May not be converting afterall

  • Thread starter Thread starter Misty5054
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There is no reason for the Deacon, Priest or anyone involved in the Church to ask for this information during the RCIA process. It is not required and in fact I can think of no good reason for them to have it.

Tell you what I would do. I would set up an appointment with the Pastor and the Deacon, together and ask why it is required. If it is something that particular parish is doing you will find out. If it is the deacon trying to pull something off you will find out as well.

In any event you will have a concrete answer.
 
My prayers are with you. Please remember that Satan doesn’t want you to complete your journey and is going to throw up stumbling blocks. Don’t let a misguided request for your SSN be a stumbling block preventing you from becoming Catholic.

I have recently supplied my SSN but that was because I am a CCD teacher and with all the new precautions to prevent anymore sexual abuse I had to have the back ground check. Aside from that I can’t imagine why they need it. I would follow the advice of all the other posters and do a little questioning. Find out why the deacon requested it.
 
It is difficult to comment on this situation, since the OP did not explain what the original situation was. While we cannot imagine an ordinary situation where a deacon would ask for someone’s SSN, the lack of info makes it difficult to evaluate.
 
Misty please keep us updated on this matter. We would all like to know the outcome of this. Your in my prayers.
 
Misty5054 said:
I don’t want to go back to the baptist church because it just never felt right but when I went to mass the first time that feeling of something was wrong wasn’t there, that feeling is really hard to explain.
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Misty,

Please feel free to PM me if you need, for any sort of frustration with this process.
 
Chatter163 said:
It is difficult to comment on this situation, since the OP did not explain what the original situation was. While we cannot imagine an ordinary situation where a deacon would ask for someone’s SSN, the lack of info makes it difficult to evaluate.
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There is no reason ever that the Church needs or requires a prospective convert or any of her members to produce a ID number given by the secular government. No other additional information is necessary to understand this.
 
grandfather said:
There is no reason ever that the Church needs or requires a prospective convert or any of her members to produce a ID number given by the secular government. No other additional information is necessary to understand this.
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There may be tax reasons, if the parish provides statements for parishioners to deduct their contribution on their taxes. Also, as some one has mentioned, parishes now do criminal background checks on those who might be working with children. It may be that the parish does a check on any new people coming into the parish, as a matter of policy.

Don’t assume that the deacon was wrong.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
There may be tax reasons, if the parish provides statements for parishioners to deduct their contribution on their taxes. Also, as some one has mentioned, parishes now do criminal background checks on those who might be working with children. It may be that the parish does a check on any new people coming into the parish, as a matter of policy.

Don’t assume that the deacon was wrong.

Jim
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There are no tax reasons. All you need to do your taxes is a receipt from the church, or your cancelled check. If there was tax or other reason to ask one person for a government ID number it would apply to all, including existing Catholics not simply converts.

The OP is in RCIA, no mention of working with children and doing a criminal background check. A parish has no business checking on people coming into the church anymore than it would have checking on people who are already Catholic. If a deacon in my parish asked me or the rest of the parsin for a government ID number I tell him to get lost and I hope the rest of the parish would also.

If people are converting the only thing they need to do is figure out about their pasts is whether their marriages are regular, if they were baptized in another denomination and go to confession.

There is not a single responder who has every heard of this. If there were a remote chance that this was legit it would be commonplace. Think about it. You can’t become a Catholic without a government ID number. Good grief!
 
I can second that churches do not ask for an SSN for tithing/donations. Even when I used to attend a Protestant “mega-church” with a full-fledged accounting department and automatic e-tithing, I was never asked to provide any form of ID other than bank account details (through a secure online form).

It sounds like the deacon might be confused regarding this issue - maybe he is misapplying the requirement of an SSN to OPs situation, when it appears it is only for people who work with youth. Definitely talk to the parish office and find out why they were asking - maybe there was a miscommunication along the line.

Good luck on your journey - I will be praying for you.
 
My husband decided a change of parishes. My first RCIA meeting I told them about it and the faith formation leader said the only thing she’s ever asked for is baptisim records, divorce paperwork and asked if I told anyone about it.
 
Misty5054 said:
My husband decided a change of parishes. My first RCIA meeting I told them about it and the faith formation leader said the only thing she’s ever asked for is baptisim records, divorce paperwork and asked if I told anyone about it.
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Probably a sound move. remember that there are all types of people involved in the Church and not all are honorable in all areas. Good common sense should never be sacrificed in the name of charity or not offending someone.

Congratulations and keep us posted. Many of us here have been involved in both RCIA and CCD for years and years. Some of us forever it seems,.🙂 and we love to hear from new people coming home.

take care and remember that we are all praying for you.👍
 
Misty5054 said:
I don’t know if I’m posting this in the right place or not. If I’m not I’m sorry.

I was talking to the deacon he said he needs to get confirmation about a matter that I’m not going to get into here and needs my social security number which is something I never give out over the phone and since I have a meeting with him tomorrow anyway (I had called because I can’t find anyone to watch one of my little ones and wanted to see if it was okay for me to just take him along). When we hung up I called my husband and told him about it and he said “Honey, I have supported you through all of this but this is where I draw the line, you are not going to go and give them any kind of permission to dig around in your records. You can go back to the baptist church.” I sent an e-mail to the faith formation director about what my husband said. I want very much to join the church but I think my husband is right. Any suggestions on how to do this that will make everyone happy? I called the apologetics line last week but now her advice doesn’t seem as though it will work. I don’t want to go back to the baptist church because it just never felt right but when I went to mass the first time that feeling of something was wrong wasn’t there, that feeling is really hard to explain.
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Your SSN will only last for like till you die but have like all the rest of like eternity to know God. It’s you like sould not like your body that like matters. (i like using the word like!😃 ) I don’t know why the deacon like needs your SSN. Why don’t you just like ask him?
 
Misty5054 said:
My husband decided a change of parishes. My first RCIA meeting I told them about it and the faith formation leader said the only thing she’s ever asked for is baptisim records, divorce paperwork and asked if I told anyone about it.
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What did you say? I would have remained silent on the matter.
It troubles me she asked you that.
It seems to be going far beyond her job description.
 
notsmart said:
What did you say? I would have remained silent on the matter.
It troubles me she asked you that.
It seems to be going far beyond her job description.
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I suspect the new RCIA leader is wondering if the OP mentioned it in order to find out if the OP was taking the appropriate step of notfying the pastor and/or the bishop of the deacon in question doing something morally wrong and legally questionable.
 
Aramis said:
I suspect the new RCIA leader is wondering if the OP mentioned it in order to find out if the OP was taking the appropriate step of notfying the pastor and/or the bishop of the deacon in question doing something morally wrong and legally questionable.
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That makes sense! It just sounded funny the way I read it. I do agree it should be reported to the proper person.
Misty, did you report this incident?
 
Yes, I told the faith formation director that my husband and I didn’t feel right giving my social security number and signing a release of information. He said I was really sorry to hear that but if I should ever change my mind I’m always welcomed. Then I felt it was a common practice and I was just acting paranoid. Now it doesn’t matter since we have changed parishes.

pst… don’t worry about the misreading I do it all the time.
 
Misty5054 said:
Yes, I told the faith formation director that my husband and I didn’t feel right giving my social security number and signing a release of information. He said I was really sorry to hear that but if I should ever change my mind I’m always welcomed. Then I felt it was a common practice and I was just acting paranoid. Now it doesn’t matter since we have changed parishes.

pst… don’t worry about the misreading I do it all the time.
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I’m glad you found another place that you are comfortable in!:extrahappy:

I’ll be praying for you

Monica:)
 
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