I feel horrible about this.

My classes are only about an hour, with honestly very, very little work. I attend mass too. On Sundays, since this a majority Spanish Church, I attend Spanish mass so I'm only gone for 4 hours instead of 5 (classes 8-9, then waiting). Wednesdays i leave from 5:30 to 8:30. It's 25 ish miles so it's 30 minutes each way and the time and the gas and everything else is building up and I feel horrible for leaving.

Part of me feels afraid, like something bad will happen because I stopped going to classes, but I know that's just me being anxious and not how that works.

I really want to do this, to go to communion and confession and all of these wonderful things, but it just seems so unfeasible at the moment, it's killing me.

Any advice about this would be appreciated very much.

Hi everyone, so long story short, my brother is a seminarian. He’s been in the seminary about 2–3-ish years. He’s always been a “normal” kid, popular in high school, very kind, outgoing, no stage fright, all the things. And I love him so much, and I’m scared of what is going on.
So I got a text tonight from my mom saying my brother is coming home, and no big deal, I was like alright, but kinda upset because I work such long shifts, and he was taking my bed because I have his room since he went to college, and so I came home upset. And then my mom told me to go upstairs and talk with her about it, and she told me he might be schizophrenic. (I want to preface, my dad is schizophrenic and bipolar, can’t hold a job, can’t be in social situations, but my brother has and can! So I’m flabbergasted.) She said the priests took him to the emergency department. And he tried running from them, what not. And he just doesn’t want to go back to seminary.
My mom said he was just saying flat answers like “no,” “yes,” etc., and anything not mentioning the seminary he would smile at. All this behavior sounded so weird to me. Mind you, she is telling me all this at 12 AM at night, and then my brother, whom we’re talking about, comes upstairs, and I witness the behavior myself.
He is shaking, fully taking grasps of air, not saying hi to me. I’m making comments like, “Drink that water,” as he was getting a lot of water. It almost looks like he is sweating. He grabs food from the fridge and eats it with his hands, food that you don’t eat with your hands, and cold.
He sits down at the table, shaking and trembling. I hug his whole body, and he’s shaking. I try doing deep breaths with him, and it helps a little, but when I stop, he shakes hard. When I stop, he shakes hard. He won’t talk or make conversation.
Please, someone help me. He is so worried, and I don’t know what to think. Is he possessed? Can someone explain? I’m so worried. I don’t know.

My second ever Reddit post, sorry mods if this isn’t allowed! I was born and baptized catholic, strayed away and have came back to the religion about two years ago now. When I was buying bibles I didn’t know that there was such difference in variations. Which of these two do most Roman Catholics use? Please let me know if either or neither of these work. If anyone has recommendations too let me know, thanks!!

First of all, there is so much great Catholic art that has been made by real human beings over the past 2000 years that you are neglecting in favor of kitsch AI thumbnails.

Secondly, I think that there is a real and true danger of at least sort of ‘commoditizing’ the faith and at worst pushing would-be converts away with these Catholic YouTube videos with AI art, especially those with clickbait titles like: “You need THIS from your guardian angel”

I’ve been struggling very heavily with relationship anxiety and it doesn’t mix well with my scrupulosity. I feel alone in this. Does anyone else struggle with the same things? If so, how can you overcome this or what has helped you? It’s been so heavy for me and I’m so burned out from feeling like this.

So, for starters, I was raised Catholic. Had my first communion, but refused confirmation at 14. I’m now 28 and have been pagan for about 10 years after being atheist. I’ll never regret my former beliefs, as I see them as part of a journey towards what I’m meant to be. However, I’m finding myself interested again in Christ and considering going back to confession and mass and everything else. I guess I’m just looking for support and encouragement in this process as I consider my beliefs and my life

14M i did some lustful things how do i confess it how in detail do I have to go? Are online confessions an option?

I don't frequently struggle with rage, but recently I lost my temper and it resulted in my losing my livelihood and facing charges. I am miserable. I am lost.

I am sorry if this is not the right place to post all of that. I am also sorry for not knowing how to title this post. I am just looking for some prayer suggestions, like the Litany of Humilty has been a really good one...

Thank You.

This happened some time ago, but today I heard of a situation that oddly reminded me of this incident I had at a church.

The area and church itself weren't known for any altercations. I was in line at a communion, when this large guy, he looks about 6'3+ was behind me. He looked about late 30s at the time. Whenever we walked, he his shoes would stub into my tendon heel area, or kick the back of my shoe.

I gave him the benefit of the doubt thinking he was just very large and it was a close-knit area, however between splitting and shuffling, I ended up behind him walking, I looked at his shoe and it was not making any contact with the other guy he was now behind.

I wanted to ask him what was going on, but he seemed extremely pissed off at me, and seemingly storming off with his dad or some older family member. His face looked normal until he noticed I was close.

That said, I thought it could had been my attire to church. I never wear sweatpants, but that day, somehow, I thought I would swing by church without changing as it was the last mass. The other theory is that maybe I was not supposed to be getting communion, so the holy spirit was angry?

I don’t know if you’re feed has been getting hit with doomsday prep like mine but it has me nervous. If the US is anticipating an attack cyber/domestic/foreign or some sort of false flag where the energy grid goes down I’m so cooked, I won’t disclose where exactly I reside obviously but I’m pretty much surrounded by highways and cities and most likely the first of many to parish within the first few weeks maybe days because people nowadays are savages and will do anything to survive, it makes me wonder if us Catholics have a contingency plan for this at local churches and whatnot, I’m just flustered wether I should even prepare considering the circumstances and how I can cope as a Catholic.

I’m sorta struggling with anxiety and addiction to certain content relating to lust and acting on it. I feel you can figure out what that means. It’s like I’m younger, young enough I’m in school still and I really feel bad for these actions and I’m trying to quit. I wanna confess this but it’s like I physically can’t get myself to say it, I struggle so much to say it to the point it’s a struggle to even think about saying it. I’m wondering what I can do? I heard under certain circumstances it’s a venial sin and I can confess it directly to Jesus but other times it’s a mortal and i must confess it to a Catholic Priest. I seriously don’t know what to do, it’s just that I can’t get myself to say the words of my actions. I’m truly sorry for it and trying to stop. Thanks for any reply’s.

Hi there, I’m seeking recommendations for Catholic therapists or counselors who can assist us with marriage and parenting. My husband and I reside in South Florida. We genuinely require support and guidance, whether from someone nearby or online. We’re open to any suggestions, but we need help.

Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

I’m so lost and undirected right now and I feel close to being in despair. I’m a 19 year old guy, and 8 months ago after not having been to confession for several years I finally went. I remember feeling partly relieved but unless unsure if I withheld sin or not and I obsessed on it for a little bit but eventually the worry subsided. Then I worried again if I withheld a sin or not, and I can’t remember clearly, but I don’t think so in this case.

Here I am, 8 months later, and I’m currently terrified because I realized that there’s a sin I didn’t properly confess I’m I have no way of remembering it that one was the one that made me originally worried. Now I’m terrified I committed sacrilege since I may have withheld it but I literally just don’t know since it was 8 months ago and I don’t remember.

I plan on going to confession Saturday and just start over by making a general confession, confessing that I withheld a sin, and that all my other confessions were also sacrilege because those may’ve been invalid if my original confession really was invalid. There’s no other way I’ll feel at peace unless I confess this. Since I’m a scruple, part of me wants set up an appointment with a priest to explain my situation to him and confess, but at the same time I want to immediately be restored back into a state of grace, so I feel stuck with no place to go. I just feel like I have no definitive way of solving this because if I confess something I may have not done then I’d be falsely accusing myself. Plus all that valuable time where I thought I experienced the beauty of the faith was invalid. Although if I keep ignoring this worry I fear then that I’ll only dig myself a deeper hole.

I’m really scared and I have no idea what to do. I’m extremely sad because if all of these confessions were invalid it feels like this whole year has been a lie and that I’ll have to now reconfess everything, and I won’t be able to remember all of it. I’m so overwhelmed, burnt out, and just extremely sad and I don’t know what to do. I’m in desperate need of prayers and help I don’t know where to go or what to do.

I am completly new to the faith. My eyes were opened after 20+ tears of living in not right with God and being protestant and going back and forth. I try to pray the rosary daily but I am disabled with no access to a veil, physical rosary, icons or transportation to the OCIA in a church near my house that will not change for the forseeable future. My question is their possibility of OCIA for disabled or low income circumstanced people to come to Mass?

Hello I’m a man in my early 20’s from northwestern New Jersey. I was baptized catholic as a baby and grew up going to mass until I was about 11 when my mom(baptized catholic and confirmed) started taking me to a non denominational church for a few years which she ended up leaving for many reasons. My time in this church was one of the many reasons I lost faith up until recently when I have found my faith. I’ve been going to mass and such. I haven’t participated in communion because Im afraid it will be sinful . I know adult converts can take classes but I don’t know where to find them. I guess my questions are where can I find these classes ? And is the process different for me since I was already baptized?

Hello to my fellow brother and sisters in Christ,

Would really appreciate some thoughts/counsels and above all prayers for my discernment. Note: I have never lived in the USA and would like to keep my home country confidential.

I spent a total of 12.5 years in religious life in two Latin Mass convents just after graduating from university: 6.5 in a teaching order in Australia (gained teaching qualifications) and then another 6 in a semi-contemplative congregation in France (organising retreats, service with the elderly).

Life as a teaching sister was enjoyable but stressful and my superiors did not admit me to renew my vows as my anxiety and depression did not improve. They did encourage me to try another congregation. After a gap year I joined one with a different pace of life and apostolate and it really suited me. I foresaw myself persevering with no issues and my superiors admitted me to renew my vows. However, I had a stomach malady which only became increasingly severe and tests revealed no physical causes. I was then told to leave as it was determined that something in the environment was causing it. I started becoming better weeks after leaving and my health is almost back to normal.

I returned home in February this year and started freelance work as an assistant to elderly patients at a public hospital. It pays decently, allows me sufficient time for prayer and I do love my elderly. In a month’s time I will be heading to France again to volunteer at a Dominican school/ convent for a sabbatical year.

My main spiritual director is not very enthusiastic about this step; he thinks that I should eventually choose a suitable profession in education or health services. However, I do not feel ready at all to undertake training in these professions. I have thought carefully about the possibility of becoming a nurse, a care assistant, an occupational therapist, a teacher of students with disabilities, and even a farmer, etc. I have also been told by others to stop discerning any further call to consecrated religious life after two failed attempts so far.

However it is still a challenge for me to adapt properly to secular life, despite the great privilege of daily Mass and other means of sanctification. There seems to be always a dissonance between my current reality (working in a secular environment, the physical and psychological fatigue after only 32–36 hours of work per week, the very materialistic views of the world around me, the lack of structure in prayer and daily duty outside religious life) and my spiritual ideal.

Anyway, we are only pilgrims on this earth. The world (and I myself) thirst for God, and the solution to all the problems around us lies in a true life of union with God. I want with all my heart to find something (working for a Catholic institution, for example) that allows me to act directly for the salvation of souls and to lead a true life of recollection more easily. I also have a perpetual and private vow of chastity.

In any case, I have the possibility of keeping my current position after a year of leave if I still want it. For the moment, it seems to me that it would be ideal if I could do a mix of work (manual tasks, teaching, caring for others, etc mixed in with prayer times) instead of remaining confined to a single profession. But I don’t know where I can find such a combination of work/prayer schedules outside of religious life. I really don’t mind becoming a perpetual volunteer for some religious community but I still have to provide for my own retirement.

Yes, perhaps I am overthinking, and it also takes quite a lot of time to adapt to life in the secular world. I have had also lots of things on my plate since I returned: getting my driving license, dealing with an extended family fairly hostile to Catholicism and who opposed the baptism of my grandmother (now quite ill) in March, the paperwork of getting a new visa to France etc. I have felt quite overwhelmed until recently.

I just really hope I will be able to find out what the good Lord wants of me for the long term after the upcoming sabbatical year. It is hard feeling like an émigrée into the secular world and living in a certain kind of limbo. Thankfully I have no debt and my parents are currently in good health. So at least I have the space to consider various options….

Thanks to all for any prayers or advice offered…

I’ve been on several dates with an amazing Catholic man who has vocalized a future he wants to create for me, but when I asked for commitment he said he was too immature for me because he cannot consider marriage at our age and will not get off dating apps. I do not understand how someone can emphasize being Catholic while leading me and probably several other girls on without intention. Did anyone else find dating and commitment hard when they were young due to relationships being a catalyst for marriage?

I am brand spanking new to Catholicism and I have attended 2 masses and I am in classes.

Im curious what you believe about pets going to heaven. From my baptist upbringing pets dont go to heaven but Im hoping that isn’t true here.

We’re going on three years of trying, and it’s a very difficult place loving your child yet wanting to grow your family. I have been praying to Saint Gerard…any other recommendations or prayers?

I want to say I believe in Christ and I want to give him everything I have. He has answered prayers and gave me all I want and I still fall so far from him. I’m in a state right now where i feel like I can’t get back now. I sin more bc I feel like I’m not Sava able and ppl will say you are etc. I feel so distant and hard to pick up a bible or dedicate my time to him. I was so close months ago and farther away. Any suggestions ?

I’ve contacted my parish about RCIA. I’m waiting for them to contact me. I’m in no rush: I first felt the presence of God many years ago. I was 12, I was singing in a choir, and we were singing Vivaldi’s Gloria. And there I felt God. 

But my family was not an option, I had no adult I could trust. Although my parents had me baptized in the Catholic Church when I was a baby (my grandmother insisted), they did not go to church (my mother was strongly anti-religion by the time I was a teenager), and the people in my life who were the most outspoken Catholics were awful to others, it gave me a very distorted image of Catholics.

However: I got a copy of the Bible, read it (I got the general idea: flood, exodus, Jesus said to be kind to people). I lived in a place with lots of churches, so I learned the Our Father and Hail Mary, and over the years, I would pop in, and praying to the Virgin Mary became my go-to: when I was scared, when I wanted to give thanks when something good had happened, etc.

As an adult, I started looking for a more structured relationship with God. So I looked... and I looked at other religions. Of course, none of the other religions felt right (now I know why), like in Goldilocks: this one is too hard, this one is too soft... I was still praying the Virgin regularly on my own, still grabbing my Bible to read a soothing passage every once in a while, and casually keeping an eye on what the Pope had to say. I didn't even think about it, it was instinctive that's where my heart went (this one is just right!). I felt incredibly alone in my spiritual life, and unable to discuss the topic with anyone.

That brings us to June this year. I went to the city of Quebec. I visited the cathedral, and I saw the Holy Door. I was submerged by two feelings: gratitude that the Church had given such a gift to the Catholic people of Quebec (the church is huge in the history of the province). And an immense sadness that I was not Catholic, and therefore could never appreciate it fully.

I know. I laugh at myself now. But I did buy a new Bible when I got home, my old copy was getting damaged (although still cherished), and I have been reading it daily since that trip. So you know, thick but not completely deaf to God's call?

It's a good thing God is patient. It still took until this month (October) to have that lightbulb moment, but I got there. I finally went to mass. And it felt like I was coming home at last: I could not be happier. Full disclosure, it took a few years of therapy, but finally feeling safe to nurture my spiritual life is such a gift.

While I wait for the parish to respond to my RCIA request, I’m praying my rosary, reading the catechism, listening to a couple of podcasts… With a smile and feeling happy.

Hey guys, so I’m a makeup artist. I specialize in special effects and characterization (zombies, wounds, cuts, etc) Is there any Catholic teaching that says I shouldn’t or can’t do it? I use my artistic talent to glorify Christ, and the stories are short films where there are fights or non-human characters, there is fake blood involved when its cuts makeup, but on characters like mermaids obv not

What arguments can I make or sources should I study into to help me defend icons/statues and icon veneration against Calvinist claims such as, “icons of Christ is Arianism because images splits his human nature from his divine nature only portraying a man”, “we don’t know how Christ or some of the saints looked like so we can’t make images of them because that would be idolatry of the mind”, “icons are forbidden in churches because the human mind is full of idols and always seeks to worship physical objects and images”, and the claim Saint Augustine was a Calvinist and was against statue veneration.