How to revert? Just confess?

[Louie1983]

The ONLY reason to stay with Catholicism is that it is true. If it is not, no amount of reasoning can make something untrue or truth mix with untruths, worthy of perpetual spiritual membership. Hope to see you back.

Amen to this!

 

[AKDee]

Yeah, I can see it being like that.

Thing is, the love of God was so instilled in me as a child (with the Jehovah’s Witnesses) and I was taught at a young age that Hell didn’t exist (again, the JWs), so I never feared Hell, all my motivation to find truth has always been out of love of God. So, in theory, yes, it sounds like something to be afraid of - even if you conceptualize it as you just did - but still, it isn’t what my motivation is.
So regarding confession… I’m not thinking about fear of anything, I’m simply thinking I want to draw closer to God.

I think that’s probably okay. I remember when I first joined the forum not so long ago, someone posted that the ONLY reason to be Catholic was Communion. I had never thought about it like that, but that’s persuasive. The Catholic Church (and those in communion with it) is the only faith where you truly are in reception of the Body and Blood of Christ. Not to mention most Christian denominations only have 2 of the the 7 sacraments- Baptism and Marriage. I think - as a former protestant- that protestants impoverish themselves by not accepting the entire Canon of the Bible and not accepting and receiving all 7 sacraments.

Every person will have their own reasons for why they believe.

 

[D0UBTFIRE]

It may not be much advice but here’s my 2 cents.

Come back to the Church, Confess and start partaking in the sacraments regularly. The Church rejoices when a lost soul makes it’s way home and attempts to get closer to God.

It’s OK to have questions, It’s OK to think, It’s OK to have doubts…as long as you do something about them.

Got a question? Ask a Priest or look in the catechism for the answer or a learned Catholic.

Got doubts? Try and find the route cause of that doubt. What is causing your doubt? and then try to act on it…Prayer, fasting, research etc works for me.

Let the Holy Spirit be your guide, think of all your questions as a path that the Holy Spirit is guiding you on because with each answer it will bring you closer to the truth.

Above all…Pray!

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the encouragement!

As for your advice…if you have a doubt that you haven’t been able to reconcile… How much time do you think it’s healthy to dedicate to figuring it out? I ask because I have OCD, so I have looked it all up in excess already. I don’t think further research at this time is a wise move for me. Research of this nature literally consumes hours of my day. Curious as to your thoughts.

 

[D0UBTFIRE]

I think that’s probably okay. I remember when I first joined the forum not so long ago, someone posted that the ONLY reason to be Catholic was Communion. I had never thought about it like that, but that’s persuasive. The Catholic Church (and those in communion with it) is the only faith where you truly are in reception of the Body and Blood of Christ. Not to mention most Christian denominations only have 2 of the the 7 sacraments- Baptism and Marriage. I think - as a former protestant- that protestants impoverish themselves by not accepting the entire Canon of the Bible and not accepting and receiving all 7 sacraments.

Every person will have their own reasons for why they believe.

You bring up a very good point. It is really a persuasive point that differs greatly from many Christian denominations… But you remind me of my complete - what’s the word? - “indifference” perhaps? Can’t think of a good word, but basically I don’t care at all whether I’m Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox… I don’t feel convinced that either one is more true than the other. But both have the sacraments.

 

[AKDee]

You bring up a very good point. It is really a persuasive point that differs greatly from many Christian denominations… But you remind me of my complete - what’s the word? - “indifference” perhaps? Can’t think of a good word, but basically I don’t care at all whether I’m Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox… I don’t feel convinced that either one is more true than the other. But both have the sacraments.

I can understand that. I considered joining an Orthodox Church rather than the Roman Catholic Church myself.

 

[ineeda]

Doubtfire,

I had to chuckle when you mentioned researching for hours. I am so much like that, and when I am researching a topic, I feel like I can “waste” time by spending too much of it on searching on the internet. I never looked at it as an OCD trait, but I recognize it as a problem.

I had a period where I had some new age beliefs. It started with a medium that I saw on tv. I was quite conflicted with what I believed. I always had a nagging feeling in the back of my head, what it they are wrong. I am a cradle catholic, and stopped attending church when I graduated high school It was more out of laziness, and I wanted live according to the world. Then, when I had my children, I sent them to catholic schools,and attended church, again. I just went through the motions, giving my children the foundation that I had. Once they were older, I quit going to church, again.

Then, I went through a phase, wondering if I should join a non-denominational church. I was re-married without annulments. I did not believe that I should have to get an annulment.

I know it is confusing with so many religions out there. it would be great, if we only had one religion. Now, I believe that I am in the right religion.

Fast forward, to my mother getting sick, and me being her caregiver. I started taking her to Eucharistic Adoration, and went faithfully about every week. I found myself believing things that I never have. Now, I believe in pretty much all of Catholic beliefs, and some things that I question, I accept, and want to believe. I really believe that sitting in front of the Blessed Sacrament weekly, strengthened my Catholic beliefs, and started understanding more. I never saw a problem with contraception, but now I believe and accept the church’s teaching.

I would recommend attending a private adoration and talk to a priest when you are ready. Welcome home.

 

[D0UBTFIRE]

Doubtfire,

I had to chuckle when you mentioned researching for hours. I am so much like that, and when I am researching a topic, I feel like I can “waste” time by spending too much of it on searching on the internet. I never looked at it as an OCD trait, but I recognize it as a problem.

I had a period where I had some new age beliefs. It started with a medium that I saw on tv. I was quite conflicted with what I believed. I always had a nagging feeling in the back of my head, what it they are wrong. I am a cradle catholic, and stopped attending church when I graduated high school It was more out of laziness, and I wanted live according to the world. Then, when I had my children, I sent them to catholic schools,and attended church, again. I just went through the motions, giving my children the foundation that I had. Once they were older, I quit going to church, again.

Then, I went through a phase, wondering if I should join a non-denominational church. I was re-married without annulments. I did not believe that I should have to get an annulment.

I know it is confusing with so many religions out there. it would be great, if we only had one religion. Now, I believe that I am in the right religion.

Fast forward, to my mother getting sick, and me being her caregiver. I started taking her to Eucharistic Adoration, and went faithfully about every week. I found myself believing things that I never have. Now, I believe in pretty much all of Catholic beliefs, and some things that I question, I accept, and want to believe. I really believe that sitting in front of the Blessed Sacrament weekly, strengthened my Catholic beliefs, and started understanding more. I never saw a problem with contraception, but now I believe and accept the church’s teaching.

I would recommend attending a private adoration and talk to a priest when you are ready. Welcome home.

Hi!!! I love hearing people’s stories. Adoration is pretty amazing. I’m having some difficulty lately though because of my mental health so driving to it won’t be possible right now. When I say I have OCD I was not joking at all, unfortunately.

My husband can take me to church on the weekends though.

 

[Louie1983]

Thanks for the encouragement!

As for your advice…if you have a doubt that you haven’t been able to reconcile… How much time do you think it’s healthy to dedicate to figuring it out? I ask because I have OCD, so I have looked it all up in excess already. I don’t think further research at this time is a wise move for me. Research of this nature literally consumes hours of my day. Curious as to your thoughts.

You’re welcome.

I don’t think there is a set time or healthy amount of time per se to figure it out. Because IMO, you won’t figure it out…it will be revealed to you by the Holy Spirit when he feels it’s the right time.

In the end you may not get the answer, for me…this where faith comes into it. If I don’t understand something I put my trust in the Lord and his Holy Church, after all…he promised thathe would with his church until the end of time.

Don’t drown yourself because it may become overwhelming and frustrating. What I did was set myself a time and stuck to it, For e.g 1 hour a night of researching/reading followed by prayer. Overtime, you’ll cover a lot. If you can stick to “schedule” or “plan”, that’s what helped me a bit.

As you grow in virtue you will grow in knowledge and understanding.

Always ask the Holy Spirit for guidance and if it be his will, it will be revealed.

And like I said, as always…Pray…get in front of the blessed Sacrament as often as you can and partake of the sacraments.

Live the faith, Love it! It is the most precious thing we have.

Hope that helps.

 

[PulvisEtCinis]

I honestly appreciate your concern, your effort to be helpful and your sincerity. Oh, and your caution to use a tone that is kind despite the straight forwardness of your opinions is welcomed as well - please don’t ever loose that - so many posters on this forum forget how easily tone can be misconstrued via this technology and sometimes come off in ways that are well, uncharitable.

I try, but may not always successful Indeed, it can be very easy to accidently say something the wrong way. Text has such a vicious way of being as blunt as a meat axe when you don’t mean it!

That said, I know where you’re coming from. I too converted to Catholicism as an adult with a black and white view of it. Long story short, I simply don’t view it that way anymore. I’ve been weighing this for a while and I’ve been torn on what to do about it. I believe in God, I believe in Jesus. I believe in most of what Catholicism teaches. There is no church that I am in complete agreement with. I’ve researched so much my brain wants to implode - in fact I feel that researching is an impediment to faith for me - the more I research the more I doubt the little bit of faith that I’ve managed to hold on to. So I’m done researching. As for maybe just turning my brain off and just accepting everything the Church teaches - I could see me doing that if I had no doubt about their teaching on infallibility and the idea that they are in fact established by Christ but I doubt those specific teachings too much to use them as my foundation on which to base all my other beliefs that I have trouble with. Does that make some sense?

I can understand your perspective. I have been through two conversions myself. First, from basically nothing, sort of a basic theism born from years of no church attendance and ignorance. The first conversion was easy; I started reading the Bible and decided that I should be Calvinist, so I joined a Presbyterian church. The road was bumpy for me, but long story short I read all sorts of things, apologetics, theology etc. I did not hit my earth shattering crisis until after reading more in depth on Church history and the Early Church Fathers (especially Augustine) I realized that my Calvinist faith had no roots (it was pretty obvious that certain Catholic doctrines had been there from the beginning). So, I spent a good 5 months in complete agony; reading all sorts of things both for and against Catholicism, I even had moments where I questioned whether Christianity was true at all. For me, I believe that it is pretty much undeniable that God exists; it is the only explanation that is reasonable or makes any sense (and I have looked at many ‘explanations’). Anyway, as I said, it took months and it was probably the most painful time I can ever remember, but I concluded that Catholicism was ultimately the only thing that made sense. I only tell you all of this because I want to let you know that I feel your pain; I know, at least to some degree, what you are going through.

So, back to my point. The reason that I believe that it simply cannot be ‘no denomination has all of the truth or is completely right’ is the fact that I do not believe for a second that God would allow it to be that way. I really can’t fathom that God would bother making the world, condescending to us and dwelling among us through the Incarnation, and then simply ‘turn it loose’ to let the chips fall where they may. It really doesn’t make sense (and frankly is contrary to Revelation) that way. I mean, if all of this salvation business is true, then it would stand to reason that we need the truth. Really, even if there were no need for salvation (which I think one look at the world would demonstrate otherwise), it would still stand to reason that we would need truth, more than simply what our natural reason can muster. Sure, we can know the God of Creation through natural reason alone, but we cannot know God in an intimate fashion unless we have Revelation and the Holy Spirit to guide us. So, if we are to conclude that there needs to be a means of communicating and preserving the truth then that means must also be capable of being found, and not only that, but it must be kept inviolate (or else we are back to square one) - i.e. the fullness of the truth must be intact somewhere. I see that as being in the Catholic Church; it has existed complete in essence through all centuries since the Incarnation, she has confessed the same faith, worshipped the same God, preached the same Gospel, performed the same Sacraments, and her sons and daughters have been martyred for the same Lord.

Continued…

 

[PulvisEtCinis]

So many here feel inclined to tell me then to just leave. I suppose I could - but that would only make sense if there was some other church that I was more in agreement with. But there isn’t. So, it seems to me, this is where God has me, this is where He wants me. Maybe someday I’ll be in full agreement with the Church on everything. Maybe I won’t. But should I really wait until that happens? What if it never happens? Taking into account all I’ve told you, what exactly would you recommend I do?

Yes, wait. Don’t leave, but wait.

I really think that you should be committed to the Catholic faith before you become (or revert) Catholic, or else I don’t see any way to make your reversion anything other than a lie (again sorry for the bluntness). I mean, part of being Catholic is accepting the Church for what it is and what she teaches as truth. Furthermore, if the Church is indeed right about things, your confessions/absolutions and then communion would be sacrilege and more mortal sins (because knowingly maintaining heretical beliefs invalidates your confession, at least, that is my understanding of it.) So there would really be no advantage, from what I can see, to doing what you have suggested.

What I would suggest is to find a good parish near you and start going to Mass (not Communion though) and pray. Pray that God guides you to the truth. Find a priest and talk to him about your doubts and your situation (really they may very well be able to give you some insight that you haven’t considered - that is why they are there after all).

Like I said, I made my peace with it. I don’t believe God expects me to find a church that I agree with fully or just blindly accept all of the teachings of one specific church in order to worship Him. I honestly believe the Gospel is way simpler than most make it out to be. And if I’m wrong, then I trust God will forgive me and show me the way towards truth. But I don’t think the right choice is to never go to any church. What do you think?

Well, in a lot of ways the Gospel is very simple. But, there is also a depth to it that is about as far from simple as one can get, yet it still connects. And, really, I would expect a divine religion to be that way. When I became Catholic, I knew there were things that I didn’t understand, and there still are things that I don’t understand, yet I still believe them. I don’t see that as ‘turning my brain off’ because I realize that I don’t know everything, nor can I. The Catholic way is ‘faith seeking understanding’ I am convinced that Christ is Lord and that the Catholic Church is the true Church, therefore I accept even what I don’t readily understand. And you know what? After I was on the inside for a while some things that I didn’t understand before ‘clicked’ and I understood them and grasped them not only by faith, but with my reason as well. Blindly accepting something would be more along the lines of merely accepting something for no reason, or accepting something contrary to obvious reason (which I should add I have never found anything in Catholic doctrine that wasn’t reasonable). Catholics have a reason for accepting teachings of the Church; because we have already established that the Church was divinely established and guided by the Holy Spirit, why not accept her teachings? I think that we have to be careful with the notion that we have to prove or fully understand each thing individually before we accept it; such a mindset will lead you only down a dead end road and you will never cease to be tossed around by every wind of doctrine (to paraphrase St. Paul ).

 

[PulvisEtCinis]

In my last confession, I asked Father “If you struggle with a teaching of the Church, but do not act against it, is it still a sin?” My struggle is with the ban on all birth control. He said that provided that I am not out there arguing for birth control and placing myself in opposition to the Church, it’s not a sin. And then he said, “I think we will all have 5 or 10 questions that we will want to ask God when we get to Heaven.”

Yes, though I won’t argue with your priest, especially since I wasn’t there nor do I know all of what was said or thought, but I believe that there is a bit of a difference between finding something hard to accept (yet accepting it anyway - perhaps lacking understanding, but assenting to its truth through faith.) and having doubtful thoughts, but not consenting (not even sinful) and material heresy (denying but not knowing that it is dogma) and outright formal heresy. Formal heresy is outright denying a dogma of the Church, while knowing that the Church teaches it, and is as far as I know is always grave matter (certainly grounds for Mortal sin, especially since it requires knowledge of what one is doing to commit formal heresy; though, only God knows for sure one’s culpable guilt). For instance, I can not deny that Christ arose bodily from the dead on the third day (knowing that the faith teaches this) without being a formal heretic and committing a mortal sin (barring something strange that affects culpability, again only God knows for sure), likewise for any other Dogma (Immaculate Conception, etc). Further, I cannot expect absolution for this sin if I don’t intend to change it.

I have no doubt that we will have questions; I have questions now, yet I cannot deny those things which I have questions on. Again, ‘faith seeking understanding’ is the goal.

Note: New Advent on article on Heresy, and on Doubt. And Aquinas on Unbelief and Heresy.

 

[ericc]

Maybe that’s the only reason to you. I have made my peace with the fact that I don’t currently fully agree with everything that ANY church teaches. I don’t see why throw the baby out with the bath water. What would you suggest I do? Just not go to any church ever?

Don’t say find one that I fully agree with because there isn’t one. Don’t tell me to “just accept” all and everything Catholicism teaches because I can’t just turn off my brain and my disagreement sure isn’t because of lack of research, so suggesting more research isn’t helpful either.

Honestly, what do you recommend? (Besides the things I’ve mentioned)

I think each of us have our own level of acceptance of Church doctrines. Believe me I struggled with IVF when trying to have children of our own. With reasonable level of education, one tries to argue a way out if Church doctrines is not on our side of things.

The thing about the CC is this: even when we disagree, we must obey. That’s tough but the other option out of this is Protestantism. But why go there, I am in the CC because it is true. I continue to remain in the CC despite some intellectual disagreements with the quality of the clergy. Where else can I go when the teaching gets tough? Jn 6:68. Occasionally, I have to remind myself that the Church has divine warranty against erroneous teaching, I don’t have. Whatever paper qualifications that I have, I don’t possess this piece of warranty. No more research for loopholes is necessary I think. Been there, done that. Probably time better spent on trying to understand why the Church teaches certain stuff certain way rather than why don’t the Church do it my way, my way is so much more correct, better, win-win, in line with the times blah blah blah.

Personally, I took off from the Church for almost 20 years. I am blessed to be able to return. Those were years of sin. Watch out for intellectual ego. Obeying the Church does not make you stupid, but it certainly pleases God. When the 10 commandments first came out, I am quite sure there were resistance too. When we don’t know the reason why God does certain thing certain way, the prudent thing to do is to obey first and try to figure out later. I think this is a very safe move in many situations too, especially the corporate world. With time, certain things that don’t make sense currently over time do make sense. I am “only” 50+ years old. The Church has lots more cumulative experience and knowledge. In fact some of the best minds of the world walked through its corridors. I defer to her judgement humbly. But not because I am not using my brain, it is precisely I am using my brain that is why I defer to her. God has a lot more resources than I do.