Skip to main content

Catholic culture and church versus secular culture.


Fr. John Higgins


The difference between Catholic culture and church, versus secular culture.


One evening I was doing a session with our Confirmation Students. They had written questions on small pieces of paper and they were put into a basket. We met in the church and a Priest from Cameroon, Fr. Khumbah was with us. He and I had a great relationship and we often laughed together. We sat on stools in front of the Altar and answered the questions. One of them was "Do you believe in EQUALITY?" I smiled and asked this African Priest. He said "No, of course not. Fr. John is not nearly as smart as me, but I am fatter than him!" The youngsters looked shocked. He gave them a big smile and they laughed. He said "It depends on what you mean by "equality". We are all equal in our human dignity, but some people are beautiful like me and some are pasty white like Fr. John! The students looked a little shocked. He said "Now is that not ridiculous?" I said "We are not exactly alike, so we are not absolutely equal. But we enjoy the differences between us! Can you imagine if everyone in the world was exactly like you? Wouldn't the world be boring?" They looked confused. I said "I am very glad, for example, that there are difference between males and females, that we have Mexican food, sushi, burgers, pizza and more here in our city." "That is what makes life interesting", said Fr. Kumbah, "We are many colors, many sizes and shapes and we can all be a family in Christ! But thank God we are all different too!" 


With that I think they got the point. The next question was: "Why does the Catholic Church hate gay people?" We had even more fun with that one. 


Secular culture will lie about what we believe and who we are as Catholics. It's good to call them out on this whenever we can!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

From throwing rocks at Catholics to entering the Church in more ways than one! My Conversion Story I am a Convert to the Catholic faith. I grew up in Southern California as a Methodist and became Catholic when I was 19. As a kid I used to go to my buddy Eddy’s house on Sunday mornings. He lived across the street from a big Catholc Church, St. Emydius in Lynwood, CA. He was Presbyterian. We were little scoundrels and had no idea why, but we would throw rocks at the Catholics as they drove their cars into the parking lot. One day in the hot summer of the early 1960s I went to his house. Eddy wasn’t home. So,  I walked across the street and saw the doors of that Catholic Church open. I went inside. They had a little place where you could wash your hands and face. I looked around inside the dark cool Church. There were people inside! It wasn’t even Sunday and there were people praying! I thought it must be some kind of special occasion so I waited for a “service” to start. There was no...
5 comments
Read more
Real Christianity How many times have I heard: "I'm a nice person and I try not to judge others" as a profession of faith? How many times have I heard Christians say "Well, just be nice and you will make it to Heaven!"? How many times have I heard people say: "I made my First Communion and I made my Confirmation"? These people think that Christianity is all about being a good person and getting a prize for it. This isn't Christianity at all! It's watered down Christianity that's as effective as Madam Toussaint and her crystal ball or the guy on stage who keeps shouting that if you give him money you'll grow rich and get to Heaven that way. Being "Nice" has nothing to do with Christianity. "Making" a Sacrament isn't possible. "Only God can judge me" is a farce and an excuse for immoral behavior. Don't be a "Watered Down" anything! Believe in Jesus Christ, realize that He loves you and then ...
Post a Comment
Read more
Demonic Conjuring? By Fr. John Higgins Last week a few young people were talking with me. They are good kids who are members of our "Life Teen" group and do a lot to help our parish. One of them said that she had watched several movies and documentaries on demonic possession and "conjuring". She asked what I thought about it. I smiled and said "Sit down, this is going to take awhile." She said "Oh, I don't want to take up too much of your time, just give me the short version". She was trying to not be a burden. I said: "Go get some other teens. We'll have a good time. Bring me a soda!" She laughed and ran off. A few minutes later she came back with several other teens and a couple of young adults. I got them to sit down and described what I thought of it all. I won't get into all of the details, but I told them that the only power that demons directly have is to frighten and tempt us. I said that I had seen some people who I...
Post a Comment
Read more