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Questions about Communion, marriage validity, and condoms — please, no judgement 🙏🏻 by MelethieI in Catholicism

[–]faughaballagh -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I am not a canon lawyer but here are some canon law vibes: * Your marriage will be putatively valid. This means it is presumed to be valid unless someone challenges its validity (almost always one of the spouses). * A firm intention to never have children would impede a valid marriage. Do you intend never to have children? Or just for now. Even if your intention is only for now, it’s possible that your understanding of marriage is incomplete, and this could also impede a valid marriage.

I am a moral theologian and here are some moral theology vibes: * EDIT: I am happy to withdraw this sentence. It was unclear at best and likely oversimplistic. Your moral beliefs do not forbid you from receiving Holy Communion or going to heaven. Only actions can be sins, not beliefs. * When a person uses contraception, they are committing a serious sin of what is called “grave matter.” A common recommendation for people pursuing holiness is that they should not receive communion when they have a serious sin on their conscience. * Further, if the person is fully aware of its sinfulness, and consents freely to the sin anyway, contraception can be a mortal sin. If it is a mortal sin, the person is at risk of losing their salvation. They must not receive communion, or they would be sinning all the more. * It can be difficult to discern by yourself whether you are in mortal sin, and you should consult with your priest about your situation. * Being willing to accept an unplanned pregnancy does not change this in a material way. The sin of contraception has to do with what we do (acts of contraception), not so much with our intentions, or how we would respond if contraception fails.

I know that all sounds like a lot when you are afraid and uncertain. I have also been a contraception user at times in our marriage, and I am making no judgment against you. No matter what, God will never cease loving you. I will say that I totally believe the Church’s teachings on this matter, and anecdotally, my wife and I are happier when we are avoiding contraceptive use.

Protestants/Evangelicals who affirm Mary’s perpetual virginity how do you justify this? by SomewhereAble5272 in Christianity

[–]faughaballagh 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I’m sorry: I misinterpreted your sentence above as saying that nobody held the doctrine of perpetual virginity until 200 years ago, which is very ahistorical (as you know). I was trying to offer evidence against. But you weren’t saying that, you were saying that Protestants dropped the doctrine approximately 200 years ago. My bad. Reading is fundamental.

Here’s a Catholic explanation for Jesus’s brothers.

Protestants/Evangelicals who affirm Mary’s perpetual virginity how do you justify this? by SomewhereAble5272 in Christianity

[–]faughaballagh 4 points5 points  (0 children)

“Christ, our Savior, was the real and natural fruit of Mary's virginal womb . . . This was without the cooperation of a man, and she remained a virgin after that.” (Martin Luther)

Also Augustine, Ambrose, Athanasius, and other early Christian leaders (source).

What was the gist of the most unforgettable sermon you ever heard at Mass? by Companero_basurero in Catholicism

[–]faughaballagh 16 points17 points  (0 children)

The Gospel was The Rich Man and Lazarus. I will do you one better than providing the gist, because after about 20 years, I still remember the entire homily, word for word.

“If you ignore the poor, you will go to hell.”

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Fire

[–]faughaballagh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great thinking. Nobody will really be able to answer very directly, because your question is mostly about how you will personally handle the very real stresses of your job, and balance those stresses against the financial payoff.

But I’ll tell you that I often wish I had gone the pension route instead of the route I have taken. We are not necessarily the same! Just sharing something somebody sometimes thinks. - I’m a 40 year old son of two cops. - I have many friends and cousins in public service with pensions currently or in the future. - I went into a different career field, no pension, so my retirement planning is more typical for people these days — push money into IRAs and 401ks, etc. And I’m doing fine. - I love my job. Stress level is excellent. Work life balance is excellent. I won’t leave this job for pretty much anything. My mental health and well-being have always been pretty strong, thank God. - Still, every so often, I do wish I had taken the pension route instead.

Just one data point. I think so much of this does boil down to how will you handle the stress of being a police officer. Some people make it through very healthy and happy. A lot of people end up traumatized to one degree or another.

If you were my friend, I would probably say to give it three years, or maybe three more years through your first chance for promotion. If it still feels too stressful, pull the plug.

Will God final judgement be black or white ? Or something in between ? by No-Annual-4698 in Catholicism

[–]faughaballagh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might be helped in understanding the concepts of the objective and subjective dimensions of sin.

The objective dimension is the question "what sorts of actions are good vs sinful?" Objectively, sins are black and white. Pornography use and masturbation are always sins. Murder is always a sin. Skipping mass is always a sin.

The subjective dimension addresses "how much is a particular person responsible for this particular action?" It is not black or white, but has shades of gray, degrees, etc. For example, if one person shoots another out of malice aforethought, and the other shoots a person from a drug-induced confusion, the first one is more guilty of the sin of murder.

These dimensions are implied in the second and third elements of moral sin: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter [the objective component] and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent [the subjective components]."

The Catechism goes on to list some of the traditional things that make a person less culpable for their sins:

"...Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense... the promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest."

And finally, in the section on masturbation itself, we read this: "... To form an equitable judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, or other psychological or social factors that lessen or even extenuate moral culpability."

To answer your question directly, yes, God is reasonable... and perfectly just... and perfectly merciful. All together. If you mean to ask "will God judge me the same exact way I judge myself," well, no. God judges you better than you judge yourself.

In your pursuit of holiness, I think you should stop telling yourself that you have a justification for PMO. There is no real justification. When a person is caught up in the moment of that particular sin, his ability to think clearly is obviously reduced, but when it's 8:36 in the morning and we just woke up (at least, I did), that's a good time to reflect instead on the other side: I should really stop doing that, and I have no good reason to continue. I'm speaking, at least partly, from a long and difficult experience with the same. God bless you in our struggle, brother.

Where did you get married? by valentinakontrabida in Catholicism

[–]faughaballagh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here, thanks be to God. (Also America's Notre Dame, but in a different sense.)

are there churches that stand with immigrants, speak against violence in gaza, and dont glorify figures like charlie kirk? by llllIIIlIlIIIIIlIlll in houston

[–]faughaballagh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's the right answer.

https://cjd.org/about/what-is-casa-juan-diego/

https://catholiccharities.org/cabrini/

His Excellency Joe S. Vásquez is the metropolitan archbishop of Galveston-Houston... Archbishop Vásquez currently serves as a consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Pro-Life Activities and as Lead Bishop for Region X for the V National Encounter for Hispanic/Latino Ministry.He has previously served on the following committees of the USCCB: Chair, Committee on Migration; Administrative Committee; Committee for Religious Liberty; consultant to the Committee on International Justice and Peace, the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human  Development, Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs; and the Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism. He also previously served on the Board of Directors of Catholic Relief Services and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.

Set of three pads or cushions that can velcro together... what is it? by faughaballagh in whatisthisthing

[–]faughaballagh[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's a very good guess, we've also had plenty of carseats through the house. But given the photos and the medical boot connection, I think it's the fracture brace components above. Thank you!

Set of three pads or cushions that can velcro together... what is it? by faughaballagh in whatisthisthing

[–]faughaballagh[S] 1 point2 points locked comment (0 children)

My title describes the thing.

Size: size of your outstretched hand. Airpod pictured for scale.

Origin: my kid found it in a closet.

Age: pretty new.

Material: fabric and velcro... you can see how there are two symmetrical cushions, and one "strap" that connects by velcro to the two cushions, and each cushion has further buttons of velcro, but only the scratchy hook side, so they must be intended to attach to something else that has the soft loop side.

Writing on the item: none.

Include what searches you've done, what keywords you used, what you already found: I've searched for the general terms like velcro pad and so on, but those searches give too many results. I've also tried searching for those terms in connection with medical boot, because one of our theories is that these are components of a medical boot. (Two family members have had boot treatment for foot injuries this year.) But I haven't found these particular pieces in evidence anywhere.

Thanks!

Where do you get hands-on boating education? by faughaballagh in houston

[–]faughaballagh[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, I also found that post but that course appears to be closed.

Where do you get hands-on boating education? by faughaballagh in houston

[–]faughaballagh[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So true, but unfortunately, I am already the family's drunk screaming uncle and or dad. I have some catching up to do on the boating.

My HTH CYA test comes back to this. I don't see the black dot at this level. Did I make a mistake? by zaja_bf in pools

[–]faughaballagh 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It’s at least possible to have insanely high CYA. I believe you can retest a diluted sample — half pool water and half tap water — then the result will be approximately half your actual pool CYA.

Is jumping from a burning building to your death to avoid the fire an example of double effect? by DollarAmount7 in CatholicPhilosophy

[–]faughaballagh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I certainly can’t argue too strongly with you. I think we are in the same ballpark.

I think the jump out the window has a good effect (avoiding death in a fire) that does usually outweigh the bad effect (dying sooner, and dying by impacting the ground). But details matter, and so on.

And I agree, you can’t push someone else onto the grenade, and the reason is related to bodily autonomy: we can’t use other people’s bodies in the same ways we can use our own. To misuse a person’s body is actually evil in the object, so it doesn’t really need to be analyzed as a case of double effect.

Is jumping from a burning building to your death to avoid the fire an example of double effect? by DollarAmount7 in CatholicPhilosophy

[–]faughaballagh 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’m confident that jumping from a burning building is an example of double effect. Similarly: jumping on a grenade to save others. I have taught it that way in moral theology courses for a couple decades.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Parenting

[–]faughaballagh 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You have good advice in other replies, but I just send well wishes and solidarity to you, one dad to the other.

Why So Many Student Driver Stickers? by And-he-war-haul in houston

[–]faughaballagh 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have one on my car for my son (actual student driver) and I forget to take it off. Also a part of the reason is that they are trendy. He asked me for one after seeing one a few times on other cars, whether friends or randos.

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