How Does One Go About Getting Ex-Communicated from the Catholic Church?

[old guy]

Our mom dragged us to church every year or so to get some religion in us kids but it just didnt take. I remember when my Nephew was born my sister didnt want to go through the ordeal of having him baptized as shes just not a christian like that. My Mom, after a few drinks decided to baptize him by herself in the backyard bird bath after blessing the water. LOL. Loved that woman.

That's a great story.

[Gannon]

Sounds to me like it is deeply etched in your soul. Hard to evict the Holy Ghost.

As far as I can tell, that is what "it" is all about...the Otherworldly presence that goes by many names. Holy Ghost, Holy Spirit, Great Spirit, and the like.

Trouble is...while growing up within the institution which supposedly is the embodiment of the Holy Ghost on the Earth, until that weekend at the St. Paul Retreat House in Pontiac...it was all basic lip-service, a dead history lesson.

I had already wandered from the Church after graduation from high school...for a good many years...when I met a beautiful gal from St. Francis Cabrini in Allen Park [[one of my high school's dreaded rivals, the other being crosstown Divine Child) whose parents were part of a movement within the Church which was decidedly Charismatic, for lack of a better term.

Visiting St. Elizabeth's in Wyandotte helped confirm that the 'feeling' I noticed in the air and people around me at the retreat house was real and not some freak imagination of mine. Now, beyond the encounter with a small group of people I'd largely known all of my life at the time, there was now a group of people who took the time to go a bit further with thanks and praise to the unknown quantity tagged with the name God. It was odd seeing nuns with their arms stretched to the sky in praise...but as I said before, the priest who held these Charismatic sessions got into trouble for having them.

I didn't have any solid etchings into my soul or psyche from this Spirit until I'd fully broken all ties with the Catholic Church. Period. Since those two anomalies, which is the only term I can use to contain them, I've had dozens upon dozens of spiritual occurances that I can only explain as mystical encounters with the Holy Spirit, or as I now describe it, the Great Spirit or the Other. The terms matter not to me, unless they are tied to any of the groups which claim exclusive ownership of them. I try to avoid religious terms because of that.

I have grown to be more of an integrationist than differentialist when it comes to spirituality. Nearing fifty, what comes out of me is decidedly Buddhist, inclusive and open...but after finally finishing the wonderful Tao of Pooh yesterday, it seems there are lingering Taoist tendencies deep in my psyche as well. But my alignment remains with the sage of this age, the teacher of the Way for the past couple thousand years...

I cannot, and will not, discount or forget the amazing things which happened when I finally became open to the chance that the old history lessons about Jesus [[later calling him Yeshua, which may be a more accurate name, given that I was blessed to have a Messianic Jewish mentor for a while who greatly affected me) might actually be true, or at least true to the extent that they've survived through centuries of human tampering and editing and even simple mistakes. The deepest truths contained within even the most tainted texts seem to still be able to make smooth the stumbling points inserted for whatever reason throughout history.

Most certainly the existence unto every-moment relations are etched into my being...with that I admit great clarity at my own human nature. While being used powerfully at times, I am aware of my tendency to push my luck regarding the exercising of my free will...to the point of describing the survival of some events as 'bumping against the edges of grace'. Unless I specifically align myself towards this 'Other', and open to Its leading, I can return to my default state of abject hedonist. That is all too easy to do.

Today I am more in harmony and resonance with this Spirit, tomorrow all bets are off unless I specifically begin the day with the intent of aiming my desire to serve towards the Deity which exists in and through all living beings, instead of the 'normal' desire to serve myself. This is a quandary which I'm always horrified to find myself tossed within...you'd think by now it would be easier. Each time I think I've achieved some degree of success, another layer is pulled back revealing more effort is necessary to continue on a positive path...especially since there is so much negativity in the world, so much division, so much distraction.

<<sigh>>

Enough for now, I always write too much.

Sincerely,
John

[Gannon]

That's a great story.

He is full of 'em, OG. Dude is a blast to hang with...and travelled beyond his years.

Cheers!

[gazhekwe]

Catholics teach about the "body of Christ", that spirit that is in all of us, but it does not seem to be as basic in the beliefs as it should be.

This is the same concept as the native teachings that everything has spirit and we are all related, from the rocks to the trees, to the water and air and everything that lives, all share that spirit and all are equal in the eye of the creator.

These are good teachings, words to live by. I think that is one reason our people were converted and remain devout to this day, those teachings that lay foundation for relations with the rest of the world. It is too bad that the immigrants to our shores drew the line at people like them, and that money has a stronger hold on the modern world.

[Gannon]

Once that awareness dawns upon a person, it is life-changing. I cannot imagine what it would be like having it instilled from one's first teaching.

One of the most potent parts of agreed-upon scripture is the saying, "The Love of money is the root of all evil." Jesus only got upset a few times, according to the records, and the most well-known of those is when he tossed those tables in the Temple. [[I've always puzzled about the story of the damned fig tree, though, that one has escaped my understanding so far!) He also called out hypocrites, but aimed that at the religious leaders who knew better but didn't teach the freedom which is the Maker's greatest gifting after life itself. They seemingly only taught that which would make people dependent upon them, so their worldly comfort and wealth and power would continue and grow.

Cheers

[Gannon]

I know this thread is controversial, but I am bumping it to the top for a new friend to find. For those it has offended, please forgive this intrusion.

And odd update on the re-read, though. I mentioned a woman whose parents introduced me to a Charismatic Catholic service down in Wyandotte. Since the last post, our life-paths once again crossed...in such an odd way I cannot calculate the degree of coincidence. Turns out she married a fellow who has been fifteen-year-plus workmates and friends with my 'new' next-door neighbor of the past three years here on the east side. Caught up with her at a funeral. It was a tough time to be in toe-shoes.

Cheers, all.

Sincerely,
John

[tponetom]

John,,
I have been following this post from the beginning. Curiosity, I guess.


If only to keep bumping your post, I would proffer a question to you. Which is,,,,, have you ever thought about the distinction between Catholicism and Christianity? That is not a trick question. It is something I have practiced a very long time ago and it has given me an abundance of satisfaction .


I love my neighbors, I am true to my wife, I don’t steal anything of value, nor have I killed anyone. But I never was a real Catholic. I prefer being a Christian


.Perhaps you have studied the Council of Nicaea, 325 B.C. It reminds me of a Political Convention. The Bishops voted on the Divinity, or not, of Jesus.


Yes, Jesus won the nomination.


From Wikipedia:
One purpose of the council was to resolve disagreements arising from within the Church of Alexandria over the nature of the Son in his relationship to the Father; in particular, whether the Son had been 'begotten' by the Father from his own being, or created as the other creatures out of nothing. [13] St. Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius claimed to take the first position; the popular presbyter Arius, from whom the term Arianism comes, is said to have taken the second. The council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly [[of the estimated 250–318 attendees, all but two agreed to sign the creed and these two, along with Arius, were banished to Illyria).[14] The emperor's threat of banishment is claimed to have influenced many to sign, but this is highly debated by both sides. End of quote.


A quotation: From Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes”


1. “When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.”


My note: I lived through all the years of the Depression, and in spite of my Catholic Grade School education, I found life to be rollicking in joyful escapades, until December 7th.


Catholicism? Pope Pius, 11th? The Irish and England? And possibly, from 30 to 40 million innocent souls, slaughtered?


How does anyone relate to those things? By mysterious ways, ,,,,,,I guess?