M
Matariel
Guest
Ugh. Where to begin…
Well, I hope all you Catholics are happy that I’m finally going to RCIA, and these last few weeks have been a flurry of events and strange plot-twists in my life (you may have noticed that I haven’t been able to type much on CAF lately.)
At any rate, it all started a bit back when I was having doubts about the Via Media and Branch Theory of Anglican theology. I was a member of the Anglican Catholic Church, a traditional Anglican church with valid holy orders and sacramental understanding. I still haven’t worked up myself enough to inform my priest (Fr. Hart, a very traditionalist Anglican priest, who has two other brothers-- an Orthodox priest and a Roman Catholic priest
) but I know I have to some time.
Anyway, my cousin, I’ll call him Treb (nickname) came to Maryland about five months ago, and he and I’re good friends. When he got here, he was an ardently anti-Catholic nominal Presbyterian. But he kept asking questions about my faith (I told him I was becoming Catholic) especially when he saw the crucifix on the wall and the statue of the Blessed Virgin in my room.
Anyway, it was to my utter shock and jubilation when he finally came up to me and said, “how do you become Catholic? I want to be Catholic?” So I explained the whole programme and RCIA and such, and he said that he will come to RCIA when he returns from Cali (he went back).
Anyway, I called the local Catholic church, and, lo and behold, the very first RCIA class was beginning that very week on Wednesday.
Everything was dandy and fine-- or so I thought.
I went to the RCIA class. There were two Lutherans, one ex-JW, and some other non-religious. And a the deacon, who was leading the class.
Anyway, it was ok, but then the deacon began talking of his troubles with God, and how the Church won’t let him marry, since his wife divorced him. I thought that was a little inappropriate for newcomers to the faith, as he sounded so uncertain.
Anyway, he then proceeded to crack a joke. “Y’know, when all those red-robed bishops get to Heaven, with their mitres and staffs, they’re going to be looking and saying, where’s God? And then a woman will come along and say, “Right here.””
Anyway, I look at the cover (which looks innocent enough) and it’s Christ Among Us.
Does anyone know if or how I could confront the deacon? Does anyone have any advice? I really need some right now. Does anyone know about this book, Christ Among Us? Is that standard RCIA material???
Help!!!
Well, I hope all you Catholics are happy that I’m finally going to RCIA, and these last few weeks have been a flurry of events and strange plot-twists in my life (you may have noticed that I haven’t been able to type much on CAF lately.)
At any rate, it all started a bit back when I was having doubts about the Via Media and Branch Theory of Anglican theology. I was a member of the Anglican Catholic Church, a traditional Anglican church with valid holy orders and sacramental understanding. I still haven’t worked up myself enough to inform my priest (Fr. Hart, a very traditionalist Anglican priest, who has two other brothers-- an Orthodox priest and a Roman Catholic priest
) but I know I have to some time.Anyway, my cousin, I’ll call him Treb (nickname) came to Maryland about five months ago, and he and I’re good friends. When he got here, he was an ardently anti-Catholic nominal Presbyterian. But he kept asking questions about my faith (I told him I was becoming Catholic) especially when he saw the crucifix on the wall and the statue of the Blessed Virgin in my room.
Anyway, it was to my utter shock and jubilation when he finally came up to me and said, “how do you become Catholic? I want to be Catholic?” So I explained the whole programme and RCIA and such, and he said that he will come to RCIA when he returns from Cali (he went back).
Anyway, I called the local Catholic church, and, lo and behold, the very first RCIA class was beginning that very week on Wednesday.
Everything was dandy and fine-- or so I thought.
I went to the RCIA class. There were two Lutherans, one ex-JW, and some other non-religious. And a the deacon, who was leading the class.
Anyway, it was ok, but then the deacon began talking of his troubles with God, and how the Church won’t let him marry, since his wife divorced him. I thought that was a little inappropriate for newcomers to the faith, as he sounded so uncertain.
Anyway, he then proceeded to crack a joke. “Y’know, when all those red-robed bishops get to Heaven, with their mitres and staffs, they’re going to be looking and saying, where’s God? And then a woman will come along and say, “Right here.””
Code:
I quickly gushed out, "God is a spirit, so he's genderless." and shot him a frown. An elderly Religious Ed. co-ordinator (Catholic) was also present, and gave him a disapproving look. The Lutherans and ex-JW seemed sincerely befuddled by the whole ordeal.
Anyway, right off the bat, that made me a little unsettled. I mean, I don't want Treb to go through this, since he is completely new to the Faith and I don't want his conscious marred by poor catachesis.
At any rate, just today I recieved a call from the Religious Ed. office, and she said the catechetical books are in for our RCIA class. Enthralled (I love theological books) I drove down and picked it up immediately.
A precursory reading yielded much. First off, I was perturbed because of the incessant harping on "females were ministers in the early Church" and "the early Church did not have a 'priesthood' as we understand it today, only someone who was a 'presider'" blah, blah, blah, blah.... blah! :mad:
Then there was the completely heretical implication in the book that Polygenism is an acceptable view of our first Parents.
And then they said that a teaching is not necessary infallible unless accepted by the Catholic laity as a whole.
This seemed so wrong to me! :mad:Does anyone know if or how I could confront the deacon? Does anyone have any advice? I really need some right now. Does anyone know about this book, Christ Among Us? Is that standard RCIA material???
Help!!!
