H
Homebody422
Guest
Hi all,
My husband and I both grew up going to various Protestant churches, but spent most of our 20s non-affiliated and not really even Christian at all. However, when we had our son last year, we started thinking about how we wanted him to be raised and the sorts of influences we wanted around him. We decided to give Catholicism a try for a variety of reasons, suffice it to say that we felt drawn to it. and did a great deal of research before we even went to our first Mass. We went to a couple of different parishes, found one we really liked, and signed up for the RCIA program. Now that it’s started, however, we’re having some problems.
Our biggest hurdle has been finding someone to watch our one-year-old during classes. I stay home with him all day and we’ve never really had anyone else watch him before. Our closest family is an hour away and we don’t know anyone else who can watch him (and I’m unwilling to just hire someone off Craiglist; we don’t really have the money to spare anyway). We found someone who can watch him at the church, but not come to our house. So we tried that a couple of times, but the problem is that the classes go so late (from 7:00 pm till about 9:30) that he gets really tired and fussy and starts crying. Since he’s just down the hall from where we’re having the class, everyone can hear him, so I have to run in and stop it. Last time he started up immediately, and I ended up missing the whole class because he was being clingy and wouldn’t let me leave.
Because of the problems with the baby, my husband’s just been going by himself, but I really don’t like it. My husband’s schedule right now is very burdensome on all of us in the first place, and this is just adding another 4 hours a week when he’s not home and I have to watch the baby by myself, while he’s off doing something we were supposed to be doing together. Both he and I have tried to talk to the RCIA coordinator about our predicament, but she’s not been able to help us.
It’s gotten to the point where I’m ready to just scrap the whole idea. I like going to Mass, and I love learning about the Catholic faith and I really feel like it’s right for me and my family, but I don’t like feeling like I have to jump through all of these hoops. I’m used to Protestant churches where you can be a member just by showing up. I understand why the Catholic church requires a few more steps than that, but it should not be so burdensome a thing. All the Catholic churches in my area have RCIA on weeknights-- is that they way they all are? And if so, why? Why not do it on Sundays, when people are presumably going to already be there? I can think of a lot of other reasons, besides my own, why weeknights might be problematic for people, especially in this economy where people have to take what work they can get. I’d think the Church would want to be as accomodating as possible to people who want to convert, but so far it doesn’t seem to be the case.
So to sum up: I really want to be a Catholic. I really want to be able to go through all of the steps together with my husband. But there doesn’t seem to be a practical way for it to happen. I feel extremely frustrated and a little resentful. I find that the longer it goes on like this, the more I feel like giving up entirely, and I don’t know what to do. Any advice, insight or prayers would be extremely appreciated.
My husband and I both grew up going to various Protestant churches, but spent most of our 20s non-affiliated and not really even Christian at all. However, when we had our son last year, we started thinking about how we wanted him to be raised and the sorts of influences we wanted around him. We decided to give Catholicism a try for a variety of reasons, suffice it to say that we felt drawn to it. and did a great deal of research before we even went to our first Mass. We went to a couple of different parishes, found one we really liked, and signed up for the RCIA program. Now that it’s started, however, we’re having some problems.
Our biggest hurdle has been finding someone to watch our one-year-old during classes. I stay home with him all day and we’ve never really had anyone else watch him before. Our closest family is an hour away and we don’t know anyone else who can watch him (and I’m unwilling to just hire someone off Craiglist; we don’t really have the money to spare anyway). We found someone who can watch him at the church, but not come to our house. So we tried that a couple of times, but the problem is that the classes go so late (from 7:00 pm till about 9:30) that he gets really tired and fussy and starts crying. Since he’s just down the hall from where we’re having the class, everyone can hear him, so I have to run in and stop it. Last time he started up immediately, and I ended up missing the whole class because he was being clingy and wouldn’t let me leave.
Because of the problems with the baby, my husband’s just been going by himself, but I really don’t like it. My husband’s schedule right now is very burdensome on all of us in the first place, and this is just adding another 4 hours a week when he’s not home and I have to watch the baby by myself, while he’s off doing something we were supposed to be doing together. Both he and I have tried to talk to the RCIA coordinator about our predicament, but she’s not been able to help us.
It’s gotten to the point where I’m ready to just scrap the whole idea. I like going to Mass, and I love learning about the Catholic faith and I really feel like it’s right for me and my family, but I don’t like feeling like I have to jump through all of these hoops. I’m used to Protestant churches where you can be a member just by showing up. I understand why the Catholic church requires a few more steps than that, but it should not be so burdensome a thing. All the Catholic churches in my area have RCIA on weeknights-- is that they way they all are? And if so, why? Why not do it on Sundays, when people are presumably going to already be there? I can think of a lot of other reasons, besides my own, why weeknights might be problematic for people, especially in this economy where people have to take what work they can get. I’d think the Church would want to be as accomodating as possible to people who want to convert, but so far it doesn’t seem to be the case.
So to sum up: I really want to be a Catholic. I really want to be able to go through all of the steps together with my husband. But there doesn’t seem to be a practical way for it to happen. I feel extremely frustrated and a little resentful. I find that the longer it goes on like this, the more I feel like giving up entirely, and I don’t know what to do. Any advice, insight or prayers would be extremely appreciated.
