Posted on 01/26/2009 5:35:29 PM PST by Salvation
Webmaster's Note: My son-in-law joined the Catholic Church during the Easter Vigil of 2001, and I was his sponsor/godmother. He was unbaptized, but raised in a fundamentalist Christian Church, which his family did not attend regularly. I attended the RCIA classes with him, because I was curious about the process of becoming Catholic myself. I was baptized into the Catholic Church when I was 5 days old, and had no experience with this. My husband is a convert from the Methodist Church, and he attended instruction before I met him.
I have several suggestions for people who want to be Catholic, or who are interested in exactly what we believe. My personal experience ( I live in the "Bible belt") with Christians of other denominations is that they are told by the other "authorities" in their Churches what we believe, rather than asking a practicing Catholic directly. It's my opinion that if you want to know about any subject, you go to a person who actually knows the facts. For example, don't ask your attorney a medical question. See what I mean?
If at all possible, find a Catholic to talk to who actually practices his/her faith. Please don't be put off or discouraged if you ask a question about "why?" and the Catholic doesn't have a ready answer for you. Many of us know the "rules" but aren't always taught all the "why's" of our faith. Most of us aren't forced in religion classes to memorize different Bible quotations so they can be quoted back later. Hopefully, your Catholic friend you speak to can direct you to some source for your answer or go find out for you.
Go straight to a Catholic Church and talk to the priests or deacons there. Phone the parish office to make an appointment first if possible. The number of priests are declining, and they usually have pretty tight schedules with handling parish and diocesan matters.
Purchase books on Catholicism that are actually printed by Catholic publishers. Catholic publishing companies rarely print a book that goes against Catholic teaching, if it is EVER done! Some examples of these publishers are: Liguori, Ave Maria Press, Ignatius, Tan, etc. The books I suggest on my Apologetics and Dogma webpages are safe resources to get the real facts on the Catholic Church and its teachings. Use the same discretion when surfing the internet for "facts" about the faith. For those of you who do not know what "apologetics" is, it is the Biblical defense of the Catholic faith and has nothing to do with any "apology."
One other important note: You can take instruction in the Catholic faith and choose not to become a Catholic. Many people who are marrying a Catholic want to know what their future spouse believes. Some join the Church, others do not. When I was going through the process with my son-in-law, there were a couple of people going through the instruction classes for the 2nd or 3rd time. Until you actually receive the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and eucharist (Holy Communion) at the Easter Vigil, you are not yet a Catholic. You can still choose not to join up to that point. And if you want more instruction before you actually make your decision, come back for the next round of classes! We won't throw you out, or tell you that you missed your chance.... All are welcome.
If you have been divorced and remarried, you will have special issues to address before becoming Catholic. Talk to your priest about this. Don't let the fact that you've been married and divorced before this marriage keep you away from the faith. This also applies if you have married a divorced person, but you have only had the one marriage. Please make sure your priest knows your special circumstances.
How Does a Person Become a Catholic? [Ecumenical]
Beginning Catholic: The RCIA Inquiry Stage In the Catholic Church [Ecumenical]
Beginning Catholic: A Strong Start in the Faith: The Catholic RCIA Stages [Ecumenical]
Lutheran Wife has questions before joining Catholic Church
Belleville Bishop Braxton in Brouhaha with his priests (title mine)
A Ramble through My "New Catholic" Wish List {RCIA referenced]
Help with RCIA (Vanity)
Catholic Liturgy - Funeral Masses for a Suicide And More on Confession for RCIA Candidates
Confession for RCIA Candidates And More on the Prayer of the Faithful
RCIA and Holy Saturday
Why the answer to that is simple. If one truly follows where the Holy Spirit leads them, they will find themselves in the Catholic Church.
HA HA!
I would imagine things would be easier for members of the Orthodox communities.
Do all us catholics a favor first though. REALLY learn the faith. Pick a sponsor who practices their faith and TALK to them about it. We don’t need anymore “catholics for choice” catholics who think there should be women priests, freedom from celibacy for priests, birth control or abortion. Oh yeah, and if you voted for O, make sure you go to CONFESSION first, cause you just help set the pro life movement back-A LOT.
We, the faithful,are not interested in changing our beliefs to suit your needs. I,for one, am sick and tired of “reaching across the aisle” in my church. I adhere to the teachings of the church to remain catholic. I invite all those who don’t agree or want to change them to find a more suitable denomination, you already are NOT a catholic.
After you learn what we believe, and you agree with what that is, WELCOME!!
** It’s my opinion that if you want to know about any subject, you go to a person who actually knows the facts. For example, don’t ask your attorney a medical question. See what I mean?
If at all possible, find a Catholic to talk to who actually practices his/her faith.**
Very wise words from this author. Might be good advice for all here on FR! LOL!
If one truly follows where the Holy Spirit leads them they will find themselves saved and if they happen to be Catholic then they are a saved Catholic same goes for Baptist, Lutheran etc....The Holy Spirit will guide to where they need to be...
that is why I put my 2 cents in. I practice, and that is the BEST advice I could give. I see my church constantly watering itself down.
I am happy to see some more backbone in recent days due to Obama getting in, however, Obama would not have garnered 50percent of the Catholic vote if they had backbone before it.......
Isn't there a prerequisite of first being a Lutheran for at least 2 years?
I guess I should break out into a rendition of Kumbaya.
I would point this out to any prospective member - you will be 10 times more serious a Catholic than those you will be sitting in the pews with every Mass.... can you handle that or will you be lonely?
In my experience, even when dealing with people who attended Catholic schools with nuns teaching from first grade to high school, they know little about the Bible and cannot defend their faith intellectually.
Gosh, I thought the prerequisite was being a life long Lutheran. Does that mean I stuck around while the ELCA imploded for nothing before I crossed the Tiber?
**Do you want to be a Catholic? Or are you really trying to be a Christian,**
You are repeating one of the biggest falacies that Protestants use. They say that Catholics aren’t Christians. Well, we are.
It really does not matter if I feel lonely or not, because I know I have the Lord, Jesus Christ on my side.
That's too bad, but salvation is not based on one's knowledge of Bible trivia, and "salvation by grace" is not the same thing as "salvation by apologetics".
Both the Bible studies and discussions, and the hard-core apologetics, are out there. You have to expend a little effort to get them, but they aren't hidden and aren't hard to find.
Alas. I was told that if I wanted to, I needed to have my first marriage and my wife's first marriage annulled.
Sorry, but both ladies would not agree, no way, no how.
Okay, I understand the sanctity of marriage arguement, but I came in unbaptised, unchurched, etc...
We both had children from our previous marriages, so we didn't want that to be “annulled”.
I was told that it would be okay, that they would not be considered “bastards” but it was a hard sell to talk them into annullments of our collective first marriages, as any Mother would understand. At the end of the day, I had to say “No, Thank You” to the Catholic Church.
So, I guess we both lived in sin and had to rectify that, but it is a bit complicated, no?
Now I am quite content in my non-denominational church that accepts the fact the I came in with sin, but accepts that we all sin.
Sorry, but I do think that we get there when we get there. We can't always turn back the hands of time.
While I will completely understand the Catholic Church's stance on the 7 sacraments, I also realize that we all reach out for the light whenever and wherever we may be.
Not being a “Christian” before, why would I be held to a “Catholic” standard before my arrival to the faith?
We don’t have one locally. Most of what I get is from Barnes and Noble or Borders.
LOL
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