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PaperclipPerfector  5mo ago (text post)   4774 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 7, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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There are some Catholics on the Motte, right? What do you do for guidance/ clarification on finer points of doctrine as they relate to everyday moral behavior? I'd imagine the first-line recourse is just "ask your parish priest," but for questions that are a little more theologically complex, or where you've gotten conflicting information already?

If it's a bio-ethical question, reach out to the National Catholic Bioethics Center.

Otherwise, read books on the topic, get a Spiritual Director, something in between. One time I booked an appointment with my parish priest and all he said amounted to, "Yeah, that sounds like a difficult situation."

Just as an aside, it constantly surprises me how little practical purity there is on doctrine from Catholics, which is odd considering that theoretically and historically shouldn't Catholicism be like, the most purist? Like, there's been a thousand and a halfish years to work this stuff out, and tradition is sort of co-equal with scripture (to my understanding), so you'd think that would imply doctrinal convergence. Or maybe it's more of an implementation problem? Or is it the nature of modern life to actually surface unique moral questions with no clear analogue?

Tradition is held to be equal with Scripture, yes - but there's a lot of stuff which isn't dogma handed down by tradition, so there's room for a lot of disagreement on things still. And of course, it can be challenging to figure out how the principles of the faith (whether given by Tradition or Scripture) apply to specific circumstances.

The answers vary, unsurprisingly. I prefer to trust the judgement of a parish priest/pastor, but moral guidance is pretty widely available on the internet for Catholics to address stock quandaries, ranging from individual priests putting homilies on the internet to seminary moral theology textbooks.

I've joined a weekly prayer group (a diocesan sponsored group from a international organization) we have a chaplain who joins us but hearing from others is often just as informative. I've never had a good personal relationship with parish priests or residence hall rectors (were priests at the University I attended), but with the weekly group makes approaching and conversing with the chaplain very easy. Other alternatives are spiritual direction, I would advise against broaching theologically complex questions in the sacrament of confession.

What makes this specific to Catholics? Are you Catholic with some sort of question you're unsure about? But then you would probably just ask that.

I'm Protestant, and for me, the answer is either to try and go find if there's anything helpful in old theological writings (of which there are many, not all of which are in English), or, just ask the pastor or other individuals I generally trust to have good insights.

I'm just going to note that for actually existing Catholicism and Catholics, the answer is mostly the same stuff anyone else would do: ask people you trust, read philosophers' books or essays on the topic. With whatever additional weight given to Catholic priests and theologians makes you comfortable.

I realize that endeavouring to be more Catholic than the Pope is a less obvious joke than it once was, but nonetheless: don't make the philosophically and theologically perfect the enemy of the good.

It's great if you have a friendly priest, but IME a lot of them are overworked, tired, apathetic, uneducated, and/or unorthodox. In those cases, a good Catholic friend is probably your next best bet. The Catechism is good, but since it's just a book, it won't give you an answer tailored to your specific circumstances that takes into account mitigating/aggravating factors, your intent, your history, etc etc.

I used to be more scrupulous about small infractions and I would get stuck wondering whether or not doing something was strictly allowed, but these days I just try to recall what I've studied and apply the general principles to my situation to the best of my ability in the moment. It's always good to reflect at the end of the day to check where you succeed and where you failed ("examination of conscience") and then do further reading if needed. It helps calibrate your sense of right and wrong without you overthinking in the moment and falling into analysis paralysis.

I'd imagine the first-line recourse is just "ask your parish priest,"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catechism_of_the_Catholic_Church and similar published materials also often work fine

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