www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall demise of Catholic Answers Forum

For those who haven't heard, Catholic Answers Forum will end on dec 31.

Apparently, they were spending the better part of $100k a year on it!

They've decided the money could be better spent elsewhere.

Some fraction of them will find their way here; I've been asked a few times.

Can’t say I am sad to see them go. They censored people who questioned Latin presuppositions. They purged Orthodox and Eastern Catholic members who called them out a long time ago. The questions now are pretty banal and usually Latins asking if Eastern things are allowed.

Good riddance.

I left in disgust several times for those reason.

When they switched their system over, the changes in moderation made a *world* of difference.

The anti-EC and anti-OE behavior both led to not only removal of posts, but suspensions and bans.

Christ is in our midst!!

So they weren't really "Catholic" after all or didn't really know what the word meant or had no knowledge of the history of the Church or had never heard of Vatican 2 or a combination of these. Too bad they didn't refer to the volumes of the Catholic Encyclopedia that at least had extensive references to the Eastern Churches, their history, their liturgy, their theology. It won't get any better either until the people who put together catechetical materials get educated. The last religious education class I taught had a historical timeline for the Church. I was upset that it began about 1100 AD.

Bob

yeah, *those* things.

It must be hard being more catholic than the pope, and understanding things that he doesn't . . .

Makes one weary at times.

The demise of CAF? And I thought 2020 was going to be a complete write-off . . .

I expect that, even though Catholic Answers were not very knowledgeable of or friendly towards Eastern Christians, they did much good in leading people to the Lord. Let's wish our brothers there well and bless them with our prayers.

Agreed, Sir! Perhaps the CAF weakness with respect to knowledge about Eastern Christianity is something people on this Forum could have strengthened?

Christ is in our midst!!

Alex,

It's good to see you. The problem is that one cannot strengthen anything when one is not welcome.

Bob

CAF had no tolerance for any deviation from their party line. If it didn’t agree with their view of things it wasn’t allowed. They banned a bunch of Orthodox and Eastern Catholic members at one point and after that really wasn’t worth participating in.

I tried.

Well, after the newer moderation system. Before that I'd always leave in disgust rather quickly.

By the end of this iteration, I was getting invoked for comment fairly often. An most of what I replied was what I learned here . . .'

Well, members on CAF referred to me as an heretic. I wouldn't tolerate that and was offended. Being of the Eastern Church, you would think that they would at least refer to me by the Western tried and true "schismatic!" And, yes, I got that appellation after relating things that I also learned on this Forum . . .

.

I admit, part of me is sad to see them go. I started using it in my very early teenage years and the forum was a place where I could learn anything I wanted about Catholicism--even where I learned about the Eastern Catholic churches. I credit the forum as a big force in what helped me grow into the Catholic adult I am today because of the knowledge base and fellowship it provided, but it was a love-hate relationship. I stopped using it through my 20s until now.

Huh. Strange feeling.