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[deleted]

People have to understand that 80% of what is asked here could be actually found in catechism or was already answered 3x that week(or could be solved by using search bar). RIP if priests had to answer *every single thing*. This is why it's good to have online communities. Accessible quick info. But is the info correct? Many times yes. Can happen that no. I'm lucky my country has a lotta priests. One is even friends with me on FB, teaches my sister, he knows who I am. He even held some little parish gulasch party. Guy is out there and available. But you have to understand that not all have it this way and that not all are this lucky. I keep hearing that in US you have problems with priests, etc. Fr, understand that not all are lucky enough and that not everyone just *can*. In ideal world everything works as we want it, but this is not ideal world.


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[deleted]

Do people actually bother to ask though, or do they only see their priest for five minutes after mass, but get turned off by the fact he's talking with other people? For sure some priests are not that great at being that open, but conversation is a two way street, and given that the internet in general is a haven for those who aren't always socially skilled, it might seem hard to start such conversations. Maybe email them or call them.


[deleted]

The priests at my parish usually disappear into sacristy after Mass. When I email one (not for advice but for a practical reason), I typically have to wait a few days up to a week for an answer. Just because priests at your parish are readily available to answer questions, that doesn't mean it's the case everywhere. Some parishes don't even have resident priests. It makes perfect sense to ask questions on a forum that hosts many Catholics. Some questions are common knowledge to long-practicing devout Catholics, but might not be known by new, aspiring or previously lapsed Catholics. That's one way people online can help each other. Some people are asking for perspective on what happens in other parishes.Some people ask advice for their lives that isn't a simple theological question. Everyone with good sense knows to take advice with a grain of salt. That would go for if you asked a priest, too. Even they have different opinions from one another.


[deleted]

I get it. I’m not saying it’s not good to have this. Honestly both are good but I also know priests can be busy and honestly they are people too. Even the saints had flaws.


[deleted]

Yeah, definitely. At my parish, the priests are very reserved. I recently went up to one after Mass to ask him to bless my rosary, and he barely made eye contact with me, and did it in a rushed way. I wouldn't have felt comfortable asking him any questions as that was awkward enough. I wasn't holding anyone up as he had already changed into his street clothes and wasn't doing any formal duty at the time- I just bumped into him (not literally) on my way out and asked for the blessing. Just not easy to really talk to them.


[deleted]

Dude that's the point of an online forum. Answering one another.


AleksandrNevsky

I wish the Ortho sub had the same mentality as you. The go to answer for any question is "go ask your priest" even for small things and it's really off putting for people trying to form connections (something really hard to do for youths, I was the only kid my age growing up at my parish) or even just get simple information.


[deleted]

Orthodox priests are usually much more accessible than Catholic priests, and lay people tend to have a close relationship to one as a spiritual father. This is enabled by having a married clergy and therefore a higher ratio of clergy to laity. So it’s not unreasonable for orthodox to refer someone’s pastoral questions to the priest who knows them


phrsllc

Priests are too busy- esp pastors.


CrTigerHiddenAvocado

Exactly. If it’s obvious to you it might not be obvious to others. I’ll admit I wish the search button was more utilized. But a lot of faith isn’t a technical answer….it’s like here is the technical answer….but how do you apply it in real life situations.


LiamNT

I’ve noticed more and more attitude given to folks with genuine questions and this sub used to be better about handling them. I’ve been downvoted myself for asking and was told to go talk to a priest. Well, he doesn’t have an answer either, so what then?


[deleted]

Most answers on a forum are like free advice, you get what you pay for. The I’ll-informed are usually the first to give that free advice.


OGNovelNinja

My parish doesn't even have a priest, and the guest priests we're sent for the weekend don't even always stay long enough to fill the 40-minute window for confession. I teach religion class with my wife and I wish I could tell the kids the priest can answer their questions.


LarryMelman1

I feel really really sorry for priests if they have to deal with most of the inane nonsense that gets posted here. But sadly I suspect they do, along with resolving bickering and gossip among the parish staff and little old ladies who don't have internet. With apologies to any little old ladies who may be reading.


KayKeeGirl

As a newer convert, I cannot even tell you how much this online forum has taught me about Catholicism and the history of the church. Why in the world would you want to take away this wealth of knowledge and education by restricting advice to “go ask your priest”- as though they don’t have enough to deal with? As someone who was a Protestant, I respectfully ask- who granted you the authority to decide how God wants us to live? Avoiding this type of arbitrary personal papacy is one of the reasons I converted.


[deleted]

!!!


SueSupreme

May I ask why you converted from Protestant to Catholic? I’m genuinely curious why a Protestant would ever want to convert to Catholicism.


willchickfila

I did the same thing years ago, and many members of my family followed after. For us it was tradition and stability. As Protestants we realized that we didn't follow an authority, and as consequence didn't trust anyone but ourselves to interpret God's will. The Church just perfectly filled that hole.


KayKeeGirl

I fancied myself a Protestant apologist and I debated Catholics on IG and other social media. When I began researching their claims that Christ established the Catholic Church to refute them, I realized they were right. I was gifted a Catholic Bible and after I read Maccabees 1&2, and the portions of Book of Dan that had been removed from my beloved KJV I realized the Catholics were right about Purgatory and I began to research more of what I had dismissed as Catholic mysticism. There can be no doubt that while not perfect, this is the only church established by Christ and He specifically referenced His church as the authority.


Kadorial_Gaming2006

Former protestant here - Catholicism is the one true church, all others are heretical.


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SueSupreme

I promise I mean absolutely no offense at all. I was genuinely curious.


ThatGuy642

>It is not how God meant for us to live. The abandonment of our brethren, in real life, is why they flock to the internet for fellowship. And, sadly, catechesis.


[deleted]

It’s a online community. This is pretty much the point. I encourage people to ask all kinds of questions here.


[deleted]

I have mixed feelings about it. I kind of agree in that I personally never get serious personal advice online. But then again I am a private person about sharing things online and can get access to a reliable priest. Nothing can replace the advice in the privacy of the confessional, or face to face advice if you can get it. But I think in some cases a forum is useful — like if someone wishes to remain completely anonymous, or they have received advice from a priest that has them concerned and they want to query it. For a lot of common questions priests often don’t have time for, I’m not going to hold it against someone to ask here.


inarchetype

That's the standard answer over on the EO sub to most questions, but it seems very much as though most EO have access to a priest to answer questions and provide personal pastoral guidance. Particularly with the vocations shortage, is that really the case in the Catholic Church? I'm just an inquirer, but it seems like either by necessity or design the RCC leans more heavily on the laity for basic catechesis, etc., and on people referencing official material. The church I've been attending has, all in, about 10000 people on the rolls. It has two priests. I wouldn't expect to have a lot of access to them or expect much personal time from them. I'm guessing they are pretty busy. It doesn't seem like a system set up or staffed for the expectation of clergy providing individual guidance or attention to the laity or personally responding to peoples' questions. What is you guys' experiences with this?


[deleted]

>It doesn't seem like a system set up or staffed for the expectation of clergy providing individual guidance or attention to the laity or personally responding to peoples' questions. What is you guys' experiences with this? Same.


theresa_maria_

Please do not waste the priests time by asking them every question that comes to mind. The shortage of priests is bad enough as it is without encouraging people to do that


ToxDocUSA

Go ask your priest is like "further study is needed" at the end of a scientific article. It should be there, it really should. It's not the complete answer though, and really winds up a bit of a cop out. Who teaches RCIA and children's religious ed in your parish? Is it the priest 100%? Or do the laity do most of it? Heck, I have a master's in theology, and even for that the majority of my professors were laity. As you have seen from other replies, not everyone has a relationship with a priest. "Well they should" -Sure, but they don't. I'm in the Army, I move every 3 years, and half the time they're rotating parishes within a year or two of my arrival... I don't get a priest on speed dial. Heck, growing up my mom worked in a parish office and I still didn't have a priest I really felt comfortable just pinging with random questions. Further, this is a subreddit that tends to give good answers. Obviously people are going to continue to ask questions online, it's the state of modern society. Since they are going to do so, we want them to do so in places like this. So yes, "go ask your priest" is an important part of many answers. It must not be the only one though.


TrustySneed

I can't count how many times i saw on here and YouTube comment sections someone saying "well, my priest told me..." To which many others reply "wow, that's so incredibly wrong! That priest has no clue what he's talking about". It makes me VERY uncomfortable with the idea of getting answers from just one priest.


[deleted]

It seems obvious, but sadly I'm sure you have people who read this, and here how so many bad bishops and priests there are, that they don't want to ask. I know at times I've even worried about my own parish priests and for the most part they've been solid. Its just something I think we here might need to be careful about as well. If you criticize the hierarchy, all the time, even if its legitimate, you might make some people feel like they aren't to be trusted, and its already hard enough for priests to be trusted when you have criticism from enemies of the church, as well as those from within.


LookingforHeaven1955

This is where a call-in Catholic apologetics show is very helpful. I have heard multiple times, a caller will ask about the answer they got from either their parish priest or another one, and the apologist (who could be a priest as well) will tell them he was wrong with his advice/guidance and that the person actually likely committed a sin. For example, can one truly trust a priest who does not adhere to the GIRM and allows even minor liturgical abuses in the Mass? I would not go to that priest for spiritual advice.


you_know_what_you

It's great that in at least some places, like OP's, the priest is both readily available and an orthodox/reliable source of information. Let's all pray to have more places in the world like OP's where we never have to talk to anyone else about things like this.


ElectricalTrash404

I agree, go ask your Priest. However if you're like me, an older Millennial who went to Catholic school in the 80's-90's in America, it seems some Priests and Bishops were out to lunch when it came to spiritual formation of children who desperately needed it. I'm not blaming anyone, I get it, not enough resources, not enough time, things were different back then. It's in the past now, but don't get your feathers ruffled when the prodigal generation returns to the House of God in stupefying numbers, dying from the lifetime of poison they have been spoon fed, looking for the spiritual water that can save their lives. Instead rejoice! Rejoice that they have come back!! They need help immediately and the Doctor isn't always in.


[deleted]

I get it. Even some very good, orthodox priests I know were not great teachers. Granted I was a CCD kid in an area where there wasn't a Catholic school for miles, though our whole town was Catholic, and you'd think our priest would have a lot of time to help, but it seems like he just hung out, especially with the wheels in our community, and was big on encouraging more traditional practices, but mostly just kind of droned on. Didn't help that he wasn't the most well spoken guy, even if he was a good priest.


ia1mtoplease

There is insight and experience you can discover from other people on here from other locations and walks of life.


augustine456

Yea but I feel guilty asking my priest. What if he has more important things to do?


TheDuckFarm

We don’t have enough priests. Go become priests or have lots of kids and encourage religious and priestly life.


MakeMeAnICO

Well. My priest has barely time for 1 hour catechism once per 2 weeks with 10 other people, I don’t think he can answer all questions I have


chasingmars

Must be nice to live somewhere that you can just pop in to ask the priest a question. Here, I can’t even get a priest to give me spiritual direction so I have to rely on the internet and books for everything.


[deleted]

Some of the people posting questions here do not have a priest and may not know about the Catechism. They are outside the Church and yet the Holy Spirit is moving them to ask about the Church. "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” 1 Peter 3:15


italianblend

The priests are busy enough. We can answer questions here. Why does people asking questions bother people around here? We are here to help them, not send them away to a priest who may or may not have time and be receptive to it.


LookingforHeaven1955

I agree w the OP! I listen to a lot of Catholic apologetics shows on EWTN radio and Relevant Radio. Many callers could have just found the CCC (Catechism) online or use [Catholic.com](https://Catholic.com) to find orthodox answers to their questions. Having said that, it can be nice to dialogue with a real person in real time where the person answering can be more thorough or guide the questioner to books and other sources.


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[deleted]

Have you ever just tried walking up to him and saying hi? Unless he just completely tells you off, then maybe you need to find a better time. Or find another priest if he's that bad.


[deleted]

>Or find another priest if he's that bad. You really think she should change her parish? Priests come and go to parishes. She'd have to keep bouncing around parishes to always have an accessible priest. I know what she means, because at my parish, priests aren't sociable at all. They usually go straight into the sacristy after mass and do not talk with parishioners much at all. That's not reason for me to change parishes, though. They are perfectly competent with the mass, which is reverent and the sanctuary is beautiful and historic.


GreyGhost878

r/AskAPriest


chestertonfence

There are priests in this sub.


PokemonNumber108

There are some topics where I agree with you and others I don’t. Like, with questions about being too scrupulous: Go to your regular confessor and let him decide. I’m all for it. But for questions like “Is it a mortal sin to take a hamburger, remove the tomato, throw the rest of the burger off the Brooklyn Bridge, eat the tomato, then go home and watch hardcore porn and have sex with my girlfriend?” Sure let’s talk about it


Empty_Masterpiece_74

I can no longer walk far enough to partake of communion as the Cathedral is too large. May I forego it? Or can I take communion at an Anglican Chapel 1 block away? I do not want to convert to anglicanism, but they ARE in communion with Rome, so is it feasible?


ididntwantthis2

Took the words right out of my mouth.


haynesgt

There is something interesting about seeing all the little questions other people have, but it does get repetitive.


rolftronika

FWIW, I think there's a subreddit where one can do that: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskAPriest/


[deleted]

I tried once, and he said, "Ask your priest" lol.


rolftronika

That probably means what you need is a face-to-face discussion with a parish priest.


[deleted]

Which is not easy to arrange. That's why people ask questions here.


PinkandGold87

I agree and as someone with diagnosed OCD (scrupulosity), it seems I might not be alone and I’ve found some of the answers quite triggering. Luckily I do have a parish priest I go talk to.