Current mood:	hungry
Current music:	Hamasaki Ayumi - fairyland

some thoughts from a girl going through RCIA
I think I'm going to become a Muslim. I'll still believe all the things I do now, but I'll refer to myself as a Muslim, and I'll get really offended when anyone says "Um, you don't believe what Muslims believe... so you're not a Muslim."
I'll throw a hissy fit and be like, "How can you judge me? My Allah is a God of LOVE. He doesn't mind if I believe that Jesus is God."
"Um... but Islam teaches... that he totally isn't."
"You're so NARROW-MINDED!"
[/pretending]
This is how I feel when people post comments in Catholic communities that say things like "I'm a Catholic but I don't think premarital sex is wrong" or "You can be actively homosexual and Catholic, God made you that way!"
*bangs head on desk*

Catholicism has a book that defines each and every issue that is important and tells what the truth is. If you disagree with something in the Catechism, you're not Catholic, any more than I'm a Muslim. Simply by promoting heretical ideas, you're taking yourself out of communion with the Church. The beliefs of the Church work only as a unit. The radical affirmation of the Church is that the Holy Spirit personally upholds the the truth of the magisterium of the Church, and that her teachings on faith and morals are infallible for the current time and all time. Note that I said "faith and morals" only. Obviously, there have been terrible popes and mistakes made in running the church, but the Church's teaching on faith and morals has never been tampered with.
If you do disagree with something, you need to first really find out what the Church teaches about it and why the Church teaches it. You may be surprised and edified. CCD and Catholic schooling have fallen miserably short in Catechesis, especially in North America. Being Catholic means trusting that the Holy Spirit has guaranteed the truth. If my individual human understanding can't understand the reasoning, as a Catholic I need to submit to the Church in all manners concerning faith and morals.
The authoritative place to go is, of course, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which you can find online at the Vatican website. A really great place to go to ask questions and learn is Phatmass. Not only do they have a great collection of articles about every aspect of Catholic belief, but they have a forum where anyone can ask a question but only can certain educated and orthodox Catholics answer.
If you ultimately decide that you won't submit to the Church's teaching, but you still want to be Christian, you can go be a Protestant. Protestants just deal with the Bible, but they can interpret it any way they want, or even say that parts of it don't matter, because there is no ultimate authority over Protestantism. There are lots of different kinds of Protestantism, so no matter what your beliefs become, there's probably a denomination for you. And if there isn't you can make a new denomination!
If you just like the pretty pretty ritual parts of Catholicism, you can go be an Anglican. It's Diet Catholicism, basically. Similar taste, without any of that hard to swallow DOCTRINE.
Obviously I believe that Catholicism is the one true way, that every human should submit to the Church as Christ himself commanded. But I can't lie and say that it's alright to call purple blue or lies truth. Too many people are led astray by heretical ideas and never realize what they're being taught is heresy. If someone cannot believe in Catholicism truly, it is better that he or she disavow the Catholic label and take on the Protestant one and not lead others astray.