My characters are catholic? Help!

What kind of cathoiic? Roman? Anglican? Old? Polish? There are a lot of varieties of "catholic".

Time for a field trip!

My other suggestion would be to read some novels, especially if there is one with catholic characters struggling with a conflict similar to your characters.

While I'm protestant, I enjoy reading Andrew Greeley's novels and they are a good place to start. He is very postive and happily Catholic while at the same time a voice for change and modernization.

Best wishes ... Zdras

Wild Gold

I'm a Catholic so I think I can help.

Days of fasting/foods that shouldn't be eaten on certain days
* Catholics are supposed to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday (40 days before Easter) and on all Fridays from then til Easter. Also, they are supposed to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (the Friday before Easter), which means reducing their food intake to the equivalent of one meal that day. In my experience, I find that the abstinence from meat is usually followed, but not so much the fasting. If your MC's family is really religious, they probably wouldn't eat meat on any Friday of the year.

How do most Catholics view priests?
* I'd say we'd usually view them as teachers, and counselors. Depending on how tightly knit the parish is and the personality of the priest, they can be seen as community leaders as well. How someone will relate to the priest (i.e., whether they'll even start conversations and get to know the priest) may also depend on how shy the person is, and how devout.

Are there different types of priest?
* Yes, in more than one sense. Priests can belong to different religious orders (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_order for a list).
Then separately from that there are different "levels" - a deacon is someone who is training to be a priest but hasn't been ordained yet. (Note that "permanent deacons" also exist, and can be married.) Then there's priests, and then when you climb the ranks there are bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and the Pope.

Do they have to give money to the church?
* No. But most families do anyway. The amount is usually small, generally about $5 -$10 per Mass (definitely waaaaay less than the 10% tithe of days gone by).

Is confession compulsory or a custom?
* Specifically, confession is the sacrament of penance and while it's ultimately the person's choice whether to go or not, it's definitely recommended to go at least a couple of times a year. Nobody will force you to go to confession, so it's up to the individual to decide to go. Usually before Christmas and Easter there are special services scheduled for confession. Very religious people would go a lot more often than that, like weekly. They're also the people who would more likely attend the daily Masses.

How long does a church service last?
* The service (known as the "Mass") usually lasts somewhere between 45 minutes to an hour. It really depends on how long-winded the priest is during the homily (= what the sermon is called in a Catholic church). In my family, Masses which are really short are dubbed "microwave Masses". Some Masses are longer. The Easter Vigil (Saturday night before Easter) is usually more like 1.5 to 2 hours long, because they have way more readings and extra things in there.

Altar boys
* With the exception of a few very conservative churches (usually basilicas and cathedrals), both boys and girls can be altar servers. In my experience they are mostly girls, so we'd generally use the term altar servers. Their task is to help the priest with tasks at the altar, and leading processions to and from the altar. The more common things they would do over the course of the Mass:
- Light the candles before Mass (this usually includes the candles they will carry in during the procession, and the ones at the tabernacle. Depending on the season they may also have the Paschal (= Easter) candle to light)
- Lead the procession to the altar at the beginning of Mass. (If there are 2 servers they usually both hold candles. If there are 3, 1 will lead carrying a cross, and 2 more behind him/her will have the candles.)
- Hold candles beside the priest during the gospel reading
- Receive offerings at the altar (wine, water, etc)
- Present the wine and water to the priest when he needs them
- Help the priest to wash his hands
- Help bring the chalice and such things to the back of the altar after the eucharist (communion) is over
- Lead the procession out of the church after Mass is over.

Do priests socialize much with those who come to their church?
* Depends on the priest, but often, yes. It's not unsual for priests to be invited to dinner at a parishioner's house. Many are also very involved in church activities such as the youth group, bible studies, etc. After a Mass it's typical for the priest to stand at the back of the church and "meet & greet" the parishioners on their way out.

How important are saints?
* Important, but a common misconception is that we worship the saints. We don't. We look up to the saints, since they've often kept the faith through way worse situations than we'll ever go through. We ask them for help in praying, and we strive to lead good lives like they did. But actual worship is restricted to God (i.e., the Trinity). The more religious your MC is, the more likely they are to be well-versed on the lives of the saints.

If a Catholic person suffers a disabling condition -> support
* Most parishes have a number of support services. Usually there is some sort of ministry for shut-ins, i.e., someone can visit and take communion to those who can't make it to Mass. If someone is very ill and death could be very close, there is a sacrament, the Anointing of the Sick (part of the last rites). Hospitals will also often have a chaplain on hand and/or on call, in case of an emergency. For counseling or time with the priest, it can be arranged by contacting the parish office.

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask any more questions if you need to!

Edit: Oh, BTW I'm a Roman Catholic, which is the most common type of Catholic in the Westernized world. If your character is from Eastern rites (e.g., Byzantine, or some form of Orthodox), you will need to do more research, since I don't know much about them!

Flannery O'Connor, Graham Greene (gosh... I know more "catholic" authors but I'm brain dead tonight.)

I was going to see if there was anything else to add about Catholic characters, but the above post covered it pretty well.

I think the above post also mentioned that attendance on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation is mandatory for Catholics, otherwise to skip it, is a mortal sin.

Depending on how devout your characters, you might be able to play up the Catholic guilt factor. It's a bit of an obvious stereo type, but it does exist.

Feel free to PM if you need anything more.

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Maria
http://cosmicink.livejournal.com/
A Promise Unfulfilled '06

"…therein is in writing the constant joy of sudden discovery, of happy accident." H.L. Mencken

Before the second Vatican council, the day before Christmas and I think also the days before other holy days of obligation (see below) were also days of abstinence, though not days of fasting. My mom's family still has a huge family dinner on Christmas Eve that's entirely meatless, and it weirds me out that my husband's family typically has steak or ham for Christmas Eve dinner.

Actually, Catholics are bound to confess at least once a year, and then also whenever they've committed a mortal sin. Assuming someone managed not to commit any sins at all for a year, their yearly confession might be just a list of the good things they didn't do as enthusiastically as they should have, but they'd still have to make it.

That's one of the precepts of the Church; the others are:
* Attend Mass every Sunday and every holy day of obligation (in the US, those holy days are January 1st, the feast of Mary, the Mother of God; the feast of the Ascension, which is either the Thursday of the sixth week after Easter or that next Sunday, depending on which part of the country you're in; August 15th, the feast of the Assumption; November 1st, All Saints Day; December 8th, the feast of the Immaculate Conception; and Christmas)
* Receive communion at least once a year, during the Easter season (while the Eucharist is celebrated at every Mass, and there is a Mass every day of the year except Good Friday, Catholics are not obligated to receive every time they attend Mass)
* Observe the holy days of obligation (which in modern times mostly means just going to Mass)
* Observe the days of fasting and abstinence
and
* Provide for the material needs of the Church - i.e. to the extent you're able, contribute to the Church, either money, or by donating your skills, or something like that.

Like Sesshanach, I'm also willing to answer any questions you have, either in the thread or over nanomail. :)

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Uncle Cosmo, why do they call this a word processor?
It's simple, Skyler. You've seen what food processors do to food, right?

Thanks guys - I looked at the various Wiki entries and was only getting myself confused. :D

I've narrowed it down to Roman Catholic and pretty religious; my MC is going to be told off by his sister at one point for not going to Mass.

I was raised Roman Catholic and have many Catholic relatives, so I hope this helps. Some answers would differ if your novel is set before the Second Vatican Council of the 1960's. Some of the rules changed at that time, although the implimentation of them took a little longer, so the older generation may still go by the old rules.

Are there days of fasting, or foods they shouldn't eat on certain days?
Lent (Ash Wesday to Easter) is the biggest time of fasting for Catholics. Ash Wednesday is 40 days before Easter, not counting Sundays. On Ash Wednesday and Fridays during Lent Catholics do not eat meat, except fish. They are also encouraged to give something up (TV, eating between meals, etc) for Lent. This is a fast from something that is important in their daily lives and is different for each person. They also are encouraged to fast between meals on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Before the Second Vatican Councel, eating fish on Friday was not reserved for Lent. They did not eat meat on ANY Friday. Some still preserve this for the first Friday of the month.

How do most Catholics view priests? Are there different types of priests?
Catholics view priests the same way Protestants view their Pastors. This can be different even within a family, let alone a congregation. In general, they are the teachers, leaders and Pastor of their church.
There is a heirarchy of priests within the Roman Catholic Church. Most priests serve in the pastorial role of a congregation. They answer to the Bishop or Archbishop of their Diasese (sp?) or ArchDiasese. There are also about 7 Cardinals, worldwide, and the Pope.
There are different sects of monks, but most Catholics don't have a lot of contact with them unless at a retreat center, so I don't really know that much about the differences there.

Do they have to Give money to the church?
It is expected, but the degree it is mandatory may depend on the congregation. In the old days, there were some churches that announced the givings for the previous year from the pulpit in January. I do not think any still do this today.

Is confessing compulsory or just a custom?
Confession is a sacrament that is required of every Catholic once they make their First Holy Communion (usually about 2nd grade). The Bible says that if you have a grudge against your brother, go and work that out with him before coming to the alter. Catholics extend this to asking for forgiveness for all of their sins before taking communion. They confess to a priest because of Christs words to the apostles "What you forgive will be forgiven in Heaven. What you hold bound will be held bound in Heaven." (no a direct quote). How often a Catholic actually does this varies.

A church service usually lasts 45 minutes to an hour. It is a litegy and most Catholics can almost quote most of the Mass before they can read along with it.

What are alter boy and what exactly do they do?
Alter boys assist the priest in the Mass. They light the candles, hold the big book that the preist reads from and put away the communion supplies. In recent years, girls have been serving in this compacity also. I think they call them "servers" now instead of alter boys.

Do priest socialise much with those who come to their church?
Most do. It depends somewhat on the priest, but it is expected. The priest is often an honored guest for a meal in a Catholic home.

How important are saints?
The Catholic church teaches that the Saints (Cannonized Saints have the word Saint in their name and are the ones recongized by the Church) intercede for the living. Catholics pray to the Saints to ask them to pray for them. There are patron Saints for different things that one may need prayed for.

Some other things that may effect your character's lives are Holy Days of Obligation. Catholics are required by the Church to attend Mass on certain days of the year (Ash Wednesday, All Saints Day, Immaculate Conception, Good Friday, etc).

As far as a disabiling condition, most would be supportive of the individual and family. The official services may depend on where they live. In a more rural area, there would be less.

Hope this helps. You may want to attend a Mass and/or talk to a priest to get a better idea of what some of this means.

Rabble, hi

I, too, am a Latin Rite Catholic (that's sort of the 'vanilla" version of Roman Catholics in the U.S.

As you can tell, a great deal depends on whether your story takes place more than 40 years ago, or in the present day.

You might want to bookmark catholic.com and forums.catholic.com as places to search for information about present-day Catholics, but be careful! The forums are busy, and they could really be a time eater on those low word-count days.

If you're setting your novel in the 50s or earlier, the 1918 Catholic Encyclopedia is online at newadvent.org It will give you information about feasts, fast, and so on as they were during that earlier time.

As to Catholics with disabilities, it really depends what kind. Most parishes have their hearts in the right place, but haven't necessarily a clue about how to be inclusive. For example in my parish,, my wheelchair doesn't fit in the confessional, so I must always make an appointment for confession or try to find a private place elsewhere in the church during the regular time.

A Deaf Catholic might need to travel a long way from their original parish to find a parish with a Sign interpreter. Blind parishioners could easily get Bible readings and a Missal, but would miss things posted on the parish bulletin board unless someone deliberately read them aloud to them. You get the idea.

Hope this is a help, you can also message me via NaNoMail, although if my writing is going well I might not answer right away....

One of my characters is a Novice, and I've been doing a lot of digging to try and refresh my memory, and have a bunch of links compiled. You're welcome to help yourself to this post.

http://zannechaos.insanejournal.com/40706.html

While a lot of the specific stuff I have saved is more relevant to what I'm writing, the sites they're on have a lot of other information that could be very helpful for you.

Check out the comment from VanillaCokeHead in that post -- he gave more links that deal with some of the myths and mistaken beliefs about the Catholic faith.

Project Download
5 million hits. 1 life.

Ok, in case anyone still cares, I looked it up. Quoting myself from another thread:

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Uncle Cosmo, why do they call this a word processor?
It's simple, Skyler. You've seen what food processors do to food, right?

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Uncle Cosmo, why do they call this a word processor?
It's simple, Skyler. You've seen what food processors do to food, right?

Those were sites I haven't seen before. I did find a lot of misinformation out there last year when I was researching a lot of stuff for a novel I started last summer. A lot of the anti-Catholic stuff can pretty pretty funny and scary because it is so ludicrous and so inarticulate. I find it amusing to read for fun in small doses. There are some pretty well-done blogs, websites that have some well-written and rather polished arguments, and others just plain absurd. I have also discovered that a few Catholic sites sometimes fare no better. Some of the stuff posted on Catholic websites, blogs and forums boggles the mind too.

I live in a very liberal community and the Catholic church here is probably more progressive and liberal than in other parts of the country. It's also the largest Christian denomination here. The church is very welcoming, Mass is very reverent, solemn and lovely. So when I venture on the Internet, sometimes I find myself shocked by both sides.

I do think knowing that those sites and myths exist (on the Internet as well in every-day life) is also very helpful when developing a character and a story, especially if it the character's faith is a large part of the story. I've had to delve into some of that in my story.

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Maria
http://cosmicink.livejournal.com/
A Promise Unfulfilled '06

"…therein is in writing the constant joy of sudden discovery, of happy accident." H.L. Mencken

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Maria
http://cosmicink.livejournal.com/
A Promise Unfulfilled '06

"…therein is in writing the constant joy of sudden discovery, of happy accident." H.L. Mencken

Lifelong Roman Catholic here - in addition to Catholic.com
http://www.vatican.va/
www.ewtn.com
http://www.newadvent.net/

The best advice I can give is to read cheyinka's post in the "My MC Is Catholic" post.

"And the Lord did grin, and the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals and fruit bats and large chu--" "Skip a bit, brother."