Do catholic traditions come across as bizarre to you?

TexanStar

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I wasn’t raised Catholic. I’ve learned to be respectful of the idiosyncrasies, but find much of it—I’ll be polite—curious. When I know I am in safe company, I will ask about certain practices and sequences. Oddly enough, some that I have questioned really don’t know why they do certain things. “It’s a Catholic thing!” At least, there is a sense of humor about it; and, any humor I learned about Catholicism, I have learned from Catholics. If it all works for them—great. There is much that is impressive and intriguing. It just doesn’t work for me.

Ambo te ignosce me.

Addendum: I was surprised at how many media personalities went on air with ashes this year.
 

keenobserver

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I was raised Catholic, so all of this kind of stuff feels completely normal to me (in the way that carving pumpkins or putting up Christmas lights are normal).

Just curious if, for people outside the faith, these kind of traditions seem completely bonkers or something :p

Utah teacher forced student to wash off Ash Wednesday cross on forehead, family says

I'm Lutheran and we do the same thing. Many denominations do as well. When I was having a heart attack in DC some 25 years ago several of the Doctors and nurses who worked on me also were wearing ashes. I was shocked when I saw this story on TV because I could not imagine such a common rite causing a problem anywhere, especially up to my ass in Christians in Utah. Ok, I know they are Mormons but this is not rare.

I find a number of church traditions a little strange, but interesting when you learn the theology behind them. Confession was really the only tradition in the Catholic church I could not get comfortable with at all. In my faith tradition there is a rite of Confession, but the Individual takes his sins directly to God to ask forgiveness. I could not see me telling a priest about my sins, especially the ones dealing with sexual thoughts, words and deeds. A manager I worked with always went to confession every week, taking an hour or so out of the work day on Fridays to go. One week when we went to Pittsburgh on business he took me to a whore house. The whores were ladies, so I declined to participate. They really did have a piano player in the main room, where there was also a bar. After we left I said to my manager, "Well you'll have an interesting story to tell at confession this week, won't you." "No, my God," he said, I'll just stay with my usual impure thoughts. The priest is a little blabby with other priests talking shop and I don't want this to get to my wife - she'd kill me."
 

keenobserver

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My coworkers were surprised I told them I can't eat red meat on fridays and not drinking during 40 days as my lent

Yeah, people are still surprised by that. One of the things I like about Lent is all of my local restaurants offer really good seafood dinners on Fridays.
 

palakaorion

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A local newspaper writer named Jeffrey Weiss used to write for the Religion section of the Dallas paper. Something he wrote will always stay with me. To paraphrase: every faith tradition has aspects and rituals that seem foolish to outsiders and the uninitiated. Mine, yours, everyone's.

Mr. Weiss lost his battle with brain cancer in Oct 2017 at age 62. I sincerely hope that the apparent foolishness of the rituals of his faith (Eastern Orthodox) brought him peace and comfort in his battle.
 

LaFemme

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Not really. Both my parents were raised Roman Catholic, and I was raised in a very religious environment. I think just about every religion has its own rites or rituals - it’s bonding, makes you feel like you’re a part of something bigger.

It’s no different than guys wearing their favourite team jerseys during the game, or keeping certain superstitions when their teams play. It brings people together. We all have them. Families have them, cultures have them, countries have them.
 

malakos

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Not at all. Are they supposed to? They don't seem more odd to me than the rituals of most other religions. Truthfully, these mild eccentricities are pretty common in most of the world (and actually, much of religion elsewhere is a good deal more unworldly than what is found in North America, for example, the faux crucifixions practiced in the Philippines during Holy Week). I think our prudish sensitivities when it comes to ritual are a product of being one of the few regions that the Puritans dominated and had a lasting impact on.
 

twoton

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I was raised Catholic, and am still practiciong. One of these days I'll get it right.

I haven't gotten ashes in years, mostly because I've come to see it almost as showing off, as if it's a symbol of pride. It's really ironic that the Church's readings for that day were about how one shouldn't make a spectacle of oneself when praying, or fasting, or alms-giving. Yet, that lesson seems lost on a lot of people.

Anyway, when I was young, Ash Wednesday was a Catholic thing. For the past 20-something years, I've lived in an area that is predominantly Protestant, and I was really surprised at how many Protestant churches distribute ashes on Ash Wednesday. I think it's a growing 'tradition' among them. They even do it as a drive-thru.
 

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I was raised Catholic. I find all of it weird as fuck and some of it I even find creepy. None of it makes any sense to me. It's part of why I gave up my "faith" at an age I can't even disclose here.

Tradition itself isn't in my nature, even though my parents tried their best to raise it into me. Eventually they accepted that I'm thoroughly atheist, but it took a long time and a lot of tears on their part.
 

malakos

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I haven't gotten ashes in years, mostly because I've come to see it almost as showing off, as if it's a symbol of pride. It's really ironic that the Church's readings for that day were about how one shouldn't make a spectacle of oneself when praying, or fasting, or alms-giving. Yet, that lesson seems lost on a lot of people.

Why not just wash it off afterwards, then? Displaying the ashy forehead after the service is not the point of the rite.
 
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keenobserver

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Why not just wash it off afterwards, then? Displaying the ashy forehead after the service is not the point of the rite.

I guess that depends on the particular church culture of a given faith. While catholic churches dominate my area, I rarely see my catholic friends "ashed." Protestants on the other hand are really being more open about it - again in my neck of the woods.
 
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MisterB

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Yes. But then again pretty much almost all religious traditions come across as bizarre to me. I don't understand the costumes and pageantry and all the rigmarole.

But then again,I find most anything to do with religion, especially these days, to be hypocritical. Preach one thing and practice another.

But, to those who do find comfort in their beliefs, I think that's great.
 

Enid

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Confession was also a weird thing to me. Like, ok, I have to confess my deepest darkest "sins" to some stodgy old man and then say 10 hail marys? And I'm cool with God after that? No thanks. Don't really feel right to me.

First off, I ain't going to open up to some priest behind a screen. Not really. And secondly, why does repeating some prayer over and over absolve you completely?

I know I was brought up in the faith, but I do not subscribe to it whatsoever. I was especially over it when, in confirmation class, the head nun asked the class what separates man from animals. I raised my hand to answer "Uh, the ability to reason?" and got shot down because the answer was something about God, of course. Bitch, please, animals are closer to God than we'll ever be.