Cons of Becoming a Catholic Christian

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Hi CAF!

Let’s make a list of cons of becoming and being a Catholic Christian!

Great idea, huh?

I think this will balance out the other thread, “Pros of Becoming a Catholic Christian.” I wasn’t sure where to post this thread, because I think in evangelization we are kind of more “pro”.

However, I think people who approach decisions with a pro/con method expect to see at least some consideration of cons. It’s part of being fair, in my opinion.

“No cons” could be a valid answer.

n in the USA
 
I’ve been sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ to my friends, family and co-workers for about twenty-five years. The toughest thing in Catholicism is the task set forth by Jesus to share the Goods News to everyone in this day and age. There are so many different arguments against religious people, against Christians, against Catholics, and against Catholics faithful to God. It’s hard to compete against “you are saved as long as you proclaim Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior”. Why would anyone want to be Catholic if that is all it takes to get to Heaven. There are so many bogus arguments out there, its hard to keep track of them all.
 
For one, being Catholic is probably more intense than most other forms of Christianity (speaking as a convert myself). Auricular confession and the greater awareness of sin that comes with it, fasting and penance, it takes a lot more effort than being say an evangelical. Conversely, one could argue you will also obtain more spiritual benefits from making more effort in your faith.
 
I believe there are many paths to the Truth. I believe there is only on Truth but many ways to achieve it. This is not Catholic teaching so that is a con for me.
 
As my frailty is the occasion for my friends to implore and beseech God on my behalf, my minuses become God’s pluses in the “economy” of the Talents.

The builder calculates before he builds. The general calculates before he leads his troops. Are they sorry not to be slack?

That this is not cheap - is that a con?
 
some may think of this as a con to becoming Catholic, I rather think of it as the truth.
Where other Christian denominations believe once you accept Jesus as your savior, you are saved, and this is complete salvation. And to some extent this is so! But …go deeper
The Catholic reply:
As the Bible says,
I am already saved ( Rom. 8:24, Eph. 2:5-8),
but I’m also being saved (1 Cor. 1:18, 2 Cor 2:15, Phil 2:12)
and I have the hope that I will be saved (Rom 5:9-10, 1 Cor 3:12-15.
Like the apostle Paul, I am working out my salvation in fear and trembling ( Phil 2:12),
with hopeful confidence in the promises of Christ (Rom 5:2, 2 Tim 2:11-13)"

Jesus says “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it” Matthew 7:13

I am not a theologian but I see this scripture as saying there is more to salvation than the first conversion…of accepting Jesus as Savior. Conversion continues and is the very act of us saying yes to and becoming holy throughout our life on earth.

I do not see this as a “contrary” …however for a Christian considering Catholicism, and to respond to your question, my best advice would be to read Catholic Bible, the Catholic Catechism, and books and writings from the saints. In all these you will receive a wealth of wisdom and food for the journey.

Blessings!
 
Quite seriously, all the hardships the Bible describes for God’s followers, in both the Old and New Testaments, are realized much more for Catholics than for other Christians.

I don’t know where to begin?

“Blessed are you when all men persecute and revile you, and speak all evil…”

“I have come to bring not peace, but a sword…”

“The world will hate you…”

Having lived half my life as a Protestant and half Catholic, I I’ve seen it over and over - there’s just no comparison.

What’s Catholics receive especially is contempt - the attitude that our religion is disdainful and beneath the dignity of intelligent and decent human beings. We get this from other Christians as much as from the world.

We also get lies - any lies can be told about Catholics, and repeated long after they’ve been disproven. Again, by fellow Christians as much as the world.
7_Sorrows said:
annulments
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hehe…

:yup:
 
Being the only Catholic in my immediate family and therefore attending mass by myself. However, this con is nothing compared to the pros!
 
I think scrupulosity should be addressed in RCIA. It wasn’t at my former parish. I knew of the term and the only time the director mentioned it was by saying “of course one doesn’t want to become scrupulous.” Never explained what she meant.

I think converts should also be aware of what the Church seems like, what it regularly proclaims itself, and what it really is. That is, what it really is (by faith and dogma) and what parishes and so on proclaim themselves to be (family, a community, etc.) which is more often than not not really the case.

Cons? I’m not sure. Just things to be aware of.
 
It’s very much more difficult for converts, IMO. If you are brought up in a practising Catholic family and follow their rules, you are less likely to have the complicated previous lives that we converts have had.
 
Isca said:
It’s very much more difficult for converts, IMO. If you are brought up in a practising Catholic family and follow their rules, you are less likely to have the complicated previous lives that we converts have had.
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I agree.
 
Hmm, cons for me would be

-no divorce. I mean I like that it makes couples take marriage seriously, but the fact that if I marry an abusive guy (I know it’s not a sin to legally divorce in cases like this, but we are still ‘married’ and we can’t marry someone else after) or someone who cheats on me, my life would basically be a nightmare or I would have to start buying an army of cats

-protestants thinking we are not real Christians, it kind of irks me when the options for religion for school/gov data is “Christianity, Roman Catholicism, etc”

-there are a lot of things that are wrong. I mean they are bad for us, but society makes it look so tempting (I really like short tight skirts, damn it, I actually look my age when I wear them) or that we are bigots (gay marriage, abortion)

-the last one is more of a personal thing but I feel like my faith forces me to be someone I’m not, that I’m not really cared for. Kind of feels like I’m trapped (like I know the Church is the truth so that’s why I’m still here but other than that I feel unhappy most of the time) which is why I don’t understand people saying the opposite. I do understand that everyone else won’t agree on that though 🤷
 
KildareBrigid said:
Being the only Catholic in my immediate family and therefore attending mass by myself. However, this con is nothing compared to the pros!
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My family is Catholic but I attend mass by myself too

It’s way better IMO, I don’t like people hearing me sing 😃
 
I hope you don’t mind me weighing in as a former Catholic. When I was trying to revert, I dove into the Faith and understood it in a way that was very different from how I had been taught it as a child and what I found to be the biggest stumbling block was the submission of the will to human teachings required of Catholicism in a way that I don’t think is present in any other Christian Churches.

Now, let me explain that statement. By human teachings I mean the development of the magisterium over the last several millennia. Now, of course, for a Catholic, these are not human teachings as the Church is infallibly guided by the Holy Spirit. But if you don’t already believe that, it sure looks like it was a lot of theologians, philosophers, and bishops thinking about things and coming up with their own answers to questions which are now binding on all Catholics.

They may have tried hard and often did as good as a job as possible given their knowledge and culture at the time, but if you grow up in the modern world, you are likely to have an idea of “progress” that strongly suggests someone in the 12th century is at a disadvantage relative to a modern person in thinking about most things. If they weren’t, what good is all the sociology, and psychology, and philosophy that we’ve been doing all this time?

An Orthodox has to submit to a more limited set of infallible teachings coming from the early councils. A Protestant maybe has to submit to the ancient creeds and maybe not even those. But a Catholic must submit their will and intellect to huge body of doctrines that are still being developed. And you may ask yourself is this the same as submitting yourself to the will of God?

For a Catholic, yes, it absolutely is. And if your view of “freedom” is that true freedom is the freedom to accept the Truth of the Church, then this required submission is freedom. But if you view freedom as the ability to question widely, even if humbly, it’s hard to argue that becoming Catholic doesn’t involve a large sacrifice of intellectual freedom.

I also want to add that I think intellectual humility is extremely important and one of the most sublime virtues one can posses. But intellectual humility is not the same as submission.
 
carefullytread said:
I hope you don’t mind me weighing in as a former Catholic. When I was trying to revert, I dove into the Faith and understood it in a way that was very different from how I had been taught it as a child and what I found to be the biggest stumbling block was the submission of the will to human teachings required of Catholicism in a way that I don’t think is present in any other Christian Churches.

Now, let me explain that statement. By human teachings I mean the development of the magisterium over the last several millennia. Now, of course, for a Catholic, these are not human teachings as the Church is infallibly guided by the Holy Spirit. But if you don’t already believe that, it sure looks like it was a lot of theologians, philosophers, and bishops thinking about things and coming up with their own answers to questions which are now binding on all Catholics.

They may have tried hard and often did as good as a job as possible given their knowledge and culture at the time, but if you grow up in the modern world, you are likely to have an idea of “progress” that strongly suggests someone in the 12th century is at a disadvantage relative to a modern person in thinking about most things. If they weren’t, what good is all the sociology, and psychology, and philosophy that we’ve been doing all this time?

An Orthodox has to submit to a more limited set of infallible teachings coming from the early councils. A Protestant maybe has to submit to the ancient creeds and maybe not even those. But a Catholic must submit their will and intellect to huge body of doctrines that are still being developed. And you may ask yourself is this the same as submitting yourself to the will of God?

For a Catholic, yes, it absolutely is. And if your view of “freedom” is that true freedom is the freedom to accept the Truth of the Church, then this required submission is freedom. But if you view freedom as the ability to question widely, even if humbly, it’s hard to argue that becoming Catholic doesn’t involve a large sacrifice of intellectual freedom.

I also want to add that I think intellectual humility is extremely important and one of the most sublime virtues one can posses. But intellectual humility is not the same as submission.
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Just a very quick response, because it’s late at night here in Australia:

I applaud your thoughtfulness and understanding of Catholicism. I think you’ve “got it”. 🙂

The one part you are missing is that the infallibility of the Church is *promised *by Christ rather than from any human power or wisdom. And Jesus is God, and rose from the dead.
 
KildareBrigid said:
Being the only Catholic in my immediate family and therefore attending mass by myself. However, this con is nothing compared to the pros!
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Me and my sister are the only catholics in all of our extended family and we’re in the south so you can only imagine. I’ve defriended many non-catholics on FB just due to sheer ignorance of the catholic faith.

I’ve even lost the faith before, but deep down in my heart of hearts, I always come back because I know it is God’s truth. The cons are worth the pros though.
 
total_Catholic said:
Me and my sister are the only catholics in all of our extended family and we’re in the south so you can only imagine. I’ve defriended many non-catholics on FB just due to sheer ignorance of the catholic faith.

I’ve even lost the faith before, but deep down in my heart of hearts, I always come back because I know it is God’s truth. The cons are worth the pros though.
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Good for you for staying strong and taking steps to protect your faith. I agree, the cons are definitely worth the pros.
 
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