Second Thoughts

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luckycross26

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I’m starting to have second thoughts about becoming Catholic, now that RCIA is getting closer.Thoughts/ Questions going through my mind:

Is this the right thing for me?
Should I be looking elsewhere?
My beliefs are with Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit.
Why am I all of a sudden questioning my decision, one that was made a year ago?
Does anyone else have these thoughts?

I would love some advice from anyone. I grew up (in Utah), LDS, stopped practicing @ 16, but then went to a Baptist church for a few years. It wasn’t until 3 years ago I went to a Mass and fell in love with the Peace I found there. The RCIA director, at one point, was meeting me last year on Thursdays, but due to her family issues,we stopped. I’ve tried emailing her in the past, but no luck. I texted her yesterday about the classes and all I was told was to just come in any time. I like structure, and up to yesterday, I was seriously considering making the commitment to become Catholic and join the RCIA. But now, I’m looking back at my past and I loved the Baptist Church, and I am reconsidering my choice,

Sorry this is so long!
 
How can you make a decision until you have all the information? They don’t force you to be Baptized in RCIA. They just teach you what the Church believes so you can decide for yourself. I advise you to go to RCIA and then entertain second thoughts.
 
I would say that you should attend at the RCIA classes. As Allegra stated, you shouldn’t give up on something before you fully understand what you’re giving up. There is no obligation with RCIA; you can get through the entire course and still chose to not become Catholic.

I highly encourage you to attend them, there is a beauty to the Church that you will not find anywhere else.

Whatever you do, God bless, and I hope your search brings you home ^^
 
Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but here is my anecdotal experience.

I was somewhat terrified of entering the Catholic Church, or even going through RCIA, because very good people had told me all my life that Catholicism was a corrupt and superstitious version of Christianity, if not actually demonic. I did not see how the Catholic Church could possibly be making so much sense to me, when it was vehemently denied by so many Godly scholars who were far more intelligent and holy than myself. I was also afraid that it might be “just a fad” along my spiritual journey, and that I was in danger of making a very large lifetime decision (becoming a Catholic) over something that might only last a year.

Then, when I finally decided to enter RCIA (telling myself “I’m just curious” when actually I knew that I was already very serious), I felt that, in order to be honest in friendship, I needed to tell certain people which direction I was going.
One was raised Catholic and became Methodist and she said, “Good for you, you’re joining a church, but why not try the Lutherans? They’re a LOT like the Catholics!” and I thought to myself, ‘Why would I become a Lutheran because I wanted to be Roman Catholic?’
Another was raised Catholic and became Seventh Day Adventist and she said, “I’m so worried about you, you’re falling for the false beauty and pomp of Satan! You’re probably lonely and trying to find a social life?” and I thought to myself, ‘As though Catholics are famous for hanging out at church after Mass to socialize?’
Even though I knew that I knew that I did not agree with Adventism, at one point I felt overwhelmed with fear to be coming so close to entering “Satan’s church” which had “changed the Sabbath.” This prompted what I think was my first attempt at asking a Saint for their intercession; I talked to St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was the first Christian Father to mention the Christian observance of Sunday instead of the Jewish Sabbath, and I felt at peace.

I have a feeling that an intellectual would criticize my decision to become Catholic by saying that all of my reasons were invalid and poorly thought through; but for me, the convincing points were that I had read enough of the Early Fathers of Christianity to see that there were very few denominations that really looked like they could have grown from the early church, and one of these was Catholicism. Then, I saw a need for there to be consistent, living voice in teaching and Christian doctrine, and I had been put-off (even becoming agnostic for awhile) by the great doctrinal differences across Christian denominations. It seemed that, if Christianity was really true, someone would have figured out which version was the “real” one by now, and I had a right to know it! It seemed that there were a lot of questions that could only vaguely be answered by the Bible and Christian traditions in general; that is where the necessity for a living voice of authority came in. The Pope and the Magisterium made sense to me, and I couldn’t find anything in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that I fundamentally disagreed with (at least, not after I had thought through a few things that I’d never considered before).
 
luckycross26 said:
I’m starting to have second thoughts about becoming Catholic, now that RCIA is getting closer.Thoughts/ Questions going through my mind:

Is this the right thing for me?
Should I be looking elsewhere?
My beliefs are with Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit.
Why am I all of a sudden questioning my decision, one that was made a year ago?
Does anyone else have these thoughts?

I would love some advice from anyone. I grew up (in Utah), LDS, stopped practicing @ 16, but then went to a Baptist church for a few years. It wasn’t until 3 years ago I went to a Mass and fell in love with the Peace I found there. The RCIA director, at one point, was meeting me last year on Thursdays, but due to her family issues,we stopped. I’ve tried emailing her in the past, but no luck. I texted her yesterday about the classes and all I was told was to just come in any time. I like structure, and up to yesterday, I was seriously considering making the commitment to become Catholic and join the RCIA. But now, I’m looking back at my past and I loved the Baptist Church, and I am reconsidering my choice,

Sorry this is so long!
Click to expand...
It dosen’t mean you are signing in blood. It’s just a class, normal people just wanting to know what its about, nothing more. You aren’t joining the Gestopo. Nothing dangerous or painful. Its just a class where you will learn something. You will never know unless you give it a try.

O, I forgot to mention, they cut off your pinky as part of the initiation so don’t wear any rings. But this part dosen’t take long.

Best wishes.
 
It took me some 9 years to finally decide to get truly serious and become Catholic. Whilst I was (more or less) intellectually convinced of Catholicism, I for a great deal of those 9 years allowed personal sin to take me off of my course. I believe that, if we continue to resist the graces that God is giving us, we will soon wake up and find them gone entirely, and the process will have to start anew. The time that we thus waste is never able to be returned to us, and the good that we could do is limited.

You should find out whether you have a roadblock of the heart, or a roadblock of the head. The former is remedied by lots of prayer, and the latter by lots of reading and research. I would also ask that you revisit your first question. Considering Catholicism is not merely a matter of “finding something” for yourself to do or to become, all based on the assumption that it might or might not be “right” for your personality or nature or temperament, and that such a rightness must necessarily be discovered. Catholicism is about truth and reality, and if you’re not searching for ultimate truth, you will not find Him. Part of your nature as a human being involves longing for and loving truth, and, since Christ’s Church is his medium for communicating truth, you will most certainly find comfort and deep fulfillment there.

But in order to discover whether or not Catholicism really is true, you have to know precisely what Catholicism is, and you will find it much easier to determine this once you meet with a local parish within their RCIA program. There are many supplements to this – Catholic Answers being a wonderful example – but things must be approached in their fullest way if you are to have the best understanding of what is involved.
 
Are you perhaps having second thoughts do to the fact that many evangelical/fundamentalist churches have very negative views on Catholicism…if so you need to continue with the RCIA before coming to any informed view on what the Catholic church actually teaches…I used to be a Pentecostal…some of the literature I had read warned that if you were confirmed in the Catholic church you were “sealed” into the Catholic faith…in other words you had basically sold your soul to Satan and were forever lost…in fact during the confirmation ceremony you are “sealed” with the Holy Spirit…just be careful you understand the truth about Catholicism and not the lies…God bless you on your quest for the truth.
 
I can relate. I was Seventh-day Adventist for a while. (Adventists are notorious for being anti-Roman Catholic.)

My experience, it’s rough in the beginning. Some of the least supportive folks I know are lapsed/former Catholics!

Pray. Pray. Pray. Go to RCIA. See what happens.

I love what Kimberly Hahn said during her conversion: One day my father called and he said, “Kimberly, do you pray the prayer I pray everyday: ‘Lord, I will go wherever you want me to go. I will say whatever you want me to say. I will do whatever you want me to do. I will give away whatever you want me to give away’?”

Read Rome Sweet Home.

I’m still struggling with RCIA and converting. I’m praying and trying to take Mrs. Hahn’s guidance.

:hug1:
 
Thank you, everyone!

I guess I am chalking up my second thoughts to my “commitment phobia.” Being in a land of Mormons, it’s very hard to be “something different.” I know in my heart that Catholicism is the one true church, it’s just battling with my mind.

You’re all right…RCIA is nothing to be scared of. Wish me luck as I start next month!
 
I was born & raised in the LDS faith. I never actually realised the amount of anti-catholic sentiment that was being taught until I left. It was all I knew.
Going through RCIA has taught me so much & I’m so glad that I took my thirst for the truth to the Catholic Church. All the fear & misunderstandings I had about the church pretty much dissolved.
Good luck in your faith journey!
 
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