Is there still a place for me in the Church?

[eagle_55]

I was raised Catholic, I left the church some years ago because I had/have questions that nobody would/could answer.
I still have questions, but I cannot find a church that meets my needs. I need to know if there is place for me in the church.
Some of the problems I have are these:

1. I believe that the Bible is the word of God and what is in the Bible is the only truth.
2. I do not believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary, I do believe she was a Virgin at the time of Jesus’ birth and I believe in the Immaculate Conception.
3. I also believe that Jesus had siblings. Not the churches view that they where “other relatives”.
   Just because some scholar comes along many years later and professes the perpetual virginity of Mary, does not make it so. If this where the case why was it not mentioned in the Bible?
   I believe that Mary found favor with God and he chose her to conceive his son, he also sent an angel to intercede with Joseph and explain her pregnancy. Because Mary was such a good Jewish girl, she would have followed Jewish doctrine and consummated her marriage to Joseph, after Jesus’ birth. If this where not the case, one of the Gospels would have mentioned it.
   I still have other questions but I will stop here for now.
   So is there still a place for me in the Church?

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

I suggest that you read “St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in the Scriptures and Early Church” (Ignatius, 1999) by Steve Ray.

To come back to the Catholic Church it is necessary to recognize the divine authority it received from Jesus. We don’t dictate to the Church what we will believe. He founded the Church; we didn’t. We accept what it teaches because He teaches through it. What we don’t understand, we accept and pray for the grace of understanding. Is there still a place for you in the Church? You tell me. You are in my prayers.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.