Is the rapture taught in the Catholic church?

[me b zola]

A little background. I grew up in a Catholic family and I attended Catholic grade school until I was thrown out in 5th grade for smoking in the bathroom, I never was confirmed in the church. But my family had priests and nuns and lay teachers over occasionally on a social basis, my parents were "good Catholics", and many of the family friends were Catholic..

Not until late in life had I ever heard about the "rapture". As a matter of fact, when I lived in Mid-Mo ten years ago and I saw the warning, in case of rapture this car will be unmanned bumpersticker, I had no idea what it was about. Because I never saw the bumpersticker in the rural areas but only in Columbia (the only Liberal city in MO), and because I had no idea that the "rapture" had any religious significance, I thought that maybe it was a lesbian statement (I'm not joking, I really had no clue).

So I move out here, meet the love of my life who happens to be a Catholic who grew up in rural MN. His entire family reminds me of fundies, but slightly more normal. Anyway, they have beliefs that I have never heard from other Catholics. They believe in the "literal" translation of the Bible (I find that troubling), and place emphisis on the book of Revelations (weird & troubling), including believing in the rapture (eeek!). They also believe that proselytizing is a part of their faith. :scared:

For years DH and myself have had (sometimes loud) conversations about these subjects, but it wasn't until tonight that I realized that I had never met any Catholics before him or his family who ever mentioned, let alone believed, any of this stuff.

Is it just me? Do other Catholics (I'm long ago non-practicing) believe in this stuff, and I just blocked it all out? I think that maybe my in-laws are aliens, that would certainly explain a lot.








edited for spelling

[Syrinx]

1. I'm not Catholic, but I'm pretty sure the answer is no

As I understand, the concept of the Rapture didn't come into existence until the 20th century. It's not in the Bible at all, as far as I know.

[Sherman A1]

2. Not as I recall

I don't think the rapture was part of the Baltimore Catechism and by the way St. Louis is is a pretty liberal city in Missouri as I suspect is KC.

[don954]

3. im ex-Catholic

and im pretty sure that it isnt. I quit after being an alter-boy so i didnt stay in the church long.

[WildEyedLiberal]

4. Nope, Catholics are taught that the rapture is BS

How weird that your hubby's family believes in it... I am Catholic and I know that the view within the religion, even among the very strict conservative traditional Catholics (especially among them, actually) is that the Rapture is bullshit. True Catholics regard any fundamentalist ideas with quite a bit of distaste and trepidation, seeing how most fundamentalists are virulently anti-Catholic.

[hyphenate]

6. Yes--

I've even heard some "Christians" of the RRR (radical religious right) variety say that the pope is the anti-christ. Of course, they were talking about John Paul II--I don't know what their opinion of Ratzi is.

[hyphenate]

5. Doesn't sound like they're

Catholics, because all of the things you describe them as believing in are fundamentalist teachings--the rapture, the literal translation of the bible, etc. Catholics most CERTAINLY do NOT believe in the Rapture. AND Catholics believe in evolution for the most part, which you will fundies do NOT.

The fundies and other radical religious right cultists believe in these things, even though the beliefs are only about 200 years old. In fact, Martin Luther, when he was creating his Christian sect, removed several books from the bible to accommodate his own belief system.

I would say that if they were true Catholics, they would likely ignore these kinds of things, instead of accepting them.

As another example, some "Christian" groups won't do charity work or missionary work unless they convert the people they are working with. Catholic charities will more often than not give aid and comfort first, without the proselytizing that goes with the other "Chrsitans." You know, "brotherly love" and all that. :eyes:

[me b zola]

7. Thanks everyone who responded

It's confirmed--Mr zola and his family are aliens :evilgrin:

[Psephos]

8. No. But many still think of Catholics as another species of fundie. n/t

[saracat]

9. Nope and I speak from three generations of Catholic school and Jesuit

educated Catholics. I am long recoverning but I never even heard it mentioned.This is fundie fantasy.

[dysfunctionalmother]

10. Never heard it

12 years Catholic School and never heard about the Rapture until I meant my husband's fundie family. So surreal. I felt like I met aliens when I met husband's clan.... He calls himself theologically abused.
I have since realized my Catholic experience was on the more liberal side. Classroom assignments were things like, "Jesus is coming over to dinner, what would you like to talk about?" and "Design/plan your own mass, no restrictions".

[xchrom]

11. generally speaking -- liturgical churches --

catholic, lutheran, episcopal, orthodox are not ''rapture ready'' churches --

[rpannier]

12. I taught at a Catholic school years ago

and I can't remember any talk or teaching about the rapture.

[flordehinojos]

13. never have i ever heard a priest (or nun) talk or preach about the rapture

and, in fact just a few short years ago one of the most saintly priests i have known said in his homily on a Sunday, "no one knows when the end (times) will come".

proselytizing? i think they had another word for it. it was called "doing missionary work" at the missions--but, proselytizing? i never heard of that in the catholic church.

and at some point there have been some people who claim to be catholics (like the priest who stood outside the terry schiavo hospice saying michael schiavo was killing her) who are no longer catholics but use their previous "catholic" identity to do whatever it is they want to do...though, i don't think they are officially recognized by rome.

[intaglio]

14. Literal truth of the Bible?

What the Vulgate? The Douay-Rhiems? The New American translation? Haydock revision of Challoner-Rheims?

They'd better not be using King James Version!

[TexasProgresive]

15. No, Nein, Non, never

Excerpt from:

Caritas - Papal Office
by His Holiness Pope Pius XIII

Millenniumism
We are forced to believe the words of the Apostles Creed:

“Our Lord...seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.”

The Catholic Encyclopedia gives the following critique of Millenniumism:

“The essentials are the following points: The early return of Christ in all His power and glory, the establishment of an earthly kingdom with the just, the resuscitation of the deceased saints and their participation in the glorious reign, the destruction of the powers hostile to God,...

“The roots of the belief in a glorious kingdom, party natural, partly supernatural, are found in the hopes of the Jews for a temporal Messiah and in the Jewish apocalyptic...”

The author in the Encyclopedia corrects the above error as follows:

“There is no trace of chiliasm (millenniumism) to be found in the Gospels or in the Epistles of St. Paul; everything moves in the spiritual and religious sphere; even the judgment bear this stamp.”

http://www.truecatholic.org/pope/car-199901.htm

[intaglio]

16. I recall that there are a few sectaries who regard themselves

as Cathoolic but are not Roman Catholic. IIRC most of these minor denominations formed about the time of Vatican II. There is also a sect of Catholics who formed themselves from the Episcopalians. In neither sect are Priests are not recognised by the Roman church but the priests themselves will claim to be Roman.