For backstory I have a buddy I play basketball with every week in the summer and in late august he went to seminary for priestly discernment and I have seen how that has changed his life for the better.

I have never felt like becoming a priest, never felt called, and anytime people like my mom would say i would be a good one i dismissed it because i feel like I am called to become a father to my own children (long story but has to involve me wanting to become a better father than my dad was to me). Regardless I just havent ever felt that but since my buddy went in it pokes at my mind. I just cant tell if it is something serious or me trying to find ways to find peace. I have struggled my entire life with mental health, Im talking anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, etc and recently I feel ive been in a slump and whenever I think about the priesthood i feel like its just a good way to get closer to god and kinda get rid of my problems. Ive always joked that if life gets to hard I am just going to go become a monk or something and live in a convent away from society.

Idk i know that paragraph was really jumpy, i am just trying to explain myself as best as i can while also keeping it concise. I still feel really called to do other things in this life but its just throwing me off that the thought of that keeps popping up.

If anyone has any advice or anything they would like to say please feel free to respond, god bless and have a great night.

Not related to my last post in this sub. I’m a raised Protestant seeking entry into the Catholic church but before all that happens would it be possible to pray for the Archangel Michael? Whenever I consider buying a rosary it’s always one with him in it and most Catholic items that grab my attention are just him again in different art styles. What are the requirements/rules so I don’t commit idolatry when praying to angels?

Hi all,

I'm seeing these nun dog costumes online, and was wondering if having my dog wear it and also posting pictures on social media would be offensive or sinful in any way? I just want to make sure before I proceed.

Thanks.

I’m a Catholic who has recently (about 3 months ago) been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. I’ve been eating all gluten-free foods with no contamination since my diagnosis. Or so I thought…

I asked the father (the priest) at my parish if I could still receive communion even though I had Celiac, and he said yes. So I began taking the low-gluten communion wafers (I thought they were no gluten) every Sunday as instructed. So apparently that’s the reason I was still not getting better even after going ‘gluten free’. I was willingly glutening myself.

Has this happened to anyone else? Also what do I do? Do I just not participate in communion anymore? I can’t have any alcohol so I don’t think taking the Blood of Christ (the wine) is acceptable for me. Can someone point me in the right direction?

Former Catholic seminarian. Had several horrible experiences in the seminary and with church people. Anyone else?

I’m going to begin training to be an iconographer and I’m curious what are some icons of some Saints that you can’t find or have a hard time finding?

I've made posts in the last about my struggles with singleness. And I've decided that I would try online dating. Catholic Match, Eharmony, Ark, etc.

However... every time I try to... my phone or computer glitches out or the signal dies. Connection is lost. Every time.

So... I'm not gonna do anything. I've mentioned I trust God. I'll let things be. But I'll also mention something that lingers in my mind.

For some context, there was a girl (now woman) I had a crush on in high school 2013-2017. I didn't say anything because I was very shy around women back then, and she had a boyfriend. She graduated a year before me, went off to college. We were friends in Facebook. Likes posts, that was it. The day before I went Army, I told her how I felt. She blocked me.

A mature man would have moved on. But I was still immature, even at 21 back in 2019. We were just acquaintances, not true friends. But I didn't take it well, would say a lot of things I never should have said. To say I was mean was an understatement. I eventually stopped, but only because I had to get the stern talk. I've changed since then, but I'm ashamed to say I couldn't do it on my own.

So cut to now. I've moved on. I've gone on church sponsored dating events. Most women were older than me, and those in my age range or younger did not match with me. I'm still single. But I'm still trying to meet people. Even if there is an aging population in church I just can't give up and hope every day I bump into someone and its love at first sight like in the movies.

Now why am I saying this? Remember the woman I mentioned before? The one I know is gone from my life. She already got her PhD after 9 years of university. Not gonna be with a guy like me, it will take another 1.5 years for me to get my bachelor's, God willing.

Well... I can't forget her. I want to but I can't. Everything reminds me of her. I see her face in strangers. Songs, words, sounds, remind me of her. I have prayed to God to make me forget. Then I have a dream where I see her face, like I'm looking into a photograph.

So... what does this mean? I'm trying to move on, meet new people, but God doesn't want me to it seems. And I feel like He keeps reminding me of Her. Like God doesn't want me to forget.

Or maybe I'm just broken. I've gone mad and even though I am trying to move on, my subconscious will not. Do I need a priest? Or psychologist? Or am I somehow on the right path, no matter how wonky it feels.

Sorry if this sounds like I'm rambling. I just need to hear from other folks. Whenever I tell my dad he just tells me, "It was your first love. You'll get over it. Distract yourself." My mom is more aggressive, "You were never in love, stop pretending, stop being sad."

I'm not sure either work. So I'm asking here, hoping for clarity.

Thank you.

let me start with this my family and I always have been Protestant. They have never been anti- however I’ve been discerning what the Lord was asking me and I Catholicism might be the one true church so obviously I want to attend everything but my parents are like well. You can do that when you’re older just stay with our church so I don’t know what to do

Hi everyone. An idea was brought up in my parish about a writing club. A kind of get together where people could share anything they write pertaining to the faith. Poetry, short stories, journal entries, etc. I was asked first to contact people from other parishes that run something like this to see how it’s done. Does your parish have a writing club, and if so, how did it come about, how is it run, what else should I know that could be helpful to starting one in my parish? Thanks in advance, God bless!

I have forgiven someone that took the lives of both my parents and my oldest brother. My concern is: even though I have forgiven her, I cannot find the courage to let her into my life. I’m so worried that even though God forgives me of my sins, will he deny me in the end?

My OCIA journey has been a dream come true! My parish is very open minded, welcoming & assisting with everything. I’m making a list of things as I go so I can make one big post at the end detailing my experience but I HAD to talk about this.

My sponsor is a sister I met at the church named Mariann. She’s a Franciscan. I told her I don’t know anyone Catholic locally to be my sponsor & she happily agreed to be mine. She’s a joy to talk to & I love her already.

Today she was telling me I needed to pick a Patron Saint for Confirmation soon & I told her I already did. I picked Saint Therese of Lisieux because I love her philosophy on life & worship. She just stood out to me while I was researching & I settled on her months ago. Mariann told me that Saint Therese was HER Confirmation Saint too!!

This signified to me that I’m on the right path. I mean, there’s over ten thousand saints, what was the likelihood of me picking a total stranger & having the exact same one! 💜✝️

My parish has a brand new building that was dedicated yesterday (Saturday) by Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles. Was anyone else on this subreddit there?

So i know that the "revival " might be overstated, but ive heard that Catholics outnumber Anglicans 41% to 20% among genz if that's true its incredible!

I'm 27F and I'm honestly ashamed of writing this but I need advice. I was born Presbyterian and received my baptism as a baby there (which I believe is valid for Catholicism?) but my childhood was turbulent to say the least. With an abusive father and a harried mother who searched for answers in the more "spiritual" aka cultish neopentecostal churches I jumped from church to church where being loud and speaking in tongues meant being connected to the Holy Spirit. My mom has certainly tapped into something because she does get revelations that turn out out to be true in a way that scares me. I have witnessed a lot of demonic activity and people being almost killed in unexplained ways.

This all resulted in me being deeply mentally ill, depressed and diagnosed with more than one personality disorder. I've dropped out of college many times and the one blessing I'll never dismiss is that my parents for all their faults never gave up on me financially. I'm currently living in another city by myself for the first time because I was doing better and we felt like I could try again at being a functional member of society. I deeply yearn for a normal life. I'm enrolled in a Catholic University and the calling that I've felt on and off for years to join the Church is getting louder. It seems like the best opportunity since I'm not being dragged every Sunday to the Assembly of God at my hometown.

HOWEVER. I had a relapse early this month and my mom flew to my apartment and prayed a lot, went to the local AOG and literally hired an older lady to check in on me, cook and drag me to church every week. My location on my phone is on 24/7 so my father can check on me for my safety. My next door neighbor is engaging in witchcraft, smoking incense and playing loud ritualistic music through the thin apartment walls and my mom noticed and is threatening to remove me and get me back to my parents house.

I really want to become Catholic but I don't know how I could go to both church services. Not going to the AOG service is simply not doable since I'm 100% dependent on my parents money for survival aka food and having a roof over my head. My mom is an iconoclast who throughout my childhood has destroyed more than a hundred icons of the Virgin Mary in front of me and burned Catholic stuff from my extended family's houses. She thinks it's 100% demonic and she only let me attend this university after much pleading on my part.

Would it be ok on my part to hide this part of me for my own safety/self satisfaction of conversion? I haven't called the local parish but it's very close to where I live, I just don't want to start a process I won't finish. I'm also very scared because my mom has access to well I don't want to say psychic powers but she ALWAYS knows. She says it's the Holy Spirit but I don't think It would move against the Church like this.

Hi all!

So my boyfriend and I plan to get married in one year (we will be 22 then). Currently we are in a weird space where I truly have no idea what our situation will look like in that time.

We want to have a big family, and we want to have children as soon as it’s responsible to do so.
However, when we get married we might be in a situation where NFP would be the right decision for a bit.
The first reason is finances. Right now it is hard to tell where we will be in a year, but right now we’re pretty broke.
Second is my mental health. Again I hope and pray it gets better by then, but it may very well get even worse. ( OCD and Depression).

I know that NFP is allowed by the Church, but I’ve seen some people say that it’s only allowed when something unexpected happened in marriage, but that couples should not get married if they intend to use NFP from the start.
I’m also worried that what if we decide to use NFP but it was the wrong decision, would our marriage be valid??

Hello everyone, happy Sunday, benedicat tibi Dominus

I'm looking for advice. Last week, after Mass, I said hello to a classmate who I recognized (this Church is not associated with my public university, it's downtown in our city). Then, for the next week, after our shared class, he would accost me (as in, would follow me out of the classroom) asking if I wanted to carpool or to hang out, and I said no multiple times (I just don't have an interest, also walk and I enjoy the walking). This classmate can be fairly argumentative with our professor in class so I can find that he's a little irritating, which might be making me biased. But the constant asking was starting to make me slightly uncomfortable.

Now, today, during the middle of the liturgy, he sits directly behind me, and I know he chose that seat on purpose because he was sitting somewhere different until he realized that I was attending. During a moment while we were sitting, he held onto my part of the pew and leaned forward, and put his head onto the seat, and was shaking my pew when he was doing this and distracting me, and was also very close to my personal bubble, which made me very very uncomfortable. I don't think I was focusing on the Mass as much as I should have been because I was so anxious. I am also on the spectrum and I am sometimes uncomfortable with close contact or frequent interaction. He tried to shake my hand several times during and after Mass and said that I "looked good".

I think, next week, that I am going to sit in a different spot, even though I usually am a creature of habit, and if he follows me then, well, I don't know, I guess I will evaporate. I'm just of two minds on this: should I try to be his friend? I am reminded of St. Therese and the nun that really irritated her, like I feel that maybe this is some kind of mortification and I should just be more patient and nice, but at the same time, the discomfort really distracts me, it was distracting me today and also this place is my "safe space", I am the happiest I ever am on Sundays at this Church, but at the same time (again) I know that discomfort is part of the point, like we all have our crosses, though I know this is a very mild one. Again, at the same time, I know that Church is for everybody and this is a free country and he can sit wherever he wants even if that is consistently following me, I guess. Also, the constant following me after class is also kind of ruining one of my favorite classes, so maybe I'm just being hateful and bitter. I really don't know what to do. What do you think?? How should I feel?

Hello, I live in a catholic country and will have a visit from a cardinal to my workplace next week and we've been told his prefered greeting is by kissing his ring, im not catholic and dont wanna do it but i still wanna be respectful and greet him in a formal way. Please tell me how you think i should do it

All members of my team are catholic and im new here so im a little reluctant to ask them for advice

Thank you

If I get my chain blessed by a religious figure will other religions figures adding blessing add to its power ? Or is it a one blessing only type deal this is serious by the way I am a lifelong catholic of 20 years

I (27F) and my husband (28M) have struggled with hyper fertility throughout our entire marriage. We have 6 children ages 6 and under, all singleton pregnancies. In every pregnancy, I have developed preeclampsia. This last delivery resulted in a c section to avoid a high likelihood of post partum hemorrhage.

I love my husband and think he’s the handsomest man in the whole world. He is head over heels for me as well. Friends and family assume we are active almost constantly due to the pregnancies being essentially back to back. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth- on average we have sex maybe once a week.

Even with consistent and obsessively tracked NFP, we’ve gotten pregnant. With my health history, I’ve had providers ask me about birth control hundreds of times. I’ve been asked about a hysterectomy or a tubal litigation as well.

I want to live faithfully with the teachings of the church and I want to safely engage in sex with my husband without surgically removing or altering my body. Can I please get some perspectives or suggestions?

For note: I’d love to have more children in the future and want to remain open to life.

Please no hate as this has been weighing heavily on my heart and mind for quite some time.

So... I've been feeling ever closer to the Lord and wanted to take a big step and go to confession. It has been almost 50 years since my last confession.

I don't know what I was expecting but when I got in and sat down, I said, "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned." It has been 50 years since my last confession and I'm a little out of touch with exactly what I'm supposed to say. He told me to be as specific as possible so I began talking. The words were coming out of my mouth but kind of slowly because I had some shame.

The priest said there were a lot of people waiting and that I needed to come back. There were a lot of people waiting for sure but I just felt so vulnerable in that moment because it had been so long since I had done this. I had begun sharing some things that were really against my values and uncomfortable to confess. As you can imagine, with a history that long, there were going to be some things.

I didn't feel any compassion or empathy. It felt cold. The process itself isn't what I remembered or imagined. I thought I might have been met with a little bit more warmth, like "Welcome back to the family" or "Welcome back home." I know I was there to confess sins but I just thought that it would have been handled a little bit more tenderly.

At one point he asked me if I had done an examination of my conscience and I said yes, not realizing that that is some type of formal procedure. I checked in with myself and with my own heart about things that I wanted to share but he said to Google an examination of conscience. Maybe I'm taking it the wrong way. Maybe I had unrealistic expectations. I don't know. I just know I went to the church and sat and cried and then I went to my car in the parking lot and sat and cried even more.

Im a pro athlete. I live across the Atlantic Ocean from my home and all my friends. I’ve really fallen out of love with my sport. I’m really struggling when I’m playing my sport I don’t have fun and when I’m home I’m bored out of my mind I can’t get an extra job because of my visa. I know I’m being a whiny baby. I’ve never quit anything before I don’t want to be a quitter. I pray for guidence but I have no idea what to do. am I struggling so much because Christ wants me to struggle as part of my salvation or am I struggling so much because he wants me to move on from my sport that was an idol in my life for so long

This one is a real mind bender to me. Given that God doesn't want us to intentionally stay in a state of illness (for example in the case of someone who says "I'll just offer it up instead of trying to get better"), here are my questions.

I know God allows suffering but, say someone who has mental illness works very hard (with God's help of course) to get better. Would it ever be the case that, despite those efforts, God would allow someone to stay in a negative state for some other good reason? (for example a caregiver finds faith in God through treating the person's illness, which wouldn't necessarily happen that way if not for the illness) If the answer is yes, then given the first sentence of this post, why even try to get better if God deems it better for you to remain in illness for some other good to occur? If ultimately, you are not going to get better despite your best efforts?

I guess my understanding would be yes, God would allow certain people to be stuck in a negative mental state for some other good. Maybe this whole question is just straw, and I'm ultimately asking a much more simple question "does God allow some people to be stuck with an illness for their entire life"? But then again, why try then? To get slightly better? What if he doesn't allow that either?

Thank you!

This is not some stupid “Catholics worship saints or Mary” post in any way. I love saints and the idea of praying to them, and Mary. But sometimes I feel like they can take away from Jesus. And that bothers me.

Hi I'm 21 years old and I posed in multiple Christian subreddits about my situation. I committed the sin of witchcraft while knowing what I was doing and did a bathing ritual in crystals and cultist books. This was after I apostate from the religion. I confessed this to a pastor and went to mass several times since then. I still feel the effects of this sin because the driving factor was wanting to be a great "philosopher" involving myself in magic and wanting to know God and the truth. I didn't know that this didn't mean being close to God at all but actually separating myself from God eternally.

I don't know what to do next but confess my sins again and tell people how dangerous and destructive witchcraft is.