Perpetual Virginity of Mary (For Catholics)

[SantoSubito]

I have to say, I have met a handful of Catholics who want female priests, even more who want married priests (that is, among Roman Catholics, where such is denied ... marriage is allowed in non-Roman rites of Catholicism). I have NEVER met a Catholic who wanted symbolic Eucharist, congregational polity, or revision of Catholicism into anything resembling Protestantism. Of course, that doesn't mean such people don't exist, but I'm not convinced it's an epidemic.

Cafeteria-Catholics are the biggest offenders on the issues I mentioned, which unless you talk to quite a few Catholics and explicitly ask them about their beliefs stay pretty well under the radar. I will say that I have ran into many more that believed in a symbolic Eucharist than i have that wanted a congregational polity.

This congregational polity battle came to the forefront on a Catholic board I frequent (I'll have to try and dig up the thread). What brought it to the forefront was the RCC closing churches in some East Coast dioceses, a sizable number of Catholics favored congregational polity because it would allow each church to stand on it's own, rather than sharing the burden with all the other churches in the diocese, country, and the world in general.



It can be a house of cards. If one's faith is only as strong as a card, then certainly, if one removes a piece, the whole thing does come tumbling down.

For those of us who have faith in things a little stronger, like a ROCK (Peter) or the LORD, we don't have to worry about losing everything when one piece falls away.

Thankfully, most Catholics I know, and even a lot of Protestants, have placed their faith in God, and not in something flimsy that will fall apart. Praise God.[/QUOTE]

I trust God's capability to preserve his Holy Church from all error, which is why I can adhere to the Church's teachings with a clear conscience.

Which is why as a Catholic when I hear the word change I can proudly declare "Change? Whats change."

 

[OldOrthodoxChristian]

the bible certainly implies that it is -the- standard for truth...for example the berean christians verified the truth of paul's apostolic teaching by comparing it to scripture...and luke called them 'more noble' for it

you cannot prove that the 'traditions' paul refers to in 1 corinthians 11:2 and 2 thessalonians 2:15 were not written down in the scriptures later on...given the dating of these two letters it is very likely that these teachings were written down as scripture later on by paul or another apostle...

anyway even if it could be shown that some of these 'traditions' never became part of scripture...that is still a long way from establishing that the 'traditions' paul refers to are identical to the traditions of -your- church

and from a protestant perspective roman catholicism and eastern orthodoxism are practically the same thing...separated only by a few minor nitpicking issues and the one -big- pride driven issue of who gets to be in charge...

Rachel, You don't understand John 15:26 if you still think Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy are really the same thing. Scott PS Every word of Christ will abide forever and never pass away, so John 15:26 does matter, as it is Christ Himself speaking there through St. John the Beloved Apostle/Evangelist's Spirit-inspired pen.