Reasons why I should become Catholic?

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@Bootsy
I am so sorry about the uncharitable actions of a priest and bishop who caused you and many others to leave the church. You might consider this useless, however I take the opportunity of this encounter to ask forgiveness for those actions and others you may have experienced from my brothers and sisters in the Catholic Church, in the name of our Lord, Jesus, saviour of us all. I pray that you receive healing from pain and bitterness.
 
But I am at conflict with myself, as my exposure and experience has been with the Church of England, and that holds a lot of good memories for me from my first exposure to Christianity.
Something like that could have been written by John Henry Cardinal Newman. He was a priest and scholar in the Anglican Church who became Catholic after a long and careful study of scripture and tradition.

One event in his life that stands out for me is his visit to Rome during the course of his investigations. BTW he felt revulsion for anything to do with Rome while at the same time compelled in his search for truth. His experience of the Catholic Church at that time filled his entire being with regret and longing, “if only such a religion were true.”

The motto he took as a Cardinal of the Catholic Church is Heart Speaks to Heart.
 
Why did Jesus die…if we think by our works we can add to what He did, we are mistaken.
No discord. Catholics agree with you.
I have forgiven the mean priest and Bishop & hope I don’t appear bitter.
I do feel sorry for some priests as they probably have lonely lives, thus take it out on others.
Maaaybe you sound a little bitter 🙃 … that’s where the healing comes in. 🙂
I don’t feel sorry for priests, their vocation is to give us Jesus in the Eucharist, so I feel gratitude.
If any experience loneliness, they know that Jesus did also.
Do we think we can add to His death? No, nothing we do can add to it.
No discord. Catholics agree with you.

What do you think St Paul meant by:
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Col 1:24).
 
We can have Jesus all day, every day, any time we call upon Him in prayer, every hour, every moment of our lives He is available to us through our personal relationship with Him.
Awesome!
No discord. Catholics agree with you.
Blessings.
 
To crocus’s response, how kind hearted you are…no need to be sorry, I have forgiven the mean priest and Bishop & hope I don’t appear bitter. I do feel sorry for some priests as they probably have lonely lives, thus take it out on others. The faith and works debate will continue on…my new understand ing is faith FIRST with evidence of works! Faith with no evidence is not true faith, as the devil has Faith.

Faith first puts it all on Jesus & not on us. Do we think we can add to His death? No, nothing we do can add to it. What a slap in the face to Jesus if we say…you bled, had your skin ripped from your body, the most perfect person who walked this Earth. He did not deserve it, He was sinless. That was enough!!! Google how many times Jesus said you are saved by your faith. That is enough. With that knowledge you WILL try not sin because you repent, which means turn away from. Unfortunately, we will sin but when we do, we take it right to God. Asking for forgiveness. In the end, God knows our heart…
:raised_hand_with_fingers_splayed:t4:

We are saved by grace. We did not earn it. That is what the Catholic Church teaches. Our response to God’s grace and mercy is faith. As one very dear priest put it, faith is a verb!
 
Why did Jesus die…if we think by our works we can add to what He did, we are mistaken.
No discord. Catholics agree with you.
I have forgiven the mean priest and Bishop & hope I don’t appear bitter.
I do feel sorry for some priests as they probably have lonely lives, thus take it out on others.
Crocus said:
Maaaybe you sound a little bitter 🙃 … that’s where the healing comes in. 🙂
I don’t feel sorry for priests, their vocation is to give us Jesus in the Eucharist, so I feel gratitude.
If any experience loneliness, they know that Jesus did also.
:raised_hand_with_fingers_splayed:t4:
Do we think we can add to His death? No, nothing we do can add to it.
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Crocus:
No discord. Catholics agree with you.

What do you think St Paul meant by:
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Col 1:24).
Great post!! That verse was going through my mind too when I read Bootsy’s post.
 
We can have Jesus all day, every day, any time we call upon Him in prayer, every hour, every moment of our lives He is available to us through our personal relationship with Him. I do not believe the priest is a magic man who can only admimister Jesus to people through the Eucharist. But I do respect your belief that you receive Him in that way. Yes Paul was a great warrior for the Lord.
Agree! The priest is not a magic man!

Jesus told his Apostles, “Do this.”
Luke Chapter 22 The Last Supper.
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When the hour came, he took his place at table with the apostles.
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He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover* with you before I suffer,
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for, I tell you, I shall not eat it [again] until there is fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”i
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Then he took a cup,* gave thanks, and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves;
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for I tell you [that] from this time on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
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  • j Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.”
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    And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you.k
John 6
I am the bread of life.
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Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;z
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this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.
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I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”a
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The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?”
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Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.
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Whoever eats* my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.
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For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
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Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.
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Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.b
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This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
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These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life.*
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Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
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Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you?


Luke 10:16
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Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”o
 
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Col 1:24).
Great post!! That verse was going through my mind too when I read Bootsy’s post.
Confirmation. 🙏 Holy Spirit.
We are saved by grace. We did not earn it. That is what the Catholic Church teaches. Our response to God’s grace and mercy is faith. As one very dear priest put it, faith is a verb!
Thank you for enunciating the sequence, that I know in my heart is true. Still learning.
 
Thank you for enunciating the sequence, that I know in my heart is true. Still learning.
Life is a journey! Our hope is in the Lord! When we fall, it is to know we need Jesus to pick us up.

Christine (HLS Club) 💓
 
To start with, the Catholic Church can trace it’s lineage back to the Bible itself. The bible shows Jesus giving the Keys to Heaven and Earth to his apostle Saint Peter, telling him that what Peter loosens on Earth will be loosened in Heaven and what Peter binds on Earth will be bound in Heaven. This is the Pope’s claim to authority; he can trace his line of predecessors to Saint Peter who was appointed by Jesus Christ himself.

Beyond that, Catholicism offers its followers the most spiritual reward. The Sacrament of Confession will give you surety beyond doubt that your sins are forgiven without having to reveal them to the community at large. The season of Lent can bring you closer to God by giving you a reminder to focus less on Earthly things and more on him.

Finally, as the Catholic Church is a united entity that spans the world you will be joining a large community. You can go to any Catholic Church in the world and be welcome there.
 
I’m not going to answer your question directly. I just wanted to make a few observations.
Of all the religious traditions, the Judeo-Christian tradition is the only one in which God is the one who makes the initiative. God is the one who is longing for us, for you. If I can make use of such language, God is “desperately” calling you out. Even on the Cross Our Lord exclaims “I thirst”, it is us He thirsts for (see Mother Teresa).

In any other tradition we are the ones seeking out God. Man is the one trying to explain existence and creation and man may make use of the divine as a crutch.

The reason I’m saying this is because from what you wrote, it seems that’s exactly what’s happening! God has been seeking you out since your youth! First by giving you parents who saw the importance of religion even though they may not have had it themselves. Then by giving you a restless spirit that seeks for answers. (“Our hearts are restless until they rest in You” - St. Augustine), then by giving you a Roman Catholic Bible and a Holy Rosary!

Of course it’s important to be familiar with the Fatih, to understand the intricacies and subtleties of Roman Catholicism vs Lutheranism or any other branch. For that I recommend you study. A lot. But it seems to me (from the very very little that I know about you) that God’s been begging you to come to home to Rome your whole life.

Just a thought.
 
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Why should anyone become Catholic? stay Catholic? return when they’ve been away?

On another forum topic @joeybaggz offers a suggestion
joeybaggz said:
Suggestion: go to a Catholic Mass (in the vernacular,not the traditional mass said in Latin) and listen to the creed that the entire congregation says after the homily or sermon. That is what Catholics believe, or maybe better, must believe to say we are Catholic. If you do not agree or find it problematic, you’re probably better off staying where you are. If some things are not clear, then you might want to talk to a priest to get a clearer picture.

If you are looking for perfect people in a perfect church, you are not going to find it in the RCC. The Catholic church is a place where sinners help other sinners find bread.
The last sentence says it best. The Eucharist.
 
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It is not your fault that that priest & Bishop behaved & taught the way that they did. It is not your job to judge them for it either. God is the judge of the “living and the dead” (Apostles Creed) of all souls. Know that not everyone is like them. May I ask how your prayer life was during this time in your life? They aren’t responsible for you choosing to leave the Catholic Church. Take ownership of your words and actions, so that no matter the outcome, you won’t let it still bother you. Who actually told you that the Bible is the only means to living? Compare the history of the Catholic Church with the church you’re going to and tell me which one has been existing longer & why? If you are only living with the reliance of the Bible (consisting of metaphoric & literal meanings within the verses) and the Holy Spirit to guide you along your faith journey, how can you be sure that your lifestyle and choices are actually guided by the Holy Spirit and the Bible?? Saint Ignatius of Loyola explains The Discernment of Spirits well. It sounds a lot like you are relying heavily on yourself as the mediator for guidance along your faith journey and in reality this life isn’t about us. Those of us who faithfully pray the Rosary, go to Confession, attend Mass regularly, attend Eucharistic Adoration, and strive to live virtuous lives selflessly can experience lasting peace, joy, & love in surrendering ourselves to God within the Catholic Church. I truly feel sorry for you because you’re missing out on the personal relationship you can have not just with God+Jesus+Holy Spirit, but also in community with fellow Catholics (‘catholic’ literally means universal- it’s a universal Church in many countries, languages, etc) together as “one holy catholic and apostolic Church” (Nicene Creed). I am praying for you.
 
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If your charges are true, you should report this to the authorities. I can assure you these men don’t represent the majority of priests. In my diocese, such men have been defrocked and imprisoned.

I do not let a fallen man stand between me and and the Church Jesus established on earth. The Catholic Church. There are bad people in all religions. Even the Apostles sinned! That did not stop Jesus from using them to establish his Church, to go and preach to all nations. Even Paul did not stop sinning after his conversion!

God used fallen men to carry out his mission on earth.
.hey I am am Catholic & only I am right, hey I am a priest, I have a right to treat people bad if I want!
Not they don’t. They will have to answer to God for that.
Reading the Bible which was meant for the every

Day person to read. It’s. God’s living word.
YUP!

Bootsy, can you tell me how it was determined which books are in the Bible? Did you know that the Protestant Reformation took out several books from the Bible, just because Martin Luther decided he didn’t like what they taught? Did you know he also wanted to remove James and Revelations because they conflicted with his new theology (faith ALONE) which is nowhere in the Bible?
Reading the Bible which was meant for the every

Day person to read. It’s. God’s living word.
Amen!

That is why on Sundays we read from three books of the Bible, plus Psalms. At daily mass we read from two books of the Bible and a Psalm. That’s why this FORUM exists!!
Have you visited the Scripture thread here?
The body of Christ, true followers of Jesus have been around since Jesus. The Catholic Church just wants to claim fame for everything.
The Catholic Church is about people being saved and going to Heaven. That is our purpose in life. To bring people to the Truth.
Don’t you think there were bodies of.believers gathered all over the place…even if they didn’t allege to the cc.
Yes, but they were heretics. Some didn’t believe Jesus was true God and true man (Arians). Some didn’t believe the Holy Spirit was divine. Some believed Jesus wasn’t God, some believed he wasn’t man. Some believed we were saved by works (Pelagian heresy) and didn’t need Jesus’ Cross.

Bootsy, I can tell you are seeking the truth. That’s why you are here.

May God bless you on your journey!
 
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So I ask why I should be Catholic over the other Christian demonintions - can you convince me the Catholic way is the right way?
Not in a forum.
Attend Mass and speak further with the priest
Speak to your friends and acquaintances that are Catholic
 
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It is historically correct that the deuterocanonical books were removed.
Didn’t the Catholic Church add to the Bible?. Scripture says that you cannot interpret by yourself but you need someone to interpret scripture for you. You say that your works won’t get you to heaven? Then what was Jesus parable?
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: [R] [+]
35 for I was hungry, and ye gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; …

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels: [R] [+]
42 for I was hungry, and ye did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink;

Matthew 25:31-46 It does seem that you will be judged by what you do.
 
Do you believe that Jesus died because the Jews failed to recognize him as the Messiah? Jesus is the one who gave us the pope. If the Holy Spirit guides everyone who reads the bible, why is there so may different interpretations? What do you believe the Church teaches? Have you ever read the Catechism? If not, then please do not state what the Church teaches nor what it hasn’t taught because you are wrong see sections 161 to 165 and you will see the falsehood of your statement.
 
Your are a few centuries off. I wish you would have read the link but I will reproduce it:
A few things need to be said here. First of all, the seven books in question–Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, and Baruch–are properly called the deuterocanonical books.

Second, the label “unscriptural” was first applied by the Protestant Reformers of the 16th century. The truth is, portions of these books contradict elements of Protestant doctrine (as in the case of 2 Maccabees 12, which clearly supports prayers for the dead and a belief in purgatory), and the “reformers” therefore needed some excuse to eliminate them from the canon. However, these books are “unscriptural” only if misinterpreted. It should also be noted that the first-century Christians–including Jesus and the apostles–effectively considered these seven books canonical. They quoted from the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures that contained these seven books. More importantly, the deuterocanonicals are clearly alluded to in the New Testament.

Third, the canon of the entire Bible was essentially settled around the turn of the fourth century. Up until this time, there was disagreement over the canon, and some ten different canonical lists existed, none of which corresponded exactly to what the Bible now contains. Around this time there were no less than five instances when the canon was formally identified: the Synod of Rome (382), the Council of Hippo (393), the Council of Carthage (397), a letter from Pope Innocent I to Exsuperius, Bishop of Toulouse (405), and the Second Council of Carthage (419). In every instance, the canon was identical to what Catholic Bibles contain today. In other words, from the end of the fourth century on, in practice Christians accepted the Catholic Church’s decision in this matter.

By the time of the Reformation, Christians had been using the same 73 books in their Bibles (46 in the Old Testament, 27 in the New Testament)–and thus considering them inspired–for more than 1100 years. This practice changed with Martin Luther, who dropped the deuterocanonical books on nothing more than his own say-so. Protestantism as a whole has followed his lead in this regard.

One of the two “pillars” of the Protestant Reformation (sola scriptura or “the Bible alone”) in part states that nothing can be added to or taken away from God’s Word. History shows therefore that Protestants are guilty of violating their own doctrine.
Not in the 16th century but the fourth.

What credentials do you have to say what is and isn’t scripture?
 
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Maybe you should follow your own advice. Jesus came to suffer and die on the cross for our sins.
You are mixing up the reason Jesus died for the means of how He died.
27 And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins.

Romans 3:25
25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
1 John 2:2
2 and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.
1 John 4:10
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Jesus died because that was why He was born to save us from sin.
2 Corinthians
21 Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
The ones who physically killed Jesus were the Romans but He died to save us. We all share blame for His death.
 
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Mathew 16:27
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then shall he render unto every man according to his deeds.

Do you believe in a judgment? The bible says that we will have to render an account according to our deeds. I don’t see that it says why we did them.
 
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