10 Reasons Why It's Hard to Become Catholic

Canterbury Tales ^ | May 6, 2013 | Taylor Marshall

[NYer]

Is it difficult to become Catholic?

I don't often disclose personal thoughts on this blog, but I feel that this is something that might be helpful for folks on both sides of the Tiber: Ten Reasons why it's hard to become Catholic.

I have spoken to somewhere between 50-100 Protestant ministers who have become Catholic or are contemplating entry into full communion with the Catholic Church. Most of these are Anglican or Presbyterian. A few have been Lutheran. 

Over the last several years, I've gathered up the "big ten" that either cause pain or lead to a man saying "No thanks," to the Catholic Church.

#10 Theological Submission

It's difficult to say serviam ("I will serve"). Theology is no longer "what I think". It requires a submission of the mind. At the same time, this a liberation of the mind. Still, it is difficult to tell oneself: "I don't fully understand the Treasury of Merit, but I will submit my reason to the reason of the Church."

#9 Priests

Catholic priests are not like Protestant ministers. Relatively speaking, they are more distant than Protestant clergy, albeit for good reasons sometimes. A Protestant has the experience of a minister smiling whenever he sees you, memorizing your name, and generally going out of his way to make a personal connection. This rarely happens in Catholicism. I admit it - it wounds my pride a little. I wish that I were greeted and hailed by the pastor after Mass. It's humbling to be part of the masses at Mass.

Protestant ministers usually have smaller congregations and more competition with one another. Hence, the minister is much more likely to say, "Hey, let's go to Starbucks this week and talk about your faith."

Of course, I know dozens of Catholic priests who do reach out on a personal level, but for the most part, Catholic priests are stretched out more thinly. Consequently, personal access is more rare. And to be honest, I'm glad to know that my priests are hearing confessions and going to the hospital all the time. That's a much better use of their time than drinking expensive coffee with me.

#8 Liturgy

I am beginning to think that there is nothing as controversial in the Catholic Church as liturgy. It is at the center of everything.

I like clean, tight liturgies. Altar boys turning on a dime and making a 90 degree right angle around the altar. Latin. Gregorian chant. Synchronized genuflections. Defined signs of the crosses. Corporal folded the proper way (up not down!) You may have guessed it. I attend the Extraordinary Form of the Mass.

However, it's not like that everywhere. There are some wonderful liturgies and some not-so-wonderful liturgies. Sometimes, potential converts walk in to a not-so-wonderful liturgy with broken rubrics and oddities. It's difficult for many - especially if they are coming from a more liturgical form of Protestantism. I don't know the best answer to this problem. All I know that it is a problem.

My suggested solution is the "Great Catholic Migration of the 21th Century." Click here to read more about "the great migration."

#7 Dealing with marriage, divorce, homosexuality, contraception, abortion

Some people have irregular marriages, live homosexual lifestyles, or enjoy the comforts of contraception. It's painful to allow your divorce and re-marriage to be examined by the bishop's tribunal. It's embarrassing to talk about a 'lifestyle.' It's not easy to imagine having a minivan overflowing with car seats or to rethink the vasectomy. 

For some, they have to revisit an abortion that occurred decades ago. These sort of things cut deep to the heart and make us squirm. All this is understandable and I think that these things should be addressed with caution and compassion. If you're a potential convert, pray for and seek out a good priest with whom you can speak confidentially.

I'll also add from personal experience, the healing a good confession is about 100 times more powerful than any of the shame or fear associated with past problems. I think others here would agree. 

(Please leave a comment below to testify to this reality so others might be assured.)

#6 Financial discomforts

If you're a clergyman you stand to lose your great pension, great health benefits, discretionary fund, and your salary. I've been there and it's tough. It's likely that you haven't been trained to do anything else that is marketable. I doubt that anyone out there will pay you six figures to write sermons for them or lead a small-group Bible study. It goes without saying that most ministers take a major pay cut when they become Catholic. Their family income goes down. They usually start having more kids. Also, they usually start paying for parochial education - another hit to the pocketbook.

#5 Vocational confusion

It was difficult at first to admit that my Anglican priesthood was invalid. I wasn't a priest long, but I heard confessions, anointed the dying, etc. What was I doing? What was God doing? Why did God let me function sacramentally with people who were deeply hurting. I still don't know how to "classify" those ministerial acts.

I think other would-be converts struggle with the same ideas. Even if they were laymen, they wonder about their past roles as Sunday school teachers, mentors, Bible study leaders, counselors, etc.

#4 Non-Catholic ridicule and estrangement

Family and friends do not understand. Even when they try to understand, they will never appreciate the frustrations, study, and heart-searching that goes into becoming Catholic. Some Anglicans still call me "Father", which makes me feel uncomfortable. Others have written terrible things about me. I've never been more greatly attacked for anything else in my life.

Tension often arises with parents and siblings. I've even heard of converts who were cut out of the inheritance because they became "Roman".

#3 Catholic ridicule and estrangement

This may seem odd, but some Catholics are suspicious of converts to Catholicism. These come in two forms. Type A is the cradle-Catholic who has all their ducks in a row and suspects the convert of being a crypto-Protestant unschooled in the ways of being Catholic. If the new Catholic prays extemporaneously, then it's "We don't do that." If the convert quotes Scripture about something, they frown upon this, too. 

Some Catholics also seem to think that it is helpful to ridicule my past as a non-Catholic, as if that would somehow validate me as now "one of them." Some Catholics just love to hear converts bash their former faith. This places converts in a strange position.

Type B is the cradle-Catholic who is less committed to the distinctives of the Catholic faith. They see zealous converts as a threat. These converts are overly-concerned with dogma and truth. And this leads us to obstruction number two...

#2 RCIA (Rite for Christian Initiation of Adults)

RCIA must have been invented so that every conversion to the Catholic Church might somehow be miraculous. It is becoming an element of Catholic lore that RCIA is commonly led or organized by someone who is a "type B" Catholic as described above. These people don't seem to understand how zealous these converts can be. These leaders stress the "feelings" part of Catholicism and not the "orthodoxy" part of Catholicism much to the chagrin of the converts who have had it up to their ears in Protestant appeals to their feelings.

It's amazing how many people "give up" in RCIA. It's also amazing how many push on through. I know many who have had wonderful RCIA experiences, but I know many more who had to defend the Catholic faith while taking RCIA.

Just so I don't step on any toes, I salute and applaud all the great RCIA teachers out there. I know that you're out there and we are thankful for you! Keep up the great work.

#1 Pride

I don't know how to say this in a witty way, but pride holds the number one slot. At one point in life I felt that I was too good for all those people who respected the Infant of Prague. I'm ashamed to admit, but there it is. Why join a religion where adherents air brush images of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the hoods of their lowriders? (I grew up in Texas...) One Protestant gentlemen even told me that he couldn't be Catholic because it was "the religion of the masses." I asked him what he meant, and the term "Mexicans" was employed in his reply. 

It's snobbery against the religion of the masses and immigrants.

It's just cooler to go to an Evangelical mega-church that has a pool, basketball gym, powerpoint presentations, podcasts, and a rocking "praise team." I sometimes wish that our homilies had really cool cultural references in them or solidly crafted "gotcha" endings. Alas, this is not typical of the parochial homily.

[Jim from C-Town]

Some Eastern Rite Churches of the Catholic Faith do perform their services in the Greek and Hebrew verses. Some are much more strict in terms of their Liturgical Services than the post Vatican II Latin (Roman) Catholic Church. However, it is very difficult to persuade and evangelize to others when you do so in a language that is not their own.

The Latin Church, better known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the Western Tradition and but one of 23 distinct Churches constituting six ‘Traditions’ in One Holy Apostolic Church. They are lead by separate autonomous Bishops all aligned with The Bishop of Rome the leader of the Latin, Western (Roman) Church, and Christ's representative on Earth.

No Protestant Church, by definition, can trace their origin in a direct line of succession to Christ and his Apostles. All Catholic Rites can and do.

The Pope is NOT Christ and is NOT God. He is the representative, the Rock on which Christ builds his Church. He leads the Church and maintains the infallibility of the Church's teachings on matters of Faith and Morals. When speaking ‘ex cathedra’ he is speaking directly on Faith & Morals and is infallible. This is Bucolically based Directly on Jesus’s promise to Peter. As well as popes, ecumenical councils have made pronouncements that the Church considers infallible.

According to Catholic theology, there are several concepts important to the understanding of infallible, divine revelation: Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Sacred Magisterium.

The infallible teachings of the Pope are part of the Sacred Magisterium, which also consists of ecumenical councils and the “ordinary and universal magisterium”. In Catholic theology, papal infallibility is one of the channels of the infallibility of the Church. The infallible teachings of the Pope must be based on, and must not contradict, Sacred Tradition or Sacred Scripture.

This is a DIRECT reason why so many of these modern miscreants who demand the Church accept their desires as to female priests, homosexual ‘marriage’, artificial contraception and abortion are dead wrong that the Church will change it's stance. All these, as well as many others, have all been spoken ‘ex cathedra’ by the Pope or by an Ecumenical Council and are not open to reinterpretation.

That is just the way that it is. Some believe, some do not. Some desire to fashion their own faiths. They are able to do so. Schisms breed schisms as can be scene by the many separate Protestant faiths, many of which are in constant turmoil as to what they hold as correct.

[Yardstick]

I like that one too. In fact I think it’s beautiful.

[Slyfox]

It has been such a treat to renew my faith through reading the Examen and teachings of St. Ignatius. I recommend anyone coming from a Protestant background to check these out.

During the 1560s, when the English Catholics sent their sons to be educated as secular priests at Douay, Father William Allen was trying to figure out how to get those young men into spiritual shape quickly and he used the Examen. It was so successful that it was decided that the English mission would become Jesuit.

[HomeAtLast]

While I respect that Catholic priests hear confession and are devoted to charity work, I do feel the personal connection say, Southern Baptists, have with their pastors is very positive, and in fact works to keep people on the straight and narrow through hard times.

I generally avoid religious threads but will deposit two cents here...

Many of my peers, both male and female, had already become distanced from the Church before the typical issues of young adulthood; before making any significant decisions about sex and drugs and so forth; before leaving the nest.

They fell away from the faith because they simply would not go to confession anymore. Nor was there any personal guidance to be had from any priest, at any time, for any reason. We would be surprised if a priest said hello to us on the street.

It could be that growing up in a large city leads to a different set of experiences, but there it is.

[OneWingedShark]

Schisms breed schisms as can be sceneseen by the many separate Protestant faiths, many of which are in constant turmoil as to what they hold as correct.

Do you really believe this? Or can you see the underlying unity on protestant churches? [This unity extends to all Christians.] Furthermore, most protestant churches are not in constant turmoil over what the believe.
It's not these perceived schisms that cause [more] schisms; the cause is found in James:

James 3:13-4:12

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions[a] are at war within you?[b] 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people![c] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[d] The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Some desire to fashion their own faiths.

It's been done before coughMormonscough and I'd be surprised if it didn't happen again.

The infallible teachings of the Pope are part of the Sacred Magisterium, which also consists of ecumenical councils and the “ordinary and universal magisterium”. In Catholic theology, papal infallibility is one of the channels of the infallibility of the Church. The infallible teachings of the Pope must be based on, and must not contradict, Sacred Tradition or Sacred Scripture.

Yeah, I'm a protestant... I don't buy papal infallibility, for if he were infallible then he would be sinless, and if he were sinless then he would have no need for Christ, and if he had no need for Christ how could he intercede between me, a sinner, who desperately needs Christ and Christ himself?

Furthermore, Christ had this to say about tradition:

(Mat 15:1-6)
Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if a man says to his father and mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ 6 he is not to ‘honor his father’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

[lewislynn]

Liberal Democrat = Catholic
Catholic = Liberal Democrat.

You clowns can get made if you want but Catholics are with out a doubt the largest group of phony hypocrites there is.

[Secret Agent Man]

in addition,

approx 90% mexicans (here) == catholic

70% voted obama in 2012

[Salvation]

We only ask her to pray for us.

Good grief, haven’t you ever asked your mother or anyone else to pray for you?

[Salvation]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3016488/posts?page=14#14

[Jim from C-Town]

It's been done before coughMormonscough and I'd be surprised if it didn't happen again.

Or Marti Luther, or Henry VIII, or all manor of Southern Baptists, Ana baptists, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses...etc...

‘What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions[a] are at war within you?[b] 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions’

That sounds like every Schismatic Protestant Church, whether it be the Evangelical COE, the Lutherans or others. Whether it be Henry's desire for an heir, regardless of Church marriage laws, Luther's wanton desire to primacy of his dogma over that of the Pontificate or to lust after the flesh, significantly young flesh than his own at that, or the desire for Joseph Smith to make himself a Profit of God and a man with a harem. There are always schisms in the faith. Particularly with one not rooted in a direct apostolic succession.

There are no less than 100 different Lutheran Churches alone. Congregational, Evangelical, Confessional, Confessional Evangelical, United and Uniting, World Federation and so on. Some affiliated with others, but all with separate interpretations the bible along with many separate theological teachings on Morals and acceptable behavior.

All these Churches are open to the whims and whimsy of the secular society. To deny that denies the entire idea of ‘reformation’ and the act of being saved through belief and not through your own acts.

Luther taught that salvation is not earned by good deeds but received only as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin. this belief negates the need to lead a life of true Christian Acts.

What than is the point of any overt Christian act?

I understand that you are not Catholic. I can accept that. That does not negate the fact that it is only the Catholic Church that has a direct line of Succession from the Christ and his apostles. All others are simply a form of Christianity built on a Cult of Personality surrounding their founders.

Where their is no prime authority there is always chaos.

[Cronos]

We need more priests and deacons and lay ministers.

[Cronos]

Which is why they’re preformed in the original Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek, right?

in the case of the Maronite Catholic Church, they are performed in the original Aramaic. Ditto for the Chaldean Catholic Church

[Cronos]

In Nyer’s defence, she does. One could ask the question of others like you or me, as well

[ansel12]

Mormonism is a new religion of it’s own, not a Christian denomination like Catholic or Southern Baptist, I think Jehovah’s Witness is also considered as such.

[Cronos]

I don’t need to confess my sins to another mortal man, I go directly to God

the way is that we hold it akin to the sacrament of Baptism -- one doesn't baptize oneself. Another person mediates/assists the spirit.

We also do hold that every sin, however private wounds the entire community -- as we are all part of the Body of Christ. As one confesses to God, the community representative in the form of the priest is present.

[Cronos]

I don’t need to confess my sins to another mortal man, I go directly to God

the way is that we hold it akin to the sacrament of Baptism -- one doesn't baptize oneself. Another person mediates/assists the spirit.

We also do hold that every sin, however private wounds the entire community -- as we are all part of the Body of Christ. As one confesses to God, the community representative in the form of the priest is present.

1 Cor 12:18-20, 24-26 God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I do not need you," nor again the head [say] to the feet, "I do not need you." . . . God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.

[Cronos]

JsA And I believe in the King James Bible

I'm sure you mean you believe in the words of the Bible, not in the book itself nor in one particular translation, correct?

It is important to believe in the Living Word that is Jesus Christ and to believe in the inerrancy that is in the books of the Bible. In the beginning was The Word and the The Word was with God and The Word WAS God....

[Cronos]

Because all the scriptures the [very] early church used was the Old Testament (the New in the process of being written) and that in the language of that city [i.e. translations].

not completely. In the early Church there were 2 clear divisions: those from a Jewish background and those who weren't.

Those from a Jewish background met in synagogues etc (most likely) or in the Christian community (outside the synagogue) and they would refer to the OT literature and that would be in Hebrew, no translations allowed.

Those from a non-Jewish background would probably not even read the Old Testament (I'm talking of ordinary believers) or would know it in fragments from other people

Christianity spread as the religion of the poor, the illiterate, so they heard it from others, so verbal translations into Koine Greek -- and more importantly the story of the life of Christ and His teachings...

[Cronos]

well, it’s the creed that all Trinitarian Christians hold to — whether Catholic or Orthodox or Lutheran or Methodist or Anglican etc