"Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended thee." Hm, how 'bout that? After all these decades I forgot the rest. I also remember if anyone interrupted me, I'd have to start at the beginning. Paying attention to the words also made me lose track, (and that was before memory problems and senior moments. lol)
I did look it up though, and the part that still bothers me is "because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell." That's not love. That's protecting my butt. The next sentence just makes it sound like I'm trying to save face for admitting the truth in those lines. And the "who are all good and deserving of my love" sounds like, "you deserve it, but don't expect it from me." And again, "penance" is a mistake Jerome made back before people got a clearer understanding of the word "repent." It wasn't a minor mistake, although I still truly admire Jerome for putting in that much effort to translate two languages into his version of modern language -- Latin.
So how does that reconcile us to God and what are we doing that think we're something special because we're the "better man" for trying to reconcile... with God? I mean with God! Right there, it shows who is better, but there is always this teaching that we can do it if we follow the proper etiquette. That simply defeats everything the Bible tells.
And you can't give me I hate Catholics. You really can't. Dad, his parents (my grandparents), his siblings (my aunts), my cousins, two brothers, one sister, all still Catholic. I don't hate them. (I don't hate you either. Don't know you very well, but you seem like a nice guy.) I don't count them less because their Catholic. I count it sad because they don't know there is so much more to it than dreading hell. They all also have completely and utterly different concepts of heaven than the Biblical one, because none of them ever read the Bible to find out what it really says.
For the longest time, I thought the only way to even meet God is to go through the Catholic Church. That's sad because it could never work. There's only one way, and it's not the seven sacraments. It's not even one of them. There was just so much I was taught in that church that's simply wrong.
Did you know the sixth commandment is "Thou shalt not be impure?" It meant I was supposed to brush my teeth twice a day and take a bath every other day with Saturday night being the important night. (Back when there was only church on Sunday and no air-conditioning. lol) That's what my second grade nun taught us.
Did you know if you put a nickel in under the candles, lit one, and then prayed 7 Our Fathers, 7 Hail Marys and 7 Glory Bes that you release someone out of purgatory? Added bonus: Once out, they'd pray to you to get out when you die. Kind of like stacking the parole board, (albeit, I didn't know about parole back then. lol) My third grade teacher taught us that one, and for weeks my entire allowance was spent getting saints out of purgatory. (A quarter a week, and church was on the way home after school, so five afternoons a week -- my best friend and I did it together.)
Did you know that you'd go to hell if you ate fish on Fridays? Thankfully, Mom, who was deathly allergic to fish was given special dispensation. She was allowed to eat meat, but she wouldn't. She ate PB & J sandwiches. (I loved Mom too.)
Did you know transubstantiation isn't true? At least that's what the priest taught us in 12th grade CCD. (Shocked me to my core.)
Did you know Mary is the Queen of the Universe? At least that was the sermon a priest gave the day I walked out of John the Baptist Catholic Church and never returned.
Do you believe in any of that stuff? Probably not, but here's a question for you, what do you believe because either a priest or nun taught it to you, and you never found out it wasn't true?
I don't hate the Catholic Church. I am just naive enough and trusting enough to not know I'm being lied to unless someone can prove it's a lie. All those things have been proven lies, so I just can't stay in a church that lies to me. And even then, it's not done maliciously, so it's still not hate. The church just doesn't bother teaching their ordained folks what the doctrine rally is.
Did you know part of the real doctrine is that although homosexuality is a sin, they can't help themselves? Where does that fit into the Bible?
Don't you ever question your church? I question mine and agree with most of what they believe.