I need a Catholic mentor - are they next to impossible to find?

[Lady_Bug]

Hello,

I became a Christian early on this year. (let’s say May)

For about a year prior to that, I have had a nice Christian mentor from a nondenominational church. For at least a full year, I did not pay attention to any of the denominational differences because I was convinced that by simply reading the Bible, I would convince myself that there is no such denomination implied as the right one in the Bible. (and of course, there is no such “denomination” in the Bible)

I started getting interested in Catholicism over the past, say, 4 months maybe. I don’t know why, perhaps because I kept hearing erroneous things about it: that is is unbiblical, unChristian, etc. Then when I went to the website entitled Scripture Catholic, I was absolutely flabbergasted to see tons of biblical support for all the Catholic doctrines that I had been believing as unbiblical. Somehow I just couldn’t stop wanting to learn. And now I feel that this is what I want to CONTINUE to keep learning as much as I can. I obtained the book called “The Biblical Basis for the Catholic Faith” by John Salza (same man who authors Scripture Catholic) and I am only on page 70 or so, after having purchased it approximately a month ago. It is taking somehow forever to read this and I don’t like how long it is taking though. But I can see how extravagantly researched he is when he defends the Catholic faith using the Bible alone (for that is his objective).

My problem is that my friend (who is the mentor I was discussing above) wants to start taking me to Bible studies at a couple nondenominational churches that she is affiliated with, to attempt to fellowship with more Christians. My friend knows that I am interested in Catholicism these days but unfortunately she is still extremely adamant about me going. I want to find a Catholic Bible study somehow but I don’t know if I will find one soon enough because the nondenominational bible studies are occurring in the 2nd week of January or so (they may have occurred longer before that - but my friend simply has decided to take me on that day).

I truly do not look forward to this Bible study offered by her, and she knows that deep down. I am a very, very new “student” of the Catholic faith, not well-versed enough, and anything and everything but a good debater, and truly don’t feel like I “owe” any non-Catholics an explanation of why my emerging beliefs ARE my emerging beliefs. I am also very apprehensive that I will get swayed from the truth, and if not swayed from the truth, demotivated to continue studying John Salza’s book, as well as Catholicism itself. I do not wish to tell my friend of these reasons because she may interpret this whole thing as fear on my part of not wanting to know the real “truth” (the “truth” being her “truth,” not Catholicism).

The problem is that I am in this all alone and I don’t know how to even go about doing anything to advance my objective. Should I just look up a list of Catholic Churches and ask each of them if they have Bible studies? (I feel so stupid asking that)

Not only that, since she would not be supportive of me going to a Catholic Bible study (though in the end she would not be able to force me NOT to go to such a Bible study), I would probably have to do this all by myself. I am so shy when meeting new people that I may not be able to make friends by myself, as opposed to if I were to go with my friend to HER Bible study and meet friends THROUGH her. Does this make sense? Anyway, I am very stressed out over this. I am so happy about my journey toward Catholicism and I hope all goes well but I am truly worried that something may occur in the attempt to dissuade me away from the Catholic faith. My mentor’s seemingly overly pushy attempts to evangelize me with her brand of Christianity is causing me to become very bitter and I just want to feel less angry about this. But I can’t seem to. It’s just so hard, sorry. I mean, I know if there happened to be one bad Catholic around, I wouldn’t want all Catholics painted with the same brush…

 

[PBP]

I want to first say thankyou for not listening to the garbage out there by people who are anti- Catholic. You demonstrate responsibility. Make certain the books you read are by Catholic writers. You can be sure of this by locating at the front pages of the book, markings spelled : Imprimatur Nihl Obstat I think its Latin but without a doubt the information contained is without error. A few authors to look up would be Scott Hahn, Stephen Ray, Christopher West. Visit with a church parish and enquire about their RCIA process. Remember conversion of the heart to Jesus is a continual process. It is about a covenental relationship with Jesus and the church has many aides available which will help you get to know him. Some of these tools would be of value to any christian seeking to know Jesus.

 

[PBP]

Remember also that many non denominational bible study’s allow persons to interpret scripture based on how it made the person feel at the time they read it. Therefore you have possibly 5 people with 5 different ways of thinking. It just doesnt work. You wouldnt say 1+1= 5 and your buddy say no, to me its 6…cant work.

 

[SemperFidelis]

Then when I went to the website entitled Scripture Catholic, I was absolutely flabbergasted to see tons of biblical support for all the Catholic doctrines that I had been believing as unbiblical.

On a little sidetrack, that is the exact website that got me interested in Catholicism, (a great website I might add) and now look at me: a former Southern Baptist who takes First Communion this month. Don’t be discouraged. Pray about it, and God will lead you. He gave you an interest in Catholicism for a reason. I definitely wouldn’t ignore it. Study up on Catholic teaching, and if you feel like you want to, study up enough to defend the Church teachings if necessary. God could be using you as a witness to convert your friends too! His plans are above our plans. John Salza is a great apologist, and his book The Biblical Basis for the Catholic Faith, as well as The Biblical Basis for the Papacy are both great apologetic works. You can’t go wrong with either. My family is not at all happy with my conversion, but in the end I had to put God first and do what he wanted me to do, no matter the consequences. You are in exactly the same situation.

 

[surgei]

where are you ladybug?
I know people all over the country.
Just a note on your zeal. It is good. Take advatage of it. If you can, direct it to learning about Catholic Prayer. One title I recomend all the time here is “The Practice of the Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence.
There are an assundry of places you can get the hard copy.
You can read it online here:ccel.org/ccel/lawrence/practice.html
They also have an audio format.

 

[vocatio]

My wife will be back later her words not mine…

St. Augustine
St. Aquinus
St. Faustina
St. Therese
St. Francis Xavier
St. Francis de Sayles
St. …fill in blank

Read this and you’ll gets lots of mentoring.
Develop a relationship with a really good priest and seek his cousel often. My wife and I both email our parish priest. Helps. But reading is absoluttely imparative. Dig deep in scripture but read the foot notes in a good Catholic bible. REad the CCC. Create a study guide…oh read the Encyclicals. That’s a good start. FU has a distance Graduate program in Theology. And Scott Hahn has a site for learning

St. Paul Center

google “coming home netework” and you’ll get Marcus Grodi’s website. But finding a good priest would be key but difficult to find these days with shortages and not so orthodox ones. We’re lucky to have the Franciscans.

Gotta go vocation …I mean my wife is calling me. We’re going to a Parish New Years dinner/party.

 

[1ke]

Well, first of all, just tell your friend “no thank you.” Be firm. You have no obligation to go to this bible study, she can’t *make *you go, and if she stops being your friend because you are not interested in going-- then you know she wasn’t really a friend in the first place. Sounds like she is being very aggressive. Stand up for yourself and tell her you are not going.

Secondly, I suggest you contact one or several Catholic parishes near you to see about joining RCIA-- this is the inquiry program for becoming Catholic. There is no pressure to make a commitment to become Catholic-- but this class goes over basic Catholic teaching in an organized format. It will help you make friends and find people to worship with at Mass.

As for a bible study, many Cahtolic parishes have them-- calling them up to ask or looking on their websites is a good start.

In the Catholic faith a “mentor” is typically found in a Spiritual Director. A Spiritual Director is trained to help people in faith formation and discernment. After you have more understanding of the Catholic faith you could look into finding a Spiritual Director.

 

[Lady_Bug]

Well this is the overall mission of the Community Bible Study that I’ve been invited to (as it is called, and I have strong problems with the two paragraphs that I have put in bold. (in terms of the Bible being final authority and faith alone the requirement for salvation)

Statement Of Faith

We believe the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is divine revelation and the inspired Word of God, inerrant in the original manuscripts. Its teaching is the final authority for all Christian life in matters of faith and practice.

We believe in the unity of the Godhead, eternally existing in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and yet identical in nature; all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere present, and unchangeable; infinitely perfect in love, truth, righteousness, justice, goodness, grace, and mercy.

We believe Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is both fully God and fully man, two natures in one Person. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He performed miracles to manifest His deity, lived a sinless life, suffered, and died as a completely satisfactory sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. He arose from the dead on the third day and His bodily resurrection guarantees the resurrection of all who believe in Him. He ascended to the right hand of God the Father where He reigns over the universe and intercedes for believers, and will return to earth to establish His kingdom.

We believe man was created in the image of God but fell into disobedience by a voluntary decision and, as a result, became separated from God, and therefore spiritually dead and subject to physical death. This fallen nature was transmitted to all humanity, except Jesus Christ, who lived a sinless life. The blood of Jesus Christ was shed for our redemption.

Only those who receive Jesus Christ by faith are forgiven, born of the Holy Spirit, and thus become children of God. Faith alone is the condition of salvation, but good works and righteous living should accompany such faith and furnish evidence of its existence.

We believe the Holy Spirit indwells and seals every believer at the moment of saving faith. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and, during this age, to convince men of sin, regenerate the believing sinner, and indwell, guide, instruct,and empower the believer for godly living and service. We believe all Christians should witness for Christ in His power and study the Bible with His help.

We believe the Church, composed of all who genuinely believe in and accept Jesus Christ as Savior, is united together into one body, of which He is the Head. As members of the Church, it is our responsibility to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, supporting the local church and loving one another with pure hearts.

 

[vocatio]

I apologize, I did not read the details of your post the first time…

You should avoid going. I would get hold of some really good apologetics pamphlets from this website… and read through the main things associated with a church like this…

Many of the evangelicals are nothing more than self-professed bible expert that couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag. They love to throw Greek words at you because it makes them sound learned. They know greek as well as I know Russian, which is none.

If you get stuck going, just listen and defer returning if that is your choice. I thought I understood that you are interested in a Catholic Bible study. RCIA would be a good choice if you haven’t already. If you’re in the middle of it I would just get on a reading program of your own… Unless you have lots of time, I wouldn’t try to read too much too fast. Start with the 4 Gospels first…then I’d suggest reading 1&2 Timothy, 1&2 Thesalonians, Collosians, James, 1 & 2 Peter, the prison epistles and 1&2 Corinthians,

Read John after reading Genesis 1 and 2. Notice parallel, Read Isaiah 22 with Mathew (15), Read Luke (rosary extracts from there called Mysteries of the Rosary). A “true” read of scripture will reveal Catholicism, not faith only, bible only, or once saved always saved, or baptism not being required. It’s all there. Just need to be taught how to read properly. Without proper guidance you will always have people interepreting erroniously creating new churches all the time. Understand big “T” Tradition called Sacred Tradition. Without Sacred Tradition we would not have the scriptures. The first King James Version bible KJV included the 7 canonical books Catholics call the Deuterocanonical books as originally used by the Jews at the time of Christ. Martin Luther wanted to remove those books because he didn’t like what some of them said. He’s the one who translated and add the word “only” to faith…making it “faith only”…which is not there. He was very scrupulous and yes he was right on the facts about the corruption of many clerics in the Church, however, he did not mean to start a new church…He wore his habit for many years after he was excommunicated. Did you know that his last prayer was to the Blessed Mother and he went to confession on his death bed. Heard that on the Journey Home this past year.

You have support, just ask, I’m not the only one that can help you. Call the Catholic Apologist line. Listen to Catholic Answers Radio…very good and online I believe if you don’t have it in your area…start watching EWTN on cable, satelite or internet. Journey Home is a good program but many more.

I home you break out of your shell. Being too shy can make you a victim of many abuses in your life. I know. I was too shy and timid when I went to the seminary…I’m one of the “alleged victims”. But I wasn’t too shy to say NO. I turned in the priest and some years later he was laicized…no longer a priest so to speak. He’s married now. The abuses is another attack position which is why I mention it…it was the angle I used to attack Catholicism until I realized that I really did leave the “one holy catholic and apostolic church”. Discovering the Eastern Churches also strengthened my faith in the Latin or Western Catholic Church which you know as the Roman Catholic Church.

Good luck. Just don’t give into proselytizing. Get help from online if you don’t have someone to help you. But get ready to start reading a lot and listening to lots of CD’s and DVDs if you can find some. Most things can be downloaded.

If you haven’t already, read “The Lamb’s Supper” by Scott Hahn, PhD, and a former protestant evangelist/minister. I was planning of being a minister just like my 2 brother in laws. My father in law was a bishop or an elder as we referred to them. No you’re not alone in this mess. There are a lot of uneducated or rather uncatechised Catholics so be careful there. The catholic.com website is very good. New Advent is a great source too along with EWTN’s website that leads to Salvation History and The Coming Home Network. Stay away from scimatic websites. I got so confused in the beginning and realized after a priest and some friends helped me.

 

[surgei]

Well this is the overall mission of the Community Bible Study that I’ve been invited to (as it is called, and I have strong problems with the two paragraphs that I have put in bold. (in terms of the Bible being final authority and faith alone the requirement for salvation)

From a Catholic perspective each paragraph has flaws. The whole thing should be in bold. This is the basic theology I grew up with. Is the church sponsering this Baptist? I can’t remember you saying so. If you want we could take it apart bit by bit and look at the bits then look at the whole again.
I really think you should give your local priest a call. If you are afraid, perhaps you might email one of the women on the thread and they might be able to get you in touch with someone. One of the moderators would be ideal. Another method might be looking at some of the Catholic websites and find a religious comunity near you. These people are really there for people that are looking. As such most of them are really friendly.
I think the sure fire way to find a mentor is to ask God to put the one he wants in your life in a way you can’t avoid them.

 

[SemperFidelis]

If you do go to the Bible study and feel the need to defend the Church’s teachings, or if you just want to get a better knowledge of Sacred Scripture, this should definitely help:

fisheaters.com/cheatsheet2.doc

(opens in Microsoft Word)

 

[Lady_Bug]

From a Catholic perspective each paragraph has flaws. The whole thing should be in bold. This is the basic theology I grew up with. Is the church sponsering this Baptist? I can’t remember you saying so. If you want we could take it apart bit by bit and look at the bits then look at the whole again.
I really think you should give your local priest a call. If you are afraid, perhaps you might email one of the women on the thread and they might be able to get you in touch with someone. One of the moderators would be ideal. Another method might be looking at some of the Catholic websites and find a religious comunity near you. These people are really there for people that are looking. As such most of them are really friendly.
I think the sure fire way to find a mentor is to ask God to put the one he wants in your life in a way you can’t avoid them.

Hi Surgei,
I am quite interested in finding out your perspective that each paragraph has more flaws than I had pointed out. It would enlighten me a lot. The church that is sponsoring this Bible study is called Trinity Church and it is nondenominational.

 

[emarc]

Hi Lady Bug - praise the Lord for touching you to search for the truth. I would say find a Church and a Priest who can help you join the RCIA sooner. The sooner you become a RC, the sooner you receive the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Truly, I say unto you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (Jn.6:53ff) It’s a shame how our Protestant brothers and sisters have ignored this great mystery of God, for nothing is impossible with Him.
Good luck and God bless.
emarc

 

[vocatio]

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this but go to this website:

gnm.org/index.shtml

You can get a daily reflection that is pretty good. We like it. You can get on the daily emailing.

 

[po18guy]

Hello, I started getting interested in Catholicism over the past, say, 4 months maybe. I don’t know why, perhaps because I kept hearing erroneous things about it: that is is unbiblical, unChristian, etc. Then when I went to the website entitled Scripture Catholic, I was absolutely flabbergasted to see tons of biblical support for all the Catholic doctrines that I had been believing as unbiblical. Somehow I just couldn’t stop wanting to learn. And now I feel that this is what I want to CONTINUE to keep learning as much as I can.

The Lord is calling you, and strongly. If you cannot explain it, it is the Holy Spirit. That is how He works.

I am also very apprehensive that I will get swayed from the truth, and if not swayed from the truth, demotivated to continue studying John Salza’s book, as well as Catholicism itself. I do not wish to tell my friend of these reasons because she may interpret this whole thing as fear on my part of not wanting to know the real “truth” (the “truth” being her “truth,” not Catholicism).

Yes, it’s the Holy Spirit alright! Where did you get this wisdom?

Should I just look up a list of Catholic Churches and ask each of them if they have Bible studies? (I feel so stupid asking that)

Yes! But, as Saint Paul advised, test them and retain what is good. There are some Catholic bible studies that are better than others.

I am so shy when meeting new people that I may not be able to make friends by myself, as opposed to if I were to go with my friend to HER Bible study and meet friends THROUGH her. Does this make sense?

Perfectly! Well, we Catholics tend not to be the absolute best welcoming people in the world, but we’re working on it. You have been called to Catholicism for a Heavenly reason. You love the whole truth. Your friend’s church has truth, but the Catholic church contains all of God’s revealed truth. Once the depth and richness of Catholic faith open up to you, you will be absolutely captivated by the love it contains, the unbelievable variety of ways to worship, venerate, adore…

Anyway, I am very stressed out over this. I am so happy about my journey toward Catholicism and I hope all goes well but I am truly worried that something may occur in the attempt to dissuade me away from the Catholic faith.

Be at peace. You have an untold number of on-line mentors right here. We are blessed to have made your acquaintance and will assist in any way we can. Just PM us with any concerns whatsoever. While you are calling parishes to find a good, solid, orthodox Catholic bible study, ask about the availability of mentors. Face to face is always the best, but we’ll do our part.

Christ’s peace be always with you.

 

[surgei]

Statement Of Faith
We believe the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, is divine revelation and the inspired Word of God, inerrant in the original manuscripts. Its teaching is the final authority for all Christian life in matters of faith and practice.

This is a type of double speaak. On the one hand they are affirming the protestant inovation of Sola Scriptura. On the other hand they relogate the perfection to the original manuscripts. As we do not have the original manuscripts (often called autographs) we are forced to use a variety of methods to find out what a particular passage says. We are also forced to do the same thing with determining which books compose the bible. In the end they are affirming their tradition to interpret scripture.
Lady Bug;3144973:

We believe in the unity of the Godhead, eternally existing in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and yet identical in nature; all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere present, and unchangeable; infinitely perfect in love, truth, righteousness, justice, goodness, grace, and mercy.

The three persons of the trinity are not identical in nature they share a nature. This may sound nit picky but as the trinity is the source of our identity as Christians understanding of God must be accurate. Athough the part of the statement that reads “all powerful…” is technacly right it can confuse the chief attribute of God, love, with the other philoshophical aspects.

We believe Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is both fully God and fully man, two natures in one Person. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He performed miracles to manifest His deity, lived a sinless life, suffered, and died as a completely satisfactory sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. He arose from the dead on the third day and His bodily resurrection guarantees the resurrection of all who believe in Him. He ascended to the right hand of God the Father where He reigns over the universe and intercedes for believers, and will return to earth to establish His kingdom.

The miracles of Christ were not to manifest his deity. The miriacles of Christ were to manifest his love for mankind. The view of Christ as sacrifice, and there is nothing directly saying so, I would bet they hold to a substitutionary suffering of Christ. This turns God the Father into a vengful judge rather than retaining the primacy of personhood as FATHER.
The statement “guarantees the resurrection of all who believe in HIm”, makes the primary response of humanity to the grace of God belief. Paul over and over again, says that our response is faithfullness. I once did a rather extensive word study involving the greek word “pistos” which is sometimes understood by post reformation Christians as belief. If you would like, and I can find it, I will send you this paper.

We believe man was created in the image of God but fell into disobedience by a voluntary decision and, as a result, became separated from God, and therefore spiritually dead and subject to physical death. This fallen nature was transmitted to all humanity, except Jesus Christ, who lived a sinless life. The blood of Jesus Christ was shed for our redemption.

“Fallen nature” is the big problem with this paragraph. One of the early Christian prayer services that has been handed down to us to this day reads “my nature heald by death and corruption”. Fallen nature is one thing that we cannot accept under any circumstance. Fallen nature says that what makes us as humans human is that we are fallen. The understanding comes from the fact that sin permeates our lives and is attatched to so much of it. It is wrong in that we lost our likeness to God in the fall, we did not loose the image of God that he created us in. What we are as humans is the image of God. As such we are good. Sin is our disease. Liken this to the child who has the disease of cancer and is forced to bed in the hospital. What they are has not changed, they are still a child, their likeness to other children is obscured by an assundry of things, but they are still a child. Another example comes in my love of chemisty. Look on a bag of epsom salts. What you will find is they have water molecules traped in the structure of the larger crystal. The water is still water, it retains all the qualities of water. It is held in the crystal
As such the statement that “This fallen nature was transmitted to all humanity, except Jesus Christ, who lived a sinless life”, shows the problems of the “fallen nature”. If Christ did not share our nature he could not redeam us in a way other than sweaping our sins under the carpet. Also with this is the problem, like my theology professor brother once fell into, that Christ is seen as something other than the example for man. Christ showed us a humans how we must live.
cont.

 

[surgei]

Only those who receive Jesus Christ by faith are forgiven, born of the Holy Spirit, and thus become children of God. Faith alone is the condition of salvation, but good works and righteous living should accompany such faith and furnish evidence of its existence.

This takes hold of the protestant reformation assumption of sola fidae. It is an assumption not a proven or even justified position. Protestant theology starts with the conclusion and looks for the evidence. What I am saying the position may seem to be deffended thrugh inductive reasoning, but theologains often attempt to pass this of as deductive. Deductive reasoning is the type of reasoning we use in science and theology. Inductive reasoning is the kind of reasoning we do when we are looking at why a political canidate is or is not good. We don’t have room here to look at the whole of the problem with this, but we can look at the fact that they differentiate between faith, understood as belief, and “good works and righteous living”. As we saw earlier the issue is from the reformations understanding of the greek pistos.

We believe the Holy Spirit indwells and seals every believer at the moment of saving faith. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and, during this age, to convince men of sin, regenerate the believing sinner, and indwell, guide, instruct,and empower the believer for godly living and service. We believe all Christians should witness for Christ in His power and study the Bible with His help.

The Holy Spirit may lead a person to make a descision to follow Christ but he does not indwell the person at “moment of saving faith”. The seal, the gift of the Holy Spirit is given upon Chrismation, often in the west called confirmation. This is typified in the Old Testament practice of anointing.
The role of the Holy Spirit has not changed since he descended on the aplostles at pentacost. There is a doctrine that they ascribe to, I bet based on some key phrases, called dispensationalism. Dispensationalism says that those who were saved before Christ were saved by the law they were under. The phrase that tips this off is their use of the term age. Dispensationalist theologains had a problem what they saw as differing qualities in their communions and the communions of the early church. They ended with subdividing the dispensations with ages and ascribed differing modes of God working with men to each.

We believe the Church, composed of all who genuinely believe in and accept Jesus Christ as Savior, is united together into one body, of which He is the Head. As members of the Church, it is our responsibility to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, supporting the local church and loving one another with pure hearts.

This final satement is really neat. What it says is that the identification of those who are saved is only able to be done by God. So it is wrong for anyone here to even strongly imply or say they feel they have reason to doubt another person or groups salvation. In order to be completely honest in acting in sinc with this statemnet missions to any land should not be taken up because to do so would imply that another is not saved and place the missionary in the position of God as judge. As this is not followed they show themselves to not believe what they teach.
The last statement really speaks to one of the major problems with protestantism in general and the denomination that wants to be known as non denominational. The protestant reformation said that we should all come to the same conclussions when we read the Bible. We have lack of unity when we do not seek to understand or be formed by those who have gone before us in faith.