Dear Vice President Vance,
Great speech at the National Prayer Breakfast.Enjoyed it on rsbn network. You are a Catholic convert-Welcome Home! This means you are on a journey of discovery into Jesus and His Church.. i'm a Catholic revert meaning i was given the chance to rediscover the faith.
We both made the amazing discovery that God finds you right where you are at. Of course, we don't stay in one place, do we?
When i returned to the faith Pope John Paul II gifted his flock with the Catechism of the Catholic Church. i highly recommend reading for a Catholic convert, a Catholic revert or any Catholic. I'd even recommend it for a non Catholic to know what the Church REALLY teaches.
Try John Paul II Theology of the Body;Human Love in the Divine Plan as well. It will give you plenty fo think about. I was an eye opener for me!
It knocked my socks off to put it another way.
I was baptized into the faith as an infant and had my own son baptized at 2 weeks. Infant baptism is alien to most if not all non Catholic denominations except the Orthodox; they share many similar beliefs.
i believe the big issue for non Catholics is the issue of consent for the baptized. I get the objection but i also know that it's a sacrament and see it as not what baptism is, but what baptism does.
you become an adopted son/daughter of God
you are infused with sanctifying grace and the stain of original sin is removed from the soul
you become a member of the Catholic Church. God will take care of the rest
it marks the beginning of the sacramental life
It may sound crazy but i feel blessed to have been part of a Catholic family. When i left the Church and wandered about (aimlessly)i felt the tug to return. A light went off.
I felt very jealous that my non Catholic friends and family didn't have to attend their services. If they wanted to go they could and if they didn't feel like it they didn't have to.
While there as a Catholic i was obligated to go under pain of mortal sin. Dad made sure we went every Sunday except if we were really ill.
The rule was if you were too sick to go to Mass you were too ill to play outside. We never "played sick" believe me!
After Mass we went to the local bakery for the best donuts i have ever tasted and then it was off to the sports store to get our comic books.
Sometimes dad would take us for our Sunday ride out in the country. Sunday was family day .I still think of it that way.
Now i understand that the reason we're obligated is in fulfillment of the first commandment-Mass is the highest form of worship of God.
If we don't have time for that why would we have time for anything else? It can be a sacrifice sometimes.Of course there's legitimate reasons one can't attend.I know that not feeling like it is not a legit reason. Thankfully not everything we do is based on feelings.
BTW i can tell you that one of the reasons i fell from grace and left the Church was my drifting away from the sacramental life of the Church and missing Mass for no legitimate reason. That will do it.
You brought up a topic in your speech that has had me upset for some time and that's the division of Catholics into progressive and conservative. Sounds like political terms to me.
Let's be honest; there's 2 groups of Catholics. There are practicing Catholics who embrace the faith. There are non practicing Catholics who happen to be Catholic in name only.
As for the big issue of immigration you can fall on either side of it. It's like a disagreement over poverty. We know that we must care for the poor,widowed and orphaned.
We can disagree on how best to deal with issues such as poverty and immgration . There is no official teaching on immigration that i'm aware of -while there are opinions.
There is our obligation as citizens to obey legitimate authority & law. Here the Church is very clear in its teaching re abortion.
There are non Catholics who can tell you exactly what the Church's teaching on abortion is, so no Catholic can claim it's a matter of opinion.
Furthermore if a public figure is Catholic & supports abortion it's more egregious because they are causing scandal and can be leading the flock astray.They also directly afffect law if they're political figures. They may be more culpable.
.As Catholics we follow her teachings whether we understand them or not; we work at having an informed conscience.We pray for understanding.
We do our utmost to comprehend but we are still obligated to follow whether we understand or not.
God knows we have limits on our comprehension but He still expect us to have faith.,yes/no?
I'm going to wrap this up by saying I really appreciate what Pres Trump has done to protect the rights of all Christians in our country especially the pro life movement.
He's not Catholic but he's can been a powerful advocate for our religious freedom as guaranteed by our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Biden and Pelosi are Catholic but you wouldn't know it.
They had no respect for our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
I'm also going to be upfront and tell you i already support you for President in 2028 and hoping Pres Trump endorses you.I'm totally committed to his presidency and eventually yours. I couldn't support another candidate for '28. Yep, am that impressed.
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