Converting to Maronite with a bad past?

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Donny_S

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My parents were Maronite Catholic, but raised me as a baptised protestant. Over the years I have been involved in Freemasonry as a 32nd degree Scottish Rite mason and in my younger years I was a Priest in a Satanic church though my masonic brothers never knew about this. It was a law abiding, objectivist group. No bloody rituals, but lots of blasphemy.

I am not a mason anymore. I quit paying my dues. I found better ways to help my community through volunteering in the community and the Masons were more about donating money. I am no longer a Satanist either, I find such selfish philosphy lacking in depth and meaning and my rational mind simply cannot believe in “magic”. If I can experience God, for even one short moment, I will believe for the rest of my life. I want to be happy and be a good servant to others to make the world better.

I am finding myself very attracted to the Maronite church and I agree with the majority of Catholic morality. There is a nice Maronite church where I live. If I find that I am eventually able to believe in God and Christ (which I don’t know about right now) I want to know if conversion is even an option for me down the road with my checkered past. I can’t talk to the Priests about it in person since it so embarassing to have made the mistakes that I have.

Can anybody help me with this please?

Don
 
Go speak with a priest. No one of us here has a rosy past. All of us are sinners. Don’t worry about it, God is waiting with open arms.
 
I can understand your trepidation and fear.

But as God has proclaimed again and again, “DO NOT BE AFRAID!”

The Lord is good and loving. He is meek and gentle. He is the Good Shepherd, who looks for every lost lamb. Jesus’ arms are wide open, waiting to embrace you.

Go speak with priest. It is completely natural to be nervous. Do not let that sway you. We’re all sinners and we all have parts of our life we’d rather forget.
 
Donny_S said:
I can’t talk to the Priests about it in person since it so embarassing to have made the mistakes that I have.

Can anybody help me with this please?

Don
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yes you can, and you must, because Jesus says so.
he has heard it all before and as you know would die before he reveals what you say to anyone else.

welcome home
 
I know Catholic grandparents that have prayed *for decades *to have their kids and grandkids consider coming back. They would have tears of JOY to have the chance to see them come back. We have tears of joy knowing that you, a unique and unrepeatable person, is willing to come back to the arms of God. We pray for such a thing. Hope for such a thing.

Throw fear far from you. Come home. Welcome home. You’ll make the angels sing.
 
Yes conversion is an option! 😃 Salvation is always an option and God is always ready to forgive.

Welcome to the Church! God bless :byzsoc:

David
 
Believe me, nothing you could tell a priest during confession would even raise his eyebrows. Priests have heard everything in confession. They are there, not to judge you, but to absolve you if you are truely sorry for your sins; but, don’t expect a penance of an Our Father and 3 Hail Marys’.
 
Donny_S said:
My parents were Maronite Catholic, but raised me as a baptised protestant. Over the years I have been involved in Freemasonry as a 32nd degree Scottish Rite mason and in my younger years I was a Priest in a Satanic church though my masonic brothers never knew about this. It was a law abiding, objectivist group. No bloody rituals, but lots of blasphemy.

I am not a mason anymore. I quit paying my dues. I found better ways to help my community through volunteering in the community and the Masons were more about donating money. I am no longer a Satanist either, I find such selfish philosphy lacking in depth and meaning and my rational mind simply cannot believe in “magic”. If I can experience God, for even one short moment, I will believe for the rest of my life. I want to be happy and be a good servant to others to make the world better.

I am finding myself very attracted to the Maronite church and I agree with the majority of Catholic morality. There is a nice Maronite church where I live. If I find that I am eventually able to believe in God and Christ (which I don’t know about right now) I want to know if conversion is even an option for me down the road with my checkered past. I can’t talk to the Priests about it in person since it so embarassing to have made the mistakes that I have.

Can anybody help me with this please?

Don
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You made mistakes and tell us about them. Maybe I made worse than you but cannot tell in public. We are just humans …
 
Donny_S said:
My parents were Maronite Catholic, but raised me as a baptised protestant. Over the years I have been involved in Freemasonry as a 32nd degree Scottish Rite mason and in my younger years I was a Priest in a Satanic church though my masonic brothers never knew about this. It was a law abiding, objectivist group. No bloody rituals, but lots of blasphemy.

I am not a mason anymore. I quit paying my dues. I found better ways to help my community through volunteering in the community and the Masons were more about donating money. I am no longer a Satanist either, I find such selfish philosphy lacking in depth and meaning and my rational mind simply cannot believe in “magic”. If I can experience God, for even one short moment, I will believe for the rest of my life. I want to be happy and be a good servant to others to make the world better.

I am finding myself very attracted to the Maronite church and I agree with the majority of Catholic morality. There is a nice Maronite church where I live. If I find that I am eventually able to believe in God and Christ (which I don’t know about right now) I want to know if conversion is even an option for me down the road with my checkered past. I can’t talk to the Priests about it in person since it so embarassing to have made the mistakes that I have.

Can anybody help me with this please?

Don
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Hi Don,

Thanks for sharing your past. It’s never too late, God’s name is MERCY. The cross of Christ goes deeper than all of humanity’s sins piled together.

Be aware to follow Christ requires blood, sweat and tears but it’s all done with love. We your brothers and sisters in Christ are waiting for you to come home to the unified church.

God bless,
 
Never for one moment think that you can never be forgiven of anything. You sound sincere and that is all God asks of us.
 
Ever heard of Blessed Bartolo Longo? He was a lay Dominican who promoted the Holy Rosary and was beatified by the Church not too long ago. Yet prior to that, despite being raised baptized Catholic and raised by devout Catholic parents, he spent several years as a Satanist. But God, being infinitely merciful, led Longo back to Him and His Church! So ask Blessed Bartolo’s intercession in your journey back – you’re in good company!
 
Thank you all so much for your inspiring replies. It has encouraged me to look deeper in the mysteries of the Church. I am finding that all of my deeper philosophical questions that went unanswered in my youth have all been discussed and answered at great length by many great minds over the centuries. It is unfortunate that I did not have access to the depth of love, knowledge and wisdom that the church possesses when I was younger, but at least I am learning this now.

I had not heard of Bartolo Longo before, but after researching his life and history it seems that we have quite a bit in common. Our artistic and educational pursuits in addition to the previously mentioned occult offices held.

I do not know how to ask a Saint’s intercession, so if anyone has advice I would love to hear it.

I still do not find myself able to believe in God or Christ, but I am open to it. I have requested a Green Scapular and I own a rosary that I had blessed by the Pope at an event I attended in my youth. I had it hanging near a picture of a serial killer as an attempt to be “Avant Garde” and “Artistic”. I have since removed it from that place and I have decided to learn how to pray the rosary to see if this helps. I have also requested a Green Scapular and I am going to attend the Maronite church on Sunday to see where and if I fit in to God’s plan.

Thank you all again for your words of encouragement and for sharing your light and knowledge.

With gratitude,

Don
 
ConstantineTG said:
Go speak with a priest. No one of us here has a rosy past. All of us are sinners. Don’t worry about it, God is waiting with open arms.
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I also agree, you need to go to the priest. The Church is for sinners. Christ ate with the sinners ( to the dismay of may religious, pharisees) This is exactly the place to go. He will guide you into the faith gently. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the Son to you. HE is real, and he’s waiting. It is a mystery but there is also so much spiritual “logic” in faith that you will easily be able to embrace it all, but slowly. I will pray for you on this journey. ( understand, it’s a “journey”) Believe me, the enemy of your soul will fight to get you to doubt, keep pursuing Truth and I know He will reveal yourself to Him.

My prayers,
mlz
 
It’s absolutely wonderful that you’re coming into the Church! Welcome home! What I suggest, is that you talk to your local Maronite priest and RCIA courses you would have to take before becoming Catholic. Then the possible necessity of a conditional Baptism followed be a conditional absolution (as you said you received a baptism from a Protestant Church?).

And of course along with the rosary, the most powerful sacramental available to is is the Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel. It is Mary’s promise to us that those who wear it at the moment of death will not suffer eternal fire, and that she would help preserve those who wear it from temptation.
 
Hello! May I recommend if you are in the area, or close enough to take a trip, take a retreat to this Maronite Monastery where you can experience the faith in peaceful seclusion and pray about it. The monks there would also be very happy to talk to you I am sure.

maronitemonks.org/Mhtm.htm

May God be with you as you seek direction.
 
Is that monastery the only Maronite monastery in the USA? I do not wish to bad mouth anyone, but I will say for the sake of those who are just encountering that place and without much background in Maronite spirituality and praxis that some monks from said monastery were here on CAF a little while ago and their attitudes did not endear them to the cradle Maronites of this website. Take that as you will.

There are some other distinctly Maronite communities in the USA, such as the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light which might be useful to look into for general education purposes (though you would not be able to join this particular order, as it is for women). But it is probably best to get yourself into the nearest Maronite church and learn by doing.
 
dzheremi said:
Is that monastery the only Maronite monastery in the USA? I do not wish to bad mouth anyone, but I will say for the sake of those who are just encountering that place and without much background in Maronite spirituality and praxis that some monks from said monastery were here on CAF a little while ago and their attitudes did not endear them to the cradle Maronites of this website. Take that as you will.

There are some other distinctly Maronite communities in the USA, such as the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light which might be useful to look into for general education purposes (though you would not be able to join this particular order, as it is for women). But it is probably best to get yourself into the nearest Maronite church and learn by doing.
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Why stir the pot? It’s one thing on theological matters where we are talking objectivity, but this is a matter of subjectivity. There are many options out there for learning and experiencing the faith, this is merely just a suggestion of mine since I have been to the Monastery on many occasions. People on here can be way too fractious for no good reason sometimes. Your other suggestions are great, but I say the more the better. My suggestion is one more path he can take. I have spoken to the monks there many times, and they are always quite charitable.
 
I do not believe that it is stirring the pot to advise someone to look a little deeper into this particular monastery given the bad taste its members left in several people’s mouths, particularly those of the cradle Maronites here who know their own faith a lot better than the Latins who run the monastery in question. Furthermore, “objectivity” is not needed nor helpful in such matters. I am not reporting the TV news, but the past experience with this particular topic that is decidedly mixed. Anyone looking into that monastery should know that there are questions surrounding the practices there, because “charitable” or not, if someone is looking to learn about Maronite spirituality and practice, that monastery might not be the best place to do it. That is all.
nachteule said:
Why stir the pot? It’s one thing on theological matters where we are talking objectivity, but this is a matter of subjectivity. There are many options out there for learning and experiencing the faith, this is merely just a suggestion of mine since I have been to the Monastery on many occasions. People on here can be way too fractious for no good reason sometimes. Your other suggestions are great, but I say the more the better. My suggestion is one more path he can take. I have spoken to the monks there many times, and they are always quite charitable.
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Well if its a question of who’s more Maronite than who, I don’t know who wins that. 🙂 Everyone is on their own path, just because one person grew up in the Maronite parish doesn’t mean they are more qualified, or the only ones qualified for that matter to help people into that faith. I can’t speak to any particular experiences that have happened on this site regarding them, but it’s a shame to be tarnishing the reputation of our brothers in the faith in this way without knowing them or retreating there. The monks at MHTM take their faith very seriously, some of which have also been raised in the Maronite Rite as well from what I remember, and they are all Catholics who are committed to practicing through the Maronite traditions, including daily prayer and Mass in Aramaic. Any way, that’s the last I will say about it, I don’t want to perpetuate any more negativity in a thread that is meant to help. Donny I wish you the best!
 
nachteule said:
Well if its a question of who’s more Maronite than who, I don’t know who wins that. 🙂 Everyone is on their own path, just because one person grew up in the Maronite parish doesn’t mean they are more qualified, or the only ones qualified for that matter to help people into that faith. I can’t speak to any particular experiences that have happened on this site regarding them, but it’s a shame to be tarnishing the reputation of our brothers in the faith in this way without knowing them or retreating there. The monks at MHTM take their faith very seriously, some of which have also been raised in the Maronite Rite as well from what I remember, and they are all Catholics who are committed to practicing through the Maronite traditions, including daily prayer and Mass in Aramaic. Any way, that’s the last I will say about it, I don’t want to perpetuate any more negativity in a thread that is meant to help. Donny I wish you the best!
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I have no intention of getting into this fray, but how does it “tarnish” anyone’s reputation? It seems to me that Dzheremi merely intended to give a cautionary “heads-up” and I fail to see anything wrong with that.
 
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