Dear Reader, Welcome to our site. In this article we’ll be discussing more of our motives, ideas and details concerning our intentions to start a Catholic Network this year, 2021.
[Note: this is a Catholic website intended for the benefit of fellow Catholics and anyone interested in our faith. Anti-Catholic comments will be removed and not engaged with. If you are open to an honest discussion about the Catholic faith, you may do so via our email or Facebook messenger. Contact details are provided on the About Us page linked to here. Thank you for your cooperation].
Table of Contents
Connecting with Other Catholics Strengthens Faith
The Church is going through a great test of faith like never before in its history. Its Sacred Doctrine is attacked and renounced on all sides.
We are seeing off the charts statistics of Catholics who simply no longer believe in the most basic teachings of the Church, including de fede Dogmas such as The Holy Eucharist, the Sacrament of Penance, the Devil, Hell, the Immaculate Conception and Papal Infallibility. The list could go on and on.
If you go on a Catholic dating site, such as Catholic Match, which is perhaps the largest one available to Catholics today, you will find that it is not required for you to believe anything that is taught by the Holy Roman Catholic Church. You simply tick the boxes indicating which Church teachings you do accept and leave the others blank. You will find Catholics on it who do not accept the Church’s teaching on Holy Orders, the Sacredness of Life, Contraception, and even the Incarnation.
But for those of us who are true to the teachings of the Church, how long will it be before we too succumb to doubts? Faith is strong in numbers, in places where we can actually talk about our faith without feeling embarrassed about it.
And if some among us already are doubtful about certain teachings of the Church, such as the prohibition of pornography, contraception and abortion, Catholic meet-ups will be a good environment in which to discuss these things among ourselves.
Praying together is also a good way to fortify faith. There’s nothing like feeling part of a like-minded body of people, all animated by faith and a spirit of prayer. Just think of the experience you had if you have ever been on a Catholic pilgrimage. These things have to start from somewhere, and later, with God’s help, they grow.
Having fun together is also an important aspect of Catholic groups. We can recreate together, we can be our true selves, we can associate being Catholic with normality and with basic enjoyments, games and laughter.
Having something else, aside from the parish social after Sunday Mass keeps the faith a more regular part of our everyday lives.
Together we can Grow in Knowledge
We may have our faith intact, but what do we really know about the vast treasures of thought and knowledge stored in our wonderful Catholic Religion? How much history do we know? Can we refute someone who attacks our faith and points to something that the Church is challenged by?
Are we familiar with some basic anti-Catholic arguments that you run into all the time on the Radio, Google, YouTube, Netflix and Social Media?
The possibilities with Catholic unions and groups is endless. We can have a prearranged topic to learn about and to discuss and in this way grow in knowledge together.
We can arrange to have a priest speak on a topic and have questions and conversation about it afterwards. We can share our knowledge on Doctrine, Spirituality, History and common difficulties faced by the contemporary Church.
Together we can Grow in Holiness
We must never lose sight of the fact that ultimately, we are called to holiness, not simply to faith, to the minimum required for salvation, to knowledge, to being in the right or any other reason for being Catholic.
This is why we should always have a strong focus not only on prayer and the Sacraments, but in actually growing in the interior life of grace.
The true glory and joy of being Catholic lies in the spiritual life that God is witness to in us if we follow His Commandments and grow in the virtues of Faith, Hope and especially Charity.
Together we can Evangalise
If we are communicating with each other, learning and praying together, sharing ideas, sharing zeal and held together by a bond of Catholic fellowship, then we are in the perfect position to come up with strategies for evangelisation.
Remember, that our meet-ups can and action plans can also be communicated these days via the internet. We do not have to be limited to meeting in person, though this is always preferable when possible.
But we have so much at our disposal. We can use email, phone, text and even audio-visual such as Zoom and Skype, to communicate and plan various courses of action.
Practical Steps
From here, I propose that you connect with us on email and Facebook, follow our YouTube channel and simply introduce yourself to us and anything regarding details or aspirations you may have in relation to the Catholic faith.
To us, it’s all about getting to know you on a personal level and moving on from there. The goal here is to establish a Catholic Network of people who are friends. People who talk together, meet together, pray and learn things together and eventually, organise ways to reach out to others.
Once we are in contact with you, there are many ways we can discuss more practical details concerning location and meet-up points. Again, an ordinary start, make friends and enrich ourselves in the faith together so as to grow in Christ and bring His grace to others, supported always by the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
If this interests you, be sure to get in contact today! We are looking forward to meeting you!
Peace and blessings.
Contact us here: messengersofmary@gmail.com | Facebook.
Dominic & Michael, from Messengers of Mary.
Hi there,
Thank you for sharing this article about your Catholic faith. I am not a Catholic, but very interesting in Catholic and related discussions. I am a protestant and read that Protestants are a breakaway from the Roman Catholic church. Faith is related to the environment we grow in
As a protestant, there is an apostle creed that is recited every Sunday, confirming the belief in the holy catholic church. The catholic church is, I believe, the mother church.
I have taken note of all action points towards evangelism. I believe these would be the same for Protestants.
Hello! This is very interesting and inspiring. What you have said about the Church and the Protestant faith is accurate and it is good to get a perspective like yours who have lived in it.
Thank you for sharing.
I really hate what I’m seeing in the religious communities, not just Catholic but virtually all of them. It’s become a “take-what-you-want-and-leave-the-rest” mentality. Even some clergy is willing to engage in this in order to get people in the fold. I’m very happy to see someone create a network that will uphold the Word of God, to promote the principles and teachings of the Church. God is smiling down on you,
Thank you very much! That is an interesting observation about cherry picking and certainly rings true today.
As Christian catholics it is our responsibility to help each other. We must be responsible for the growth and development of each other. It must be both in Fath and in the circular world. I must appreciate your conscious effort to see to this. A lot of us miss it and forget the catholic faith simply because of finding help.
Great to meet you! And this is interesting and positive feedback. I look forward to discussing the faith more with you.
It is sad to see the Church going through this great test. But something that can help each one of us is to strengthen our faith. And by doing that, we can be helpful to others. I have been reading the Bible these days. Recently, I have been considering how the Jews stumbled when it came to accepting Christ. They had a religion given by God. But they were so focused on the good deeds they did, that they wanted to prove their own righteousness. They were religious. They kept the sacraments and teachings. But when they were told that none of their own works was enough and that they had to accept Christ’s sacrifice, they stumbled. That called my attention. Am I trusting in my good deeds (that can be many) to be accepted before God? Or am I trusting Christ to be accepted before God? Do I want to prove to God my own righteousness? Or am I accepting God’s righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus Christ?
Good deeds must be done to show gratitude towards God. But not as means to reach righteousness.
Oh, what a beautiful analogy with today’s state of the church you have presented us with. It is a great way to look at things. The Jews were wanting God to conform to their own ideas and they were looking for more of an earthly type of Saviour, but they got the real deal! And they didn’t like it so they rebelled. However, there were of course many good Jews and still are today.
The past eighteen months or so have a difficult time for everybody, and with churches being closed, it has made it difficult to meet up and practice your faith. I do think that because of that, many people have started having doubts about their faith and if they actually believe. To have a network of believers that can support one, and where one can grow together, would be beneficial.
Well said! And thank you for this feedback. Yes, a network is all about being stronger together and finding immediate support for any issues or questions we may have with our faith.