If you are a Catholic, please respond to this discussion.

You can consider yourself a true catholic as long as you truly believe. You can worship anywhere you don't have to be in the church itself. I am a catholic. By family and by choice. I don't go to church as often as I probably should but I raise my children catholic and believe it is a personal choice to go or not go to church it doesn't make you a better or worse catholic its all in what you practice and how you treat people.

Hello there miamilady! Yes, I am a catholic; I was born into a catholic family and have received my baptism, first Holy Communion and confirmation by the age of 14. I too do not attend church regularly but that does not make me less of a catholic. The lord knows and understands when we are unable to make it to church for my reasons are I am a singe mom and do not have the means to make it to church on Sundays. I do go on Christmas Eve every year and I also have prayers that I say everyday. Being active in church does not define your catholic faith! It is the belief and the faith that you carry with you in your soul that defines the catholic religion. If you carry the lord within your soul then nothing can take away your faith. The lord does not set boundaries nor picks and chooses who he accepts in his faith, he love all of us and welcomes us all into him faith reguardless whether we attend church every Sunday or not. Even those who have a different religion are loved by the lord. In essence, I guess what I am trying to explain is that it is the love and faith of the lord that we carry each day that defines us in our religion.

I am a Catholic. I am presently not attending church because of a physical handicap. I miss going. I still consider myself a Catholic. Not sure where you are going with this. It's the same as...are you a christian if you don't go to church? The Bible teaches us to fellowship with other believers, so we lose out if we don't. And when you don't have that time in church, it is harder to stay focused in prayer, or devotion, or fellowship with God...you have to work harder at it to keep the temptations of busyness or t.v. or whatever at bay.

I was raised Catholic and although I didn't have any horrible experience because of it; I just always knew I didn't agree with most of their teachings/beliefs. In my opinion the bottom line that decides if you are or not a Catholic is whether you believe in the, oh I can't recall what it is called now- in each Mass there is a reciting of what Catholics believe. If you believe all or at least most of it, then you're Catholic. If you do not, perhaps another faith would be better suited to you. How often you go to church seems less important to me than how you live your life.

I think I should be a Catholic but at the same time am quite glad I am not in the 21st Century. Since Henry VIII only started Protestantism to get his divorce otherwise England might still be Catholic. I wonder if Catholics are the only ones to be saved. Mostly I think if I behave in a Christian way God will be forgiving. Since he knows everything I don't think it is necessary to go to church we should act in a Christian way at all times.

My ex was raised Catholic, and he always tried to convert me and all that, then finally towards the end of our relationship he turned and did a 180 and said how the Catholic people were brain washers and all that stuff, I'm not saying that's true. But he said how they made you feel bad for not attending church and how you have to keep up your image and go. I'm not putting Catholic's down, my friend's family is Catholic so I'm not putting them down at all, I'm just telling a story of my ex.

I am Catholic. I was raised Catholic but never properly catechised. My mother was raised Protestant, joined the Catholic Church when she married my dad, but she really had no idea what that meant. So, many of the things I learned growing up were Protestant. Now she is a devout Catholic. I spent 10 years going about my own business living a basically good life, and never rejected Christ. I know now that what I was doing is called Moral Relativism. About four years ago, I started to come back to the Catholic Church. This was God's choice for me, the only choice I made was to deny myself and follow Him. Now, I go to Mass every Sunday and sometimes watch daily Mass on EWTN. I also listen to Relevant Radio, Open Line on EWTN radio, and watch The Journey Home on EWTN. Does something prevent you from going to church? Do you believe in the Eucharist?