Spiritual Crisis

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KimM

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Ok everyone I need help. Here’s the Reader Digest version of my spiritual jouney thus far…
I was baptised in the Catholic Church in elementary school and later confirmed. My family wasn’t devout so after confirmation we stopped going to Mass.
Before getting married my husband and I were baptised at a Baptist church - the same church where we married. We were members there for 7 years. We have been members at a Lutheran church for the past 4 years.
Ok, recently I have been reading and studying and understanding the Catholic Church. I am so confused though. Sometimes I feel like I should definately go back to the Catholic fatih, other times I feel like it would be a mistake. I have three children and a husband I love dearly. I want to do what is right before the Lord. I have learned a lot from this site and forum and also from EWTN. I just feel really torn. Any help or insight would be appreciated.
KimM
 
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KimM:
Ok everyone I need help. Here’s the Reader Digest version of my spiritual jouney thus far…
I was baptised in the Catholic Church in elementary school and later confirmed. My family wasn’t devout so after confirmation we stopped going to Mass.
Before getting married my husband and I were baptised at a Baptist church - the same church where we married. We were members there for 7 years. We have been members at a Lutheran church for the past 4 years.
Ok, recently I have been reading and studying and understanding the Catholic Church. I am so confused though. Sometimes I feel like I should definately go back to the Catholic fatih, other times I feel like it would be a mistake. I have three children and a husband I love dearly. I want to do what is right before the Lord. I have learned a lot from this site and forum and also from EWTN. I just feel really torn. Any help or insight would be appreciated.
KimM
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First–breathe.

Second–pray. All the time.

Third–read. Read whatever you dig up at www.catholic.com, and participate in discussions here.

Fourth–be forewarned. Some of the people here get a little firm in their defense and explanation of Catholicism (me included) but there are probably more kind, sincere voices here. Listen to them.

You should definitely come back to the Church, and as a baptized Catholic, that part of the process should be relatively easy. Your family, however…well, just see how it goes and pray.
 
Hi Kim-

I agree with Montana - relax and pray. Also, you said you watched EWTN, you must also watch Journey Home on Mondays 8 PM? The Journeys Home book from converts and reverts might be helpful…

Phil
 
Are there any specific areas of your life that are causing you to be torn? Explain them 🙂

Are there any specific doctrines or questions that are still causing trouble? Ask about them 🙂

I ask both of these because both are factors. You may be torn because you feel the Church is true but you don’t want to upset you family, for instance. Or, you may be torn between those doctrines that you feel support the Church and those that you feel are in opposition.
 
I have spoken with a priest and I’ve been to confession - a few times. I’ve been back to Mass. I just keep thinking about all of the reasons that I started going to a protestant church. My mind is back and forth. I have an appointment to talk to a pastor at the Lutheran church of which I am still a member. I pretty much know what he will say and how he will argue for the “Reformed Fatith,” but I want to hear it from the horse’s mouth so to speak. I am troubled by the fact that there are good and sincere people in Catholic as well as the protestant churches. How do I reconcile all of this in my own mind? I do love the jouney home by the way and I’m reading everything that Scott Hahn has ever written, I think. 🙂
 
Make a list of what would prevent you from returning, or at least what hurdles are there.

Get on this web-site or these forums and study the doctrines that you are having trouble with. I think you’ll find that they are beautiful developed and all of them will ultimately bring you closer to Christ, which, of course, is your ultimate goal!

Everything the Church teaches is Christ centered! Few people outside the church realize that. Come in and see!

Good Luck!

Notworthy

P.S. Oh yeah, and pray! When you’re done with that, pray again!
 
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KimM:
I have spoken with a priest and I’ve been to confession - a few times. I’ve been back to Mass. I just keep thinking about all of the reasons that I started going to a protestant church. My mind is back and forth. I have an appointment to talk to a pastor at the Lutheran church of which I am still a member. I pretty much know what he will say and how he will argue for the “Reformed Fatith,” but I want to hear it from the horse’s mouth so to speak. I am troubled by the fact that there are good and sincere people in Catholic as well as the protestant churches. How do I reconcile all of this in my own mind? I do love the jouney home by the way and I’m reading everything that Scott Hahn has ever written, I think. 🙂
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Well, if you’re reading Scott Hahn, you’re toast. Lol. Sounds like you have a good attitude. That’s a good start.
 
Hi Kim! 👋

Firstly, know that you are now included in all my prayers and at every Mass I attend. Just call it “spiritual backup”. 🙂

I went through something similar I suppose and so I know what you are feeling. (Read it here!.)

It’s all about the truth…but not just “truth”, but about following Our Lord into the fullness of truth. Imagine how I felt when I finally told my wife of 32 years that I wanted to return to the Catholic faith… ❤️ only to have her smile and say, “That’s okay, I’ve always been Catholic at heart anyway!” 😃 We went through RCIA and she entered the church last Easter. Her mom’s side of the family is all Catholics. She even has an aunt who’s a nun! :eek:

I don’t know how your hubby will respond to all this but I suspect that if you are feeling the “unction” of the Holy Spirit (as my sainted “Me-Ma” used to say) that he is as well. There are many ways to approach this and hopefully you guys have a good enough relationship that if you tell him that this is how you feel God leading you that he’ll be open to it as well and bring an open mind and heart to the study and journey that it takes you both on.

On a very practical note, let me urge you to enroll in one of the great FREE Catholic courses from The Catholic Home Study Service and maybe share the books with your husband. They are extremely well written, interesting, and informative. You really cannot go wrong. (I have completed them all and begged for more, so I have no qualms about recommending them so highly).

Another really superior source is The Bible Christian Society which offers FREE CDs of great Catholic Bible studies. (Bear in mind they do ask for a buck a piece shipping and handling, but the stuff is WORTH it.)

Keep us posted on your journey and if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to post them or PM myself or any of the rest of the Converts and Reverts (like me!) and “revived” Cradle Catholics on here who will consider it a service to God to help out any way we can.
Pax tecum, (Peace be with you)

P.S. Montanaman isn’t as bad as he makes himself sound. He’s actually a good dude! 👍
 
I am definately worried about my family’s spiritual well-being. My husband is supporting my looking for the truth he just hopes I don’t find it inthe Catholic Church.
As for specific doctrines, I’m still learning. The Catholic reasoning for all the things protestants argue with, seems logical. Some things that I struggle with are the issues dealing with Mary. Praying to someone other than God. I understand the reasoning behind doing these things, it’s just hard to switch gears after being the the protestant churches for so long.
 
“I just keep thinking about all of the reasons that I started going to a protestant church.”

I think this is the place to start. Take a good look at each of those reasons. I know quite a few people that left the CC not because of doctrine, but because they didn’t feel they got anything out of the mass. They felt more comfortable and spiritually nourished at another church. Heck, for years I didn’t exactly get much out of it either. Then I started actually learning about the faith, and now I have such an appreciation, even love, for the Church. Once I learned why we do the things we do in mass, I have a greater appreciation for that as well.

If you do have concerns about doctrine, Catholic Answers is great. You might also check out the Surprised By Truth books. They are full of conversion stories.

As others have said, pray, pray, pray. And don’t forget to LISTEN for the answers! I wish you the best.
 
Hi - The Coming Home Network is very helpful. It assists protestant clergy and lay people who are considering converting to the Catholic Church. You’ll be able to communicate w/ lots of other people who are on the same journey. Their address is chnetwork.org . God Bless.
 
One thing to try, and that helped me, and something you may want to remember when you talk to the Lutheran Pastor is this:

As I read all the arguements back and forth, I noticed two things.

First I noticed that the Catholic folks would always be straightforward On the other hand, the non-Catholics always ended up doing word gymnastics to reach their point. The Catholics seemed to, the vast majority of the time, simply present their arguements plain and straightforwardly, even when confronted with supposedly opposing facts or biblical texts. The non-Catholics, on the other hand, very frequently had to twist and turn and go through drawn out explanations to answer the objections I would present to them.

Secondly, I noticed that the Catholics the vast majority of the time simply told the truth, and the whole truth, whereas non-Catholics often took things out of context to make their points, especially the Church fathers and the Bible. In other words, the non-Catholics would often show me a Bible verse, or a quote from Augustine or Iranaeus, or tell me some historical incident. Then, upon looking these things up, I would see that the context seemed to defeat the arguement that the non-Catholic was making. The non-Catholic would then concede that yes, the greater context seems to disagree with them. They would then either try to portray the discrepency as a mistake on their part before immediately jumping to some other point, or would go through their word gymnastics to explain why the context was not the problem it seemed to be.

So from that standpoint, I was forcefully drawn to the Church. The Catholics, it seemed, were being honest. They were telling me their side of the story plainly and without fudging it, even when there was something detrimental to their arguement. The non-Catholics, on the other hand, seemed more concerned with convincing me than being honest. That was a big eye opener for me. It isn’t like this 100% of the time, but pay attention and you will see it is like this quite often. Whereas Catholics would, more often than not, tell me that *they * urged me to come to the Church but to pray to God and to ask Him where *He * wants me, the non-Catholics would tell me, more often than not, simply tell me that the Church was wrong with no mention of asking God’s advice. I remember after I made the decision, I asked the key influence in my becoming Catholic if he had prayed for me to do so. He said that he had prayed to God that He would lead me where He wanted.
 
Thanks to everyone for the links and sound advice. I’ll keep you posted!
 
Hi Kim…and welcome.

I am entering the Church this Easter! 👍 Awesome.

My largest issue was also about Mary…you mentioned Scott Hahn…have you read ‘Hail Holy Queen?’ Really helped me to see what was going on…along with This Article things really started to fall into place. I’m sure anyone around here can supply you with material to keep you busy for the next 100 years, myself included 😃 .

God Bless and Peace

John
 
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