Do you regret becoming Catholic?

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I bit off topic, but I read on Yahoo! Answers a post asking people on how to “destroy his records” of being a Catholic, and if he needed to contact some official to terminate any evidence of the event. He was baptized and non-practicing. This person never outright said it, but I would guess he thought religion, Catholicism in particular, was a cult and wanted out. Several responses said don’t attend church and just choose to not believe in a god. Simple as that. I just find it amusing since the poster was rather panicky on “destroying his baptismal certificate.”
 
You are asking active Catholics if they were sorry they became Catholics? What answer do you expect. If they were sorry they probably would have left the Church.

You should have included former Catholics . . . otherwise you’ll get a sample that has confirmational bias (well sort of conformational bias).
 
Sailor_Kenshin said:
It’s because of responses like yours that I haven’t even dared to bring it up.

The TITLE of this thread is ‘Do You Regret Becoming Catholic?’. Stupid of me to think anyone wanted honest answers.
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I can understand that. I would not raise any question which could be seen as critical of the Church, or even seriously questioning. I also avoid disclosing my sins and difficulties in too open a fashion, because of the small number of people who jump onto these things.
 
You are asking active Catholics if they were sorry they became Catholics? What answer do you expect. If they were sorry they probably would have left the Church.

You should have included former Catholics . . . otherwise you’ll get a sample that has confirmational bias (well sort of conformational bias).

Hi XRU,
I considered that a Catholic forum might have some bias when I posted. I’m not very familiar with CAF and I don’t know if there is a forum for former Catholics or not, but I see that many non-Catholics post on several forums and I figured that some of them may have been Catholic at one time. I also figured that some posters may remain Catholic yet regret their decision, possibly remaining Catholic because they have not decided what to do yet.

No, there have been very few who regret their decision (possibly because this is a Catholic forum), but I have learned what former Protestants miss about Protestantism, and that has been enlightening. Interestingly, they don’t seem to miss things that have to do with doctrine, dogma or beliefs.

Regards,
Pam
 
pkrjenkins said:
Interestingly, they don’t seem to miss things that have to do with doctrine, dogma or beliefs.
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This is a very good point Pam. Sometimes I miss the fellowship. At those times I remind myself of the reason I go to Mass. I can’t think of anything else I miss about my days as a Baptist.
 
Welcome to the Forums and to RCIA. May you be blessed in following our LORD into His Church. I was not sure about coming back to the Church when I was first reconciled through confession in 2008. I have never been more sure of this decision that I am today, praise God. His mercy towards me has been unbelievable, confirming me so many times in little ways. No regrets. The LORD is with His one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. To where would I go? 🙂

With love in Christ,
Pete
 
I’m sure I will never regret becoming Catholic. I grew up in a Methodist church, but was never baptized, although I always believed in God and Jesus. I got married to a Catholic in 1977, deciding it was “ok” to marry a Catholic even though it might upset my mother who did not know any truth about Catholicism. (She thought that Catholics worship statues and Mary.) I knew the Catholic Church was a Christian church and taught about the resurrection of Jesus, so that was acceptable to me. My husband would not enter a Protestant church, so I went to Mass with him. I agreed to raise our children in the Catholic Church because I wanted them to have a Christian upbringing. Finally, in 1990, I acquired a great hunger for the truth and a thirst for knowledge about why there are so many different Christian denominations. I came to understand the need to become baptized and make a commitment, so I joined the RCIA in our wonderful Catholic Church in Gretna, Louisiana, where I learned the history of the Church and received good, solid, Catholic teaching. I am so glad that I became Catholic. It all makes so much sense to me now and I never want to leave the Catholic Church.
 
No way! 😉

I have only been Catholic for about 1 year, but it has been life changing! And I am the only Catholic in my family and things are hard at times, but God is with me through it all. I will warn you that most people I know who have really had a deep conversion experience have had all kinds of bad things happen in their personal lives throughout their conversion, myself included, but I personally think that is how you can be certain you have REALLY found the true Church–the devil is trying sooooo hard to frustrate and distract you when you are on a path to holiness and the life that God truly wants for you. I had a lot of bad experiences over this past year and I continue to have frustrations, but God sees me through them every time and often times in the end he gives me something better than what I had lost to begin with.

God bless you and I am so excited for you to be in RCIA! Continue to follow where he is leading you 🙂
 
nannygirl said:
Becoming Catholic was the best thing that I ever did and I’ve never regretted it for a moment. It’s been over 6 years. I’m the only Catholic in my family and many of my Protestant friends gradually disappeared from my life. They were so disappointed in my decision and a few still try to win me back, but I could never leave the Church. I am praying for my family and friends and waiting patiently for God to bring them in. The Catholic Church is HOME! 🙂
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God bless you and the decision you made. Such a strong statement.
 
Hi, Sailor Kenshin,

It has been my experience that most people see just what they are looking for - no more and no less. From my reading of Church Militant’s response - it was honest and accurate and not deserving of the dismissive comments you made.

Serioulsy, instead of the cheap shots you have been engaging in - why no spell out exactly why you disagree with a comment? Yes, I know this will take some extra time and effort - but, really, the idea here is dialogue - not providing disparaging comments.

Ultimately, for those who have had regrets in joining the Catholic Faith - the single biggest and consistent criticism I can recall is the music in Catholic Churches as contrasted with non-Catholic groups. Something like: “Catholic = dull, Non-Catholic = enlivened”… or something along those lines. But, this is hardly a statistically valid comment based on researched responses from randomly selected participants. More at, anacdotal accounts of personal experiences -and, while possibly compelling to one’s particular point of view - this is not how winning arguments are made.

There have been many who joined the Catholic Faith and have made many comments about the Tremendous Love of God for giving us the Eucharist. And, no Protestant Church has the Eucharist. For those who claim a similarity - all it is, is a memorial service. For those who claim no such reality even exists - we have another stumblin block.

Finally, while you may not agree with someone’s response to a comment, you are under no obligation to fire back about your disagreement. I do not think it is stupid to think that most people will sincerely attempt to provide you with what they think is an honest answer. Your ending comment is probably not accurate.

God bless

God bless
Sailor_Kenshin said:
It’s because of responses like yours that I haven’t even dared to bring it up.

The TITLE of this thread is ‘Do You Regret Becoming Catholic?’. Stupid of me to think anyone wanted honest answers.
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I was Catholic through my infant baptism…stayed Catholic and have never had a regret. 😃
 
Catholicism is like that first girlfriend you had. Will think of her fondly but it’s really time to dump her and get someone serious. Like Orthodoxy.
 
Church_Militant said:
That’s a big one with me too.👍

Sometimes they don’t seem to know what to do with converts. Generally they bring a lot of good energy and insight with them and, if I were a pastor, I’d be plugging them in to help them get settled and make best use of them, but that’s just me. My parish is pretty much like that though.

I don’t know that I agree with this generalization because I haven’t found it to be so. I find lots of ways to share with other Catholics because we have breakfast after Mass and the K of C cooks an awesome meal on Wednesday nights and the cost is $6.00 a head, and the food s plentiful and so good that you just don’t wanna miss it and we chat about our families and needs and various aspects of the faith. It’s here that I’ve made some decent Catholic friends as well as got to know our pastor and parochial vicar better, which has been a real blessing.

Also, we have a good RCIA class and usually several study groups going on during the week. Right now my wife and are in a study of Fr. Robert Barron’s Catholicism series, which s awesome. We also did a class on Dr. Edward Sri’s A Biblical Walk Through the Mass which was so good that we suggested to the DRE that it become part of the RCIA curriculum, which they did.

I’ve also found daily Mass a good place to connect with faithful Catholics as well as a tremendous blessing.

You need to look into the ones I mentioned above then.

You might also undertake a personal and ongoing study of the Catechism (something that Pope Benedict has urged for this year of faith) because that is one of the most intense and eloquent expressions of the faith I have ever encountered. Especially if you get into the footnotes. It’s online at Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Again… a generalization, and one laced with doubt. Has it occurred to you that God may be calling you to get this going since it seems to be your burden? Go in and ask for the courses I have mentioned. What can it hurt? I often believe that when we see a need like this, it’s God’s way of guiding us to where we are needed.

🤷 It’s part of the faith. See Matthew 25:31-46. 🙂
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Scott Hahn has also got a Parish Bible Study at ‘St Pauls centre for Biblical theology’. Some of these studies are prepared fully so you don’t have to necessarily be more knowledgable to run it. I hope one day I get the courage to do something like that, if I can push through the fear of public speaking.

I feel more sure of my decision for Catholism than ever.
 
XRU said:
You are asking active Catholics if they were sorry they became Catholics? What answer do you expect. If they were sorry they probably would have left the Church.

You should have included former Catholics . . . otherwise you’ll get a sample that has confirmational bias (well sort of conformational bias).
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It depends on the reason the question was asked. Sooner or later many converts to the Catholic Church catch onto the fact that we serve a few interesting purposes for cradle Catholics.
  1. They tend to use us as confirmation that it’s worth it not to leave since people are coming into the Church. This comforts some of them and is a pretty harmless service we can provide to them, even though listening to it all the time can be a little obnoxious after a while.
  2. Some cradle Catholics use us as handy comparisons to themselves, seeing as how we are “tainted” with Protestantism and it can make them feel better about themselves. In fact, for some we are proxies for the Protestants they hate so much and they make a very serious point to tell us how WRONG all the Protestants are ad inifinitum, as if we could do anything about it. :rolleyes:
  3. Many of us end up being teachers and catechists, some of the best the Church has in fact. A relatively high proportion of converts become priests, deacons or religious. Many of the greatest saints of the Church have been converts. Converts know why they’re Catholic.
Edmundus1581 said:
I can understand that. I would not raise any question which could be seen as critical of the Church, or even seriously questioning. I also avoid disclosing my sins and difficulties in too open a fashion, because of the small number of people who jump onto these things.
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Yes, there are risks to admitting you’re a convert, and even more serious risks to admitting your feelings as a convert, because you fracture the idealistic image that you have among cradle Catholics, who after all make up approximately 93% of the Church at any given time. See Purposes Converts are Put To #1 above.
 
asd72 said:
Scott Hahn has also got a Parish Bible Study at ‘St Pauls centre for Biblical theology’. Some of these studies are prepared fully so you don’t have to necessarily be more knowledgable to run it. I hope one day I get the courage to do something like that, if I can push through the fear of public speaking.

I feel more sure of my decision for Catholism than ever.
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You might also consider the Great Adventure by Jeff Cavins. That’s a good one that’s user friendly and ready to go too. About the fear of speaking, it works really well to get together a team and it makes it easier to speak in public because you have support. 😉
 
Hi, ConbstantineTG,

If, as you quote below, we are to see Christ in everyone, how does this apply to your off-handed insult to Catholicism.

Whatever your problem - insulting others is not the answer - at least not CAF.

God bless
ConstantineTG said:
Catholicism is like that first girlfriend you had. Will think of her fondly but it’s really time to dump her and get someone serious. Like Orthodoxy.
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tqualey said:
Hi, ConbstantineTG,

If, as you quote below, we are to see Christ in everyone, how does this apply to your off-handed insult to Catholicism.

Whatever your problem - insulting others is not the answer - at least not CAF.

God bless
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I don’t think he insulted anyone personally. That’s a simile.
 
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