Plan to Convert. Need Guidance

  • Thread starter Thread starter KnightErrant
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
KnightErrant said:
Thanks for the helpful responses, everyone.

AnchoredInHope: I think there is another parish near me. There is another small group of Catholic churches at least. Not sure how everything is organized and divided up yet. The Catholic group that meets on the college campus I go to, goes to these other churches. If the one I’m looking into doesn’t pan out, I’ll probably start looking into those.

The person teaching was a deacon. Not sure if that matters. I’m sure he meant well but he may not have known how to handle the situation.

exnihilho: I am baptized and I think you’re right. Hopefully I’ll talk to the priest this Sunday, explain the situation and see what I should do.

Magdalen2013: You may be right. They have a yearly schedule up on their website though it doesn’t state the stages. Even though the administrative assistant to the church said it was okay to go without obligation, I should have been more considerate considering the time of year. Thanks.
Click to expand...
I think everyone else has given excellent advice. I’d certainly talk to the priest. Deacons can do a lot of things but they aren’t ordained like priests and many of them have “real” jobs in addition to assisting as a deacon. So please don’t let one person’s gruffness turn you off to the Church…the part about church is it is made up of people and people can be imperfect and messy and sometimes, lets be honest, offensive. And some parishes will just click better for you too. One couple in my RCIA class said they went to three other parishes before finding mine and feeling like they wanted to proceed.

It is also true that this time of year is ramping up to when most unbaptized people in RCIA start getting ready to fully join the church. As a baptized candidate you could technically be received into the Church at any time as long as you don’t have any “irregular marriages” etc to sort out (which is probably why the deacon was asking all those questions) first.

Finally, this is about YOU and YOUR journey. So don’t give up and be persistent–obviously God put something on your heart to make you seek out the Church. I ignored His nudging for well over 10 years because I got too hungup on other people or their opinions…don’t be like me!
 
You might consider getting Scott Hahn’s book The Lamb’s Supper, which explains the mass in light of Revelation and the end of the world.
I pray that you won’t give up even if you meet obstacles. Of course Satan would like to discourage you, but hang in there. The church is a hospital for sinners, so you will definitely run into sinners there! But it’s worth it.
God bless.

.
 
KnightErrant said:
Thanks for the helpful responses, everyone.

AnchoredInHope: I think there is another parish near me. There is another small group of Catholic churches at least. Not sure how everything is organized and divided up yet. The Catholic group that meets on the college campus I go to, goes to these other churches. If the one I’m looking into doesn’t pan out, I’ll probably start looking into those.

The person teaching was a deacon. Not sure if that matters. I’m sure he meant well but he may not have known how to handle the situation.

exnihilho: I am baptized and I think you’re right. Hopefully I’ll talk to the priest this Sunday, explain the situation and see what I should do.

Magdalen2013: You may be right. They have a yearly schedule up on their website though it doesn’t state the stages. Even though the administrative assistant to the church said it was okay to go without obligation, I should have been more considerate considering the time of year. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Keep going to Mass and speak to the RCIA director to explain your situation. The RCIA process is one of building on previous lessons so you may have a difficult time of putting the lesson in perspective. In your situation you may be better served by attending Mass, doing some self study, and starting RCIA from the beginning when you are able.

I attended Mass for a couple of years before making the committment to convert and starting RCIA. Just a note - starting RCIA does not commit one to conversion. A person can decide to not go through with conversion at any time up to the Easter Vigil. (Although it would be helpful to the RCIA team to know if someone changes his/her mind just before the Easter Vigil).
 
My husband has attended the last 5 sessions with me and he is nit registered in RCIA or anything like that. He has just expressed interest in my conversion process and while I pray that he may eventually decide he’d like to be Catholic too nobody has questioned his presence there or even asked him why he’s there!

Don’t feel that you are in any way pressure or forced to make a decision that’s not in line with your steps and preparation.

Is there any questions I can help you with since I’m fairly new to all of this too? Please message me or ask me here, I’m an open book and would be glad to help you.
 
KnightErrant said:
I’ve seriously considered the idea of converting to Catholicism for a few years now but my family isn’t behind me yet on this. I’m still living at home and won’t be able to move out until I finish college.

What should I do in this situation?

What I had in mind to do was to start attending mass (After all this time of my inactivity on this site, they are finally okay with me attending mass.) and continue to pray for help with this situation. My concern with this plan is it okay to attend mass but not start RCIA for upwards of a year or more? Do you think I should send an email to the priest beforehand and explain the situation(There is an email for the church on the contact us part of their website.) before I start attending? This is a small area and I might stand out in the congregation. I didn’t know if doing this would be too weird.

Advice is appreciated. Thanks!
Click to expand...
There are mp3 audio files at this website on the Fundamentals of Catholicism
fatheraltier.excerptsofinri.com/
also available to print out here
freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1625268/posts

As a life-long Catholic I have found them to be excellent teachings. I burned them to CDs and play them in my car when I go on long drives or am stuck in heavy traffic.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top