Has anyone regretted entering the Church?

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Our Blessed Lord God sometimes allows you to feel distant from Him in order that you can enter into a deeper level of spirituality - this is usually called “A Dark Night of the Soul.” Just trust in the Lord and call on His Holy Name. Know that you made the right choice coming into the fullness of the Holy Catholic Church and that God will take care of you!

May God bless you abundantly and forever and grant you His Peace! 🙂
 
Coming out of a protestant evangelical background where all sin IS the same, I have no problem with your dilemma at all. If it bothers me, I tell he priest about it. My advice to you is start with a few small sins (the priest doesn’t want the entire litany in the box so keep track of your time) and he will tell you what offenses are those to worry about. I was very leary of the confessional at first, but I’ve come to like it, and it is a relief to be able to walk out of the box with a load lifted off my shoulders.
 
It’s a struggle after RCIA is over because you are used to having a community of people who are going through the same process.

I converted 3 years ago and it’s still a struggle at times. I feel very let down by my RCIA experience because the more I strive to be Catholic, the more I understand that I was instructed by someone who had a very liberal interpretation of the faith, when to go to confession, when to fast, who could and couldn’t take communion, etc.

She also made a point of telling us that we’d more of the specifics as we taught them to our kids. (As a lot of us were young parents).

I don’t regret becoming Catholic. It’s really a process.
 
dei_gratia15 said:
When you say the Divine Mercy devotion, are you referencing the Divine Mercy Chaplet or something else? Sorry, I’m not very familiar with this!
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Yes, the Divine Mercy Chaplet Novena, and just a constant remembrance of Jesus’ Immense Mercy for all of us is what this poster was referring to! 🙂
 
During my process of preparing to be received into the Church, I was warned that I might be attacked spiritually. I was faced with a Jewish friend who practically disowned me and others treated me slightly different. Your life is not suddenly free from problems. I have faced tremendous hardship since becoming Catholic. Some days my faith is stronger than others. I see the Pope attacked in the media often and the Church. I try to spend as much time in Adoration as possible to help me combat spiritual warfare.
 
As a person that joined the Catholic Church in 1999 on the Easter Vigil and as a Lead Facilitator of the RCIA here is my advice.

GO TO CONFESSION!!

Scruples only get tougher to overcome without God’s Sanctifying Grace within us. Find a spiritual adviser to help after confession, for now use the Spiritual Adviser of Christ Jesus in the Mercy of His Sacrament of Confession.

All of the advice above is good stuff. Attend Mass often, go to Adoration whenever you can (even if it is before The Presence in the Tabernacle), prayer devotions are great, and Spiritual Mentors are a wonderful blessing from God.

Seek out a Priest now where ever you are, even if on the road. Let them know your situation. “I was Baptized, Confirmed, and received Holy Communion this past Easter. I have still not had my First Confession and I struggle with what is necessary for me to confess. This has become spiritually burdensome and has me struggling to decide if I am worthy to receive communion any longer. Would you please help me to say my First Confession?” I would be surprised if you found a priest that unless on the way to service someone else in desperate need would say “No.” Look up the local Catholic Church in the phone book, online, ask about the closest. Get it done make no excuses. Those excuses are the voice of Satan, the devil, the accuser and like BigRedpg51 said he is really mad about you going with Jesus to The Father’s House and giving yourself to God. He will continue to hound you until you scream “Get behind me Satan!” and enter into Confession with Jesus!

The human condition however will allow Satan to find you again after you come out of Confession which is why all the other things we recommend are necessary to keep Jesus close to protect you and keep Satan at bey. Return to Confession often, while the Church in her Precepts says once a year for Confession this is the MINIMUM standard. Those of us wishing to do things well to not just do the minimum but excel beyond that, perhaps way beyond. It is said that the Pope, the Vicar of Christ goes to Confession AT LEAST weekly. I cannot imagine a holier man and he needs Confession far more than the Minimum, in excess of 52 times more!

I do feel it necessary to correct BigRedpg51 however. There are not 3 conditions for it to be a sin. Sin is sin and always will be sin. If it is offensive to God it will always be offensive to God. The 3 conditions are what determines Mortal versus Venial. Mortal being that which separates us from God in such a way that His Sanctifying Grace (Life Giving Love) is lost from within us. This is when the only EFFECTIVE Sacrament remaining for us is Confession to renew this Sanctifying Grace. God’s other Graces can still work on us, these are which call us back to Confession, to feel the need to have Him close. The other Sacraments when “administered to us” affect us but not to give Sanctifying Grace but to provide graces drawing us back.

The 3 conditions for Mortal sin is 1) The sinner must KNOW what is being done is against God. 2) They must have truly FREE WILL to do what is being done. 3) With Free Will and Full Knowledge they must CHOOSE to do it anyway. With these conditions met it is Mortal Sin. Only Jesus can truly know our position on all three of these items, for we even lie to ourselves in our own heart. Do not presume we only lie in one direction. Some of us lie and say we do not meet all the conditions so we feel good about ourselves and do not take the steps we need to do to stay close to God, Satan wins. Some of us lie and say we do meet all the conditions so we feel terrible about ourselves and either run from God because we feel unworthy or we stay confused and take no action to return to God, Satan wins. Both of these lies know their father, Satan, and lead us to him. Better we go to Confession often, and with humble and contrite heart, place ourselves within the protective Mercy of Jesus who will take our petitions to The Father in Confession and make all things right. Confess ALL.

It is true that Mass and other liturgies have as a part of the Rite an absolution of the barrier that Venial sin brings which allows us to receive Sanctifying Grace from Sacraments, Blessings and Grace from God allowing us to be in God’s presence and to go to Heaven (likely through Purgatory) upon death. However it does not fully and properly absolve us of these sins, Confession does. If we have Venial sins since our last Confession (or Baptism in the case of First Confession) we MUST confess those as well so that they may be fully absolved. This is why I say “Go to Confession now!” You have to confess all your sins and let the priest help you sort it all out from there for your next confession.
 
Your story sounds much like my own after I entered into the Church at the Easter Vigil of 2011. I had a truly remarkable conversion experience and felt so great in the months leading up to the Easter Vigil. The Monday after I was feeling let down and this went on for the next few weeks, I just had to come to terms with the fact that I was Catholic just like everyone else.

I even had serious doubts and perhaps regret over entering into the Church as soon as I did, I thought I should have waited another year. I know my mom, who is somewhat anti-Catholic was a constantly dissenting voice against my entering into the Church and I thought that maybe she was right.

Looking back after 4.5 years have passed I know that God’s Will was for me to join at that time and according to the circumstances which prevailed that allowed for it to occur. I have quite a complex conversion story that I don’t want to get into right now but suffice it to say that if I had not gone through with everything I truly feel like I would have been shunning every good thing God sought to give me then and throughout my life past and present.
 
Kal2012 said:
It’s a struggle after RCIA is over because you are used to having a community of people who are going through the same process.

I converted 3 years ago and it’s still a struggle at times. I feel very let down by my RCIA experience because the more I strive to be Catholic, the more I understand that I was instructed by someone who had a very liberal interpretation of the faith, when to go to confession, when to fast, who could and couldn’t take communion, etc.

She also made a point of telling us that we’d more of the specifics as we taught them to our kids. (As a lot of us were young parents).

I don’t regret becoming Catholic. It’s really a process.
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Walking with God is a lifelong process.

But may I ask what you mean by the above highlighted? To me a liberal catholic is someone who, for instance, believes in divorce or same sex marriage, etc. But then the person couldn’t be an RCIA instructor.

And how did you learn the correct teachings?

This is interesting because most born catholics I know do not know their faith and it’s pretty incredible how someone like you could know more.

God bless you
Fran
P.S. How do you teach more of the specifics to your kids if even you don’t know them??? This has always been a problem in our church.
(I was a catechist till last year - getting on in years…)
 
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