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Godfollower
Guest
Good for you! You’re showing proper humility as a Christian (cf. 1 Tim. 3:6 – a neophyte should not seek to be a bishop, lest his pride lead him to fall). Conversely, by recognizing the leaders’ mistakes, you’re fulfilling your duty as a Christian to catechize yourself properly.
Don’t worry about Catholic friends; they will follow as you become more involved in your Catholic community. And, sooner or later, your current (former?) non-Catholic friends will start to see that you aren’t turning into a devil, and (I would hope) will see some sort of improvement in you ('cause we should all improve from year to year, yes?). So they might come back.
You aren’t being wimpy. There is a lot of validity to the theory of “Don’t rock the boat when you’re still learning to row.” It will all come together in the end.
For what it’s worth, I get the feeling that they might be trying to help you, just not very well. There is a concept in Catholic theology of different levels of belief. At the basic level, if you can’t accept that Jesus was divine, you’re in the wrong church, right? As you delve more deeply into Catholic teachings, you start to find more and more complex things that require more and more thought and prayer. Sooner or later, you may well stumble across a teaching that just doesn’t make sense to you. At that point, the Church’s teaching is that – even if you can’t agree that the particular teaching in question makes sense – you should simply accept it in good faith (relying on the Church’s authority to interpret Scripture and Tradition) and pray for a better understanding of God’s will. Maybe that’s what your DRE is trying to say. In any event, I agree with her about one thing: RCIA is a “basic” level course; it will never give complete answers about anything. They should try to help you, but it’s possible your questions exceed the scope of their mandate. Remember, we’re all stumbling along the path in our own ways, and it’s entirely possible that you know more than they do about any particular subject (which would mean they would be unable to answer you).
I agree with you: you should stick it out, then pursue further learning that helps you to resolve the questions you have. Perhaps you could enroll in the local theology classes. Or you could seek out a spiritual adviser. Or bring your questions to the priest, with a preface of “I just didn’t understand the RCIA leader’s response, and I was wondering whether you could help me.”
But, above all, welcome home!
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In my opinion you should stand up (politely but firmly) to the statements that imply you don’t have to understand. I couldn’t agree with you more that you need to understand to stick up for your Faith! (Remember our dear St.Thomas who had to question everything?). It has been my experience (in fact I had one today) that God allows others to test us the closer we get (even in our own Church). I am sure that Mary is not offended by your questions!
:thumbsup:
