Any Catholics who left the CC for another Church, and then came back?

  • Thread starter Thread starter yessisan
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Y

yessisan

Guest
I’m wondering if there is anything you had to do to come back to the CC. My SIL was a Catholic till the age of 8, then her mom converted 2/3 of the family to JWism. Now my SIL at 22 wants to come back to the CC, but has no idea of what to do.

I thought she could just confess because she had no choice in the conversion to JWism, but we went to a priest for her to talk to but he just turned her away. I was infuriated because here is a soul trying to be saved and this priest tells her to go away. I was there so I know it’s true, I didn’t hear it from her.

He basically told her he didn’t have time to deal with her at all and that he was not going to waste his time on her. How can he turn away someone reaching for help?? I’m afraid she’ll just go back to the JWs because this priest decided she wasn’t good enough for his time.

Am I wrong to think this priest did wrong by turning her away?
 
Don’t give up. AND pray for that priest.

Now, is it right/wrong to report that priest to his bishop?

Jacobaer
 
jacobaer said:
Don’t give up. AND pray for that priest.

Now, is it right/wrong to report that priest to his bishop?

Jacobaer
Click to expand...
That was another thing I thought of, but my grandma (a very devout Catholic) said I cannot do that (in her own opinion) because I should not question what a priest did or said, unless it’s something illegal… :mad:
 
Write to your bishop. Without blame or rancor explain your sister-in-law went to this priest together with you to ask how to come back into the church. Ask your bishop for help in guiding your SIL since she was turned away by the priest. You will receive an answer, and I bet it will be sooner rather than later. In his response to you the bishop may not say anything about the priest who sent you away, but I would also bet he will be in contact with that priest to determine if there is some help that the priest needs in order to better do his duty.

God bless you and your SIL:)
 
Yeah, that priest was definitely not alert.

I attended Methodist services for about a year, but I don’t know if the church ever formally inducted me! I just kept feeling it was a weak, dishwater kind of thing, a kind of social gathering of people who liked Jesus, sang songs. In fact, what I was missing was the true presence (I should capitalize that, True Presence) in the Eucharist. The Methodist stuff just seemed like hand-holding in comparison to mass.
 
yessisan said:
I’m wondering if there is anything you had to do to come back to the CC. My SIL was a Catholic till the age of 8, then her mom converted 2/3 of the family to JWism. Now my SIL at 22 wants to come back to the CC, but has no idea of what to do.

I thought she could just confess because she had no choice in the conversion to JWism, but we went to a priest for her to talk to but he just turned her away. I was infuriated because here is a soul trying to be saved and this priest tells her to go away. I was there so I know it’s true, I didn’t hear it from her.

He basically told her he didn’t have time to deal with her at all and that he was not going to waste his time on her. How can he turn away someone reaching for help?? I’m afraid she’ll just go back to the JWs because this priest decided she wasn’t good enough for his time.

Am I wrong to think this priest did wrong by turning her away?
Click to expand...
What a horrible occurance. You and your SIL go to another parish. Every priest in the town can’t be so blase’ about a person seeking the fullness of the Church.
 
YES, that priest most certainly did wrong and he will have to answer to God for it. All that is required is that one go to a priest (best to make an appointment) and explain the hows and whys of leaving the Church and then make a good confession. That’s what I did after begin away for 20+ years. The priest will ask questions to ascertain that the person knows what she is doing and such like that. She will need to prepare for her confesstion and there are a number of good books availalbe that will help on that. Definitely do find another priest, at least for this purpose. Hopefully you have more than one CC in your area.

By the way, for all those of you who have “left the Church” or are fallen away or for whatever reason no longer consider yourselves Catholics, the sacrament of Baptism in the CC coners certain indelible marks on the soul. So oncea CAtholic, always a Catholic. Confession is then the means to cleanse the soul of all mortal sins and venial sins so that one can again go to Communion with a clean soul. If one discovers that she has inadvertantly forgotten a sin during confession, as long as the penitant was sincere and tried to remember and confess all of her sins, then that one has also been forgiven. It is a good idea then to mention that “forgotten” but forgiven sin at next confession.

Hopes this helps. Meanwhile, until she has gone to confession, daily acts of Faith, Hope, and Love, and of sincere desire for forgiveness of her sins is a good idea. And you are being blessed for helping her.
 
When I was a young man I was catholic perhaps because I didn’t know any different. Some might say I had been brainwashed.

The arguements of two visiting JW’s was enough to convince me the CC was not only in error but had seriously erred. How come this information was not available to my former teachers?

In particular just prior to their visit, I had recently returned home from a mass to the honour of St Blaise. We had had the annual ‘blessing of throats’. The JW’s found this highy amusing.

In the weeks that followed, I began reading the JW stuff and was convinced this was the truth.

However, for the first time in my entire life, I had experienced ‘raw’ protestantism and I was not impressed. In the Catholic churches that I had attended there had always been a ‘sense of community’. A sense that I was part of a larger family, that in the social sense I was never alone. I had dozens of brothers and sisters. Now suddenly, I had only a handful.

Being a social animal, this was very challenging. Also I felt that I was in the spotlight. In the catholic church, as part of the community, ‘the self’ is largely hidden in the community. That is not necessarily a bad thing. I suppose it is the same in a very large human family of siblings. The individual it seemed, gets their value as much from the community as they do one’s own self-identity.

Suddenly I felt I was ‘under the spotlight’. It felt as though I was some alien being, on a slide in a laboratory being looked at under a microscope. I realised the significance of ‘I’ and there was no sense of the ‘us’!

I was rather fortunate that I went to our local priest as there wwere now problems I had with catholicism which were annoying me. I was not a happy man and I DEMANDED ANSWERS.

Bless him, he gave me a copy of a book [which by a peculiar quirk of fate, I inherited some 30-years later upon his death]. The book was about Catholic Apologetics. I began to read.

I was on a journey of discovery. I was beginning to learn about my faith, I mean REALLY LEARN for the FIRST TIME!

That book remained my constant companion. I learned a lot. Eventually, had to give it back. I suppose I owe my understanding and committment to the JW’s. They took me away for a short time which was something that needed to happen, but above all, they gave me the greatest gift possible. They gave me the motivation to find out about my faith. As a life-long Catholic, suddenly I was a convert.

Lots of the answers I give on this forum are what I learned from that book.I have never looked back. 👍
 
Because of the age of your SIL when she left, some priests may ask her to take RCIA. In this way, she can better form her conscience as an adult as well as be confirmed, since most Roman Rite Catholics are not confirmed at the early age of 8.

Did she receive 1st communion and 1st reconcilliation? Or did they leave before that happened also?

But talk to a bishop in the area.

God Bless,
Maria
 
MariaG said:
Because of the age of your SIL when she left, some priests may ask her to take RCIA. In this way, she can better form her conscience as an adult as well as be confirmed, since most Roman Rite Catholics are not confirmed at the early age of 8.

Did she receive 1st communion and 1st reconcilliation? Or did they leave before that happened also?

But talk to a bishop in the area.

God Bless,
Maria
Click to expand...
Hey Maria,

SIL received her 1st communion, 1st reconciliation and actually was confirmed! In Mexico they used to do it when kids were young. When I lived there, we were told we were too young, then at 12 they changed it and said we were too old :confused:. Now, at 25, I confirmed last year on my own because I never thought of it during my teen years nor early 20’s. So she’s a real Catholic in the sacrament sense. She knows the basics about the CC… in fact, she knows more than most Catholics I know. So many of them are so ignorant of our faith, it makes me really sad. I mean, including my real sister and brother. 😦 But my SIL refuses to see a priest face to face because she believes she didn’t commit a sin in leaving the CC, I mean, it WAS her mom who converted them. She believes she only needs to confess because she feels Catholic. She feels the urge to go to Mass, she feels the necessity of receiving the Eucharist…
 
I actually met a JW (the one I’m married to), and because of him I decided to finally take that step. Last year on 1/29 I was confirmed in a bilingual Mass. After a while of being married to him I started attending Kingdom Hall with him. Some things started to stick to my head and began questioning so much of my own faith, I started researching and same as Sixtus, because of the JWs I am a better Catholic. 😃 But I felt the opposite, I felt as if my sense of “I” was taken away while I attended with my DH. My sense of “I” is back and I feel better than ever, and a tronger Catholic than ever (more educated about my own faith, and actually, I’m passing it on to little ones in Catechism).
 
yessisan said:
Hey Maria,

SIL received her 1st communion, 1st reconciliation and actually was confirmed! In Mexico they used to do it when kids were young. When I lived there, we were told we were too young, then at 12 they changed it and said we were too old :confused:. Now, at 25, I confirmed last year on my own because I never thought of it during my teen years nor early 20’s. So she’s a real Catholic in the sacrament sense. She knows the basics about the CC… in fact, she knows more than most Catholics I know. So many of them are so ignorant of our faith, it makes me really sad. I mean, including my real sister and brother. 😦 But my SIL refuses to see a priest face to face because she believes she didn’t commit a sin in leaving the CC, I mean, it WAS her mom who converted them. She believes she only needs to confess because she feels Catholic. She feels the urge to go to Mass, she feels the necessity of receiving the Eucharist…
Click to expand...
That DOES change it a bit. But while I understand you SIL feelings, she is forgeting something very important.

While she is correct that SHE did not sin, she still must submit herself to the authority of the Catholic Church and accept the ruling of the Catholic Church. Submission to the authority of the Catholic Church is part and parcel of being Catholic.

She has spent many years away and God may just be reminding her that in fact, we do have to submit to those in authority over us, even as we work to get things changed.

So in her case, she should seek out another priest, probably the bishop over the priest she talked to and see what they say she needs to do. In this way, she can start her adult life in the Catholic Church in the right way, submitting to the authority that Christ has placed over her.

It may take some serious humbling especially since I agree with her that SHE did nothing wrong. But it WILL be worth it.

God Bless,
Maria
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top