Dropping the Pope-bomb

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Contrabass101

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Hey there,

I have been journeying towards the Catholic Church for the past 2 years, and have decided to start in RCIA this September.

I come from a lutheran background, and I have not really talked to my parents about this yet. I plan on telling them some time this week, and so would like to ask for some prayer. Pray that I may be able to talk like I should, and that they understand why I am doing what I am.

I fear they may be hurt by me leaving the lutheran church, and my protestant upbringing. I fear that they may think it is about them, that they didn’t do good enough and so on, when in fact the truth is quite the opposite.

I have been terrified at telling my parents for very long, but it seems to me, that it is time now, and I am not so scared of the thought as I have been. Still, would you pray that it may go well.

Thanks,
  • CB
 
+JMJTJ+
Your intentions will be in my prayers.
May the Holy Spirit illumine and guide your spiritual journey.
Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible, look kindly upon us, and increase Your mercy in us, so that in difficult moments we might not despair, nor become despondent, but with great confidence, submit ourselves to Your Holy Will, which is Love and Mercy itself. Amen
 
Praying to give you strength and give them understanding!!!
 
CB, I thank God for the graces He has given and is giving you.
May the Holy Spirit continue to give you courage, and inspire you in how to tell your parents, and help them to cope. May God bless you for your loving concern for them and may He grant that that love comforts and reassures them.

God blessyou on your journery and may He grant you faithfulness to His call and His grace to you…Trishie

God has called you and He will not fail you…The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” [Thessalonians 4:28]

“Glory be to Him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; glory be to Him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.” [Ephesians 3: 14-21]

“I have chosen you… do not be afraid for I am with you; stop being anxious and watchful for I am your God. I give you strength, I bring you help, and I uphold you with my victorious right hand” [Isaiah 41:9-10]
 
Prayers are on the way. May the Lord bless both you and your parents with His love and peace.
 
I’m praying for you. May the Lord give you courage on your faith walk and may He give your parents wisdom and understanding when you tell them of your decision to follow God’s call. In Jesus Name we pray.:amen:
 
Father of love and power,
it is your will to establish everything in Christ
and to draw us into his all-embracing love.

Guide your chosen ones:
strengthen them in their vocation,
build them into the kingdom of your Son,
and seal them with the Spirit of your promise.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

© 1985 International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc

(I know the ICEL copyright looks cheesy, but they’re apparently touchy about this sort of thing)

Prayers from a former Lutheran!
:extrahappy:
 
Praying for you and for you family. May God grant them peace and understanding.
 
Continuing in prayer. Please, keep us informed on how things work out.
 
Praying for you…

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
 
Praying for the Holy Spirit to guide you and give you the strength and courage to do this!
 
I am also praying for you. I also come from a family of Protestants. what I try to do with my family is not focus on the differences in the religion but rather the similarities. In your case remind your parents that you still believe in Jesus Christ just like they do and that you are not completely abandoning everything they have taught you you just feel like God has called you to the Catholic Church and emphasize that it’s not something they did but rather Jesus Christ is is calling you here. One thing that really helped me with my family is that I have a catechism that has been designed specifically for converts its called Catholic Christianity. That way if your parents have questions or concerns you will have a place to turn to help explain your new faith. I pray tha tthe peace of Christ be with you and your family. I will be praying for you and your parents.
 
Thanks so much, it is wonderful to know that so many people pray 🙂

I was away on holiday with my family, so I haven’t been able to write an update untill now. But I have told them.

I chose last Sunday, seeing that it was the feast day of St. Nicodemus, whose situation i sorta relate to… coming to the Church at night and in secret, then making a half-hearted defence of her in public, trying to simply “be fair” (which as Chesterton tells us is impossible), and then at last coming out of the closet. I also figure, that some of the people that promised to pray, would be praying at Mass. I let it out about midnight between Sunday/Monday European time, which just about have to coincide with someone being at Mass in the US.

I told them as it was, how I was very happy about my Christian upbringing, and that I hoped they knew, that I am not a Christian merely out of “tradition” but that it is something personal to me - they acknowledged that and said that they are happy about the fact. Then I continued to talk about how I had realized some time ago (1½-2 years) that I couldn’t say the same about my denomination. That was 100% tradition. So I had considered and researched a bit, and long story short wanted to join the Catholic Church.

It surprised them, but I wouldn’t say that it shocked them. My mother openly confessed to not knowing a great deal about Catholicism, and admitted, actually, that they never themselves made any such choice - that they were in a sense lutherans by pure tradition. She seemed happy that I chose to act on what I found to be true, rather than where my friends went to church (my teenage-sister talks of joining a Pentecostal church for that reason)

My father (who is the less talkative of the two) sat for a little while, then said something like: “That was exactly the thing Luther fought against…” I agreed to this fact. He paused a bit, and then he asked if “they” believe the same as “us” about the Trinity - to which I could happily say that they do 🙂

I then made it clear, that whatever they may hear or have heard, I still as a Catholic believe that it is by God’s grace, that man can be saved, and that we can not save ourselves by whatever good works we may perform. Without God’s grace, we will all go to Hell, and only if he had mercy, could there be any chance for uor salvation. I then said that we could discuss the specific reasons for my conversion later, but right now I just wanted them to know what I was doing and why.

So all in all, none of them knew very much of the Catholic faith, but my father had a certain feeling that it was “different”. It was a good experience though - much worse fearing it than doing it 🙂

Thanks for all you prayers,
  • Stephen
 
Stephen, I’m so glad you told them, and I’m so happy that they took it well. You might want to give them some more information about the Church, just so they have a better understanding about your decision, and a better understanding of your religion. You may need to reassure them that you’re not trying to convert them (but maybe you will:shrug: :gopray2: ) but just trying to inform them about your decision.

God bless you on your journey to the Church.

Mary
 
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