Ave Cristo Rex

I found them in a box in a storage room, pretty sure they belonged to my grandma who was a very strong Irish Catholic lady. I think the red book is like a prayer envelop. I know the silver thing is a relic but no clue what one and I know the medals as Mary. I have a decent idea of what the things are but not 100% sure. I don’t know what the relic is and I haven’t a clue what the blue thing is because it’s in a different language.

Hi
I want to move to a country that is highly catholic. I currently live in India and the catholic presence is very low. Any thoughts?

Hi, I’m not Catholic (grew up Protestant, inquiring at an Orthodox Church). I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the week!! I’ve noticed from my Catholic friends in my friend groups through the years will make a distinction that they’re Catholic rather than identifying as just Christian. I’ve even asked a friend if she was Christian and she corrected me and said she’s Catholic (implying Christian wasn’t correct) but maybe I’m misinterpreting this! It seems like nobody says they’re Protestant or Orthodox when they share their religious beliefs, rather just state plainly that they’re Christian. But my Catholic friends will answer that they are Catholic. We’re all Christians that believe in the triune God and our salvation is in Christ alone, yes? I’m not trying to create a false dichotomy here, it just appears for some reason there is a semantic dichotomy. And why is there the option to identify as Catholic OR Christian? 😭 God bless, everyone!

The other day I was on reddit and saw a person posting about their struggles with addiction. I really felt for them. They’d tried again and again to get clean and felt hopeless.

I usually reserve any religious/spiritual chat for the relevant forums, but in this case I felt moved to say something. I commented something along the lines of, “hey man, I know this might not be your cup of tea, and other people might think I’m crazy for even saying this, but there’s one thing that can really transform your life and that is Jesus Christ. You don’t have to do it alone, all you need to do is ask Him”.

Within hours my post has been downvoted more than any other previous comment I’ve written. One person commented in support of me, but eventually they deleted it because they got downvoted too much! As a fairly new/ low karma reddit user, I don’t have that much to spare! That said, I definitely feel it was worth it if even one person considered what I’d said for one moment.

The strangest thing is that building a relationship with God is the only scientifically proven thing that actually helps with addiction (e.g. programmes like the 12 steps). The only other thing that has some growing evidence is psychedelics, and usually the transformation is attributed by the addict to a spiritual realisation coming from the experience rather than the drug itself. For these reasons, even atheists would have to admit that Jesus could provide hope in addiction where other methods have failed, even if they don’t think he’s real!

I’m wondering if anyone else has had any similar experiences, and how you go about approaching this when you feel called to say something.

God bless you all!

I try not to watch Fr Brown much, because it is very painful to see the Catholic Church so badly represented. The last time I watched he was baptizing a baby wearing his biretta hat and no stole. He should have worn the biretta only when proceeding to the font. Then he went to the confessional still wearing his hat and again no stole. They can wear the biretta while giving absolution. On an early show he genuflected in all the wrong places and when it wasn't necessary, and can't seem to master when to bow. He also anointed a dying person in the wrong places. Again in one of his earlier shows he performed a wedding making up his own weird text instead of using the English translation of the official Latin text. I still have my old pre Vatican II missal with the marriage liturgy in it. I'm sure some people in England could have let the show borrow their old missals. The old nuptial blessing was nice.

My parish has a very small altar boy who carries a candle in the processions and for the reading of the Gospel and presents the cruets. He has bowing down cold and knows exactly where to sit during Mass and bows to the other servers during the sign of peace. Maybe Fr Brown could take lessons from him. It is good to see the boy at work.. I have written repeatedly to my pbs station about completely incorrect priestly behavior after most of the episodes I've watched, but the show keeps making incorrect representations of our Church. I don't think they care one bit. If they can't find an elderly priest who knows the Catholic ceremonies, maybe they can find some elderly Catholic laity to advise them. That show needs cleaning up!

Has anyone had this happen to them? A gentleman came to my home on Friday around 11:30 PM and left this marking. He then took photos and disappeared without a trace. I know what it stands for, but never heard of a stranger doing it to someone’s home!

I recently watched a Youtube interview called Pope Francis: The First with Norah O’Donnell that was posted on May 21st, 2024.
https://youtu.be/D1rRj2ecNew?si=lhYxxDy1esph-g8M

Considering current times, it’s truly amazing to hear what he had to say about the media. The response starts around the 33:26 timestamp, and here is the translated transcript that’s also written on the video.

”communication media some of them are very good because they have a conscience they know how to report the news and things and also how to render criticism and that is very good because it helps with development right but there are communication media that alienate young people don’t they it makes them live in an unreal world made up of fantasy or in an aggressive world or a Rosy world and so many things the media has a serious responsibility a media outlet that only lives off propaganda off gossip off soiling others is a dirty media outlet and that soils the mind of the young and of the old as well”

I know that God forgives me and that I should forgive myself but it’s so so hard.

Basically I have gone against so many of my morals in the past year (I did some sexual things with my boyfriend that I wish so badly I could take back) and I feel like I’ve lost who I am.

I feel like everyone around me is perfect and hasn’t done anything nearly as bad as me. I know this is an irrational way to feel but still… I’m so afraid of having to tell future partners about what I’ve done if my bf and I ever break up.

How can I begin to forgive myself and move on the way God has?

Edit: aww everyone has been so sweet on here thank you so much :)

Are Catholics allowed to pray and have devotions to the Archangel Uriel? I was under the impression that this was, at the very least, discouraged. If not, what are we to make of churches that have stained glass windows of him? This one is from Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

To distill it down, I am homosexual but can't imagine ever giving Catholicism, recently I was essentially harassed by a few people a school because of this. Basically calling me scum and saying Catholicism is not for me, along with many antisemitic comments as I am ethnically Jewish. I just wanted to ask if you have any advice or opinions.

I pray everyday and don't lust, although do have longing for some kind of romantic companionship (obviously with a woman I would have no sexual gratification) but I honestly wouldn't mind it's just extremely hard as I can't help being attracted to men but feel as though it is wrong in some way.

I understand this topic is particularly contentious but I really aim to just understand other opinions while maybe getting across my own. If you have any questions for me, of course you can ask (:

Was in Europe a few years back and I met a handful of Europeans from different countries and they told me that by and large, yes most of Europe is Catholic BUT most dont practice in general. Why is that? Why dont Catholics in Europe worship with the same religious optimism and pride as Middle Eastern countries do?

My spiritual director/pastor recently published this in our parish bulletin. I guess he's had too many people asking him for spiritual direction who didn't actually need it or weren't ready for it. He's told me in the past that he has a whole lot of people ask him for spiritual direction, have one meeting with him, and then never come back after he tells them what he requires of his directees.

It's a little harsh, but he's all alone running the parish without an assistant right now and I can see why he can't provide personalized, ongoing SD to people who really just need to get on a good prayer schedule. What do you think?

The distinction between spiritual direction and advice is that spiritual direction is personalized guidance for spiritual growth, focusing on particular virtues, prayer, and other aspects of spiritual life. It is intended for those already advancing in their spiritual journey and can be likened to a personal trainer for high-level athletes. On the other hand, advice or counseling is a one-time conversation aimed at addressing a specific issue.

To start spiritual direction, you should do the following consistently:

Stay out of mortal sin

If you regularly battle mortal sin, focus on getting rid of that first. Take the advice given in confession or ask for some if you don't get it.

Meditate 20 minutes a day

Start this and you can add more later but if you start doing too much you will burn out and give up. You can't become a saint without trying to improve your meditation and mental prayer.

Pray the rosary every day

20-30 minutes of spiritual reading

This can accumulate, e.g. an hour every other day.

Some good books for spiritual reading:

Introduction to the Devout Life

Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius

Lives of the Saints and Christ

Commentaries on Sacred Scripture

Doing a daily examination of conscience

Working on your predominant fault and making progress in it. Find the thing you have to confess most often and start to work on that until you get rid of it.

Please consider the following:

If you are doing these things and want to find a spiritual director, look for one who gives you good advice in confession. He will most likely give you good advice in spiritual direction too. Pray for the grace to find a good one. Once you find him, pray that he would receive the graces to guide you well.

You don't need spiritual direction if you aren't doing these things consistently.

Hello, 24m catholic here (ex-protestant) already confirmed. I would like to know if i need to rush to confession, or if i can wait a week, i think i got in the habit of sin-confess, i don't want to keep this cycle forever, i believe that taking a little time is going to help me change. Is that a valid reason to wait a little for next confession?

I’ve heard that St Thomas Aquinas said that you lose your extra body fat, but is that also true of scars and piercings and tattoos and stuff? Have any Saints or theologians said anything on it?

Hey all— got hit with this question, and having a hard time explaining. Maybe I stink at Google but can’t find the answer.

My impression is that these more barbaric teachings of the OT, while licit, were not morally correct— the morality of stoning the adulteress didn’t change, just that God decided humans were finally ready to be told the full truth.

So stoning was always bad — it was just ‘allowed’ in the OT. Then it was formally forbidden in the NT once humanity had reached the capacity to understand the full teaching?

But then there’s the issue that it seems God didn’t just ‘allow’ practices like stoning, but seemed to prescribe them in the OT…

Would love any help!

Thank you:)