=fhkjds;6398591]I grew up in a home that was technically Protestant, but faith wasn’t important at all. I didn’t care for a long time and went to church a handful of times growing up. Now I am approaching my mid 20’s and I think I want to be Catholic. 2 questions:
- If I go to catechism, do I have to agree with everything to be Catholic? What am I allowed to have my “own” opinion on? A lot of the stuff seems very beautiful to me, but a lot of it also seems very foreign. Do I have to accept the assumption of Mary for example? Will my eternal destiny really hinge on whether I believe it? I can’t DECIDE to believe something just because the church said it to me. I do believe everything in the creeds I’ve heard them say at mass, and in the real presence in the Eucharist though.
- I was baptized as an infant in a Presbyterian church. I’d like to be baptized in the Catholic church. Can I do it? I know I don’t have to, but can I do it? I was a baby when I was baptized and didn’t understand it, and now that I’m an adult and I feel that God is calling me to be Catholic I would like to do it as an outward sign of commitment and it would mean a lot to me.
I am new on the forum, so thanks to everybody for reading and being so welcoming.
Answer to question number two:
Likely not necessary. The CC accepts Christian Baptism that is in accord with Matt. 28:19
“[19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”
Because Baptism validy administered and received leaves an “indellible mark” identifying one as a “child of God’s” that signature can never be removed, nor is it to be repeated.
If your Baptism can be proven, no further Baptism can be had. Once a Child of God, always a child of God. If however your Baptism cannot be proven; a “Conditional” Baptism that states “just in case “so and so” has not been Baptised; I Baptize them ect.”
Now to your first queston. The short anwser is yes, one has to accept every Dogma, Doctrine, andd Official teaching. Heres why.
Enrty into the CC requires that one receive the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Euchurist. The three are not to be seperated as conditions into the Church, except of course for Infant Baptism, done by proxy.
The Sacrament of Confirmation is an individual confirmation, a personal covenant, with our Lord that you agree to accept all of the Teachings of the Faith. That is why Confirmation is not ofered until one is of sufficient age to make an ratio individual determanation and commitment.
The entry process for someone such as yourself is normally entry into the CC is participation in an RCIA [Rite of Christian Iniation for Adults] program, which varies a bit by parish.
This program is devided into several segments that will intorduce and explain the basic beliefs of the CC. It provides opportunity for questions and answers. Most programs use the Bible and the Catholic Catecheism in the instruction process.
We ought to be able to explain what we beleive as well as why we can believe it. So by the time your asked to make a committment you have sufficient knowledge to make an informed decision.
If you have specific questions, we will of course be happy to address them for you.
There are many, many GREAT reasons to be a Catholic. Here are just three:
The CC is the Only Church and Faith founded by Christ Himself!
The CC is the only Church that has the Seven Sacraments [all started by Jesus] including the sacramnet of Known forgiveness of sins [see John 20:20-23] and the incomprehensible grace and gift of Jesus Himself in Catholic Holy Communion. Really, Truly and ubstanually Present in His Glorified Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
The CC is now some 2000 years old. Holding many of our beleifs directly from the time of Jesus on Earth and the Apostles. There is a continious line of 265 Popes.
**Eph. 2:19 **“So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, [singular] built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord;
[singular] in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
Love and prayers,
Pat
You will find that the Christ, not so surprisingly, covered all the bases through his earthly ministry, starting with Peter and the Apostles to the present day.