Hobo Jungle

[Tramp]

As to Catholics, HOW MANY CHURCHES DID JESUS BUILD? The Catholic Church is a stronghold of greed and sexual perversion of children. I am NOT a fan. It is also the richest institution. That tells me a lot.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

As to Catholics, HOW MANY CHURCHES DID JESUS BUILD? The Catholic Church is a stronghold of greed and sexual perversion of children. I am NOT a fan. It is also the richest institution. That tells me a lot.

There is more to it. Much more.

Permit me to refer you to Friar Alessandro, a Franciscan monk, singing "Panis Angelicus," at Assisi.

You have the ability to see truth, like the rest of us do. So, allow yourself to watch him singing this hymn 8yrs ago, available at VEVO, on YouTube.

Watch his eyes, his mouth, his ascent barefooted in his sandals up a staircase, his joy, his heart and soul. His truth.

And you'll see why I have allowed myself to reply to you, that there is more to my Church than you have suggested.
With respect,
Murph

[webenda]

available at VEVO, on YouTube.
Murph

https://youtu.be/tufbM2TJoBs

[chuck]

The Catholic Church is a stronghold of greed and sexual perversion of children. I am NOT a fan. It is also the richest institution.

The church per se is not the guilty party any more than blaming all of the police for the behavior of a handful of bad actors.

I was raised as a Catholic but I stopped practicing when I got to college and met the woman who would become my wife. She introduced me to the ways of the First United Methodist Church. The main pastor was Donald Strobe, himself a lapsed Catholic and an advertising man by training. He was a true scholar and his sermons were outstanding. My favorite sermon was "Grace is not a blue eyed blonde". I found his sermons to be enlightening and meaningful and I never zoned out on any of them.

FUMC of Ann Arbor did not follow the religious calendar other than for high holy days. The ministers could preach about whatever they chose and they chose to give sermons in arcs based on material from a given book in the bible. They would take the elements of those passages and draw parallels to what ever was going on in the world around them. The local Catholic church followed the liturgical calendar to the letter and often times the semons were forced and I found myself zoning out during the service.

The things I took away from my experience with FUMC or Ann Arbor were:

Grace is not something that you can barter for or "earn". It is a gift from God and we just have to learn to accept it.
Sin is not about a bunch of rules like a checklist or the instructions for an elaborate game. It is the absence of God.
Sin is its own punishment.
People always have choices. We have to learn to make the right ones.
No one is sent/condemned to hell. Each person makes their own choices.
No one is condemned to hell forever (apostles Creed, lines 8-12). You can leave any time you chose by accepting the love of god
The empty cross is a powerful and joyous symbol of the resurrection

My problems with Catholicism are not with religion, they are with its religious dogma. The trappings that men have imposed on it over the last two millennia. The current Pope is a truly holy man. You can see it in his face and especially in his eyes. You can hear it in his voice. He continues to try to find ways to be inclusive and stick to the underlying principals of his religion while observing its difficult and sometimes contradictory dogma. I wish him well.

The original covenant was the ten commandments. Ten basic rules to be right with God and everyone else. We took those rules and made up hundreds more and twisted things so badly that the original rules are almost invisible or rendered meaningless. God becomes man and creates a new covenant with a single rule, do unto others as you would have them do onto you. So simple, yet so hard. So often twisted. The only thing that is worse than a man not letting his education go to his head is a man not letting his religion into his heart.

I remember the following line from Angels and Daemons between Richter (head of the Swiss Guard) and Professor Langdon (the symbologist):

“My Church comforts the sick and the hungry, comforts the dying. What does your church do?”

So long as someone finds peace and illumination and leads a good life I could care less about the details of the particular religion/faith they subscribe to.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

available at VEVO, on YouTube.
Murph

https://youtu.be/tufbM2TJoBs

Wayne, Thank you, so very, very, very much for posting that. It is the exact presentation I had recommended to Tramp.
Posting that link, here, is so perfectly typical of your thoughtfulness.
Thank you, again.
Murph

[Rufus T. Firefly]

My problems with Catholicism are not with religion, they are with its religious dogma. The trappings that men have imposed on it over the last two millennia.

Agreed, and you can apply that criticism to any religion regardless of time frame and era.

So long as someone finds peace and illumination and leads a good life I could care less about the details of the particular religion/faith they subscribe to.

All good. Sadly, we have far too many people everywhere of too many religious faiths that believe or were taught to believe while remaining unable to think for themselves that their religion to be the only true and acceptable one.

[rogruth]

As to Catholics, HOW MANY CHURCHES DID JESUS BUILD? The Catholic Church is a stronghold of greed and sexual perversion of children. I am NOT a fan. It is also the richest institution. That tells me a lot.

There is more to it. Much more.

Permit me to refer you to Friar Alessandro, a Franciscan monk, singing "Panis Angelicus," at Assisi.

You have the ability to see truth, like the rest of us do. So, allow yourself to watch him singing this hymn 8yrs ago, available at VEVO, on YouTube.

Watch his eyes, his mouth, his ascent barefooted in his sandals up a staircase, his joy, his heart and soul. His truth.

And you'll see why I have allowed myself to rely to you, that there is more to my Church than you have suggested.
With respect,
Murph

Yes! Outstanding.

[Tramp]

I tried to watch the video you suggested but found it very creepy and empty of real emotion and VERY distant from God. It is this kind of overblown theatrics and cliched filming that I find so frightening in Catholocism. The guy is obviously a wealthy singer who is getting paid to perform, even pointing to the wealth of the church. This is exactly the using of God's name to acheive personal goals that I find so upsetting. This is SERVING the devil not God.

Murph, I am sorry. I wish I felt otherwise. That said, I am pleased if this gives your solace.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

As to Catholics, HOW MANY CHURCHES DID JESUS BUILD? ....

One.

[Tramp]

Where is that church?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I'm sorry you didn't get that, Tramp. However, you explained a lot about yourself by your reply.

[HONDO74]

I have always understood the church to be the people. Not some building.

Wherever Jesus preached is where the church was. Like the sermon on the mount....

[Tramp]

Murph, you have never been condescending to me. Why Now?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I tried to watch the video you suggested but found it very creepy and empty of real emotion and VERY distant from God. It is this kind of overblown theatrics and cliched filming that I find so frightening in Catholocism. The guy is obviously a wealthy singer who is getting paid to perform, even pointing to the wealth of the church. This is exactly the using of God's name to acheive personal goals that I find so upsetting. This is SERVING the devil not God.

Murph, I am sorry. I wish I felt otherwise. That said, I am pleased if this gives your solace.

Gives me "solace" !?
And of course , regarding the entirety of your, above, tome, it isn't condescending whatsoever ; not harsh; not snotty or bitchy?
Open-hearted and open-minded ?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I have always understood the church to be the people. Not some building.

Wherever Jesus preached is where the church was. Like the sermon on the mount....

And like Gethsemane and Calvary.
I agree with you. Of course, I am part of Sensus Fidelium, so I would.