A serious issue came up in my third RCIA class and I am somewhat hurt.

[Delaine75]

We had four different RCIA instructors and the priest as well. It seems like out of all five, three (including the priest) had at one point or another made a member of the class feel foolish for reading this or that, thinking this or that, etc. I pray that this instructor didn’t intentionally try to upset you that way. I’m real sorry that you had that experience. My guess is that if you spoke with this person and told them how it made you feel, they could apologize, explain their position differently and maybe it was just a very unfortunate way of wording his/her response to you.

Please don’t let this keep you from continuing your RCIA classes and becoming Catholic, my friend. My prayers are with you that this sort of thing will not happen again!

 

[acarlson]

Don’t let these misguided comments from your teachers lead you away. As others have said, it was wrong to put you on the spot like that.

Clearly, these RCIA teachers doesn’t understand that people are called to Christ in different ways, and that the most mature faith is based just as much in the head as in the heart. Some people are blessed to have that undeniable “feeling” given to them from the Holy Spirit that the Catholic faith is the Church founded by Christ. From there, they learn to understand from an intellectual view why. Some people come to know the Church through their studies, like yourself, and later grow to develop a sentimental attachment towards the Church and Christ as they come to understand their faith more deeply.

Reading the Catechism is a beautiful way to learn about the Catholic faith, and you’re blessed to love it! I would take the advise of others on this thread as to what to do next.

Welcome home!

 

[PJM]

A serious issue came up in my third RCIA class and I am somewhat hurt.

So after after much consideration over the past year I had started RCIA in September. I have attended three Masses and three classes and I am loving everything about the Catholic Faith. I’ve read the Catechism, This is the Faith and am half-way through a short history of the Catholic Church. My reading of the Catechism came up in my third RCIA class. The fellow teaching that night started talking about how faith is more of a felt thing not a learned experience and then one of the other teachers turned to me and said I was reading into the Faith too much and needed to rely on my feelings. Then the other guy teaching that night launched into how he was probably beating a dead horse about my reading the Catechism but I need to feel the faith not read about it. I came home in tears. Reading the Catechism was a very hard but fulfilling thing for me and it felt like I was looked down upon for trying to read about the Catholic faith and not just trust my gut as it were. I don’t have a passionate, born again faith in God and never really have but I feel great comfort in learning about the Catholic faith and can believe based upon what I have read and understood. Is my faith wrong? Do I not have what it takes to be a Catholic? I’ve always thought the Catholic faith was more of a learned theological thing and not a born again christian feeling. I thought it was about learning and understanding and grasping for more than just a feeling. I’m so lost right now.

No dear friend you were not wrong.

Sadly there are many levels of teaching ability within the church. Pastors who are over worked do the very best they can and often choose a “Team Approach” to prevent situations like you experienced. Still we are all human and react differently to different things.

The idea that “Faith” is felt is not rare, but it’s not universal either. “Faith” is a GIFT directly from God through Grace.

The issue about reading the Catechism MAY have stemmed from the fact that the Catechism is no easy read. The 1992 and 1994 issues were intended primarily for those TEACHING the Faith and are not especially “user friendly’. I’ve read them both twice, and use them as a reference often which is the most common use of them.

There is a more recent publication called “United States Catholic Catechism for Adults” which is far easier to read, published by Americans USCCB , Unites States Conference of catholic Bishops and available on their web site…

There is much in both the Catechism and in the Bible that require one trained to explain fully and correctly their content. I suspect that this may be what the issue was for the instructors?

My mentor, Fr. John Hardon S.J. told us often that we can’t live; can’t share what we don’t ourselves know. But just picking up the CCC might raise as many questions as it answers.

Don’t be upset. God has always taught belief in only One God; only His ONE set of Faith beliefs and Only “one Church.” This is biblically and historically His Catholic Church. So your heading where God wants you to be.

Do discuss your concerns with the Lead RCIA Teacher in PRIVATE.

I “team taught RCIA for 3 years” and can testify that simply knowing our Faith and Living it do not by themselves make one a qualified Teacher. Keep studying, and ask questions that may arise.

STAY close to God through prayer so that God will stay close to you.

We are excited to have you join us; but don’t allow others “feelings” deter you. God made each of us with differing talents and abilities. So be yourself.

God Bless,
Pat /PJM here on this FORUM

 

[Contarini]

So after after much consideration over the past year I had started RCIA in September. I have attended three Masses and three classes and I am loving everything about the Catholic Faith. I’ve read the Catechism, This is the Faith and am half-way through a short history of the Catholic Church. My reading of the Catechism came up in my third RCIA class. The fellow teaching that night started talking about how faith is more of a felt thing not a learned experience and then one of the other teachers turned to me and said I was reading into the Faith too much and needed to rely on my feelings. Then the other guy teaching that night launched into how he was probably beating a dead horse about my reading the Catechism but I need to feel the faith not read about it. I came home in tears. Reading the Catechism was a very hard but fulfilling thing for me and it felt like I was looked down upon for trying to read about the Catholic faith and not just trust my gut as it were. I don’t have a passionate, born again faith in God and never really have but I feel great comfort in learning about the Catholic faith and can believe based upon what I have read and understood. Is my faith wrong? Do I not have what it takes to be a Catholic? I’ve always thought the Catholic faith was more of a learned theological thing and not a born again christian feeling. I thought it was about learning and understanding and grasping for more than just a feeling. I’m so lost right now.

Chances are that they felt threatened. When I was in RCIA in the 90s, I got in a theological argument with the priest (he said that God didn’t have perfect foreknowledge/eternal knowledge of our actions because if He did the actions wouldn’t be free), and I cited the Catechism to him. His response was that the Catechism was really for bishops to read, not for laypeople or even parish priests:shrug:.

In your place, I’d have been tempted to say something snarky like, “Why exactly am I here then instead of joining the Pentecostals or the Mormons?”

But it’s good that you didn’t–you are more virtuous than I am.

That being said, I have come to realize that one problem with my attempts to become Catholic in the 90s was that I approached the matter in too cerebral a way. I had a conversation some years ago with a friend who is a Thomist philosopher and a very traditional Catholic, and he told me that it seemed to him that I approached Catholicism as if it was a matter of solving historical/theological puzzles, rather than as a matter of knowing and loving Jesus. At least he said something to that effect (I may be paraphrasing him a bit wrong), and it startled me because he is one of the most intellectual, analytical people I know (he’s a Thomist for a reason!). Also, we were talking about similar if vaguer things that another Thomist friend had said to me.

I was in flight from the emotionalism of my (quasi-Pentecostal) Holiness heritage. I thought I could defend what I was doing best if I made it a matter of pure reason. But it wasn’t and isn’t–it never is.

I am now at a place in my life where I do think that following Jesus very probably involves becoming Catholic. And I think I was convinced of this back in the 90s, but I was such a conflicted person back then, so convinced of the sinfulness and worthlessness of my own intuitions, that I didn’t talk about it that way. I talked about it as if Catholicism were a magic bullet that would give me secure answers to my intellectual questions, instead of a way of following Jesus.

It may be, giving them the benefit of the doubt, that your RCIA directors sense something similar in you, and if so perhaps you should listen. But it may also be that they simply don’t want to have to deal with theological complexity. Even if this last it he case, God may still be saying something to you through them. I don’t know you so of course I am in no position to say that this is true. That certainly doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t read the Catechism, of course.

Edwin

 

[Contarini]

Or change the faith into something they are more “cooommmfortable” with.

One of the sad things I remember from our young adult ministry was that the more orthodox folks who knew the faith were often doing other good things and could not be leaders in our ministry. EXTREMELY hard working, efficient but unorthodox (theologically) folks were always clamoring to lead - and you could pretty much depend upon them taking the floor to grind the axe about ***whatever they didn’t agree with *** regarding the Church.

It was hard to keep them out of power because they did some things very well, WERE available, and were determined to lead when there was a leadership void due to numbers or something.

Sometimes their spirit is actually good - though they are factually wrong. They feel "the Church is pretty good - except for these things "- and*** those things ***then tend to top their personal agendas of ***what must be taught first ***when they lead.

Look at it this way. From their perspective, these things are turning people away from the Church. They have managed to find a way to remain in the Church while still disagreeing with or just plain ignoring certain things. They want to send the signal that this is OK. They see the hard teachings of the Church as “scandals” in the Biblical sense–things that cause the weak to stumble and thus drive them away from Christ and His Church.

I am not defending or condemning this attitude. I’m describing what I think is going on.

The program II keep describing from which I dropped out in the 90s was very much like that. Ironically, the most honest and straightforward presentation we had was from an actual, bonafide dissenting Catholic theologian, a German feminist who had been banned from teaching Catholic theology in Germany (at least so I was told) and so had gotten a job at a Protestant seminary in America. She spoke on papal infallibility, presented a “minimalist” view of it (only ex cathedra statements are infallible) but certainly did not deny or criticize the basic idea, and then, most impressively, warned us all that her view was a minimalist one and that many Catholics would take a stronger view.

There’s a lot of demonization of dissenters on this forum. The main problem in my experience is with the folks who just don’t want to think very carefully but want Catholicism to be something bland and nice.

Edwin

 

[ShopkoMoe]

Thank you all so much for your thoughts. Everything that has been said in the forum has been what I had hoped for. Your reassurances have been just what I needed. I was just so angry when I came home that night and it’s been bugging me for days. However, after reading everything here and attending Mass tonight I’m in a much better frame of mind. My thanks and hopefully class goes better on Monday and I’m not giving up because this is truly what is keeping me going these days. THANKS! To those who have PMed me I will reply hopefully tomorrow. Have a great night.

 

[kkollwitz]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fides_et_Ratio

 

[jwinch2]

Thank you all so much for your thoughts. Everything that has been said in the forum has been what I had hoped for. Your reassurances have been just what I needed. I was just so angry when I came home that night and it’s been bugging me for days. However, after reading everything here and attending Mass tonight I’m in a much better frame of mind. My thanks and hopefully class goes better on Monday and I’m not giving up because this is truly what is keeping me going these days. THANKS! To those who have PMed me I will reply hopefully tomorrow. Have a great night.

Its very difficult for some people to love what they do not know. Keep studying your faith, just don’t let it be a substitute for a good prayer life. I am a bit like you from what it sounds. I read tons of books on the faith, had read the Catechism by relatively short into RCIA, etc. I was concerned at one time as I did not feel that I truly loved God the way I should. A year and a half later, and I can say that while I am not where I need to be, I have made significant strides in that, and many other areas.

If your RCIA group is not supportive of this, I suggest finding another parish which is focused on proper catechesis. You can go to the director and/or the priest, but while things may change over time, it will not be this year while you are going through.