L
lectio
Guest
I had a very anti-Catholic upbringing (despite the fact that my father, who’d been raised Catholic, had me baptised as a baby, “just in case,” as I was the first-born). My mother, with excellent intentions, was raised Protestant, she and my father marrying while both were not practicing any form of Christianity. So, a few years later, when she had a “re-awakening” of sorts, of course she went to her fundamentalist roots.
So the church I was raised in was anti-Catholic, as most fundamentalist churches are. Some people there were certain the Pope was the anti-christ, etc, and we all believed that while it was possible that "a few* Catholics might be “saved,” we were sure that most weren’t, couldn’t be, since they didn’t really believe in that Jesus saves.
Sounds silly now, I know, but I believed it all.
About 6-7 years ago, I learned about the real Catholic beliefs when a good Protestant friend of mine became Catholic and we began having deep conversations via email. I spent about a year trying to get her out of Catholicism…actually, make that about 3-4 months, because by that time, I’d read enough actual Catholic material to realize that the things I’d been taught about Catholicism were all totally wrong. She went above and beyond and bought me Scott Hahn stuff, Marie Bellet tapes and everything…
By the time she was done with me, heh heh, I had a secret desire to sneak off to Mass, but being a fundamentalist/evangelical minister’s wife at the time, knew that I couldn’t without risking getting him fired. It wasn’t long before the thought left and I basically tabled the whole thing and forgot all about it, other than no longer believing that the Pope was the antichrist or that Catholics pray to saints in the same way that they pray to God. grins
Anyways, long story short, he’s not a minister anymore and I have the freedom to explore. I sort of left Protestantism a few years ago (when Sola Scriptura dies, you kind of have to, you know)…but am still there because I’m not sure what to do yet. I have five children, and am nervous about doing “nothing,” nor do I personally want to do “nothing.” (I mean, we talk about God and stuff, but I want a community to gather with----I know that the Christian faith isn’t supposed to be solo…yet I just can’t buy into the Protestant thing anymore).
I did some research into the Orthodox Church last year and went to a few Divine Liturgies. I loved it, on the one hand, and loved all the reading that I did (and the podcasts from Ancient Faith Radio), and yet I felt really overwhelmed at the thought of becoming Orthodox…it was just SO different, experientially, like moving to another country or something.
Perhaps if the people in the church had been warmer (it wasn’t the friendliest of groups, and the priest was incredibly fundamentalist—meant well, but was very strict old school style, and since I was coming out of Protestant fundamentalism, I was already a little allergic to that style), or if I’d been in a better place regarding my own personal family life (if my husband hadn’t been bug-eyed at the idea), I would have tried more, but basically I just quit after a while, because the cost of becoming Orthodox looked so huge, and I wasn’t sure that it would be worth it (meaning, I wasn’t entirely convinced that they were right, therefore wasn’t sure it would be worth the cost of dealing with everybody I knew freaking out on me, just to try out something that I wasn’t even sure of).
I remember saying to my best friend last year that I was craving a Mother…I’d forgotten about the Catholic stuff…was just more talking about what to do now that Protestantism died, and was saying how much I long for a church that will be my Mother. Funny, but I’d totally forgotten about the Catholic church.
Fast forward to now, I have been “sneaking off” to Mass, though it’s not so scary now, even though I never know what to do at the right time and never get it right, ha, and am bringing my kids, too. We stay put when everyone goes up for the Eucharist, of course, and I just contacted the lady in charge of the RCIA classes and am hoping I will be able to make those nights.
I’m reading through “The Essential Catholic Catechism” by Alan Schreck with a pencil to underline, and am loving it so far. I cannot believe what I am reading, half the time, because it’s exactly what I believe and here I thought I was one of the few people in the universe who had these leanings… It’s almost scary sometimes.
Basically, I am now ready to take the next step…I have been investigating from afar, and am now just starting to dabble in continuing my investigations from a closer distance. I still want the freedom to run, if it doesn’t look like a fit, yet I’m starting to think it might just be what I’ve been looking for. I have moments, in studying, where I feel like, “Yes, this is it!” and yet sometimes, especially when I read about all the “do this, do that,” teeny-tiny rules type of stuff, I just want to throw the whole thing in the trash can.
I suppose I’m probably at 70/30 right now, 70% of me thinking this might just turn into the Real Deal, but I freely admit that there is still 30% of me wondering if it is just a big mess of legalism/over-structured thing that makes Protestantism look good. It’s progress (since that 30% used to be 100%, haha)… but it’s still there.
My questions, and sorry to go into this long rabbit trail first, but I’m wondering…
What is it that you recommend I do next? I’m guessing the RCIA classes are a good idea, but is there something different?
What about my kids? They are 10, 8, 7, 5, and 3. Only my oldest has been baptised (in our fundamentalist church). Do they have to go through classes in order to be baptised now that they’re not infants anymore…or…what?
Any other advice is welcome.
THANKS!
So the church I was raised in was anti-Catholic, as most fundamentalist churches are. Some people there were certain the Pope was the anti-christ, etc, and we all believed that while it was possible that "a few* Catholics might be “saved,” we were sure that most weren’t, couldn’t be, since they didn’t really believe in that Jesus saves.
Sounds silly now, I know, but I believed it all.
About 6-7 years ago, I learned about the real Catholic beliefs when a good Protestant friend of mine became Catholic and we began having deep conversations via email. I spent about a year trying to get her out of Catholicism…actually, make that about 3-4 months, because by that time, I’d read enough actual Catholic material to realize that the things I’d been taught about Catholicism were all totally wrong. She went above and beyond and bought me Scott Hahn stuff, Marie Bellet tapes and everything…
By the time she was done with me, heh heh, I had a secret desire to sneak off to Mass, but being a fundamentalist/evangelical minister’s wife at the time, knew that I couldn’t without risking getting him fired. It wasn’t long before the thought left and I basically tabled the whole thing and forgot all about it, other than no longer believing that the Pope was the antichrist or that Catholics pray to saints in the same way that they pray to God. grins
Anyways, long story short, he’s not a minister anymore and I have the freedom to explore. I sort of left Protestantism a few years ago (when Sola Scriptura dies, you kind of have to, you know)…but am still there because I’m not sure what to do yet. I have five children, and am nervous about doing “nothing,” nor do I personally want to do “nothing.” (I mean, we talk about God and stuff, but I want a community to gather with----I know that the Christian faith isn’t supposed to be solo…yet I just can’t buy into the Protestant thing anymore).
I did some research into the Orthodox Church last year and went to a few Divine Liturgies. I loved it, on the one hand, and loved all the reading that I did (and the podcasts from Ancient Faith Radio), and yet I felt really overwhelmed at the thought of becoming Orthodox…it was just SO different, experientially, like moving to another country or something.
Perhaps if the people in the church had been warmer (it wasn’t the friendliest of groups, and the priest was incredibly fundamentalist—meant well, but was very strict old school style, and since I was coming out of Protestant fundamentalism, I was already a little allergic to that style), or if I’d been in a better place regarding my own personal family life (if my husband hadn’t been bug-eyed at the idea), I would have tried more, but basically I just quit after a while, because the cost of becoming Orthodox looked so huge, and I wasn’t sure that it would be worth it (meaning, I wasn’t entirely convinced that they were right, therefore wasn’t sure it would be worth the cost of dealing with everybody I knew freaking out on me, just to try out something that I wasn’t even sure of).
I remember saying to my best friend last year that I was craving a Mother…I’d forgotten about the Catholic stuff…was just more talking about what to do now that Protestantism died, and was saying how much I long for a church that will be my Mother. Funny, but I’d totally forgotten about the Catholic church.
Fast forward to now, I have been “sneaking off” to Mass, though it’s not so scary now, even though I never know what to do at the right time and never get it right, ha, and am bringing my kids, too. We stay put when everyone goes up for the Eucharist, of course, and I just contacted the lady in charge of the RCIA classes and am hoping I will be able to make those nights.
I’m reading through “The Essential Catholic Catechism” by Alan Schreck with a pencil to underline, and am loving it so far. I cannot believe what I am reading, half the time, because it’s exactly what I believe and here I thought I was one of the few people in the universe who had these leanings… It’s almost scary sometimes.
Basically, I am now ready to take the next step…I have been investigating from afar, and am now just starting to dabble in continuing my investigations from a closer distance. I still want the freedom to run, if it doesn’t look like a fit, yet I’m starting to think it might just be what I’ve been looking for. I have moments, in studying, where I feel like, “Yes, this is it!” and yet sometimes, especially when I read about all the “do this, do that,” teeny-tiny rules type of stuff, I just want to throw the whole thing in the trash can.
I suppose I’m probably at 70/30 right now, 70% of me thinking this might just turn into the Real Deal, but I freely admit that there is still 30% of me wondering if it is just a big mess of legalism/over-structured thing that makes Protestantism look good. It’s progress (since that 30% used to be 100%, haha)… but it’s still there.
My questions, and sorry to go into this long rabbit trail first, but I’m wondering…
What is it that you recommend I do next? I’m guessing the RCIA classes are a good idea, but is there something different?
What about my kids? They are 10, 8, 7, 5, and 3. Only my oldest has been baptised (in our fundamentalist church). Do they have to go through classes in order to be baptised now that they’re not infants anymore…or…what?
Any other advice is welcome.
THANKS!
