Former Athiest feeling the calling of the Catholic Faith

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nightshade

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A little history about myself I am currently 29 years old, married and I have an almost 1 year old daughter. I was raised protestant as a child but we did not attend church regularly. I went to a few different types of protestant churches that were of the charismatic and baptist type of persuasions. My faith as a Christian when I was a kid was heavily influenced by my dad. My dad never believed in going to any of the local churches. He said they were all corrupt. He did share many beliefs with the Catholic faith (but I don’t think he realizes it) He did take us as a family several times to Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman, Alabama.
In my late teens I began dabbling in paganism and witchcraft. In college I became a rather outspoken, almost militant atheist. Last year my first daughter was born and as the old saying goes, there are no atheists in fox holes. When my wife was having to have what was basically an emergency c-section, I dropped down and started praying pretty fast. I had already been receiving these feelings, or signs, that God was trying to get my attention again. But ever since I have renounced my atheism and I definitely believe in God again. I am just having trouble in the church department.
Here lately I have been reading up on the Catholic church and the Catholic faith. I really agree with a lot of the doctrine of the Catholic church like the 7 Sacraments. I have a hard time wrapping my brain around praying to saints and Mary and referring to priests as Father. I do NOT like the priest abuse of the 20th century and that some of the dioceses and bishops covered it up. Now granted the Catholic church is huge and there are thousands and thousands of clergy and only a handful really engaged in anything messed up, but still that’s there. I just feel this draw to Catholicism recently. I had began to be curious about it back in December by researching the miracle of the sun at Fatima. Then out of the blue I got a postcard in the mail about a statue of Mary that is touring this area, which was made in honor of Our Lady of Fatima and the Mary apparitions that occurred there. I had been praying pretty hard about all of this and that showing up just blew my mind. I had specifically been praying for a sign of which church I should go to, now that I am back on the right path. I live close to all of my family and nobody else got the post card. It was just addressed to me. I had not spoken to any Catholics or signed up for anything online. I had been wanting to revisit Ave Maria Grotto lately, so I took my wife and daughter there last weekend. I felt such a strong spiritual presence there.
I guess my question is what do you all think about the priest abuses that have came out over the past few decades, what should I do and how should I pray for resolution? I feel a draw to the Catholic church, that I never really felt for baptists or other protestant churches when I was a believer prior to becoming an atheist. There is a small local Catholic church that opened up in a century old abandoned Methodist chapel within the past few years. Should I seek answers there? Can you help me here?
 
As i understood you feel attraction to Catholic church but you are afraid if the priests there are abusive towards children?
 
Hey, neat story and a super interesting postcard message.

I will let others comment on Praying to saints and calling priests Father. But I will comment on the priest abuse scandal. No Catholic is proud of that moment. And we all apologize for it even though only a few people did it. Every single person in the Church is a sinner and even those who have positions of authority and power are not immune from it. If you look back in history you will find plenty of stuff that was bad. We even had a Pope in the Middle Ages who had a mistress and fathered children. But the Church does not stand on the morality of it’s members. It was founded by Christ and “The Gates of Hell shall never prevail against it.” The Church’s teachings are not affected by its members. Even if those members make those rules. As Christ told the Jews concerning the Pharisees, “All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye no.”
 
nightshade said:
I guess my question is what do you all think about the priest abuses that have came out over the past few decades, what should I do and how should I pray for resolution?
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This is a sad condition of humanity. I don’t think it’s anything new and I don’t think it’s anything unique to the Catholic Church. For whatever reason it’s less reported in the media, but there are many instances in other religions, teachers (have you seen how many teachers have been in the news lately for sex with students—
It’s scary!), the Boy Scouts, Hollywood, sports (think Penn State, US gymnastics), local community groups, and the guy next door— anywhere there are vulnerable people or power dynamics (which is, basically everywhere).

We recoil in a special way when it is a priest, but really these are all professions and volunteer opportunities predators have gravitated towards.

I think in the past people were slower to believe it in general and with priests in particular, because people had a different sort of deference to authority. Priests were supposed to be holy shepherds. So people didn’t look for wolves where they expected to see sheep and shepherds.

The Church, and society in general, lacked to tools of modern psychology that help identify psychological problems and predatory issues during the seminary process or in other professions. The Church lacked a modern understanding of these illnesses and believed such men could be counseled, could repent and change. They know better now.

Having been involved in the safe environment program for our parish, it’s a group effort to make sure children are safe, vulnerable people are safe. The Charter for the Protection of Young People is WAY more than I’ve seen other groups do to address the issues in their institutions to keep children safe.

This isn’t a Catholic Church issue. This is an original sin issue. What is a Church issue is the way it responded in the past, and the Church has done a great deal to change things. I don’t see nearly the level of scrutiny in other groups around here as I do I our own Church. I process all the background checks, I do all the training. I know how thorough it is.
 
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Great story, very glad you feel drawn back to Christianity and will be praying for you in your journey! I too am inquiring to the Catholic faith. May I ask what specifically you are confused about with regards to prayer to the saints and calling priests Father? Is it objections you have or just a lack of understanding? Thanks.

GOD bless!
 
Simply stated, man is fallen and the Church’s own doctrine on Original Sin explains this such that we can be guaranteed that humans will let us down at some point or another, even as we should hope that Church members and leaders would be impeccable. So the Church points us to God, not man, and to the extent that He’s our primary focus rather than all the stuff we may get distracted by, sin decreases, in ourselves, in our Church, in our world. In any case, so long as the will of man is involved, sin happens. From the Catechism:

853 On her pilgrimage, the Church has also experienced the “discrepancy existing between the message she proclaims and the human weakness of those to whom the Gospel has been entrusted.” Only by taking the “way of penance and renewal,” the “narrow way of the cross,” can the People of God extend Christ’s reign. For "just as Christ carried out the work of redemption in poverty and oppression, so the Church is called to follow the same path if she is to communicate the fruits of salvation to men."

827 “Christ, ‘holy, innocent, and undefiled,’ knew nothing of sin, but came only to expiate the sins of the people. The Church, however, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal.” All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. In everyone, the weeds of sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the Gospel until the end of time. Hence the Church gathers sinners already caught up in Christ’s salvation but still on the way to holiness:

The Church is therefore holy, though having sinners in her midst, because she herself has no other life but the life of grace. If they live her life, her members are sanctified; if they move away from her life, they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This is why she suffers and does penance for those offenses, of which she has the power to free her children through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
 
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We shouldn’t paint all people with the same brush. Welcome home.
 
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This should be natural. I say contact a local priest for any questions. Welcome home.

Priest are some of the least likely to do anything to kids. Teachers are much more likely. However, the fact that any priest has done any messed up thing like that is terrible, I agree.
 
I have read a lot about the abuse issue in the Catholic Church and it would not stop me returning to practise the faith if I decided to. But some of the comments in this thread seeking to minimise the abuse are plain wrong. Read the report of the Royal Commission on Institutional abuse in Australia. It calculates that approximately 7% of active clergy during the period in review were accused of abuse. In one order it was 40%! And the denials, cover-ups, victim-shaming and other further abuse add to the story. The Church has at the policy level now generally established very strong protections against abuse. But it has not done all it could. For example, absolution should be denied to clergy abusers of children who do not report themselves to the authorities. This can be done, because canon law requires someone confessing to falsely accusing a priest of sexual misconduct to take steps to right the wrong before absolution can be given. Priests are protected in a way children are not.
 
I just like to share my own feelings on this, which may or may not apply to you.
I think the Church has had much bigger scandals in the past (just think of all the bad popes they were pretty bad and crises like the wetern schism) yet the Church somehow still survives. In fact this makes the case even stronger as a normal institution would have collapsed. Yet it survived because it is divine. So I usually look for the eternal truth rather than focus on individual fallibilities.
Imagine a childcare chain group has multiple staff which abuses children. The whole business would be shut down immediately.

But of course it goes without saying we need to condemn and root out all these abuses obviously.
 
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Kts1816 said:
you feel attraction to Catholic church but you are afraid if the priests there are abusive towards children?
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I am afraid that the act of priests abusing children, and in some cases this being covered up by bishops, puts a black eye on the Church and makes me question it as a valid denomination. Despite this doubt, I still feel an unexplainable draw to the Catholic faith that is part of what makes me feel like it is the one true Church. This is the conundrum I am in right now. Its kind of hard to put into words.
 
Gmsod said:
May I ask what specifically you are confused about with regards to prayer to the saints and calling priests Father? Is it objections you have or just a lack of understanding?
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Well I was raised very much sola scriptura.

I was also taught that Jesus in the only mediator.
John 14;6
Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.

And nobody on earth is to be called father, only the father in heaven
Mathew 23:9
And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, who is in heaven.

I have heard prayers to the saints and Mary defended by saying that you are praying for them to pray for you, much like asking a person on earth for prayer. However, when that prayer is being directed towards a statue or for Mary or the Saint to provide some sort of supernatural intervention, that’s where it blurs the lines of idolatry for me.

I do think that Mary deserves much more respect and reverence than what she is given in protestant churches, since she is the mother of God in the flesh.

I have not yet heard a defense of calling priests Father or the pope the Holy Father.

Also, thank you very much for the prayers and the kind words!
 
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Entwhistler said:
Hey, neat story and a super interesting postcard message.
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Thank you for the kind words. The postcard message is one of the strangest things to happen to me. I have literally been praying for a sign because I have been so confused about which church I should start attending.

It is a beautiful card about Our Lady of Fatima. When I figure out how to post a picture on here I will post one of it.
 
I’ll take a crack since no one has yet.

This objection comes from Matthew 23:9 in which Christ says, “Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven”. Now if this is the case, folks shouldn’t be calling their biological Dads father since we have only one Father in Heaven. But Jesus is saying we should not hold anyone in the same esteem as God. We call a priest Father because, like a biological father, the priest spiritually takes care of us and points us to God just a biological father should. There is precedence for this in the Bible when Elisha yells “My father, my father!” to Elijah when the latter went up to Heaven in a chariot (2 Kgs. 2:12). Elisha was obviously referring to Elijah as a spiritual father just like Catholics refer to a priest as a spiritual Father.
 
Welcome home. I think you should follow the still small voice urging you to go to the small church. Obey it because you won’t regret it. I did and I’ll be getting confirmed this Easter. My suggestion is to talk to a priest about why they’re called ‘Father’ as you might get a better answer than on an internet forum. I’m sure that they get this question a lot and some of them have humorous takes on it. The easiest explanation is that they are the spiritual fathers of the people that they pastor.
 
FiveLinden said:
For example, absolution should be denied to clergy abusers of children who do not report themselves to the authorities.
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Your statement is in direct opposition to the words of Christ Himself. To deny anyone absolution i.e. forgiveness, for their sins is blatantly un Catholic and goes against the mercy of Jesus Christ.

Should clergy abusers be punished for continuing their actions and avoiding the authorities. Yes, it is called de-frocking and has happened in a great many instances where a clergy member has been CONVICTED, not just accused. There is a great difference between accusation and conviction based on proof.
 
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To you Nightshade. Prayers for the successful continuation of your journey to faith. I pray whatever you decide it brings you and your family peace and comfort.

One thing I offer. There is a great quotation from the apostle Paul. He says (and I’m not sure this is verbatim), “search all things, keep that which is good.” It is a great axiom to keep in mind as you search the depths of Christianity,not only Roman Catholic, but other denominations if you choose. I think every good committed Catholic on this site will tell you that the “Way, the Truth, and the Light” will guide you to the RCC.

Shalom
 
Keep praying, keep studying. I think you’ve already found your answer, but it never hurts to keep learning.

You’d be hard pressed to find a church that doesn’t have a history of some abuse or scandal. The problem is how large the Catholic Church is so this abuse was almost made to be a part of the institution itself. Within Protestantism, there’s less standardization of the churches so it’s much harder to make that kind of association. Priests are human and, like everyone else, can sin. Of course there is no excuse for what was done or the attempts at covering it up. There are some wonderful priests out there though and I’ve been so lucky to encounter a couple recently.

Not sure if you live around Cullman or close by, but I know several people in the Birmingham area and they always talk about how great most of the area Catholic churches are there and they seem to have a great community. I hope to visit the Ave Maria Grotto soon. I’m close by, but I’ve never been. You might want to check out Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament too if you can. I’ve heard it’s beautiful.

I hope you find peace and truth in the Church. God bless.
 
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Priest abusing children is a scandal no doubt about it… there has been scandal in the church since its foundation beginning with Judas’ betrayal of Jesus… the Catholic Church has stood the test of time for over 2,000 years… humans will be humans but that won’t invalidate the faith… doctors who malpractice won’t make the practice of medicine invalid… same with priests and the catholic faith…
 
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