How Does a Person Become a Catholic? [Ecumenical]

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[Salvation]

How Does a Person Become a Catholic?

to Seek Ye First

There are several ways to become a Catholic. The Catholic Church warmly welcomes new members and tries to provide appropriate spiritual formation according to each person's needs. In general, though, people who are becoming Catholic fall into three categories: infants and young children; people who, whether baptized or unbaptized, have had little or no affiliation with or religious training int the Christian faith; and baptized people who have been active members in other Christian denominations.

Infants and Young Children

Children who are born or adopted into Catholic families usually are baptized as infants, a practice that began early in the Church's history. This makes sense because the children will be raised in a Christian environment, learning the ways of faith from their parents and other family members, and eventually receiving formal religious training through their parish school or religious education program. For the same reason, children whose parents enter the Catholic Church before the children have reached school age also are baptized.

People with Little or No Christian Background

Many adults who wish to join the Catholic Church have never been baptized. The Church offers unbaptized adults a process of formation in the Catholic Christian faith and way of life called "Christian initiation," or "Catechumenate." Christian initiation is a gradual process. It begins somewhat informally. After the interested person contacts the local Catholic Church, he or she may be invited to meet with other people who are exploring the possibility of becoming Catholic. These people have the opportunity to ask questions about the Church and to hear about the message of Jesus Christ and how it is lived out in the Catholic Church. A person may continue to participate in these sessions as long as he or she wishes. No commitments are made or expected during this time.

If the person decides to pursue the process of becoming Catholic, he or she enters the catechumenate; unbaptized persons in the catechumenate are called catechumens. The catechumenate provides a structure for the proclamation of the Gospel, catechesis (passing on of the teachings of the Church), public and private prayer, spiritual direction, the observance of the feasts, fasts, Sundays and seasons of the Church calendar, direct contact with members of the parish community, and participation in the work of the Church for justice and peace. During this time, each catechumen is paired with a sponsor who can serve as a spiritual companion and offer support and encouragement. The sponsor is already Catholic.

Through the various rites of the catechumenate, the Church marks a person's journey to full membership. These rites reflect his or her spiritual growth and the community's loving concern. The climax of the catechumenate process is the celebration of the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and eucharist, usually at the Easter Vigil, followed by a period for reflection on the sacraments and for integration into the life and mission of the Church (a sketch of the periods and rites of Christian initiation can be found below). From the time an unbaptized person becomes a catechumen until that person celebrates the sacraments of initiation usually takes at least one year. This allows the catechumen to experience one full cycle of the Church's rhythm of feasts and seasons.

Baptized adults who have never been formed in the Christian life also participate in the catechumenate process. As they prepare for acceptance into the Catholic Church, they are known as candidates rather than catechumens. Even though the process is the same, the Catholic Church takes care to respect the fact that these people truly are baptized. Only when there is good reason to doubt that the person's baptixm took place or was celebrated validly--a rare occurrence--will such a person be baptized before entering the Catholic Church. Baptized persons are received into the Catholic Church when they are ready, by making a profession of faith, receiving the sacrament of confirmation and sharing in the eucharist.

Children who have reached school age, whether they are baptized or not, will participate in the catechumenate process adapted according to their age.

For clarification, a valid baptism means that a person has been either submerged in water or had water poured on his/her head, while the Christian pastor/preacher says: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." All three persons in the Trinity must be invoked for the baptism to be recognized by the Catholic Church as a valid baptism. We believe that only a valid baptism performed in this way removes original sin.

Baptized People Who are Active Christians

People who have been active members of other Christian denominations seek membership in the Catholic Church for many reasons. Often, they are attracted by the Church's liturgies or by its stance on issues of justice and peace. Sometimes they are married or engaged to a Catholic. A person who has been an active Christian, who attempts to live in a way congruent with the teachings of Christ, who has actively participated in the worship and life of a Christian community and who prays does not need to undergo the full process of Christian initiation. Such a person does need an understanding of Catholic beliefs, the experience of participating in the Church's liturgical life over an appropriate period of time and an acquaintance with the Catholic community to be able to make a lasting commitment to the Catholic Church. Each person's situation should be evaluated and his or her needs met in an appropriate way. When the time is right, such a person may be received into the Catholic Church at any time of the year. This is accomplished by the person making a profession of faith and celebrating the sacraments of confirmation and eucharist, usually at a Sunday parish Mass. (Even if the person has been confirmed in another Christian denomination, the sacrament of confirmation is almost always celebrated).

What is the First Step?

Anyone who is thinking about becoming a Catholic Christian or who would like more information can contact the nearest Catholic parish. Meeting with the pastor or another member of the parish's pastoral staff ordinarily is the first step in the journey toward becoming a Catholic.

To find a Catholic parish near you, check the phone book, ask a friend who is Catholic, or if you live in a small rural town that has no Catholic parish, you can check out Masstimes.org for information about the closest parish to your home town.

Christian Initiation Synopsis:

Period of Inquiry: This is a time of introduction to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a time of reflection on one's own life in light of the values of the reign of God. It is an unstructured time of no fixed duration for questions and an opportunity for the beginnings of Christian faith to form.

Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens: In this liturgical rite, those who wish to become catechumens publicly express their desire to follow the way of Jesus. The Church accepts their intention and welcomes them into the household of faith as catechumens.

Period of the Catechumenate: Along with the whole community, catechumens celebrate the liturgy of the Word at Mass each Sunday. After the homily, the catechumens and their catechists (teachers) continue to study and ponder the Scriptures and the teachings of the Church. During this time, catechumens receive anointings, participate in prayers of exorcism and blessing, and take part in the mission of the Church to the world. Through prayer, learning and coming to know other Catholic Christians, catechumens discover the love and power of God in their lives and in the Church.

Election or Enrollment of Names: At this liturgical rite, usually celebrated on the First Sunday of Lent in the cathedral of the diocese, the bishop formally acknowledges the readiness of the catechumens and calls them to the sacraments of initiation. The catechumens respond by expressing their desire for these sacraments. From this time, until they are baptized, they are called the elect.

Period of Purification and Enlightenment: This time of intense preparation for initiation usually coincides with Lent. During this period, the elect and the parish community together focus on conversion, scrutinize their lives in light of the Gospel and celebrate the presentations of the Creed and Lord's Prayer.

Sacraments of Initiation: The elect become full members of the Body of Christ, the Church, through the celebration of the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and eucharist, usually at the Easter Vigil. From this time until the end of the period of mystagogy, they are known as neophytes, which means "new sprouts."

Period of Mystagogy: During the 50 day season of Easter, neophytes ponder the experience and meaning of the sacraments and participate with the faithful in the eucharistic life of the Church and its mission for justice and peace. Formation and teaching continue for one year to help the neophytes become incorporated into the full life of the Catholic Christian community.

[Philo-Junius]

If neither you nor your wives were baptised, then none of your weddings were sacramental requiring annulment.

If, on the other hand, the marriages or the wives were Christian, then the Catholic Church requires that you treat the marriage with the respect that the Church teaches Christian marriage is due, even if you did not do so previously.

[Mad Dawg]

Here's a way to look at it which I think is correct, but I could be way wrong.

As to your last sentence, what if the Catholics just said, "No marriage undertaken before Baptism is a real marriage." In such a case your entry would automatically annul any prior marriages. Would that be better?

It's not just "the sanctity of marriage," it's what marriage IS. It is impossible (in our view) to have been truly married to someone still alive AND to be subsequently truly married to someone else (who is alive also.) One wife at a time, one husband at a time, AND he is your husband or she is your wife until death do you part. That is part of the esse of matrimony.

So we COULD say, well, those marriages you had when you were unbaptized weren't really marriages and aren't really binding. But it sounds like you (or the women involved) want to say that those marriages were real marriages and now these are two.

For us, that does not compute.

[ikka]

You didn’t really pay attention to what I wrote. I explicitly said (if you read the entire phrase) that Catholics are Christians.

[Elvina]

Isn't there a prerequisite of first being a Lutheran for at least 2 years?

I did the speeded-up version of that. I only got as far as calling the Lutherans to find out when their services were. Then I read Surprised By Truth, and the rest is history.

[ikka]

"Bible trivia" ?

What about "thy Word I have hid in my heart, so that I may not sin against thee" (NASB: "Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.")?

I am talking about someone who reads the DaVinci Code and then says "well, it could be true that Jesus ran away with Magdalen instead of dying on the cross..." and does not understand why that would incontrovertibly mean a rejection of Catholic belief.

Yes, this actually happened, and yes, the woman in question went to Catholic school and even a college run by and taught by nuns.

Maybe it is an outlier, and surely just an anecdote, but my original point stands: "If you are going to be a serious Catholic (taking canon law, etc. seriously), expect to be lonely".

[GrouchoTex]

“As to your last sentence, what if the Catholics just said, “No marriage undertaken before Baptism is a real marriage.” In such a case your entry would automatically annul any prior marriages. Would that be better?”

Well, yes, quite frankly, yes. It would make more sense.

Think about it.

I do understand what you are saying, but I am now at the risk of saying that my first marriage didn’t exist and my current wife’s first marriage didn’t exist, either. Children came from these unions, so therefore, do they now not exist?

That is the major issue.

Of course they exist, but if the marriages they came from, are not valid, after being annulled, where does that leave them?

On more thing to ponder........

I could walk into the Catholic Church, being a thief (or worse) and not have to contact the people I have stolen from (or worse) in the past and still be accepted as is.

Yet, if I come into the Catholic Church as a divorced and remarried man, I need to contact the previous spouse and ask them if they would agree to admit that it never really happened?

huh?

Sorry, I will not now or ever become Catholic.

I tried, it didn’t make sense.

There are other issues but this one just didn’t compute (as you say).

[markomalley]

Lawdy, I don't know why I'm getting into this again...

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?

First, if both you and your former spouse were unbaptized at the beginning of the marriage, you were not married. If one of you were baptized during the marriage, then that one is bound by scripture, not the unbaptized one (for example, if your former spouse was baptized and you were not, she would not be at liberty to leave you, but you wouldn't be bound in any way...as you could not sacramentally be married in the first place. If you were baptized and she wasn't, then she could leave you but you couldn't leave her).

Man, all of those Catholic rules sure are tough to deal with.

'Cept one thing, those Catholic rules were written by a fella named Paul (formerly Saul), this guy from Turkey. You may have heard of him before.

1Cr 7:10 To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband

1Cr 7:11 (but if she does, let her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband)--and that the husband should not divorce his wife.

1Cr 7:12 To the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.

1Cr 7:13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.

1Cr 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy.

1Cr 7:15 But if the unbelieving partner desires to separate, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. For God has called us to peace.

So if you're at a good, Bible-believing non-denominational church and they accept you, guess what? Either your church compromises on the Scriptures or, in the final analysis, you would have not had an issue in the Catholic Church either.

"But why don't they let the past be the past...can't do anything about it now, can I?"

They actually do it out of concern for your soul, not out of a bunch of bureaucracy (and this is something that is not often explained at all or explained well).

If you are a baptized Christian and in a second marriage, you are an adulterer. That's not my judgment on you, either (I don't care one way or the other), that's Scripture's judgment on you. Whether your current church teaches that or not, it is what it is.

If you are received into the Church, you will presumably want to receive the Body and Blood of Christ in communion. If you do so, while in a state of mortal sin (which, per scripture, you are), you have just received the Body and Blood sacrilegiously. That is not good for the state of one's soul, to put it mildly (In fact, St. Paul says Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord (1 Cor 11:27))

So you go to confession. But you leave that one out. Well, if you don't ask for forgiveness, God isn't going to grant forgiveness, and, in fact, you're really no better than Adam and Eve hiding from the Lord after they ate the fruit, are you?

Of course, you could live as brother and sister with your current wife, but how many people actually would do that? (If you did have a previous, valid marriage and then both you and your wife promised to do so [live as brother and sister], I bet that would be accepted, btw).

But the problem is that if you are received into the Church with a more-or-less permanent state of mortal sin on your soul already, you are assured of a life of either not being in full communion with the Church or living a lie, which eventually leads to having a reprobate heart (and you can do your own word search on reprobate if you want to see where that leads you).

So them wanting to help you clear up the marriage issue and even not allowing you to be received into the Church is, in fact, a grace -- even though I know it really doesn't feel like it when you're on the receiving end.

Bottom line: it's not a "Catholic" standard so much as a standard established by #1, Christ, and #2, St. Paul, which is validated in the Scriptures (as well as in the teachings of the Church).

[GrouchoTex]

(1)Yes, I have heard of Paul (formerly Saul)

(2) If I go to Christ and ask for forgiveness for being an adulterer, as a Christian, is there any other governing body that can say I can not be a member of their organization?

Well, frankly, yes.

The Catholic Church demands that I go to the diocese and pay for the privilege of doing so, twice, I my case.

Sorry, I think that if someone on this Earth can determine my worthiness,as to whether I am truly a sincere christian or not, them they themselves are not worthy of my time and trouble.

Again, think about it.

Don't take it so hard, I blew off the Baptist,too (but for a different reason).

I ask Christ only.

I answer to Christ only.

[GrouchoTex]

“them they themselves”

Sounds a bit redneck...

Guess I should of just said “ All y’all”

[markomalley]

Don't take it so hard

Like I said, I don't actually care so much. I just wanted you to understand that what happened to you was done out of concern for your soul, not out of concern for bureaucratic nuance...and also to assure you that the standards aren't something made up in a dark room in a former graveyard in Italy, but, rather a few hundred miles east of that point.

Since I've done that, my job is done.

[GrouchoTex]

I do apreciate your kind rendering of the Church’s beleifs. It seems that I have stirred up a bit of controversy here.

I admit that I have swung back in kind but I do not what you to take it personally.

Agreed, we are Christian.

Agreed, that I want to repent (daily) and live better (daily) as all Christians do.

Thank you for your thoughtful response.

[GrouchoTex]

Few hundred miles east... Well said.

Thanks

We are all reading out of the same book, we’re just a few words off here and there.

A lot more that we agree about than disagree about.

[AlexW]

Having been a lifelong Episcopalian and a senior warden in Tennessee, I left the church over 6 years ago, when it left me.
Now living in the Philippines, I will obviously attend the Catholic church.
I do not, however, see a reason to actually become a Catholic.
If someone gives me a reason, I would consider it.

[annalex]

How to become a Catholic

[Philo-Junius]

Non-sacramental doesn’t mean no relationship existed, just not the one the Church defines as marriage.

We have to agree on basic terms in order to be able to converse.

There’s a reason Church documents are written in Latin.

[GrouchoTex]

Converted from Aramiac and Hebrew (wink)

[annalex]

You need to formally convert if you wish to receive the Holy Communion or other sacraments if the Catholic Church.

You are, like everyone, welcome to visit Mass and pray, but you cannot receive Communion.

[annalex]

sacraments if -> sacraments of

[Philo-Junius]

And that’s a big reason why they made St. Jerome a saint.

[Ag88]

As a failed Catholic, divorced, and married to a divorced Protestant, I am removed from participating in the Eucharist. Though I cannot participate in Communion, I am thankful to be in His presence. Knowing I am not worthy, I thank and praise the Lord for His Grace and Mercy, which are sufficient for me. He did not come to call the rightous, but sinners, like me.