:-S CATHOLICS???

Hi, I just wanted to know if any Catholics/Roman Catholics out there had a hard time going through the surgery because of family/friends telling them that it was "WRONG" in the eyes of God. I heard that "If God made you that way,you should stay that way" once and I just didn't think that was cool. Any suggestions, ideas, comments? Thanks everyone. Miss J M

Hi JM! well I haven't heard it from any of my fellow Catholics yet...but admit I did have that nagging thought in my head all on my own! I have answered it this way...God brought us into the world essentially ignorant also, and I doubt any of my well intentioned parishioners would suggest that God intended us to stay THAT way... What has also helped, is I'm a 3rd year student in our Diocese' formation program to be ordained as a Permanent Deacon. Our Associate Director of the program had the by-pass surgery last spring...I figure there is and should be no question in persuing this method of finding a healthy life. Heck, if we had cancer we'd expect to have it surgically cured if we had that option wouldn't we? There's no mention in the Bible, no mention in the Catechism that says otherwise...so let your own heart guide your steps. <

Hi J M, I'm not Catholic so my thoughts on this might not hold much water but here they are anyway: You would never think of spraying paint all over your church because that would defile it. You would never consider having sex on one of the pews because that's the Lord's house. Right? Well the fact of the matter is the church is just a building. God lives in us. We are the temple of God (1 Corth 3:16). With that said, why is it okay to do things to our bodies that we would never do to the church building? I look at overeating as spray painting the church. We have taken something beautiful and defiled it. Why not powerwa**** and make it beautiful again? As for the comment "God made you that way", no He didn't. He ALLOWED you to become that way. God created us with something wonderful...the freedom of choice. You choose to become this way. Mainly by putting food in place of God. (I speak from experience here) In times of pain instead of turning to God, you turned to food. In times of rejoycing, instead of praising God, you celebrated with food. But glory to God you have come to a point of realization and want to change. You want to take food off the pedistal in your life. Ask the people who made this comment to you to show you in the bible where God says He doesn't like positive change. (They won't find it) The enemy will creep in and seek to devour. Don't let him. Get on your knees before God and seek His direction...not the direction of other people's comments. God bless, Dawn

Hi Miss JM- You can put any Catholic guilt thoughts aside, there are no Catholic teachings that would object to this medical treatment. And just another thought--- God did not make us this way- we did. As Catholics we believe in free will. Our free will brought us to this place, and thank God that our free will and intellect rescued us from our wilderness. I have an Master's degree in theology and I am a certified lay ecclesial minister, and a candidate for chaplaincy certification through the USCCB. My surgeon is a faithful wonderful Catholic man of God. My evangelical family physician prayed with me before and after. (he is also my surgeon's MD) This surgery was my answer to prayers to God. I am sure of it. May God Bless you for your faithfullness to him and to yourself. Peace+ Laura D.

i'm coming in to this convo really late (I'm relatively new to OH and just found this forum--I'll be back). I'm a converted Catholic, I was raised protestant. DH is a cradle Catholic. I've thought about it and prayed about it and have come to one conclusion: God has given man the ability to do certain things to make our lives better. This surgery is one of those tools. Surgery is NOT going to make my life perfect or make me something special. Like the handful of meds I swallow, this is another tool to help me get healthy. Melissa

Let me add another thought.... IF the teachings of the Catholic church were against this surgery, why would one of our Deacons be one of the psych's recommended to do the psych evals??? I wouldn't think that he would do something professionally that went so against his religious beliefs (just like I won't take a job at a family planning clinic). Melissa