'My Story'

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Miriam1947 said:
You can go to daily Mass or Sunday Mass or both. If you decide to participate in RCIA it is recommended that you go to Sunday Mass.

RCIA is the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. These classes answer questions and inform you about the Catholic faith. The Church wants you but they want you as a faithful Catholic. I loved RCIA and was baptized into the Catholic Church in 2008. You’ll make friends in RCIA and become part of a parish.

You do not have to commit to becoming Catholic in RCIA but you will learn about the faith and then decide.
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There are tons of things to learn about the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is 2000 years old. Some churches are less than one generation old, and some even less than that. (Do the math)🙂
 
I’ve had communion at a Baptist church before, I’m not a member there, why can’t I have it at a Catholic church without having to go through everything?
 
All this has really messed with my head over the last few weeks, to the point where I’m not sure what I believe anymore.

If anyone outside “the Church” isn’t really a Christian, then who have I been praying to, praising, and hearing talk to me? Add to all that, I’ve never been baptized.
 
Some examples of the music I listen to on a regular basis :

Savior’s Here - Kari Jobe - youtube.com/watch?v=r37Tp11CzMU
I Need You To Love Me - Barlowgirl - youtube.com/watch?v=KOyNOzCGZ1c
Set The World On Fire - Britt Nicole - youtube.com/watch?v=rCUrDwPY97Q
Well Done - Moriah Peters - youtube.com/watch?v=y5A504HpmeY

And rockier stuff…

We Are All Foundlings - Royal Foundlings - youtube.com/watch?v=Yy2OByv3Mgs&list=UUy0G-tF9u8PzXLxtUS2uIFA&index=8
Lose My Soul - Tobymac - youtube.com/watch?v=coHKdhAZ9hU
Battle - Chris August - youtube.com/watch?v=AtzNecqxeSI
All He Says I Am - Gateway Worship - youtube.com/watch?v=wfFyqSkMiUw

I personally don’t see what’s “wrong” with songs like these.
 
davidn87 said:
I’ve had communion at a Baptist church before, I’m not a member there, why can’t I have it at a Catholic church without having to go through everything?
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Receiving communion in the Catholic Church means that you believe all that it teaches. How can you believe if you don’t know what the CC teaches.
 
The main roadblocks I’m facing are people not giving me straight answers. EG, I ask is Genesis to be taken literally, and all I keep getting is “oh er umm well the Church teaches not to take it literally, but you are free to interpret it as you wish”. Which to me, makes absolutely no sense. How can the Church teach something but then say you can interpret it another way if you want?
 
Miriam1947 said:
RCIA is the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. These classes answer questions and inform you about the Catholic faith. The Church wants you but they want you as a faithful Catholic. I loved RCIA and was baptized into the Catholic Church in 2008. You’ll make friends in RCIA and become part of a parish.
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Hey guys,

In my original country, there is no uniform RCIA for both neophyte (new convert) and young adult cradle Catholics. We would have separate classes for new convert and often multi-leveled classes for young adult cradle Catholics.
 
davidn87 said:
Should I stop donating to ‘Protestant’ radio stations/ministries?
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This is just me…I think you would be better off donating to charities that actually help the poor…charities that channel money to helping the needy.

check with your local parish if they have homeless feeding days, or other charitable programs…where you could volunteer effort or kind.
 
I’ve got the DR on the Youversion app, and I’ve been looking at the RSV CE online, been getting a bit confused with people saying things like ‘oh the Protestants have all different translations’ then when you look at a Catholic Bible, there’s different translations of it too!

I downloaded an English translation of the Septuagint earlier as well, and that’s got more books than’s in any Catholic translation I’ve seen!
 
pablope said:
This is just me…I think you would be better off donating to charities that actually help the poor…charities that channel money to helping the needy.
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See my problem with charities like that are so many of them seem to be unbiblical. Eg, they support contraception, euthanasia, etc etc.
 
davidn87 said:
See my problem with charities like that are so many of them seem to be unbiblical. Eg, they support contraception, euthanasia, etc etc.
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I could change my name to “Charity” and you could help me. I don’t support that stuff. I just support myself and my wife and the local grocery market.😃
 
davidn87 said:
The more I read about Catholicism the more questions I have!

‘RCIA’ - I don’t get it, why do you have to wait so long before you can be baptised?

Can I go to mass before that?
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  1. The more you learn, the more you will want to learn, and the more you will realize you didn’t know or even knew existed. I’ve been Catholic 3 years, and have been studying for longer than that, and I’ve only begun to scratch the surface. The Church has 2,000 years of history and theological thinkers.
  2. As others noted, Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. The Church wants you to join, but wants your decision to be an informed one. That you know all the rights AND responsibilities that you are agreeing to.
  3. Everyone is welcome at every Mass.
 
davidn87 said:
I’ve had communion at a Baptist church before, I’m not a member there, why can’t I have it at a Catholic church without having to go through everything?
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Communion/Eucharist in the Catholic Church, is receiving the REAL Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the TRUE Body and Blood. As St. Paul tells us, we must discern the Body and Blood, and prepare ourselves to receive Him. And if we fail to do so, we eat and drink judgment on ourselves. The Church wants to protect you from this, in that it wants to make sure you know WHO you are receiving.

Also, Communion is the means by which we become the Body of Christ. We are actively stating in public that we are “in communion” with the Church and one another, that we agree with all the Church teaches. If the Church allowed you to receive, it would be allowing you to lie publicly.
 
davidn87 said:
The main roadblocks I’m facing are people not giving me straight answers. EG, I ask is Genesis to be taken literally, and all I keep getting is “oh er umm well the Church teaches not to take it literally, but you are free to interpret it as you wish”. Which to me, makes absolutely no sense. How can the Church teach something but then say you can interpret it another way if you want?
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The Church doesn’t formally teach on the “literalness” of Genesis. The Church only teaches that the creation stories relate the power and omnipotence of God, and that He created all of the universe out of nothing, and He did so orderly and with a plan, and that He is active in His creation. Catholics are free to hold to many different beliefs regarding the earth being 6,000 years old or 6 billion years old. The Church has not formally taught one or the other as being true (and probably won’t, as the Church teaches on what is needed for salvation, and does not teach formally on scientific matters.)
 
zz912 said:
The Church doesn’t formally teach on the “literalness” of Genesis. The Church only teaches that the creation stories relate the power and omnipotence of God, and that He created all of the universe out of nothing, and He did so orderly and with a plan, and that He is active in His creation. Catholics are free to hold to many different beliefs regarding the earth being 6,000 years old or 6 billion years old. The Church has not formally taught one or the other as being true (and probably won’t, as the Church teaches on what is needed for salvation, and does not teach formally on scientific matters.)
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It also doesn’t teach what baseball or football team to root for this season.😃 Although we used to have a priest who was a fan of the Chicago Bears football team!:rolleyes:
 
davidn87 said:
Didn’t know what to call this post.

My parents aren’t religious at all. I remember at primary school a Baptist minister would come to the school once in a while and tell us funny stories and things from the Bible, and in Music we’d sing a lot of hymns. I even remember Mum buying me a children’s picture Bible thing at one point, but until I entered my 20’s I never really gave much thought to God.

In 2005/2006 I remember after years of listening to Country music and the Gospel stuff they always do, after hearing a song called A Living Prayer at a concert, I started looking up Christianity on the internet. I remember at some point finding the sinner’s prayer and praying it.

I feel like I’ve had to keep my faith hidden from my parents because my Dad gets verbally violent anytime I bring up Christianity (or Israel, or anything like that). He reads all these weird books about other religions and conspiracy stuff, and whenever he quotes something out of it to me, eg ‘The church is EEEEVIIIILLLL’ he is always really angry and mad. But at the same time, he says he doesn’t believe in God, so I don’t know what he’s got to be so mad about since he doesn’t believe. Mum isn’t anything as bad as Dad about it all.

I’ve got all sorts of Bibles and stuff ‘hidden’ in my room, and for 2 or 3 years watched a non-denominational Texas church online before actually physically going to a local Baptist church last September. Again I haven’t told anyone in my family I’ve gone because I’m scared of how they’ll react. I listen pretty much to only Christian music (Kari Jobe, Tobymac etc) and post a lot of pro-life, family stuff on Facebook and pray all the time especially for my family. I do still sin.

Ok, basically rambling now…

I don’t know if I’m supposed to post questions in this section but anyway;

Ever since I started getting into pro-life stuff, I’ve been constantly drawn to Catholicism…but certain things keep me away.

The ‘extra’ books of the Bible.
Mary.
What I probably incorrectly see as ‘hatred’ of other denominations and their practices.

HELP!
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Hi davidn87, couple of things. My dad is like yours except he’s Catholic. He’s into wacky conspiracy theories, thinks Israel is a terrorist state (big :rolleyes:), he’s also someone you can,t disagree with because things will quickly escalate and I’m a non-confrontational guy. My father needs stuff to get mad at/indignant about, he was born, so it seems, with a huge chip on his shoulder and he needs outlets to pour his overflowing rage/anger. It’s not optimal having a parent like that because you’re not free to be yourself, to express yourself freely, or if you do you risk seeing things get out of hand. So what I’m really saying is I understand but I have no valid piece of advice regarding your father.

As for Mary, she is the mother of Christ for crying out loud, don’t you think that commands slightly more respect than any other human being? She was chosen by an eternal God to bear his son, how awesome is that? The point is made that Jesus being God and sinless could not have been borne by an unworthy vessel, by a creature stained by Original Sin, so it’d make sense that Mary was kept from its stain, hence the Immaculate Conception dogma. As for the Rosary, we’re quoting from the Bible when the angel Gabriel told her she was going to be pregnant with the Messiah and what her relative Elizabeth said to her when they met. Also, Mary doesn’t answer prayers, she takes our prayers to her Son, that makes her a mediatrix. Look up “dulia”, “hyperdulia”, and “latra”, if some Catholics are guilty of giving Mary honors that belong to God only, that’s not Mary’s fault, and that makes her no less worthy of our reverence.
 
Maybe I should ‘give an update’ before I throw out more questions;

I now understand the importance given to/praying to Mary & the Saints.
I ‘get’ the other books not included in Protestant Bibles.

I’ve been listening to EWTN, and love the Chaplet Of Divine Mercy.
 
davidn87 said:
See my problem with charities like that are so many of them seem to be unbiblical. Eg, they support contraception, euthanasia, etc etc.
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Then I would suggest that you stick to Catholic Charities…these are usually connected to a Parish and run by lay people who do not get paid for their services.

I have participated in feeding kitchens for the homeless…and it is gratifying to be helping in one way or the other…we would even bus the tables…and they are surprised they are even treated in a dignified way.
 
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