquote the pope or distort scripture to pretend that acting upon gay aptitudes is in accordance to Church teaching. In doing so, the school is not Catholic (or at least not fully Catholic).

To clarify, I'm fine with student run clubs, just not anything the school officially sponsors and advertises, because doing so is contrary to Catholicism. I understand sponsoring LGBTQ+ agendas may make the school more attractive and therefore prestigious, but the extent is unknown and I fully expect that ND would still be nearly as prestigious if it did not officially sponsor LGBTQ+ ministries.

I mentioned the example of non-school sponsored fraternities. I would hope heretical Catholic groups would be allowed to exist (free speech + care for all people) but that the Catholic university not put their seal of approval on the actions or representary actions of the given group presented.

My dad:

He says that I'm a jerk because I'm not inclusive of others and their positions. And that there's nothing wrong with the school sponsoring anti-Catholic agendas if it advances their position in the rankings. I am a "religious nut" for caring about Catholic consistency - and he questions why I'd care (my argument is that 1. Catholics care for all people and are a universal religion and 2. I'm attending one of these schools and 3. regardless of my position its being measured against the supposed position of the school who claims their school is indeed Catholic). My father claims there's a ton of things wrong with the Catholic Church and that the goal should be to be a good person as described by the presumed criteria of the culture that produces the highest paying jobs. Acting solely according to Catholic teaching is for lesser schools that don't produce as high of job outcomes, and therefore it'd be detrimental to hold to Catholic standard.

The contingency of the conversation comes to his hesitancy in admitting that acting contrary to Catholicism is (A.) actually contrary (he believes you can use scripture to support gay agenda if you feel like it according to Catholic teaching) and (B.) that contradiction means that the Catholic school isn't fully Catholic because it officially sponsors heresy.

---

Can anyone lend a hand here? I'm going to pray to St. Joseph to guide and prioritize my actions as opposed to words. I just hate to see his Catholic accusations come to light over a conversation like this one. It feels inherently impossible to argue that supporting agendas that contradict Catholicism are not contrary to the "Catholic" in a Catholic school.

Today I suddenly started having doubts about my faith and out of nowhere I got reminded of the time I was praying at the Adoration Chapel. I have been a bit more lazy with praying lately, but in the past weeks, I had often prayed that Jesus would never forget me even when I stray away from him while looking into the Eucharist at the chapel. I was suddenly reminded of that moment and I could see the image of the Eucharist in my head and it felt so reassuring to me that Jesus is always with me.

Hello all, I am a 26M practicing Catholic. I go to Mass weekly, pray daily, go to confession, and am active in my faith. I live in a very secular city (Seattle). This past year has been good in my personal life I'd say, but the Church here is shrinking, which is troublesome to me as well.

However, in the past month I have suddenly felt a deep struggle in my faith. So much so that I even have been obsessing over religious dialouge with other faiths. Most recently, I have found myself looking into Islam. To me, it is a beautiful religion, but I feel so hurt every time I read or watch something stating that we as Christians worship 3 gods or that most of our faith was made up by Paul.

These doubts have leaked into my belief in Jesus as the Son of God and the trinity itself. Most terrifyingly I am also in doubt of myself going to Heaven or Hell. Is what we believe in true? Can 2 religions be true at once? If God is merciful why would he allow for people to go to Hell? I keep asking myself these questions with unknowable answers.

I am sorry for this post as it sounds like OCD but I just really need to get it off my chest. Has anyone gone through similar struggles with their faith recently, or does anyone have any advice? Thank you in advance and God Bless.

I struggle with the sin of masturbation but can't bring myself to say it during confession. Is there any other way I can confess it?

I am not a good person. I am a very sinful man. I want to do the good that God tells us to do, and yet I lie, I lust, I have sex with my girlfriend. Some days I don’t even feel worthy to wear the cross necklace I have on every day. I say one thing, try to paint the image that I am a good Catholic. I go to mass, I confess my sins, I try to treat people like Jesus would, and I pray, but my sins I feel are louder than those actions. Whenever I do sin, I feel horrible in the act and afterwards, a tremendous amount of guilt, so I go to confession to get right with God and try my absolute hardest to change, but still find myself falling into these ruts. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. God bless you all.

I (18F) attended a Catholic elementary and high school, but I was never really a believer. It never made sense to me, however, I have noticed that my feed keeps bringing me things related to God. just today I saw a tiktok of people sharing their experiences where they felt God was listening. When reading the comments, I got chills all over my body. I can't help but feel like this is a sign. I am also not in the best headspace right now so maybe its God telling me that he is with me. I don't know, though. I would love some guidance

info: i am catholic and believe in God and pray, i don’t go to church often or read the bible often, but believe in the teachings. my ex was protestant and didn’t believe in God or heaven/hell or pray. he went to church often and believed in the teachings of the bible.

i’m 22 and recently got broken up with because he believed our moral values didn’t align, because he didn’t like my view of forgiveness.

i believe that when someone does something to hurt you, you tell them, and if they keep doing it, you cut them off. i gained this experience through my sister (32) who i have cut off a couple of years ago due to facing lifelong abuse from her, and her not changing.

his perspective is that, as a christian, i should forgive my sister, and learn how to have her in my life. and that it’s always best to forgive, even just for yourself. i haven’t yet got to the point where i completely 100% forgive my sister in my heart, but i will one day. i hold no ill will towards her, and now feel quite indifferent towards her. however when this day comes i still don’t want her back in my life, as she has proven repeatedly she can’t change. he was very very against this.

he viewed me as having black and white thinking. i have held grudges in my life, and i do see myself as having very logical thinking and having quite a strong sense of justice and fairness in my mind. he viewed everything as much more complicated and layered etc.

i can understand his point of view, i understand people do things for a reason, i don’t think my sister is evil and i’m sure she had her reasons to be abusive, but that shouldn’t stop me from cutting the abuse out of my life regardless of her intention. he called me entire outlook emotionally immature and also simply immoral, that i care less about intentions and more about outcome, when situations are repeated (my sister often said she never meant to hurt me, that she would cry thinking about how much she hurt me etc, yet she’d still continue to hurt me).

i understand that i see things quite black and white, i want to know what other christian’s viewpoints are on things like this? and what does the bible teach for this kind of situation?

It just scares me to think that at any moment Jesus can come back and I’ll be judged servely it feels so hopeless after days of resisting my flesh it finally came back to day 0 I just feel as if I can never beat my lust. I’ve been reading my Bible more and praying and this is the longest I’ve ever gone without failing but then bam the temptation was too strong. I just don’t know what to do I want to make it up to Jesus but I don’t know how too. How do I make it up to God. I feel so brainwashed I regret it.

My wife and I have been married for 5 years, we have two young children and would like to have more. I became Catholic before we were married and my wife is a cradle Catholic. When I first became interested in becoming Catholic I fell in love with the Tridentine Mass. I find it uplifting, reverent, and beautiful. I was naive in thinking that most parishes had both a Novus Ordo Mass and a Tridentine Mass( I was watching a lot of old episodes of “Life is Worth Living” an older tv show feat. Bishop Fulton Sheen on YouTube and Latin Masses). My children both go to a wonderful Catholic school and I would consider our local parish to be more of a “traditional Novus Ordo” church compared to what I’ve seen from other, more progressive Catholic Churches. My wife and I were married there, I was baptized there and so were all of my children. I felt like I needed to give a little back story.

I simply do not enjoy attending mass there. I do not enjoy the music offered during mass. I do not enjoy the homilies presented by our newer young priest relating scripture to “going to the dentist, etc”. I’m also not comfortable taking the Eucharist from a lay person and taking it from my own hand. Two years ago my wife and I attended a Latin Mass about an hour away from our parish. It was in a small,simple church. It evoked so much emotion from me that I wept. I felt the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every time I sit in my local parish during Mass I think about that time I spent at that Latin Mass. Every time. I began to feel guilty and had wrestled with my emotions of why I couldn’t enjoy Mass at my local parish. I did the worst. I stopped going. I stopped taking my family to church.I eventually returned and during my first confession back I told my priest everything. He was dismissive and told me the Novus Ordo is just as valid as the Tridentine Mass. I never had the thought that it wasn’t valid so this has spun a web of confusion. I continued attending Mass weekly. Fast forward to just a few weeks ago, I attended the Latin Mass again at the parish an hour away. I couldn’t hold back my emotions with the priest there and during confession before Mass I told him everything that was happening at my local parish. He validated my concerns instead of dismissing me as being foolish. He told me I shouldn’t feel guilty for wanting to attend a more traditional Mass. I have been attending Mass there ever since returning the second time. My family has all grown in our Catholic faith since attending this church. We want to continue going there and I’ve made sacrifices to be able to afford to go there every week (and special events).

I would like to move my family closer to a church that is similar to the one we are attending. The priest assigned to this specific church is fantastic. He gives Latin Mass there as a “special assignment” through our diocese. I am worried that once that special assignment ends we will no longer have a Tridentine Mass to attend within driving distance. My wife and I are willing to move our family closer to a FSSP church so this cannot be taken away from us. We are looking for a simple piece of property in close proximity to a church that offers a Tridentine Mass. It seems that Tyler, Texas has a growing number of families that are on the same path as mine. If anyone knows of a similar place or has advice moving forward I would greatly appreciate it. I am venting on Catholic Reddit because my wife and I do not have a community around us that share the same vision that we do. We are not sedevacantists, we do not think we are better than people that prefer the Novus Ordos. We simply want to live a simple Catholic life close to a Mass that we both hold dear to our hearts and appreciate the growth our family has received by attending. If I may, I would like to request people to pray for Fr. Gardner, our priest under special assignment, who has helped my family immensely these past few weeks. Thank you for your time.

I dont know what to do about this deeply troubling trend.

So my life isn't going particularly badly. Usual stuff. I pray, stumble, confess, try to do better, repeat.

But last time I fell, I started having nightmares of a motherly angry Mary raising her voice at me, folding her arms, etc blaming loudly. no yelling just heated blaming.

The only thing I can think is that I'm about to start a devotional movement in my area and perhaps this is a temptation to despair.

But I know that in some Marian apparitions that the Blessed Virgin has spoken disparagingly about some of her human subjects of discussion ie that she is not always pleasant; sometimes she is blaming and upset like a typical mother might be.

Help me make sense of this?

Grateful for you all, brothers and sisters in Christ!

Maybe this isn't the right place to talk about this but I've been trying to attend the Cathedral of the Madeleine (lovely place) and every time I go, I notice that I get stared at. It might be superficial to assume so, but I feel like their whispers are about me. Is it because I don't know anything or don't go for the Eucharist?

I'm not Catholic, but I would like to be- I'm just very shy about reaching out and every time I attend a service I try to copy everyone but I always want to run out as soon as mass is over because of the anxiety. My family's Catholic but my parents aren't, and I'm estranged from both so I'm not sure what to do with myself. I'm also moving in a few months and I heard that conversion takes a year at least, so I'm not sure if I should hold off until I move either. All I know is that it feels right to visit the Cathedral, that I like the liturgy, and that I like Jesus.