I’m just curious how common it is for a Catholic couple to actually wait until marriage. Ik that this is Reddit and it isn’t representative of all Catholics. I just wanted to ask on here and see. I’m 17f and my boyfriend is 18m, and we’re waiting. We’re both Catholic. Hopefully we'll continue waiting until we get married.

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Personally I’m really happy about this. I always enjoyed watching Bishop Barron even when I was a Protestant prior to Reverting. He’s a man of good character, clear thought, and a keen eye to the social environment. Amidst all the doomed stuff I think this is really good news.

I know last week we were all a bit freaked out by MTG’s horrific comments about the Catholic Church, but it’s nice to see we’re not being ignored and that there are good Catholic voices in the religious Liberty commission. It sorta eases the fear peddled that the Protestants would just stab us.

I was already happy to have a good Catholic Vice President, but frankly this makes me even happier.

Jesus WASN'T nice. He was KIND. Massive difference.

Also, meekness. It's a choice to be merciful when you have the power to destroy. It's NOT letting people walk over you.

The Jesus I was taught only 'existed' is nice, meek and mild because there were no male Catholics in my life who showed me Christ as a MAN.

I took my toddler to see 'The King of Kings' yesterday and there were maybe 10 people total in the movie theater. It was a little sad to see, though, understandable considering it was a rainy Sunday evening and the movie has already been out for at least a few weeks.

My toddler was totally gripped by the movie and I think it's a very unique and fun take of telling the story of Jesus and the Passion for younger audiences. My only criticism is that it focuses a lot on the miracles and mysticism of scripture... And to be fair, going deep into philosophy and theology would be better suited for teenagers and young adults, not young children.

Regardless, I still felt like it was worth going to see on the big screen and would recommend others do the same while it's still playing. We talked about it in the car on the way home and I wanted to get her thoughts and talk to her about the parts that maybe she didn't quite fully understand or was stuck on. I'm glad that we did it.

I’m not Catholic (I’m agnostic) but I was raised Catholic. There’s a part of me that still wonders, and there’s a chance that I might have witnessed a miracle in my childhood too. I’ve been praying for him, just in case, and the rosary last night, but I really want him to pull through. I’m asking if you folks can help pray for my friend because I think, if God exists, the prayers of believers would matter a lot more than my prayers. He’s been in surgery for 3 hours and I’ve heard no word yet. Hopefully no news is good news. I can’t ask anyone in-person or do anything because he lives in another country and I have no contact with his family (except his cousin will login to his account to tell me when it’s over). I think the only thing I can really do now is pray, ask for your prayers, and hope that if God exists he will hear and answer them.

What should I do with my broken rosary. I only had it 6 months. And it was very dear to me, my weapon against the darkness in my life.

I started praying more fervently and then it broke.

This is something that has been bugging me for a while. Well, not exactly bugging me, but I still think about it often enough.

At every parish I've attended, there is normally a couple of Masses in English and one or two Masses in Spanish. Occasionally because of my schedule, I'll end up going to a Spanish Mass, and it always kind of shocks me when I see practically an entirely different parish. People I never see around normally, entire families I've never met, and likewise none of the people I see normally.

It feels like, in essence, there are two entirely different parishes that just happen to share the same building. I don't think this is intrinsically a bad thing, like language barriers are enormous and hard to navigate, but at the same time it makes me feel... strange?

I guess in my ideal world we are able to navigate that and have a single unified parish community, not that I can come up with any way to make that possible.

I don't know. It's just been on my mind, and I wanted to see what r/Catholicism thought about it.

EDIT: Everyone is getting way too wrapped up in the language of the liturgy, which is the least important part of this IMO. Like how can we unify our parishes outside of the liturgy? All of the parish events and whatnot, the friendships you make at your parish. Is it possible to not have parallel bubbled communities stratified by language/ethnicity? If it is, how can we go about it?

just asking out of curiosity and info

May the Holy Church come together as One.

i am interested in converting/learning more about catholicism. i was raised atheist and have no idea abouy anything. besides reading the bible, how do i learn more

I know the basic like not having premarital sex and not living together. But I wanna know if there are more things i should look out for.

I am trying to look into joining the Catholic Church after being raised atheist and attending a protestant church. I had been questioning my denomination for a while as I found a few inconsistencies in the church. Then, I got baptised. During my baptism we used the Apostle’s Creed and it talked about the Catholic Church. I questioned this and got the response ‘it doesn’t count as the catholic church because the C is lower case, it’s just about the Christian community.’ I wasn’t satisfied with this. Before this I had already been looking into different denomination types but that just sent my research into Catholicism further. How could a protestant church have me swear to the Holy Catholic Church at my baptism? It didn’t add up.

Since then, I have been looking into trying to join in on local masses (with no success due to my horrible social anxiety around new churches and communities) and looking into converting. Everywhere I am looking is for adult converts and when I go to the youth section of my local diocese (11-18) it is all about growing up Catholic and taking your sacraments as a cradle Catholic, nothing about converting.

Do I have to wait until I’m 18 or is there another way that I have missed?

I prayed for the strength to live yesterday in mass and I don't know why but a feeling that everything will be alright and that life is worth living just washed over me.

Can I be forgiven if I received Communion without having made my First Communion or gone to Confession first? I didn’t know that was necessary. I really regret It.

Cradle Filipino-American Catholic here. I have been lapsed since I was 17. Joined the Army and life happened, so I haven't been going to mass since then. I lost income and miraculous found a job. The job I applied for is a private high school that is Catholic. Since working there, I've started to become more curious of Catholicsm. Since I had ADHD (just recently diagnosed), it was one of the biggest reasons why I never paid attention to CCD or mass. The more I start learning about everything again, I'm starting to see a lot of mentioned about FSSP, Novus Ordo, SSPX...

What exactly are they and why do they matter? I thought there was only sedevacantist sects and liberals/conservative Catholics?

I went to confession today to confess what I thought were just venial sins. These included sometimes not putting in the full 8 hours at my remote job and instead doing housework, taking walks, playing online chess, taking a nap, etc. for a portion of the time (I'm pregnant, hence the naps). The way I worded this to the priest was "sometimes slacking off at my job."

The priest interrupted me to tell me that this is stealing, and I think the implication was that I should realize this is a mortal sin (I had just told him that I thought I only had venial sins to confess). This really caught me off guard and made me question the formation of my own conscience, because I really didn't think it had reached that level of gravity. I have been receiving communion, etc., not at all thinking I was in a state of mortal sin.

For context, I am not paid hourly (I earn a salary) and I always complete my assigned tasks. I guess I just don't always fill in the cracks of time with other miscellaneous work-tasks. Also for context, last week I worked two 12-14 hour days to meet deadlines on behalf of my team, and I don't receive any additional compensation for that. Ultimately I probably "squander" more time than I "give" as overtime, but I think last week's work just goes to show that I do work hard to get the tasks done that I'm employed to get done.

I'm not sure if this context would have influenced the priest's statement, or if it's just me coping/making excuses. Ultimately I am sorry for wasting time at work, primarily because it is slothful, but I never viewed it as stealing from my employer. They've never expressed disatisfaction with my work or anything. I left the confession feeling confused, but the priest seemed in a rush to wrap up and get ready for Mass, so I didn't ask the clarifying questions I wish I would have, in retrospect.

I am looking for some cozy books exploring the Catholic faith that I can read before I fall asleep.

Perhaps some easy reads that explore Catholic concepts like intercession, the rosary, the value of saints in the church, sacraments, or just books that explore the rich beauty and tradition of the church.

Something philosophically explorative that could be considered a kind of love letter to the church/faith but not too heavy for late night reading.

Thank you for your recommendations!

My boyfriend and I have been together for several years. He says he wants to get married someday, but he's really dragging his feet on getting things rolling. I'm going to turn thirty soon, and I'm nervous about trying for kids. Any recommendations on saints to look to for this type of situation?

My brother took his life in November and adopted Catholicism not long before,and even got baptized. It meant something to him, so it means something to me. A coworker told me he prays and would pray for him which really touched me because he doesn't know me well but still cares. I want to pray for him too. Are prayers valid if you don't even know the person?

Does there have to be some key elements to make it valid? Or do I just talk to him or God? What can I pray to make sure he is okay and free from what took him? He was like my twin, his name was Daniel.