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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/6/2008 8:09:02 PM | 85 for Fighting---Yes, love the song Blue Eyes.
I had already looked up the web site you listed and some of the ones others listed as well. I guess I'm trying to figure out my own belief system. I do have more than one person who would sponsor me and I do know it is still required. I read about the RCIA program and viewed some online videos of the ceremonial process as well. I do appreciate your responses. | |
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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/6/2008 8:13:46 PM | Deceased----I'm really curious about what you're saying regarding divorces. I suppose this is my main concern as I have more than one failed marriage under my belt. This is the first I've heard of this. I know one of my ex-husbands remarried and converted and sent me paperwork to annul our marriage which made no sense to me. Having so many Catholic friends I asked them about this and they said it was not a requirement and no I didn't have to fill out the paperwork. Anyway, I did not accomodate his request because he called to explain all of this and asked me if there was any chance we could get back together because he wouldn't go through with the marriage if so. Given that information I felt it best that I not be involved in any way to help him get remarried and it didn't sound like he was real sincere about marrying her.
Anyway, does anyone else have info on the previous marriages stuff?
I'm really looking for people who made the choice, what it was like and how your past affects your ability to convert.
Thanks for your responses. | |
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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/6/2008 8:26:46 PM | Thank you Country Refined! I should have asked you about this. My step father is Catholic and my mother isn't. But, he wasn't so concerned about the marriage being recognized in the church even though that does go against the rules. But, it his faith and he attends mass weekly and has offered to come down where I live and take me or I could go where they live and go. I'm just at the age I would like to attend church, but all of the churches here keep breaking off into other churches and they all keep changing their doctrine of belief. I want a religion that is consistent that I can and will believe in. My family is a mix of Southern Baptist, Presbyterian, just general Christian church people.
I attended the Apostolic church through 4th grade. Neither of my parents is religious nor do they attend church. But, a man they knew was active in the Apostolic church and drove the fan for them and for the purpose of Sunday school education talked with me before kindergarten even and I wanted to go to Sunday school. I loved going, but the Apostolic religion was not something I chose to stick with. My uncle is a Southern Baptist minister and the most dishonest, conniving piece of crap I've ever known and so I have issues with religion anyway due to his behavior and his make it up as you go along belief system. I attended a Baptist church pre-teen and the first revival they had, well let's just say it was not what I believed in and the behavior scared me so bad I went home crying and never went back. I was quite traumatized by the whole experience. I then attended the Presbyterian church until my teens and have not attended a church since.
But, I do know the friends, co-workers that are Catholic are happy, friendly, warm people. Someone else posted the Catholic church was a warm, welcoming place and I've been to the Church for other things that were going on but never for services and the people are so warm and friendly. Also, where I live the Catholic church is the only one who has remained consistent in their beliefs, gives back to the community and doesn't run around door to door trying to recruit. I've read enough to know it would be a learning process and I want to be sure I want to commit to this.
My mother and father have no issue with what religion I practice so there is no issue there and I'm a grown woman so I'm not concerned with what others think. It's a personal choice, but I am just wanting to gain as much info as possible before I go further.
So, I'm curious as to how others have dealt with this and just general input on what to expect.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR RESPONSES. | |
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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/7/2008 2:52:52 AM | I converted to the Catholic Church from Protestantism. It was extremely difficult for me, because of family issues. The decision to convert came when I was 16, and it wasn't until after that that I discovered how anti-Catholic my mom was. Seriously, we were debating theology one day when she smacked me across the back with a stick (and broke the stick!) because she was so mad that I had put up a mini-sculpture of Michelangelo's Pieta in my room. Because of this, I couldn't go to a Catholic church and be baptized until I turned 18 and bought my own car.
If you don't have that kind of trouble, though, it's pretty easy. If you've never received a baptism before as a Protestant ("in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost" with water), then you'll be baptized by a priest or deacon in the Catholic Church. If you have been baptized, you'll be asked to swear to a profession of faith. Generally, a Catholic parish offers religious education classes for you from September until the night before Easter Sunday, where you'll be baptized and/or receive the Confirmation, which is an anointing with holy oil on the forehead. Finally, you'll receive your First Communion at the same Mass.
As for what I feel about being Catholic? I love it. The reason I converted was strictly because I believe the Bible to be a "Catholic book". That is, I believe Jesus founded the Catholic Church and gave the keys to the kingdom of heaven to the Apostle St. Peter, appointing him as the first Pope. I believe the Reformation of the 16th century was an unjust rebellion against the Church which Jesus built.
Now, I attend and sing at a very traditional church where the Mass is sung entirely in Latin, with medieval-style architecture, vestments, incense and vessels. Nothing this side of heaven is more beautiful. :-) | |
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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/7/2008 3:10:25 AM | One of my favorite saints is St. Edmund Campion. He was a minister in the Church of England under Queen Elizabeth I, and one of her favorites. Many Englishmen believed he would be made Archbishop of Canterbury (the top bishop of the Church of England). However, one day he converted to Catholicism, even though at that time, Catholicism was completely illegal, and priests could easily be sentenced to death merely for being priests. Campion sailed across the English Channel to study and be ordained in France, then returned undercover to England to minister to the underground Catholic community.
When he was arrested, he shared the same fate as many thousands of other English Catholic martyrs: hanging, drawing, and quartering.
It's a common belief in America, because of this country's Protestant roots, that all religious persecutions of the past were made by the Catholics. However, Catholics actually have more martyrs than Protestants, as strange as that sounds, for various reasons.
BTW, an earlir poster said this: "you do have to believe that the cracker actually turns into the body of Christ which is kinda weird."
Yes, this is probably the most important belief which sets Catholicism apart from all other Christian denominations, except for Eastern Orthodox. When the priest says "this is My Body" at the Mass, he really means it. The bread and wine literally become the Body and Blood of Christ. If you go to a very traditional church like mine, you'll notice that after the priest says those words, he keeps his thumb and forefinger pinched together for the rest of the Mass until he washes them after Communion, to make sure no crumbs fall from between them. Likewise, in these traditional churches, Communion is only given directly into people's mouths (not in the hand) and altar servers will hold golden plates under their chins to make sure that the Body of Christ is never held directly over the floor without something to catch it in case the priest drops it. This is truly one of the most awe-inspiring beliefs of Catholicism. Every Mass is a miracle, heaven and earth conjoined together. | |
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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/7/2008 4:15:21 AM | Let us not forget.... the Virgin Mary, the immaculate conception, the holy rosary, and the stations of the cross. Also the saints, Communion, and last, how about the confessional booth, on a Saturday," BLESS ME FATHER, FOR I HAVE SINNED!!"-  | |
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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/7/2008 4:21:16 AM | I think it should also be said that conversion to Catholicism wasn't as rare as it is now. Until the 1960's, 1 out of every 6 baptisms made in Catholic churches in the United States was of an adult convert. One has to remember that in the pre-1960's U.S., there were no "inquisitions" or forced conversions to Catholicism. In fact, it was the exact opposite, and one was likely to be cut off from his family or socially rejected for converting.
It's a personal opinion of mine that conversions dropped significantly after the 1960's because of the Church's attempt to modernize its worship and make it acceptable to outsiders, such as by removing the requirements that the Mass be said in Latin and all the traditions and rituals attached to it. In the so-called "good ol' days", most people knew precisely what the difference was between the Catholic Church and other churches. Nowadays, not too many people seem to know, even though they might be a Protestant married to a Catholic or vice versa. There's also the problem nowadays of the oft-repeated line, "oh, the Church doesn't teach that anymore", whether it's purgatory, a saint supposedly no longer a saint, or what have you. The core teachings of the Catholic faith never, ever change. Catholicism is defined by its timelessness.
There are a lot of British literary figures in the late 19th and early 20th century you might want to look into, who were converts to Catholicism. G.K. Chesterton, J.R.R. Tolkien (via his mother during his childhood), Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Oscar Wilde on his deathbed, and many more. | |
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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/7/2008 5:54:08 AM |
The core teachings of the Catholic faith never, ever change. Catholicism is defined by its timelessness.
Praise be to God! | |
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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/7/2008 6:32:48 AM |
Deceased----I'm really curious about what you're saying regarding divorces.
Here is how it works as explained to me... Ideally, you would be born into a Catholic family - christened (baptised) as an infant - take church instruction as a child - grow to maturity - fall in love - get married in the Catholic church - never go on birth control - have as many babies as possible - die someday - get the last rites - go to heaven.
That's the plan. Now during that time, you can't get a divorce because the marriage is literally "made in heaven" and if God joined you, then "no man can put asunder." If you get a divorce legally, or just abandon your spouse or date other people, or remarry, the church considers it a mortal sin of adultery and you could be excommunicated and burn in hell (something like that). Thrown out of the church, in other words.
Sooooo, if a person comes to the Catholic faith and wants to join as an adult, they have to abide by those rules. Since they got married outside the church and without the church's blessing, that is the same sin but they get forgiven of it because they were not Catholic at the time they committed said sin. However, even though you are forgiven of that sin and accepted into the church, you still are basically seen as a forgiven adulterer and as such cannot ever receive the church's "blessing" on any further relationships that would constitute additional adultery and negate the forgiveness. They see it as God forgave the invalid marriage and other adulterous affairs you made without his approval and he is gonna let ya in but you can't repeat the sin again because that would nullify the penance for said sin, etc, etc.
The only way out of it is to have your case brought up before the canon lawyers (real lawyers that adjudicate on the church law instead of domestic law) and get the marriage annulled. In essence, even though you may have gotten a legal divorce under the laws of the United States or Canada, you now have to get a divorce under the laws of the Vatican but since the church does not believe in divorce, the only option is annulment.
That is the only way you become clean enough to be a full fledged member of the Catholic church. Now if you want to remain celibate completely, you can, but basically what the church is saying is that no matter what happened in domestic law, you are still married to your first spouse and any further marriages were adulterous affairs for which you have been forgiven. You could conceivably be not able to ever date or get married because you are still married to your first spouse even though that spouse may be married to another person.
To be fair, though, if you come to the Catholic faith as a married couple who are both in their first marriage, you can get your marriage blessed by the church and you fit right in. If you wish to marry a Catholic, you can do that as soon as you join and the two of you get married in the Catholic church as long as you have never been married before (that is what happens most often). It is only that tiny thing about divorce that the Catholic faith does not believe in. | |
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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/7/2008 6:56:53 AM | I should add a bit of reality to that statement and not meant to criticize anyone, but there is the concept of the "Cafeteria Catholic." That is the concept of a Catholic who does not adhere to all the edicts of the church. In other words, the church, for example, says you must attend mass once a week at minimum but a vast majority of Catholics don't do that and only show up on Easter and at Christmas, etc.
Many Catholics choose the parts of being a Catholic they like and ignore the parts they don't like and that is what causes the proverbial "Catholic Guilt." Many will commit sins, go to confession and be forgiven then go out and repeat the sin and come back to confession the next week, etc. Some Catholics adhere to the Byzantine mass said in Latin with the priest facing the altar and some go to mass that is in their native language where the priest faces the congregation, etc. It is all very complicated.
The Pope has recently decreed that the Catholic church is the only true church and even though they accept your baptism done in many Protestant churches, the Pope basically says the Protestant religion is not really a church. The Catholic church says Jewish people are wrong and though they are not saved because they do not hold Jesus as a God, they basically are bound for hell unless they convert to Catholicism or are forgiven directly by God on judgment day. Same for Islamists, Baptists, and don't even ask about Episcopalians and Anglicans.
Catholicism is simple. It's their way or the highway. I personally do not believe God is that harsh. | |
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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/7/2008 8:03:16 AM | "It sounds silly, but the fact is that such payment to be in the good graces of the Catholic Church and with God is exactly why people broke off from the Catholic church and formed the Protestant religion. You'd think the Catholics would have learned after hundreds of years."
Sorry you had a bad experience, but if you think about it from a logical perspective, the fact that people can't live up to the Catholic Church's standards does not mean that the Church should (or even has the power to) lower the bar. Contrary to popular belief, the Catholic Church has absolutely no authority to pick and choose which teachings it will impart to her members; that is to say, that if the Pope were to announce that sacramental marriages were no longer permanent, or that the Eucharist no longer becomes the Body and Blood, or that Jesus is no longer God, or that the sky is now black, he would be completely ignored or worse.
It's not fair to blame the Church for requiring you to foot lawyers' fees. She didn't make you marry or divorce anyone, and (again, contrary to popular belief thanks to "The Da Vinci Code, etc.) it's not like the Church can just strike out Matthew 19:6 like it was never there. The Church is required to teach whatever the gospel demands, no matter how inconvenient, politically incorrect, or offensive to modern ears it may seem.
One more clarification:
"The Pope has recently decreed that the Catholic church is the only true church and even though they accept your baptism done in many Protestant churches, the Pope basically says the Protestant religion is not really a church."
You're referring to the Q&A published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith last July, I assume? http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/20581.php?index=20581%3C=en#TESTO%20IN%20LINGUA%20INGLESE
That's a far cry from a decree from the Pope himself, but this is what the Church has always taught. Specifically, Protestant churches are not really "churches" because the Catholic Church defines "church" as a Christian community with priests that have apostolic succession: that is, that they can trace their line of priestly ordination all the way back to one of the twelve Apostles in an unbroken chain, and with it, the transferred power to absolve sin, consecrate the Eucharist, etc. The Protestant clergy admit they don't have this, and they believe it's not important anyway. However, the document does say that the Eastern Orthodox Church really is a proper church, because their priests do have apostolic succession. | |
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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/7/2008 8:06:23 AM |
Catholicism is simple. It's their way or the highway.
I remember reading a Catholic thought that all Christians are favoured in God's eyes.
As much as Catholics are members of the original church, other Christians can be heaven-bound. I also heard that Catholicism is the "toughest faith to live by, and the easiest faith to die by." | |
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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/7/2008 8:13:09 AM |
However, the document does say that the Eastern Orthodox Church really is a proper church, because their priests do have apostolic succession.
And there is considerable effort to become one again, reversing the Great E-W Schism. Being baptized in the Eastern Rite, I have a special place in my heart for the Liturgy and welcome the day for reconciliation! | |
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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/7/2008 6:37:20 PM | I believe God is powerful enough to save anyone whom He desires, Catholic or not. However, I don't like saying anything one way or another about the salvation issue, because Christ tells us not to judge the souls of others. It's important to remember that no one can earn or deserve to be saved by his own goodness or good works.
Of course, I still believe the way God intended for us to get to heaven was through His Church (as opposed to through a book, and by Church, I don't mean just an institution led by old men, but the mystical body of Christ which all saints in heaven, purgatory, and earth are bound together in), the seven sacraments, and living a lifestyle informed by the gospel in everything. | |
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| anyone converted to Catholicism
Posted: 1/9/2008 2:00:18 PM | Thank you Jacobus and Deceased. Wow, a lot of information. I think I'm ready to talk with the pastoral associate at the local church, but the divorce thing bothers me a lot. But, my uncle is a Southern Baptist minister and says I'm divorced so I'm going to burn in hell and no other marriage is recognized except the first and blah, blah, blah. So, I know divorce is a sin, but I am divorced and more than once, can't change that. I do appreciate the explanations and advice from everyone. I'm still researching but ready to sit down and take a serious look at converting. We'll see how it goes.
THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR INPUT. | |
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