No, the ship’s name was The SS Gordon Lightfoot, Edmund Fitzgerald was just a singer.

I feel you. My faith often feels “cold,” for lack of a better term. I don’t get a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings from God like I’ve seen others get. But it’s important to understand that faith is way more than our feelings. You might receive consolations and you might not, but that’s not necessarily an indicator of how strong your faith is or how much God loves you. Heck, I’d even say that it’d be a problem if all you had were those warm and fuzzy feelings, because that might indicate that your faith hasn’t matured yet. Being a good Catholic is hard.

It’s also important to understand that “joy” doesn’t always mean “happy.” They’re similar, but happiness is fleeting. Joy is more like a gentle reassurance that even if you’re currently unhappy, the ultimate battle is still won. Trusting in God’s final victory over death and having hope despite our circumstances, that’s what joy is. I imagine you’re probably closer to that than you realize.

It sounds to me like maybe you’re just in a time of your life where things aren’t really going for you. Everyone has those eras, and they’re hard but it’s usually our cue that something needs to change. I don’t have any solid advice on how to do that, but I’d suggest looking at what you’re passionate about or what you could do that would excite you again and see if there’s a way you can pursue that. This might be less of a faith problem and more of a circumstances problem.

• Trivium
• Bullet for my Valentine (Scream Aim Fire era)
• Avenged Sevenfold
• Holy Grail (not metalcore but mixes some core influence into more traditional metal)
• Blessed By a Broken Heart (like 80s hair metal meets metalcore)

Sandman is the better written character for the purposes of this movie, but I think this version of Venom gets a bad wrap. The problem was that he needed more time to develop and be used properly and the film was too overloaded to do that. It would have been better to focus on Sandman the whole movie (including the black suit arc) and then have Venom survive the final showdown and escape so that Spider-Man 4 could focus on him. I know everyone wants Vulture and Lizard, but a Spider-Man 4 that focused on this version of Venom as a perfect negative of Tobey’s Spider-Man could have been really cool.

It IS hard, but it won’t be hard every day. There will be good days and bad days, like anything else. Try to enjoy the good times when they’re here and remember them when things are hard. Just do your best and keep trying- things will be okay!

It’s a case by case basis. I enjoy a good horror movie and know plenty of other Catholics that do too. What makes the distinction for me is whether the film in question is glorifying evil or just showing it as part of the story. Most horror movies have a protagonist you’re meant to root for; the bad guy or the monster or whatever is evil and even if they’re charismatic, the film isn’t showing what they do as good or reveling in it. Most movies pass this test but there are a stray few that I avoid because they don’t (Terrifier is a good example of one that I felt crossed the line. The movie was too mean spirited and felt more like glorification of violence rather than a real story).

Another thing to consider is your spiritual state and why you’re watching them. Are you watching it because you like the story or the atmosphere? Or are you watching it because you just want to see people get violently killed? I don’t know that it’d come to the level of a sin, but if you’re watching for the latter reason, that might be a sign that there’s something going on in your soul that you should address. It’s okay to see death in movies, even gory deaths- but make sure it’s part of the story and not just gore for the sake of gore, if that makes sense. I don’t think it’s spiritually healthy to actively enjoy watching someone’s violent death, even if it’s just pretend for a movie. Use your discernment and follow your conscience and you should be fine.

TL;DR plenty of horror movies are probably okay, just be prudent and use your best judgement

I’m sorry you’re going through all this. Sometimes we don’t understand the bigger meaning, and that’s the hard part about faith. What we do understand, though, is that God can use all the things that happen to us for good somehow, even if we can’t see it in the moment or even in this life.

When I was dealing with similar feelings as yours, my priest told me that sometimes accepting where we’re at is part of the process of getting to where you hope to be. You’ll hear people say to “offer it up” to God; try telling Jesus concretely that you’re uniting your suffering to His so that it can be used properly. This might not make you feel better in the moment, but it will ensure that it can be used to the best possible outcome. Try to use this time to grow closer to Christ and see what He wants you to take away from this.

But above all, hang in there. Bad times do end, eventually. Things will get better and until then, you’ll be in all of our prayers here.

I don’t think it’s wrong or immodest to wear a suit to Mass, just keep your intentions in check. Some people do it as a sign of respect, some people do it to be more traditional, and I’m some people probably do it to show off but we’d never know. It really comes down to the standards of the parish you’re at and what you’re trying to do with that choice.

As an aside, I’ve always found the fixation on suits to be a little odd (and I say that as someone who very much enjoys wearing them). They’re great, but it’s not like all our problems will be solved if everyone starts dressing like it’s 1950 again either. I also don’t think God is particularly beholden to any particular form of dress clothing; every culture has dress clothes of some form, but what we know as a suit today only originated in the mid 1800s. There’s no reason to act like it’s the peak of civilization. Wear what’s most appropriate for Mass where you are and focus on growing in virtue.

Instead of going “REEAAARRGFHHHAGH” when he jumps, Palpatine instead goes “booom, lacka hoom bamba heema”

I’ve learned how to make my own as well, although I will start with a disclaimer: Rugged Rosaries are way nicer than my homemade ones. I don’t know if there’s just some technique I’m missing or if they have some other secret but theirs feel way nicer to me than the ones I made myself. I would suggest continuing to support them because they’re an awesome company. But if you do want to make your own, here’s what I’ve learned:

For beads, you want 12mm size beads with a 5.5mm hole. I usually get them from the Etsy shop FavoredMemories but anywhere you can find the 12mm size works.

For the paracord, any genuine 550 kind will work and you can get pretty much any color on Paracord Galaxy or on Amazon or any other paracord site.

For medals and crucifixes, I use the Etsy shop SmallDevotionsSupply. Huge selection and great prices. Amazon has many crucifixes as well. You’ll also want split rings to hold these on- I think 6mm is the proper size but 8mm is good too.

For the techniques I just watched YouTube videos. It’s not too hard outside of the two stranded diamond knot, which is an absolute bear your first time. Good luck!

Sometimes you have to lose a battle when you’re young so that you don’t lose a war when you’re old. Everyone has regrets and mistakes- it’s just a part of life. But successful people learn from their regrets and use them to make sure they don’t miss out again in the future.

You’re young so there will be plenty of opportunities still to come- just try to be prepared next time and take advantage of them. We know from Scripture that all things work for good for those who love the Lord, so try to trust in that and give yourself the grace to take chances sometimes going forward. It’s hard to do but that’s the only way to get the things you want!

You’re buying a Schecter aren’t you? lol don’t worry about it man it’s just a cross and Schecters are awesome guitars.

It really comes down to how you approach religion. A lot of us here try to come at it from a view of “which one is actually true?” vs “which one do I agree with more?”. If we believe that Catholicism is the true one, then that by default means other religions aren’t. To your point though, you can certainly find elements of truth in most religions, and a lot of people are fulfilled in that. But if you believe that Catholicism is true, you’ll believe that the fullness of that truth can only be found in it.

There are a lot of reasons why I believe Catholicism to be the true religion. I believe the evidence presented from history to be convincing and I’ve seen firsthand what God can do in my life. It’s also a very logic and philosophy based religion, so everything we believe can be explained by people way smarter than me. And if you believe something to be objectively true, you believe it’s true for everyone whether they believe it or not, and that informs my view of other religions.

It sounds like you’re on a bit of a spiritual journey, and we all wish you the best on that. I’d just encourage you to come at your search from the point of view of trying to see what’s true vs what sounds nice. A lot of people choose their faith or their morals based on what they agree with or how they’d like to think things are, but just think- you wouldn’t answer any other question like that. You’d want to know what’s real and go with that.

It sounds like you just struggled with a long Mass. Masses can feel somewhat “cold,” for lack of a better term. How we worship is pretty set in stone, at least for Mass, which follows a rubric. This is so that everything is done properly and reverently, but it can also make Masses feel less exciting than one might hope for. Done right, this set format can actually be quite engaging, but this requires the right parish and the right attitude going in.

If this faith is something you’d want to pursue, my recommendation would be to focus on getting to know Jesus as a person through prayer. Once you start to develop a relationship with God, a lot of the practices you encounter seem less foreign and more engaging. That said, there will always be lukewarm parishes and things that make you a little uncomfortable- and that’s just a fact of life. But the Church is huge, and there are a lot of different styles available, and if you searched long enough I think you’d find somewhere you felt at home.

So to answer your question, the Church IS a cult, at least technically speaking. Any group that worships anything is a cult. The word “cult” has a negative connotation now because of fringe religious groups, but it’s worth noting that the creepy things those groups do are just bad imitations and corruptions of legitimate practices started by the Church. The Church may do some things that seem “culty,” but if you grew in understanding of what they are and why we do them, you’d probably find them more attractive than off-putting and be able to see a clear difference from the hollow corruptions done by other groups.

It sounds like you’ve already made up your mind, and if that’s how you feel there’s not much anyone here can say to sway you. But I will leave you with this thought: everyone worships something in this life, whether they’re religious or not. It might be money, or comfort, or sex, or anything. But Catholicism is the only religion in which you can worship someone that loves you back unconditionally. It’s the only religion that can give you true, real spiritual help, and as we’re all walking around with God-sized holes in our hearts, it’s also the only one that can really fulfill our deepest needs. It sounds like you had a pretty strict upbringing in it that didn’t show you the good side of the faith as well, and I’m sorry you had that experience. There are a lot of parts of our faith that are really beautiful, and I hope you’ll be open to exploring those too and seeing more. Either way, I think all of us here wish you the best and hope you find your way. We’ll be here praying for you and are happy to answer any questions you have.

Honestly they just nailed it in Spider-Man 1, that ripped up mask is perfect. 2 looks good for the kind of damage you’d take in a fight with Dr. Octopus and a giant artificial sun, and 3 just looks off. It’s like they tried to mimic the way it tore in the first one but the way the mask sits on his face just makes it look cheap and rubbery. It’s always given me a weird vibe.

I think it’s cultural, honestly. Many cultures have more physical affection between men than North Americans or Western Europeans do, but that doesn’t mean that people in those cultures are repressed. We just have different standards and norms for how affection is displayed, just like we have different meanings for hand gestures or different table manners from other cultures.

I will concede that your experience as a gay man is probably different from mine as a heterosexual man, though. The lines could certainly be less defined depending on your culture and your orientation.

At least to my understanding Philia is loving someone as a friend where Eros is romantic, even sexual. I think all humans are capable of both, although lines can certainly be blurred like in your example.

This might be a language barrier thing but I don’t think it’s accurate to say that we’re all created with same sex attraction, at least not in the sense that OP is describing. OP is describing the feeling of Eros, or romantic love, and what you’re describing is Philia, which is more like warm friendship. We’re made to experience and desire both, but in their proper context and end. What Philia looks like in practice can certainly be dependent on culture, too, which is part of what you’re getting at, but I don’t think it’s true that close friendship among men is just redirected Eros. There’s a definite difference.

Think of it like this. God loves us so much that He gives us the choice to love Him back or not. If we show through our choices that we love Him, even imperfectly, He lets us into His presence when we die. If we show Him through our actions that we don’t love Him and don’t want to be with Him, God will respect that decision and allow us to go somewhere He isn’t, which is Hell. Hell is a miserable place, and that’s not by design; it’s just that all good things have God as their source, so anywhere that’s absent of Him will be devoid of all goodness or joy as well. We say that people are “sent” there, and in a way that’s true because God does believe in justice, but people who go to Hell ultimately choose it themselves through their actions. Who’d want to spend eternity with someone they don’t like?

The bottom line is that God will never turn away a repentant soul; we know this from Scripture. If someone is genuinely sorry for their sins and doing their best, they can have hope of salvation, but that’s a choice they have to make in how they live. At death our souls are either oriented towards God or they aren’t, and we’ll go to the place we deserve. The fact that some go to Hell isn’t a lack of mercy; it’s simply God allowing us our choices.

God is perfectly merciful and also perfectly just. He can see our hearts in a way no one else can. This means that everyone will go to the afterlife that they deserve. Nobody goes to Hell on accident; God knows how much knowledge we have on what is right and judges accordingly. That isn’t to say that it’s a free for all and that you can do whatever you want, but it does mean that we can hope in God’s mercy as long as we’re doing our best.

It’s understandable to worry about your relatives and your friends, and you should pray for them and their souls, even if they’ve been dead a long time. But you should also try to remember that God’s mercy is His biggest characteristic. He will take care of everyone’s souls perfectly, and we have to trust in that.

No. It’s not inherently immoral to own firearms. You have a duty to protect your family and to provide for them, and guns are one way of doing so. People like to criticize Americans for being overly self reliant, but they also often miss that in many parts of the US, the reality is that no one can take care of your family as well as you yourself can. For many Americans, gun ownership really does feel like a necessity.

Gun violence is an issue that needs to be addressed, but we’re allowed to be prudential about how we do so. Outside of easy, black and white moral questions, the Church generally provides only the principles and concepts that we are to use in making these kinds of decisions.

I don’t think it’s too bad. There are a lot of parallels between working out and living a life of faith. They both require discipline, commitment, and persistence. Sometimes you’ll have to force yourself to do it even when you don’t feel like it. It’s hard and sometimes painful. You will have to give some things up and change things about how you live. But both will make you way happier in the long run and are worth the effort.

I can’t get into The Wonder Years. Not discrediting their talent at all, it’s just not for me. I think it’s the lyrics, they’re written so explicitly specific to the people and places that they’re about that I just can’t get into it.

I have to disagree with this one. The Black Parade album was huge, it completely transcended the genre and crossed over into the mainstream in a way most pop punk bands can’t. I think they’ll be remembered more than almost any other rock band from that era, and not just because of nostalgia.