F
frail
Guest
My first real experience with church and God in general was with the Catholic Church. As a teenager I had stayed the night at a friend’s house(he’s Catholic) and I went to Mass with him on Sunday morning. I thoroughly enjoyed it and started going with him every Sunday.
I was at an Easter Vigil Mass and had watched someone be received into the Church and I decided that night that I wanted to become Catholic. I was assigned a sponsor and started weekly RCIA classes with the parish Priest. Because of my young age he wanted me to be absolutely sure of my decision so he told me I would have attend RCIA for two years before he would receive me into the Church.
After about a year of RCIA, I had started going to a youth group sponsored by a local Non-denominational church. The pastor of that church was a former Catholic seminarian. Once he found that I was on the road to becoming Catholic, he immediately started pouring the proverbial poison into my ear about the Catholic Church and I started having doubts as to the validity of the Catholic faith.
One night at RCIA, I had a question that the parish Priest didn’t answer to my satisfaction it led to me abandoning RCIA and eventually the Catholic faith.
Somewhere down the road I eventually stopped believing in God because people had asked me questions I couldn’t answer and it stirred up some doubts, one of which to this day remains unresolved.
That was about 13 years ago and I am now 28. During the last 13 years I’ve read every apologetic work I could get my hands on, every book on miracles, apparitions, etc and I will say that my faith has increased, but it’s not where I’d like it to be.
Last year, around the time The Passion of the Christ came out in theaters, I had a desire to become Catholic again. Being in the military, I went to speak with the Catholic chaplain on base and informed him of my intentions and that I had completed a year of RCIA in the past. Though I did leave out that I was supposed to complete two years.
He received me into the Church, right there and then in his office. I made Confession, was Confirmed and received my first Holy Communion later that day. I was overjoyed, but the doubts and sins of my past started to catch up with me again and I’ve since stopped practicing.
I also regret that I wasn’t completely honest with the priest who received me about my doubts and that I hadn’t completed the full two years of RCIA. It makes me wonder if my Confession and Confirmation were truly valid and if I am indeed truly a Catholic at all.
I’ve also considered mentioning this at my next Confession, but another Priest advised me to let it go. He told to confess it if I felt the need to, but it wasn’t required. He said it’s more important that I live the the Catholic faith and not worry so much about how I actually became Catholic.
Any opinions, insights, suggestions and even criticisms are welcome and appreciated.
I was at an Easter Vigil Mass and had watched someone be received into the Church and I decided that night that I wanted to become Catholic. I was assigned a sponsor and started weekly RCIA classes with the parish Priest. Because of my young age he wanted me to be absolutely sure of my decision so he told me I would have attend RCIA for two years before he would receive me into the Church.
After about a year of RCIA, I had started going to a youth group sponsored by a local Non-denominational church. The pastor of that church was a former Catholic seminarian. Once he found that I was on the road to becoming Catholic, he immediately started pouring the proverbial poison into my ear about the Catholic Church and I started having doubts as to the validity of the Catholic faith.
One night at RCIA, I had a question that the parish Priest didn’t answer to my satisfaction it led to me abandoning RCIA and eventually the Catholic faith.
Somewhere down the road I eventually stopped believing in God because people had asked me questions I couldn’t answer and it stirred up some doubts, one of which to this day remains unresolved.
That was about 13 years ago and I am now 28. During the last 13 years I’ve read every apologetic work I could get my hands on, every book on miracles, apparitions, etc and I will say that my faith has increased, but it’s not where I’d like it to be.
Last year, around the time The Passion of the Christ came out in theaters, I had a desire to become Catholic again. Being in the military, I went to speak with the Catholic chaplain on base and informed him of my intentions and that I had completed a year of RCIA in the past. Though I did leave out that I was supposed to complete two years.
He received me into the Church, right there and then in his office. I made Confession, was Confirmed and received my first Holy Communion later that day. I was overjoyed, but the doubts and sins of my past started to catch up with me again and I’ve since stopped practicing.
I also regret that I wasn’t completely honest with the priest who received me about my doubts and that I hadn’t completed the full two years of RCIA. It makes me wonder if my Confession and Confirmation were truly valid and if I am indeed truly a Catholic at all.
I’ve also considered mentioning this at my next Confession, but another Priest advised me to let it go. He told to confess it if I felt the need to, but it wasn’t required. He said it’s more important that I live the the Catholic faith and not worry so much about how I actually became Catholic.
Any opinions, insights, suggestions and even criticisms are welcome and appreciated.
