Thinking of attending my first mass tomorrow

[crazzeto]

I grew up Christian and recently in the last year or so started attending an Anglican church … although since I was a young teen I’ve been really interested in the Catholic church… I’ve had a strong desire to attend for a long time but I’ve been ignoring it out of fear I guess.

I’ve decided that Ash Wednesday would be a great day for me to try out mass, I’ve heard that non Catholics can receive the ash and there will probably be a good turnout.

I’m worried about seeing people I know and them thinking “what is she doing here?”, not knowing what to do, feeling awkward and many other things.

I’m just so nervous and I would appreciate any words of support I can get…

I hope you came and gave it a shot, no need to worry about other people thinking “what is that outsider doing here?!?”… If any one does recognize you as a non-Catholic trying out the Mass people are far more likely to think “hey wow! someone that might convert to the faith! There must be something to this mass thing, maybe I should learn more about it”.

Seriously, at my parish we almost parade our candidates and catechumins around (boy are they good sports about it), we find it’s a powerful evenaglization tool. So come give it a shot! You might feel like a fish out of water at first, but you’ll soon get the hang of it.

Just one last think worth mentioning, Catholics are Christians I say that in all charity, but I did denote a little bit of a seperation in your post between Catholic and Christian. A lot of people make that gramatical slip up.

God bless!

 

[crazzeto]

Well i’ve been thinking of doing rcia for a while. I know i’ve only attended one service but it’s not the liking the actual service I was concerned about since it is almost identical to an Anglican service. I just felt like I should actually attend a mass before I decide to do rcia just to make sure.

My heart wasn’t really in the Anglican church, i felt like I was using it as some kind of stepping stone because I knew this is where I really wanted to be. Our priest was a married woman and anyone was allowed to take communion if they wanted to. Ever since I started thinking what the Anglican church was really founded on (King Henry wanting to divorce and remarry) it made me stop and wonder if thats the kind of church I wanted to be in.

On another note I am hoping to be married soon, no plans have been made as i’ve only been engaged for a month but I realize that this church is the church I want to be married and have those memories in. I realize rcia can take up to a year, and it starts in August so I was really hoping I would be able to make some kind of Proclaimation of faith and have it done with. Waiting until next easter seems like an awfully long time

I’m already baptized and have been living a Christian life since I was a young child so I don’t feel like I need instruction on how to be a Christian, just in the Catholic faith which I hope wouldn’t take so long. Do I talk to the priest about this?? After mass seems like a pretty busy time to approach him… I wonder if another, less busy time would be better

Wow hey, I didn’t see that post I’m so glad to read you might consider learning more about the faith through RCIA! Check your local parish bulliton or call up your pastor for more details. It might be too late this year for you to go through the normal process, but you can certainly go to classes anyway and learn what you can.

Since you’re already baptised you might not need to go through classes though, but I would recommend it. You’ll almost certainly find it a very gratifying experience.

 

[qui_est_ce]

Well i’ve been thinking of doing rcia for a while. I know i’ve only attended one service but it’s not the liking the actual service I was concerned about since it is almost identical to an Anglican service. I just felt like I should actually attend a mass before I decide to do rcia just to make sure.

On another note I am hoping to be married soon, no plans have been made as i’ve only been engaged for a month but I realize that this church is the church I want to be married and have those memories in. I realize rcia can take up to a year, and it starts in August so I was really hoping I would be able to make some kind of Proclaimation of faith and have it done with. Waiting until next easter seems like an awfully long time

I’m already baptized and have been living a Christian life since I was a young child so I don’t feel like I need instruction on how to be a Christian, just in the Catholic faith which I hope wouldn’t take so long. Do I talk to the priest about this?? After mass seems like a pretty busy time to approach him… I wonder if another, less busy time would be better

I would not recommend skipping RCIA. Even Catholics are still learning about Church Teaching. I help with RCIA, and I am learning all the time.

You cannot jump into a church without learning about it. Even baptized Catholics have to take classes and become Confirmed, usually at age 12 & 13.

As for getting married, most Archdiocese require pre-Cana instruction and being engaged for at least 6 months.

You don’t have to be Catholic to be married in the Catholic Church.

God bless you on your journey! :harp::heaven::grouphug:

 

[aspirant]

Just one last think worth mentioning, Catholics are Christians I say that in all charity, but I did denote a little bit of a seperation in your post between Catholic and Christian.

I don’t think it was intended that way. I think she was just saying something like “I’m already a Christian, and now I’m interested in Catholicism,” that is, interested in Catholic Christianity.

 

[x0stephanie]

I would not recommend skipping RCIA. Even Catholics are still learning about Church Teaching. I help with RCIA, and I am learning all the time.

You cannot jump into a church without learning about it. Even baptized Catholics have to take classes and become Confirmed, usually at age 12 & 13.

As for getting married, most Archdiocese require pre-Cana instruction and being engaged for at least 6 months.

You don’t have to be Catholic to be married in the Catholic Church.

God bless you on your journey! :harp::heaven::grouphug:

Well yes one of us does, isnt that right? My fiance isn’t Catholic. We talked about it tonight and we decided we ill marry this summer in our Anglican church because waiting another year and half just to get married seems so awful (we’ve been dating for 3 years now). Then I will feel no rush and can start rcia in august and do the full program. I guess with the convalidation ceremomy it doesn’t really matter what church exactly we marry in (since we aren’t Catholic yet) Sorry i’m rambling I don’t know how much sense this makes, i’m just happy to have things figured out.

I wouldn’t want to skip rcia since it seems like a really good experience it just seems like i figured it out a little too late for this year (a month and a half till easter vigil)

thanks everyone for your kind words

 

[navywendy00]

whew! i thought i was the only one lost : i went to mass yesterday for the 1st time as well (unless you count when i was in the navy) i was completely lost…and it was totally ok:thumbsup: no one said a thing. everyone was so awesome and welcoming.

 

[aspirant]

Welcome, navywendy00!

 

[crazzeto]

whew! i thought i was the only one lost : i went to mass yesterday for the 1st time as well (unless you count when i was in the navy) i was completely lost…and it was totally ok:thumbsup: no one said a thing. everyone was so awesome and welcoming.

Welcome Home NavyWendy00! I have a resource here for you, and anyone else that feels lost in the mass:

usccb.org/romanmissal/

Now the website is going to have a lot of information, so just take your time, take it in and you’ll soon peice togther everything that’s going on!

 

[CalCatholic]

Well yes one of us does, isnt that right? My fiance isn’t Catholic. We talked about it tonight and we decided we ill marry this summer in our Anglican church because waiting another year and half just to get married seems so awful (we’ve been dating for 3 years now). Then I will feel no rush and can start rcia in august and do the full program. I guess with the convalidation ceremomy it doesn’t really matter what church exactly we marry in (since we aren’t Catholic yet) Sorry i’m rambling I don’t know how much sense this makes, i’m just happy to have things figured out.

I wouldn’t want to skip rcia since it seems like a really good experience it just seems like i figured it out a little too late for this year (a month and a half till easter vigil)

thanks everyone for your kind words

Check with your local parish, I started my RCIA program in February and was received into the Church at the Easter Vigil of the following year. Some programs may want you start in August, so by all means inquire!

 

[qui_est_ce]

whew! i thought i was the only one lost : i went to mass yesterday for the 1st time as well (unless you count when i was in the navy) i was completely lost…and it was totally ok:thumbsup: no one said a thing. everyone was so awesome and welcoming.

In RCIA, a priest will walk you through all the parts of the mass and explain everything. I learned a lot, and I’m a cradle Catholic! The more I learn, the more in awe I stand of the Church.

 

[navywendy00]

thank you all so much it is good to be home!

 

[qui_est_ce]

thank you all so much it is good to be home!

Did you go to mass today?

I thought about you when they were presenting the Candidates today. You are all such an inspiration. Monsignor was giving them great welcoming bear hugs. It brought tears to my eyes when I think about how we take our faith for granted.

 

[navywendy00]

Did you go to mass today?

I thought about you when they were presenting the Candidates today. You are all such an inspiration. Monsignor was giving them great welcoming bear hugs. It brought tears to my eyes when I think about how we take our faith for granted.

i plan on going at 7pm tonight i had a wedding reception last night that went into the wee hours of the morning helping clean up, so it will be a late day today

 

[qui_est_ce]

i plan on going at 7pm tonight i had a wedding reception last night that went into the wee hours of the morning helping clean up, so it will be a late day today

 

[Highwayhound]

Well I did it, I went to the 8:15am crack of dawn service and the church was surprisingly full. I sat my self down at the back. It was beautiful and I would love to go again.

Congratulations

What a wonderful memory this will be for you. So did after mass did anyone that day tell you that you had some dirt on your forehead? It happens all the time. This is a great chance to talk to people about God.

I felt kind of weird when everyone was reciting the Nicene Creed by memory and I didn’t know it (at my church we get handouts that we can follow along with, but I didn’t see anything like that).

When I was your age if you had ask me to recite the Nicene Creed I would not have been able to do it. However, in the course of mass when it came time to pray the creed the words simply came to mind. So give it 20 years or so and then like magic you will have it.

At the end of the service the priest stood at the front entrance and everyone gathered around to say something to him… but I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say and didn’t want to make a big fuss so I just left.

A simple “Have a nice day” or “Thanks, I enjoyed mass” works. If in time you get to know the priest better say after he baptizes your children then you will more to say to him.

God bless