Questions from Non-Catholics

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John949

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I was raised Catholic but parents never went to church I was confirmed but had no interest. At 19 I became born again and have been in Charismatic evangelical churches ever since. About 5 years ago I started back exploring Catholicism again and read the Apostolic Fathers, the Catechism went to confession and mass and have been going at least once a week. I have been going to both churches as I still have too many questions for me to jump in. I am looking for someone that was like myself and came back to the church to talk with and hash out these issues. Thanks for reading the long version!
 
I was raised Lutheran and abandoned the faith early on. After a decade of experimenting and exploring I realized Christianity was the answer and read the Catechism. I decided I had to convert after that.
 
Did you find the Marion doctrines difficult to accept? How about the people? It seems so Rote and no expression of joy I understand the Eucharist but there seems no life and the priest is hurrying through to get it done and no telling us the mass is not necessary due to Covid. It’s all these things that add up that make it tough for me to decide
 
No the Marian devotions weren’t difficult for me. I had learned at a young age that despite what my dad told me Catholics didn’t worship Mary or saints. It was asking for intercession.

The people were never an issue. The intellectual coherency of the faith convinced me. I like systems and here was a system that was coherent, consistent and Christian.
 
Welcome to the forum!!

I’m a lifelong Catholic, so I do not have the background that you are looking for. I think it’s great that you and @StudentMI connected. I’m going to offer a suggestion then I will bow out. The Catholic Answers website has a bunch of articles concerning different teachings of the Church. If you search for whatever questions you might have concerning the Church, I think that you will find articles that explain the Catholic teaching on your question. I’ve found them very helpful in growing my own understanding of Church teaching.

As I said, I’ll bow out now. Please you and StudentMI carry on.

I will pray for you and your search.

Pax
 
John949 said:
How about the people? It seems so Rote and no expression of joy I understand the Eucharist but there seems no life
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I’m a Catholic convert, and this is still an issue for me. But I believe this is the Church Jesus established, so I just have to suck it up. What’re ya gonna do?
 
Hi John949,
If you’re comig from a Charismatic background, I suggest you check out the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) in your area.
Your diocese should be able to give you information on the group in your area and what services it might have at which Catholic churches.
Their services are likely more like what you are looking for, although COVID may have impacted their ability to gather and pray.
 
John949 said:
How about the people? It seems so Rote and no expression of joy
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This part of it really depends on the church you’re attending. Some parishes seem like they’re doing it by rote and some parishes are more expressive.

I’d go even further and say it depends on individual people and how they express themselves.
 
on_the_hill said:
I’d go even further and say it depends on individual people and how they express themselves.
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Yes, a lot of us are just naturally sedate, quiet, introverted types.
A lot of us were also raised with the idea that church is a place to be quiet in the presence of God, out of respect. “Be still and know that I am God”. To an outsider it looks rote, but the person may very well be internally praying or trying to connect with God.
 
I agree with the others before me, but yes, the Marián doctrines were challenging for me. I still sometimes feel like I’m lacking a proper devotion to the Blessed Mother, but it’s improved a lot over the years.
John949 said:
the priest is hurrying through to get it done and no telling us the mass is not necessary due to Covid.
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Not all priests hurry through; some do, but most I’ve met truly celebrate the Eucharist. You might try different parishes. I also wanted to point out that no one is saying (or at the very least, no one should be saying) that Mass isn’t necessary; Catholics just don’t have an obligation to endanger themselves to be at Mass. The necessity and importance of Mass has not changed.
 
Another prospective revert here.

I don’t struggle with Marian doctrines/devotion (in fact, I’m pretty convinced she had a hand in bringing me back).

As for “rote” prayers… I for one prefer that quiet, day after day rhythm of a liturgy moving slowly along the liturgical year, which allows me to interiorize, deepen and meditate what happens and pray silently along with the celebrant. I get that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea though. I often feel like the odd bird out at my current Reformed parish.
 
I want to thank everyone for the helpful responses I do go to the catechism for answers but trying to justify biblically
 
One of the things that sealed the deal for me was getting a deep dive into the origins of the Bible - not the individual scriptures but the compiled Bible as we know it. If you study, you’ll find there was debate even among the Jewish scholars about what constituted our Old Testament, and they don’t depend strictly upon the written text for their teachings. Neither does the Catholic Church; it’s the three-legged stool of Scripture + Tradition + the Magisterium that we stand upon.
 
As @vsedriver posted, please check out the Coming Home Network. They have a lot of resources too.

And if you get EWTN, The Journey Home is on Monday evenings at 8 p.m. EDT (Idk your time zone but that’s what is on the EWTN website).
 
John949 said:
Did you find the Marion doctrines difficult to accept? How about the people? It seems so Rote and no expression of joy I understand the Eucharist but there seems no life and the priest is hurrying through to get it done and no telling us the mass is not necessary due to Covid. It’s all these things that add up that make it tough for me to decide
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The Mass is not a party - it’s a time for reverence and solemnity. Personally. I can’t stand the “happy clappers” style of worship.
 
I was raised Catholic like my name implies. I converted to being a.Protestant later in life. One of the issues that concerned me was the difference between their two Bibles and the books in them. The Ecumenical Council of Trent stated that they had ALL the books from the Old and New Testaments that were passed down from Jesus and His apostles to the early church. Yet, Trent kept the canon open, despite officially defining it for the first time at Trent. Since the early first century church knew what books belonged in the OT and which ones didn’t, I never understood why Trent voted to “pass over in silence” some of the books in Eastern Orthodox Bibles rather than saying they are or are not Scripture. Gary Michuta has a debate about the canon this past July.
 
John949 said:
Did you find the Marion doctrines difficult to accept?
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Difficult? No. I had already received the gift of faith in the Catholic Church before I considered its Marian doctrines so accepting them was quite easy; if that is what the Church teaches, then it is ok with me. However, they didn’t make much sense to me until I read what St Justin Martyr and St Irenaeus, second-century Christians, wrote about the Virgin Mary and how they considered her a sort of second Eve, in much the same way they and St Paul (Romans 5) considered Jesus a sort of second Adam. See St Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, chap. 100; and St Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book 3, chap. 22 and Book 5, chap. 19.
 
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