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blueadept
Guest
I guess I better stop handing out the occasional ‘door-to-door evangelizing’ assignment in the Legion of Mary.
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pablope
Guest
Hi, Cowboy…when there is a will, there is a way…and if it is truly your desire to go to RCIA, I know God will find a way. My suggestion is to still contact the parish, or any other, confirm the cost, if any and inform them of you situation. Who know, God is already working…and there could be someone close to you who could give you a ride…No one on my thread has called me a liar, pablope, but I’ve been called liar on other threads (mostly by Stephen168, who says that regularly to all the mormons) and so I was thanking the person above for verifying that my statement about the RCIA classes in Vegas was true.
I’m sure that they are simply trying to defray reasonable expenses and I did not mean to try to make your church look bad, only that 1 month ago I was seriously looking into taking the classes and that’s what stopped me. At this point I’ve just lost my car and so it’s a moot point; I probably won’t have internet long and then you’ll all be rid of me.I will miss arguing with you and I do appreciate your kindness, Pablope. And I’m particularly happy to have exchanged friendly words with Rebecca, who I sorely misjudged during my first few weeks here.
You will be in my prayers…
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catholic-rcia
Guest
When you walk into a Catholic Church or RCIA place your focus on Jesus, look past the faults of others and get right down to Him. See what you find out about Him there. My image is one of all of us standing under the Crucifix looking up. We all belong sin and all. He gets it all right all the time. We can really love even our enemies when we come to know His love for us first. We can over look the faults of others and work on our own through Him. If we place our faith in others we will miss Jesus who places very little faith in us. Does not the Cross prove this? He is our life, He is our faith. Life is Good!No one on my thread has called me a liar, pablope, but I’ve been called liar on other threads (mostly by Stephen168, who says that regularly to all the mormons) and so I was thanking the person above for verifying that my statement about the RCIA classes in Vegas was true.
I’m sure that they are simply trying to defray reasonable expenses and I did not mean to try to make your church look bad, only that 1 month ago I was seriously looking into taking the classes and that’s what stopped me. At this point I’ve just lost my car and so it’s a moot point; I probably won’t have internet long and then you’ll all be rid of me.
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RebeccaJ
Guest
I guess I better stop handing out the occasional ‘door-to-door evangelizing’ assignment in the Legion of Mary.
Except for the Legion of Mary.
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PaulDupre
Guest
The same here at St. Callistus Parish in the Diocese of Orange, CA. Out of 46 converts in this year’s Easter baptisms, 7 were former LDS. No one “tracted them out”, they just showed up, having been called by the Holy Spirit. Last year, 8 out of 52 were former LDS.
I believe they studied their way out of Mormonism and into the Catholic Church.
Do I detect a pattern here?
By the way, are there any LDS wards that have 46+ convert baptisms in any given year?
Paul (formerly LDS, now happilyCatholic)
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Cowboy_Pete
Guest
A pattern based on what you believe to be so, rather than based on actual facts, would say more about you than about the facts.
You’re former LDS, and you equate a parrish to a ward? How many families in a Parrish?
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mwok
Guest
I just read that you considered RCIA!!!
If I lived in Vegas my wife and I would drive you ourselves!!! But, as it is we don’t so I’ll pray for you!
(hmmm, might be a good excuse to take a mini vacation!)
If I lived in Vegas my wife and I would drive you ourselves!!! But, as it is we don’t so I’ll pray for you!
(hmmm, might be a good excuse to take a mini vacation!)
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mwok
Guest
CowboyPete:
I just read that you considered RCIA!!!
If we lived in Vegas my wife and I would drive you ourselves!!! But, as we don’t live there we will definitely pray for you!
(hmmmm, might be a good excuse to take my wife on a mini vacation!)
I just read that you considered RCIA!!!
If we lived in Vegas my wife and I would drive you ourselves!!! But, as we don’t live there we will definitely pray for you!
(hmmmm, might be a good excuse to take my wife on a mini vacation!)
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NewSeeker
Guest
I was raised LDS, served an honorable mission, obeyed the rules so conscientiously that I was made a zone leader and had troubled missionaries sent to me on splits for counseling, extended my mission the allowable extra month to 25 months total, then married my sweetheart in the SLC temple. All along, beginning in high school, through my mission and temple marriage, and for some years afterward I prayed sincerely and with real intent for a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I also only read ‘good books’ about the church (i.e., books on doctrine and history that were church-approved, aka books published by Bookcraft, Deseret Book, or directly by the Church). I was a good and faithful Mormon, a full tithe-payer, conscientiously following the counsel of the prophet and apostles. I had a strong hope that the church was true, and that’s what kept me going for so long, but that gradually withered away since no confirming spiritual witness ever came, the kind Mormons go on and on about in Fast and Testimony Meeting, no burning bosoms, no whispered thoughts, no sense of assurance deep down in the core of my being, no still small voice, no feeling of being covered in warm honey (as I hilariously read somewhere else in this forum). In exchange, I got years of passive-aggressive finger pointing (“hmm, that’s disconcerting, Brother NewSeeker. Were you truly sincere when you prayed?” “Never in my life have I ever met anyone who wanted a testimony so bad and never got one.” “Maybe you weren’t listening when the spirit whispered.” “Are you really willing to live up to the standards of the church?”). That really upset me, but it didn’t bother me nearly so much as what I learnt at the university after I expanded my studies of mormonism (gasp!!
) beyond what church leaders would consider valid sources that could be consulted to support of church claims about the Joseph Smith story and the Great Apostasy (i.e., I consulted historical research produced by professional, non-LDS, PhD historians, followed up by reading the primary sources for myself). I was shocked by what I learnt when I consulted the primary documents.I, too, studied my way out of the fraud of Mormonism and into ancient, liturgical Christianity.
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Miriam1947
Guest
NewSeeker did your wife become Catholic as well?
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NewSeeker
Guest
Alas, no. My ‘apostasy’ bothered her, but not as much as it would have if she believed everything the church taught. We approach things very differently. I accept a religious tradition if it’s true; she accepts it if it works for her and supports her in raising our kids. So far, she has no reason to complain about Mormonism. She doesn’t care that Joseph Smith lied to his wife and married a handful of underage girls behind her back or if the Book of Abraham is a fake. She doesn’t believe that our LDS eternal marriage is invalid now that I’m a Catholic, even though that conflicts with official church teaching. She believes what she believes and feels it in her bones. Her testimony of her own private version of Mormonism is strong. Like any Mormon, no amount of reason or presentation of evidence, even evidence and teachings presented by her own General Authorities in SLC, can sway her. I pray daily for her conversion, but it will take a true miracle as she isn’t interested in truth per se, just what feels good to her. I suppose she’s like most people these days. I don’t know that it’s a bad thing. It keeps me married.
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Cowboy_Pete
Guest
I’m more trusting of mormons who studied their way into Catholicism, like BartBurk, than those who say they “studied their way out of Mormonism” and ended up Catholic. The latter seems almost disrespectful to Catholicism.
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truthsave
Guest
I wouldn’t be so hard on this matter.
For me “studied their way out” is not just a studying.
Mormonisms expecially if you have been a mormon for all your life or for many years have really formatted you in a way that you have to be supported psycologically and everything else. You will change from amstructure that make you feel good and sure to another vision were, if you are a truly believer, the only thing you are sure is that you are a sinner and the more you relize yozur Christianity the more you realize how you are missing the courage and the faith to really totally follow Christ. So you pray.
It is a terrible feeling when you come out from mormonism were you feel a good boy worthed of a good salary.
For me this “your way out” is: mormonism created a psycologycal labirynth and you need something to find your way out. You were so supported when you were a mormon and then you are there alone with your faith, no more men that are telling you how good you are since you are doing your mission. It can be difficult for a mormon used to have the consensus of people around him.
This of course is my way of understanding the title of this topic.
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Cowboy_Pete
Guest
Truthsave, you were never LDS, were you?
Because when you speak about my faith, I always feel like you’re talking about another church entirely.
And when you suggest that a mormon has to be deprogrammed and to study anti-Mormon literature in order to join the Catholic church, that suggests that Catholicism itself lacks the power to save.
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NewSeeker
Guest
No. I never would have discovered the riches of ancient, liturgical Christianity in the first place if I had not first studied my way out of Mormonism. First I had to free myself from my socialization, to unlearn all of the false history I had been taught as if it was gospel truth, to learn that it was okay to be non-Mormon, that life outside of the church was not the evil place I was told by General Authorities and church leaders that it was. Like many Mormons who equated the church with the absolute truth, once I learned that Joseph Smith’s story was fake, I became a rabid atheist; that’s how invested I was in my hope that the church was true. When I learned the truth about Mormonism, my belief in the existence of God was shattered. It is only through the grace of God that I returned to faith in Christ.
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Tony888
Guest
I’m a relatively new member. I’ve spent my classroom (Sunday) studies on reading scripture, not history. And by scripture, I mean the Bible along with the other standard works. I’m sorry you were not taught to read the bible when you were a member.
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Miriam1947
Guest
I’m reading a book right now that is very difficult for me. It is called:*** The Mystery of Predestination*** by John Salza.
From the back cover:
How can an all-loving God choose some people for eternal salvation while premitting others to fall away? Doesn’t God offter the same amount of saving grace to everyone? Isn’t predestination a Protestant doctrine?
I know that God’s grace brought me to the Catholic Church. I had nothing to do with it.
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NewSeeker
Guest
And like a good Mormon, you grasp at straws to explain away people like me. Of course, I was taught to read the Bible, and did, many times.
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NewSeeker
Guest
I can’t explain it either. But there it is. All I know is God calls and some respond. I responded, though my response, my faith in God’s existence and mercy, continues to be weak. My lifetime of Mormonism really did a number on me. Lord, have mercy. Help thou my unbelief.
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Cowboy_Pete
Guest
Predestination used to be a Catholic doctrine too. Your church’s gradual rejection of that doctrine (which is one of the doctrines described as abomination in the Book of Mormon) is one of the two reasons why most LDS no longer see the Catholic church suspiciously.
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