Cafeteria Catholicism
Saint:
Date: 3/28/2009
From:
Catholic Audio 
Faith is not a cafeteria.
And thus is borne many an online debate ;-)
In all seriousness, though, the topic of 'cafeteria Catholicism' is often brought up by family, friends, etc. because of the apparent controversiality of many Church teachings.
Do we have to have a complete understanding of every aspect of what we believe in? No. Do we need to have the faith of a child, accepting there are some issues that, even if we don't have a full grasp of what's at stake, the Church in her wisdom has a good reason to teach about? Yes.
The issues of sexual morality and abortion are probably the two most hotly debated areas of Catholic teaching... and we as Catholics must be careful to not let our own human weakness and ignorance get in the way of giving our full assent to the will of God, especially in those areas where Catholic teaching collides head-on with what the world proclaims.
Even though a physicist has almost no understanding of what 'gravity' actually is, he must make assumptions based on his belief that gravity exists, and creates a force that attracts objects together. We as Catholics must learn to accept certain tenets of the faith that is not necessarily comprehensible—the meaning of human life and immortality, the existence of God, and the Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, to name a few.
I fix! Now iz better! Haz only good partz.
Honestly the whole "cafeteria is closed" thing brings a bad taste in my mouth due to its association with the current Pope and the angry anti-Vatican-II people. Of course theology is not a pick-and-choose thing, and many (if not most) of us who are concerned about the current direction of the church are not treating it that way.
Anti-Vatican-II people. Dan Brown has nothing on us! Muahahaha.
Srsly...anti-V2 peepl?!?...spoken like someone who never read the documents.
Don't go blaming us that, just because libs are contracepting, aborting, gay marriaging and assisted suiciding themselves out of the picture, the only ones left are orthodox Catholics. S'not our fault that whole generation went boom and 'mploded.[Now, now... let's be a little more pastoral around here - admin]
It's cute and funny but perhaps a Bible wasn't the best way to use the metaphor since we're not literalist sola scriptura Christians!
"S'not our fault that whole generation went boom and 'mploded."-Catholic Audio
Am I my brother's keeper? ;-) (I think I put an agree post-it thingie on that verse)
Yep, srsly. Anti-V2 peepl. As someone who converted to Christianity in the early 1980s, with catechismal books like Christ Among Us, I haven't particularly imploded, myself...
I don't think it's a bad thing to disagree points in the bible. With so many versions out there these days, I think it is a good thing to question the interpretation.