For non-cradle catholics

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GKC said:
Not a typo in the 1549 book. Capitalization was random. “Ghost” is capitalized, then not capitalized. God is God, then GOD. Like that.
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Seeing as this thread is for “non-cradle Catholics” I’m assuming that you are one? Otherwise we are digressing from the OP intent.

That said considering the original was a small c all others with a capital C would be incorrect.

Uh oh…did you see what I just did there. 😉

Perhaps the OP will clarify if the title of his post is “catholic” or “Catholic”
 
SAVINGRACE said:
Seeing as this thread is for “non-cradle Catholics” I’m assuming that you are one? Otherwise we are digressing from the OP intent.

That said considering the original was a small c all others with a capital C would be incorrect.

Uh oh…did you see what I just did there. 😉

Perhaps the OP will clarify if the title of his post is “catholic” or “Catholic”
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No, I’m not. I am fostering thread drift. It is a common failing of mine.
 
GKC said:
No, I’m not. I am fostering thread drift. It is a common failing of mine.
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:rotfl: yes, me too… I used to say I’m resting my eyelids when lecturers would ask me if I’m sleeping.
 
If we are going to drift, suppose one is developing an interest in Catholicism but one’s lawful wedded wife is not happy about it?
 
Mammoths said:
If we are going to drift, suppose one is developing an interest in Catholicism but one’s lawful wedded wife is not happy about it?
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Pray for her. St Monica can also assist. We can also pray for us if you want, post it on the prayer request thread. Have you read Kimberly Hahn’s story. Her husband Scott was Protestant Minister who converted to Catholicism? She had a very difficult journey to the Church but she eventually made it home.

Her book A Pastors Wife’s Journey Home is outstanding.

lighthousecatholicmedia.org/store/title/a-pastor-s-wife-s-journey-home
 
SAVINGRACE said:
Seeing as this thread is for “non-cradle Catholics” I’m assuming that you are one? Otherwise we are digressing from the OP intent.

That said considering the original was a small c all others with a capital C would be incorrect.

Uh oh…did you see what I just did there. 😉

Perhaps the OP will clarify if the title of his post is “catholic” or “Catholic”
Click to expand...
I am wanting to hear from people who became Roman Catholic after reaching an age of awareness and had to make a conscious choice perhaps between Catholicism and some other religion, denomination, or philosophy. Cradle Catholics are Roman Catholics who were raised in Roman Catholicism since early childhood before they were aware enough to choose for themselves. They may have consciously chosen to agree with the RC eventually but they did not initially come from a different church.
 
Mammoths said:
I am wanting to hear from people who became Roman Catholic after reaching an age of awareness and had to make a conscious choice perhaps between Catholicism and some other religion, denomination, or philosophy. Cradle Catholics are Roman Catholics who were raised in Roman Catholicism since early childhood before they were aware enough to choose for themselves. They may have consciously chosen to agree with the RC of ventilation but they did not initially come from a different church.
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Awesome. Thank you for the clarification. I qualify then although I was an atheist so not really a denomination or religion. Would atheism be a philosophy…I dunno.
 
Mammoths said:
If we are going to drift, suppose one is developing an interest in Catholicism but one’s lawful wedded wife is not happy about it?
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If you are drawn to the Church I wouldn’t ignore it because she isn’t on board quite yet. It’s a process becoming Catholic, sometimes very timely. Took me 1 & 1/2 years to finally receive Communion.

You would eventually need your marriage to her blessed, but there are ways around that if she is just hostile towards the Church. Pastor can fill you in. They understand not everybody is fond of the Church.

Anyway, if you do proceed, just do it with the fruit of the Spirit and with prayer. Trust God that it will all work out for you.
 
Sad to say, it was about 15 years after entering. I went to a Life in the Spirit seminar conducted by our parish priest. When time came to be prayed over, I made a conscious decision to be docile and allow the Holy Spirit to work. When Father laid hands on me it was a remarkable experience, but outside of that, nothing happened immediately. However, soon after, everything changed. I lost my fear of discussing and sharing my faith. I developed a love of scripture. I began going to adoration. Marian doctrine suddenly made perfect snese. My prayer life accelerated, but had actual meaning. Rosaries. Chaplets of Divine Mercy. I began evangelizing those who had lost hope. Handed out pocket New Testaments. Listened to Catholic radio exclusively. Miracles occurred in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament - not huge, but supernatural and inexplicable. My charism was revealed to me, and I was no longer afraid to use it. That was the defining moment.

For those who are not yet Catholic, or are Catholic and struggling, I cannot recommend adoration of our Lord highly enough. Go, and spend time with Him. If you doubt His presence in the Holy Eucharist, tell Him. Open your heart and then be as patient with Him as He has been with you. When His presence is revealed through the Holy Spirit, you will be forever changed. One caution: it can become addictive - but what an addiction!
 
GKC said:
You got the order right.

To many Anglicans, they are Catholic. But not Roman Catholic.

No one need agree with that.
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I think the Catholic Church could agree with that assessment. Anglicans are Catholics by virtue of their baptisms…just imperfectly so. After all, the Church teaches that all validly baptized Christians are mystically united to the Catholic Church in some manner.
 
Mammoths said:
If we are going to drift, suppose one is developing an interest in Catholicism but one’s lawful wedded wife is not happy about it?
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Will she attend Mass with you occasionally? Is she not happy about it or hostile toward the Church? Are you in RCIA yet? If you are planning to attend RCIA next fall ask her to join you, if she is willing. The wonderful thing is one can attend RCIA and stop if they are not ready to learn more yet. Conversion is a process. She can either see what you are seeing in the Catholic Church and willingly continue, she may stop and say never, or she can stop but the seed is planted. Trust the Holy Spirit to do His work in her.

While many in RCIA are committed from the beginning, no one has to commit until the very end. As another poster recommended read the book Home Sweet Rome by Scott Hahn. It is his conversion story and his wife unwilling and unhappy about it in the beginning. And pray for her, put her one the pray list on this site.
Lenten_ashes said:
If you are drawn to the Church I wouldn’t ignore it because she isn’t on board quite yet. It’s a process becoming Catholic, sometimes very timely. Took me 1 & 1/2 years to finally receive Communion.

You would eventually need your marriage to her blessed, but there are ways around that if she is just hostile towards the Church. Pastor can fill you in. They understand not everybody is fond of the Church.

Anyway, if you do proceed, just do it with the fruit of the Spirit and with prayer. Trust God that it will all work out for you.
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Regarding the bolded part. This may not even be necessary. And to be nit-picky marriages are convalidated not blessed. If this is a first & only marriage for the two of them their marriage may already sacramental. Most often when marriages need to be convalidated it means there was a defect in form (a Catholic who didn’t marry in the Church) or there had been an impediment such as a prior bond.

I’m sponsoring a women this year. She and her husband are coming into the Church and their marriage will become sacramental once she is baptized. They don’t need to have their marriage convalidated.
 
My (now very anti-Catholic) ex girlfriend was baptised a Catholic, and she thought it was important I be so too. She was going to come back to the Church when I came into the Church. I never flat out denied any Church teaching (although I struggled with certain things due to my age at the time, and because of the culture I grew up with) when I was preparing for entrance in the Church. I went to RCIA (eventually, she stopped going, but she was there when I came into the Church, and she did get me my first Catholic Bible, which really helped, especially Colossians 2:11-15.) I was Baptised, confirmed, and received my first Holy Communion on 31 May 2009 at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic church in Gloverville, South Carolina, United States at the 10 am Mass. It was Pentecost Sunday of that year. I realised I was Catholic, when I became Catholic. I was formerly a Buddhist. I was 21 at the time. God bless, thanks for asking.
 
Mammoths said:
Was there a moment when you realized you were catholic? What was it like? Was there a point of doctrine or idea that suddenly made perfect sense and you had to go get confirmed and enter full fellowship with the RC in order to be faithful to what you had come to believe?
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For me it was really more gradual, or at least the actual willingness to convert. Observing various mainline Protestant churches entering into full communion I became interested in how there came to be so many churches. I wondered why they were separated in the first place that they would now come together. Of course at the source was the Catholic Church. Since the Protestant Churches stood in opposition to the Catholic Church I wanted to understand the differences. I knew well enough all the claims against the Church, so I investigated what she actually taught. I wanted to hear her side of the story not the Protestant analysis.

It is also worth mentioning that from a young age I had some admiration for the Catholic Church. As a young adult I came across an article written in a Catholic newspaper arguing against abortion. I thought the Catholic position to be eminently reasonable. From this I had a vague notion that the Catholics could be reasonable despite all the accretions of error they added to Christianity. I also for some reason, it must have been grace, believed strongly in Transubstantiation and Catholic doctrine on sexuality including opposition to birth control.

As I studied I quickly found that the Catholic Church made a lot of sense. I didn’t object to the doctrines I didn’t hold once I understood them more fully. For instance praying to Saints for intercession and the various Marian doctrines made sense to me. So I was in a position where I didn’t necessarily accept the doctrines but I didn’t think them obviously wrong.

The real hangup for me was the role of the Bishop of Rome. I didn’t object to him as bishop, but I wasn’t sure about the claims of authority his office possessed. This took longer for me to come to accept. But in the meantime I found myself having a strong appreciation for the faith.

Once I got to the point where I could convert it still took a while, maybe a year, to actually do it. I didn’t object to conversion but I was a bit afraid of it. I looked at it like marriage. It was something for life. I wanted to be sure I was really up to the commitment.

I’d say Chesterton best describes my experience.
It is impossible to be just to the Catholic Church.
The moment men cease to pull against it they feel a tug towards it.
The moment they cease to shout it down they begin to listen to it
with pleasure. The moment they try to be fair to it they begin to be
fond of it. But when that affection has passed a certain point it
begins to take on the tragic and menacing grandeur of a great love
affair. The man has exactly the same sense of having committed or
compromised himself; of having been in a sense entrapped, even
if he is glad to be entrapped. But for a considerable time he is not
so much glad as simply terrified.
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For me it did feel like a love affair. It was like discovering the girl you grew up with who wasn’t well thought of wasn’t anything like what others said. It was like finding out not only is she beautiful on the outside but also on the inside. Towards the end it was fun to appreciate the Catholic Church but not have the commitment. It was fun to date but not marry. This may be particular to my constitution but it was hard for me to make the ultimate decision not because I thought it wasn’t right but because I am especially averse to commitment.
 
Mammoths said:
If we are going to drift, suppose one is developing an interest in Catholicism but one’s lawful wedded wife is not happy about it?
Click to expand...
This was true for me. When I first investigated the Church I talked with my wife about what I found. She wasn’t very interested. She was in fact worried I was trying to take her our of our church, the one we were married in, which we both very much loved. I backed off. I would still talk about some things but purposefully limited my conversation. I used the Socratic method of asking questions.

Eventually when it became clear I was going to convert I told her I would continue to go to our Protestant service and Mass. For a while I did this. Then she became open to the Church. Ultimately we were both able to come in to the Church together. But you wouldn’t have thought it would happen earlier.
 
Horton said:
Will she attend Mass with you occasionally? Is she not happy about it or hostile toward the Church? Are you in RCIA yet? If you are planning to attend RCIA next fall ask her to join you, if she is willing. The wonderful thing is one can attend RCIA and stop if they are not ready to learn more yet. Conversion is a process. She can either see what you are seeing in the Catholic Church and willingly continue, she may stop and say never, or she can stop but the seed is planted. Trust the Holy Spirit to do His work in her.

While many in RCIA are committed from the beginning, no one has to commit until the very end. As another poster recommended read the book Home Sweet Rome by Scott Hahn. It is his conversion story and his wife unwilling and unhappy about it in the beginning. And pray for her, put her one the pray list on this site.

Regarding the bolded part. This may not even be necessary. And to be nit-picky marriages are convalidated not blessed. If this is a first & only marriage for the two of them their marriage may already sacramental. Most often when marriages need to be convalidated it means there was a defect in form (a Catholic who didn’t marry in the Church) or there had been an impediment such as a prior bond.

I’m sponsoring a women this year. She and her husband are coming into the Church and their marriage will become sacramental once she is baptized. They don’t need to have their marriage convalidated.
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She was baptized baptist and we have both only been married to each other with the intent of forming a Christian marriage. I don’t know if my baptism was valid because of who did it.
 
exnihilo said:
This was true for me. When I first investigated the Church I talked with my wife about what I found. She wasn’t very interested. She was in fact worried I was trying to take her our of our church, the one we were married in, which we both very much loved. I backed off. I would still talk about some things but purposefully limited my conversation. I used the Socratic method of asking questions.

Eventually when it became clear I was going to convert I told her I would continue to go to our Protestant service and Mass. For a while I did this. Then she became open to the Church. Ultimately we were both able to come in to the Church together. But you wouldn’t have thought it would happen earlier.
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Good thoughts that was my thinking too. Encouraging outcome. I have been posting a little on my facebook. That way she is control of the dose.
 
Mammoths said:
She was baptized baptist, and we have both only been married to each other with the intent of forming a Christian marriage. I don’t know if my baptism was valid because of who did it.
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What makes you doubtful about who did it?
 
The church I was baptized in was a small church with some cultistic tendencies. I left when I was 15yo by choice. I distinctly recall not being able to get a straight answer on some christian essentials like the trinity.
 
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