Hello - I am new here - and I feel kind of overwhelmed by all of the messages and postings in the "Shovel.net" and in the the "Shovel Shack" - as if it would take me eons to "catch up".  And yet, I desperately feel the need to grasp the concept of grace above law, as I have been Catholic since birth, and was raised in the Catholic Church, in parochial school, in the "dark ages" before Vatican II - I was 6 years old and in the 1st grade in 1959, and attended a particularly medieval school and church, with a lot of indoctrination about the wrath of an ever-vigilant God - with nothing taught to us kids about His love for us - and I go through periods of staying away from Mass for periods of time, because attending a Catholic Church is almost like going back to my abuser, and there is an element of post-traumatic stress disorder going on in me when I return - but when I stay away, as I am presently doing, I feel fear, which I am sure is residual trauma left over from the early years.  As the Jesuits say, "Give us a child when they are 6 years old, and they will be ours forever". 

I do find a lot of spiritual nourishment in the Catholic Church, however, especially in the Eucharist, and in the rich heritage of contemplative prayer and meeting God in silence, which is my spiritual practice.

So as I come to this forum, that is one of the major issues I am dealing with - having grown up with the teaching that the Roman Catholic Church was the "one true church", and that everyone else was condemned - and now the present Pope has made a statement, a major regression in the Church in my opinion, that the Catholic Church is the "one true Church", and that other churches are "defective". 

The other reason I am writing is that I have just read an older "Shoveletter", "The Foolishness of God", and I am somewhat disturbed by it, although I may not be understanding it correctly.  The statement "The judgment of Jesus was the judgment of all mankind" seems like something right out of that 1st-grade Catholic classroom.  I don't see God as a Judge, and have been trying to move away from that concept of Him, so the idea that He judged not only His Son, but all humankind, is disturbing to me. 

Also, the statements, "The door to heaven was not opened by His death, but was totally shut down by it", and "God damned His own Son and in doing so God damned the whole creation" also does not strike me as "foolishness" or "ridiculousness", but as the same-old/same-old (only maybe worse???) monstrous-God which was presented to me as real years ago, and from which I have been trying to de-traumatize myself!

I just found these statements strange to read on a grace website.  I probably am not familiar enough with this website to have properly understood these statements, or the letter itself.

I would appreciate any thoughts or responses to this letter, which might help me to understand, I would appreciate it.

Janet

Hey Joe!

So glad you popped in bro!! Thanks for the PM!

Joe,

Thanks for letting me know that you related to my post, and for the kind words...

Nice to "meet" you,

Janet