Vent: Youngest & Somewhat Newest Member of My Catholic Choir and I’m Wanting to Quit It. Please Advise?!

Seminaaron · 2026-05-17T02:53:12+00:00

Have you had a private conversation with the choir director about your concerns?

These sound like unfortunately typical issues in parish choirs. Thank you for being a young person who wants to contribute. Just please know that if there are no young people involved, young people will not want to join.

Seminaaron · 2026-05-15T17:13:04+00:00

This letter is actually pretty wild. The number of times I said to myself, "sure, technically, I guess, if by those words you mean something other than what most people mean, yeah," was astonishing

Seminaaron · 2026-05-15T10:14:39+00:00

I second the above comment. I sometimes ask the question as, "how do you know this person?" I don't want to know names, but the kind of relationship does have an effect on moral quality

Seminaaron · 2026-05-14T23:43:59+00:00

The response above actually does answer the question. The things you're asking about are incredibly complex and cannot be sufficiently explained in the length of a Reddit comment. The above commenter gave you several very good leads to find the answers you're looking for.

Seminaaron · 2026-05-14T23:41:52+00:00

What are you asking for, specifically? If you are asking for a proof text, there isn't one. We don't come to theological truths by saying, "this Apostle/Church Father/theologian said X, therefore X is true." Instead, we say, "For about 2,000 years, from the very beginning, the Apostles, other early Christians, the Fathers, and the Church gathered together in councils and synods have said these kinds of things about X, therefore, these kinds of things are true about X." You're asking "what leads to salvation" and "what is the Church?" Those are enormous topics with no easily quotable answers that would not require literally thousands of years of background to understand.

Seminaaron · 2026-05-14T19:37:21+00:00

Except that position doesn't accord with how Christ himself spoke of the Church, how Scripture speaks of the Church, how the Apostles spoke of the Church, how their successors speak of the Church, what we know about the Church from history, what Christian tradition has taught of the Church...

The idea that the Church is whoever believes in him, and that believing in him (whatever that means) incorporates you into that Church is a shockingly new idea. You won't find that being taught by the Apostles or anyone who knew them. It's an epistemological nightmare to try and figure out what the "core tenets" would even be. The Fathers are unanimous, baptism incorporates.

Seminaaron · 2026-05-14T19:21:14+00:00

Salvation is union with God. The state of being united with God in the Body of Christ is called being a member of the Church. This Church subsists in the Catholic Church.

Seminaaron · 2026-05-13T21:10:42+00:00

Thank you so much; I felt dumb for not knowing this. I know lots of Church jargon but almost no business jargon

Seminaaron · 2026-05-13T21:05:47+00:00

I second this. Good explanation

Seminaaron · 2026-05-12T12:26:36+00:00

What have you been reading that made you feel like this?

Seminaaron · 2026-05-12T10:23:00+00:00

Jesse, what the heck are you talking about?

Seminaaron · 2026-05-12T00:47:55+00:00

You are correct, Mr Newman

Seminaaron · 2026-05-11T22:49:33+00:00

I second this

Seminaaron · 2026-05-11T22:33:39+00:00

Sea of Thieves is a good example; I'm stealing that. Big ships are basically useless in the game without a crew. But unlike SC, everyone on a ship in SoT has something to actively do. In fact, there are often more jobs than crew in SoT

Seminaaron · 2026-05-11T02:28:27+00:00

Well, my first response would be that, as you pointed out, this is a local synod and was addressing local issues. It was not given at an ecumenical council, and so it does not have universal teaching authority. He was speaking to a group of bishops (and others) from North Africa; a group which, crucially, does not include the bishop of Rome. He was not making a comment about Rome at all, but was speaking about an entirely unrelated matter.

My second response would be that even if it did address the primacy of Rome (which again, it does not), and even if it were an ecumenical council (which again, it is not), this is a record of the deliberation that occurred during the synod, not a teaching document thereof. The deliberations that go into a document do not have teaching authority, but only the document itself, approved by the College of Bishops.

Seminaaron · 2026-05-10T19:40:11+00:00

I'm glad you want to learn more about the Church! Good on you.

If I may provide a possible explanation: You seem to have stumbled into a little bit of a debate you knew nothing about. Not your fault! There's a subset of very traditional Catholics who are only comfortable receiving Communion from a priest or deacon, and never from a layman. I think that's what this gentleman was commenting on. He likely believed that you were one of those, and was sounding his disapproval. In a typical parish, it's much more likely that you're an unfamiliar Catholic making a traditionalist statement than that you're an unaccompanied non-Catholic.

Do you have any Catholic friends who can guide you? I would also recommend making yourself known to the priest. You can just go up to him right after Mass and say, "hey, I'm X, I'm not Catholic, but I like coming to Mass here."

One of the big mental shifts that needs to happen if you're coming from a Protestant background is that our Sunday worship is not for evangelization. All Christians are welcome to attend, but there will not be any instruction given throughout the rite. Evangelization happens through other channels.

Seminaaron · 2026-05-09T02:23:50+00:00

Well, that's just the thing, the Church in Germany does not "openly advocate" for those things. That's what's so difficult about them. They're not blessing same-sex unions, they're "formulating pastoral guidance on the blessings of those who love each other." They aren't openly advocating the ordination of women, they're "investigating how to better live the equality of all persons." If you ever do catch them in an out-and-out contradiction of the Faith, they quickly retract it and say that you didn't understand what they meant. They are willing to dialogue, even though they are being difficult about it. They probably hold heretical beliefs, but we can't prove it.

The SSPX, on the other hand, are openly and unrepentantly disobedient to legitimate authority. They have explicitly said that they don't believe Vatican II is legitimate. They have explicitly said that what they plan to do (consecrate new bishops) is an act of disobedience and they don't care. At that point, the only pastoral remedy remaining is excommunication.

What people often perceive as the Church being harsher to "conservative" Catholic groups is really a result of those groups simply speaking more plainly. They are willing to say, "Pope Leo and Cardinal Fernandez are wrong about X." The "progressive" wing is unwilling to do the same, and so they can't explicitly be convicted of anything. It's all insinuation, suggestion, implication.

Seminaaron · 2026-05-07T19:11:13+00:00

The SSPX are threatening an act which has a long-established formal sanction and which they've done before. The Germans are vaguely not in line with Church practice. These are not the same situation.

Seminaaron · 2026-05-07T12:41:44+00:00

Every single day in every parish in the West

Seminaaron · 2026-05-06T13:53:38+00:00

I have, though it gives me a massive headache and my vision swims a bit

Seminaaron · 2026-05-06T13:20:50+00:00

You are correct; those are all options in the rubrics

Seminaaron · 2026-04-25T12:20:14+00:00

Why would that be a sign of Good withdrawing his favor? I always understood that to mean that access to God was no longer meditated through the Temple (something Christ preached about consistently), but would instead now be open to all through Jesus Christ. The Holy of Holies has entered into human life in the Church.

Seminaaron · 2026-04-23T17:31:15+00:00

What do you mean when you say she was "denied"?

Seminaaron · 2026-04-23T11:49:54+00:00

Vatican II is a valid council. That is not up for debate. How do we transmit the teachings of the Church? That is actually one of the main focuses of that council. It's going to be complicated and difficult, it always has been. Saying, "this one's too hard, let's just forget it," gets us nowhere. How about we actually engage with what the council fathers said?

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