Not Called Back To The Catholic Church

  • Thread starter Thread starter MichaelKelly
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

MichaelKelly

Guest
Hey Folks:

I have spent a good part of 15 years looking into returning to the Catholic Church. I have done EVERYTHING and read ALL the appropriate stuff but I don’t feel the call to return. Please don’t give me all the latest Hahn, Kreft, EWTN books to read, I have hit most you could suggest including the CCC. I just don’t think I am to return…

Mike
 
Well…do you have any specific points of discomfort with the church…we could help with that. What evidence do you need to see to know that you should be a part of the church, I guess is what I’m asking. 🙂 Maybe we can figure this out.
 
When you say “called back” I take it that means you are a baptized Catholic who at one point received the sacraments, including the Eucharist.

And you’re saying you haven’t missed receiving Christ - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity?

:hmmm: How does that happen???
 
Most often it is not what WE do that leads us into the fullness of Truth, it is what we allow the Holy Spirit to do in us.

Are you praying for God to lead you into the Truth? We cannot depend upon our own weak intellect to lead us there. We must be given the gift of faith, which Our Lord will give us if we are sincere in asking. It may not come today; it may not come tomorrow; it might come through great hardship, but it is always worth it!

Ask others to pray for you as well.

Have you gone before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and asked Him to lead you where He wants you to be?
 
40.png
MichaelKelly:
Hey Folks:

I have spent a good part of 15 years looking into returning to the Catholic Church. I have done EVERYTHING and read ALL the appropriate stuff but I don’t feel the call to return. Please don’t give me all the latest Hahn, Kreft, EWTN books to read, I have hit most you could suggest including the CCC. I just don’t think I am to return…

Mike
Click to expand...
15 years is a long time to be searching.
Have you asked God to come into your heart?
Have you asked God to help give you the strength and direction to return?
You seem to want to return.
I suggest scheduling a week at a good Benedictine Monastery near you. What part of the country do you live in? I would like to suggest a monastery for you.
In the mean time I will pray for you.
God’s love and blessings,
Contemplaitve
 
40.png
MichaelKelly:
Please don’t give me all the latest Hahn, Kreft, EWTN books to read, I have hit most you could suggest including the CCC. I just don’t think I am to return…
Click to expand...
Okay. Since you started the thread, what assistance would you like from us? What can we do to help?
 
By living a week long retreat ( more time if you have it ) at a monastery you will experience for a brief time a routine of ordinary prayer. In this time you may encounter yourself and God. The truth about your self and your life maybe revealed . You maybe pleased with yourself…and maybe not…

Take a quiet retreat alone….discover in silent prayer……
 
i’d suggest just going back to church… even if you don’t take
communion… just going back and sitting and listening…

remember in Jesus’ ( i believe it was the first lesson he
taught us ) lesson to us, where to look when he is lost…
in his Father’s house…

🙂
 
It does appear that you still have a desire in your heart to return. You have read the books, you are here posting a thread looking for help.

As Contemplative suggests, have you prayed over it? Maybe just sat in Church and opened your heart?
 
Try going to confession, then do an hour of Eucharistic adoration asking the Lord where He wants you. Shoot that’s only and hour and a half of work, if you’ve already invested 15 years into this, it shouldn’t hurt.
 
40.png
MichaelKelly:
Hey Folks:

I have spent a good part of 15 years looking into returning to the Catholic Church. I have done EVERYTHING and read ALL the appropriate stuff but I don’t feel the call to return. Please don’t give me all the latest Hahn, Kreft, EWTN books to read, I have hit most you could suggest including the CCC. I just don’t think I am to return…

Mike
Click to expand...
Is this a cry for help and more info, or are you just being informative?

I guess I am asking, “why are you telling us this?”
 
40.png
MichaelKelly:
Hey Folks:

I have spent a good part of 15 years looking into returning to the Catholic Church. I have done EVERYTHING and read ALL the appropriate stuff but I don’t feel the call to return. Please don’t give me all the latest Hahn, Kreft, EWTN books to read, I have hit most you could suggest including the CCC. I just don’t think I am to return…

Mike
Click to expand...
Let no one deceive himself (cf. 1 Cor. 6:9; Gal. 6:7; James 1:16): anyone who is not within the altar (Hebrews 13:10) does not have the bread of God (cf. John 6:33; 1 Cor. 9:13; 10:18). For if the prayer of one or two (cf. Matthew 18:19) **has such power as we are told, how much more powerful shall be that of the bishop and the whole church together! **

St. Ignatius of Antioch

**As there is one God and one Lord, so also true dignity is expressed by oneness in the image of the One Principle. And so, the one Church, which heresies make an effort to cut into many, is likened by oneness unto the nature of the One. We call the ancient Catholic Church one according to her essence, according to our concept of her, according to her origin and preeminence. **

Presbyter Clement of Alexandria

“The Church, which is catholic and one, is not split asunder nor divided, but is truly bound and joined together by the cement of its priests, who hold fast to one another.”

St. Cyprian of Carthage
 
It seems like you have a lot of people here wanting to help out and support you. I would, too. My two cents is this: i think you are relying on something like God’s voice booming out of the sky to make you sure that this is where he wants you. That’s not how God works. He DID something in sending His only son to die for our sins. Now it is our turn to DO something for Him in order to open ourselves up to the graces and truth He wants to give us. Books are wonderful tools to help you grow more knowledgeable about your faith, but reading is not a sacrament. Attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass regularly. Make use of confession. Sit before Him in the Blessed Sacrament. And open yourself up to faith in addition to reason. Books can explain many wonderful things about the Church, but if you have no faith in the Church to begin with, the words will fall meaninglessly on you. You have been trying for 15 years. Do you not see that God has given you this persistence hoping you would find Him? May God continue to bless you, and good luck on your journey! 👍
 
It sounds to me that you feel you should come back to the Church, but are finding your current manner of living very comfortable so the “should” is not enough to motivate the change. What is it that you would have to give-up/let-go of to come back? It is hard to leave a warm bed when the wind is howling outside.
 
I will add you to my prayers. With God’s help all things are possible. He brought you here, didn’t he? He will be able to change your heart. You are important to us and we want to be of help. My help will be prayer.
 
MichaelKelly,

What do you mean by “feel”? Do you mean that you are unconvinced of the truth of Catholic doctrine, or do you mean that you don’t have a nice warm fuzzy feeling about it?

If you mean the latter, perhaps you need to ask yourself if you ought to allow the state of your digestive system to prevent you from doing what you know you should do.

If it helps at all, while I was in RCIA I went through several periods of intense anxiety over the fact that I was embracing teachings that I’d always been told were heretical. I can tell you for sure that those feelings were well worth ignoring.
 
Hi Michael! (Great name BTW!)

If I went by what I felt, I wouldn’t be Catholic either. It’s tough… We catch a lot of flak, there is much involved and much to learn, and frankly the non-catholics that I have seen (and have been) don’t have nearly as much to deal with. They don’t have to go to Mass on Sundays… or Holy Days…or to really work out their salvation with fear and trembling, and they can pretty much believe whatever they want without regard for what the early church believed, whether it lines up with 2,000 years of Christian history or not. They really have it pretty easy. I mean just getting out from under all the flak that we catch would be such a blessing!

But I just can’t do it…just can’t. Why? Because I know that it just wouldn’t be true and right, and I just can’t deny the truth that I have found for the sake of an easier ride out. In fact, a buddy of mine who came home to the faith the same time I did dubbed the non-Catholic religions “Christianity Lite”, and it has stuck in my heart and soul that way.

The scriptural basis for the Eucharist is one of the most compelling reasons that I am a Catholic. Read it here!

Here’s my testimony of why I came home to the Catholic Church. Maybe that will help you some or maybe some of the others who might read it.
Pax vobiscum,
 
Mike,

This is an interesting question which is difficult to answer. If I could read you heart, mind, and history then maybe I would have a genuine clue. I have a couple of nephews that have no interest in the Catholic Church although they were raised in Catholic families. One of them is an atheist and the other believes in God, but has little or time for the Lord. His interests are not spiritual.

I do not know exactly what is holding either of them back in terms of the intellectual part of the equation. They have few if any theological reasons. It is more a lack of interest. They look at things from a material view as their starting point and spiritual things are mere folly in their eyes.

In your case, you appear to be a believer but not a Catholic believer. I gleaned this from examining everything you have posted on the forums. In this regard you have a huge advantage over my nephews. But do you have anything in common?

I am going to take a shot in the dark here, and I do not mean to be judgmental. Is it possible that there is some sin that you are attached to and are unwillingly to let go of? Are there moral teachings within Catholicism that you do not wish to submit to? An example would be “artificial contraception.” Sin may be what is holding you back.

The Lord wants you and I in total submission to him. He wants us to be his workmanship and not our own. He wants us to pick up our cross daily and follow him. He does not want us to be lukewarm. He wants you to come to his table and recieve his precious body and blood, but he only wants you to do this worthily. He gives us the grace and means to be free from sin so that we can indeed come to his table. When you fully submit to him then perhaps his call will be more clear and heart felt by you.

Your current search is meaningful…you are in my prayers.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top