Wanted to convert - now I'm not so sure

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carol_marie

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After reading several Catholic apologetic type books (Born Fundementalist, born again Catholic & Suprised By the Truth I,II, III - My Life on the Rock - etc.) I started to believe that I had been wrong about the the Catholic Church - it wasn’t just a bunch of made up nonesense without any scriptural support, but rather it was a faith rooted in scripture. I began to believe that maybe it was the one true church that Jesus started and that Luther was wrong to break away because surely God isn’t pleased with all the disunity and thousands of different denomenations. I wanted to belong to the one, unified true Church and until I found this website, I thought the Catholic Church was it. Now I’m thinking that the Catholic church is filled with the same disunity as the Protestant churches. I’ve read Catholics who think speaking in tounges is OK vs. Catholics who don’t. Catholics who think the Pope isn’t the Pope - Catholics who think the mass should be in Latin - that Vat. II was a huge mistake vs. Catholics who think it was great. Catholics who believe in Adam & Eve, Catholics who believe in evolution, I read of terrible RICA classes, Wacky Priests who teach their own ideas, Pro choice Catholics (I always thought THAT was an oxymoron but apparently not) Hindus doing their Hindu thing in Catholic churches and now today I look at a weblink from this site where I read that 40,000 pieces of child pornograpy are found on computers at a seminary in Vienna and the Bishop calls it a “childish prank.” So I gotta tell ya, I’m begininging to rethink this whole Catholic thing. I think that the “one Holy & Apolstolic church” that my soul longed for does not exist because with all due respect, from where I sit, you aren’t looking so Holy and you certainly aren’t “one.” 😦
 
I know someone will address you far more eloquently and fact-based than I, but I only wanted to say that the disagreements among Catholics don’t make the Church any less right in matters of doctrine. We can disagree with each other on points, but the Church teachings, Christ’s Church, the one true Church, does not waiver. Her doctrine is solid. She doesn’t change her position based on what She wants to do or what her leaders want to do. It’s given that there are errant leaders/members, but in the end, the Catholic Church as a body doesn’t change. There’s only one, not 30,000.

Because some don’t recognize tongues as a gift (or aren’t aware of all the Church’s teachings, myself included), doesn’t mean the Catholic Church isn’t united. It means its members are human. No matter how sinful or how not-in-agreement the humans members appear, doesn’t make the Church any less Christ’s Church.

JELane
 
Carol,

I am sure there was never any disunity or disagreement in the non-catholic churches you have visited… as long as there are people involved, you will have differing opinions… the greatest thing about the Catholic Church is we have an umpire… The Pope, the scriptural referee to keep the message pure and on track… the Vicar of Christ on earth… Read your scripture, Peter and Paul were in disagreement several time… but, Peter’s was the last word, because God gave him the keys to the kingdon of heaven…
Please don’t be discouraged by the sometime heated discourse between some of the members in these forums… God gave us a mind to use, and he expected us to ask why… So, stick with us and help us discover the why, and what for and how come… it promises to be an exicting trip…

Oh, by the way… don’t pay too much attention to me… i’ve been bad lately… be patient with us… we are still a work in progress… if we are anything, we are diverse, but we are Catholic first last and forever… Peace… 👍
 
I would recommend that you pray about this decision and do your best to find out what direction God is taking you. I wouldn’t let the actions of the few cloud your opinion of the many, and please don’t let a message board on the Internet push you away.

Go talk with a local priest and get involved with a local church. I was not raised Catholic, and I was very dis-enchanted with the church by the actions of the members of a Catholic Church I attended in Dallas (my wife is a cradle catholic, and I attended her church). But I have found a very wonderful church here in Louisville, which has shown me just great the Catholic Church can be.
 
carol marie:
After reading several Catholic apologetic type books (Born Fundementalist, born again Catholic & Suprised By the Truth I,II, III - My Life on the Rock - etc.) I started to believe that I had been wrong about the the Catholic Church - it wasn’t just a bunch of made up nonesense without any scriptural support, but rather it was a faith rooted in scripture. I began to believe that maybe it was the one true church that Jesus started and that Luther was wrong to break away because surely God isn’t pleased with all the disunity and thousands of different denomenations. I wanted to belong to the one, unified true Church and until I found this website, I thought the Catholic Church was it. Now I’m thinking that the Catholic church is filled with the same disunity as the Protestant churches. I’ve read Catholics who think speaking in tounges is OK vs. Catholics who don’t. Catholics who think the Pope isn’t the Pope - Catholics who think the mass should be in Latin - that Vat. II was a huge mistake vs. Catholics who think it was great. Catholics who believe in Adam & Eve, Catholics who believe in evolution, I read of terrible RICA classes, Wacky Priests who teach their own ideas, Pro choice Catholics (I always thought THAT was an oxymoron but apparently not) Hindus doing their Hindu thing in Catholic churches and now today I look at a weblink from this site where I read that 40,000 pieces of child pornograpy are found on computers at a seminary in Vienna and the Bishop calls it a “childish prank.” So I gotta tell ya, I’m begininging to rethink this whole Catholic thing. I think that the “one Holy & Apolstolic church” that my soul longed for does not exist because with all due respect, from where I sit, you aren’t looking so Holy and you certainly aren’t “one.” 😦
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Dear Carol Marie
Do not despair. What you say is all true .But it is true everywhere in the world. It is just the human condition. The BIG difference is that in the Catholic Church we don’t have to listen to all that noise. We can go to the Pope and listen. We can know exactly what the Church teaches by going to the Catechism.
 
Carol Marie,

Please read the article below. This was refered to someone by one of the apologists, Michele Arnold, in the “ask and apologist” section just today and I think it is fitting to your concern.

The key point, I believe, here is, Catholics are not Saints, Catholics are sinners. Jesus did not come for the righteous, he came for the sinners. Do not assume that if one is Catholic one is Holy, that is simply not true (for the most part). However I do believe that if one is a good Catholic, one is working towards holiness. There is a vast difference.

Keep searching and asking and praying.

A Crisis of Saints by Fr. Roger Landry
 
Noise. Lots of noise. That’s how de debbil works - confuse, twist, marginalize, obfuscate.

But, thankfully, the Catholic Church is not these individual groups. It’s not me, it’s not the Pope. It is a supernatural and holy institution founded upon the Rock, not upon the shifting sands. And the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.

Men pass away, and the things of men also will pass, but God’s creation shall not. All these people, making all this noise, trying to confuse you and millions of others? They too shall pass away, and the Lord will provide them with their reward for their lives here on earth.

But the Church will remain.
 
Carol, just remember that you have to separate Church teaching from private opinion. What you have hear is a lot of private opinion, the Church’s teachings are clear and unchanging and are not subject to one’s own interpretation. That really is what separates us from the other Christian denominations. The Catholic doctrines cannot and will not ever change and you can count on that. Someone may think that the Church should change and then a discussion may take place as to why or why not, but that is as far as it can ever possibly go because our teachings are infallible and the Truth is not subject to change no matter what the reason. The Catholic Church is exactly what you think she is, so do not be discouraged when you see other Catholics holding heretical views, they are like flies and will not go away and that is the reason why websites like this are important because here is where these heretical views are exposed for what they are.

I pray and hope that you come into the Church.
 
carol marie:
After reading several Catholic apologetic type books (Born Fundementalist, born again Catholic & Suprised By the Truth I,II, III - My Life on the Rock - etc.) I started to believe that I had been wrong about the the Catholic Church - it wasn’t just a bunch of made up nonesense without any scriptural support, but rather it was a faith rooted in scripture. I began to believe that maybe it was the one true church that Jesus started and that Luther was wrong to break away because surely God isn’t pleased with all the disunity and thousands of different denomenations. I wanted to belong to the one, unified true Church and until I found this website, I thought the Catholic Church was it. Now I’m thinking that the Catholic church is filled with the same disunity as the Protestant churches. I’ve read Catholics who think speaking in tounges is OK vs. Catholics who don’t. Catholics who think the Pope isn’t the Pope - Catholics who think the mass should be in Latin - that Vat. II was a huge mistake vs. Catholics who think it was great. Catholics who believe in Adam & Eve, Catholics who believe in evolution, I read of terrible RICA classes, Wacky Priests who teach their own ideas, Pro choice Catholics (I always thought THAT was an oxymoron but apparently not) Hindus doing their Hindu thing in Catholic churches and now today I look at a weblink from this site where I read that 40,000 pieces of child pornograpy are found on computers at a seminary in Vienna and the Bishop calls it a “childish prank.” So I gotta tell ya, I’m begininging to rethink this whole Catholic thing. I think that the “one Holy & Apolstolic church” that my soul longed for does not exist because with all due respect, from where I sit, you aren’t looking so Holy and you certainly aren’t “one.” 😦
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Are there people who call themselves Catholics who in reality are not Catholic? YES

Are there many Catholics who think they know what the Catholic Church teaches but really don’t? YES

What the Catholic Church teaches and what some people believe she teaches are sometimes vastly different things.
 
The beauty of the Catholic Church is that it does not matter what I believe or what John Kerry believes. What matters is what the Magesterium TEACHES.
Individual Protestant churches vary in what they teach. In the Catholic Church if a priest (or other Catholic) is not teaching in accordance with the Magesterium then we not only have the right but the obligation to correct them. It is what is taught which is the source of our unity not our opinions as sinful individuals.
 
Carol, you say that you were convinced that the Catholic church THE ONE–until you found this website?

Excuse me, but if you are interested in a church, do you look for its teachings on a MESSAGE BOARD WEBSITE–or do you look in its scriptures?

The forums are a small–and a recent–part of “this website”. The forums are for people to talk about their faith and their beliefs.

I would no more go to a message forum to find out about a religion than I would about ANY SUBJECT, be it quantum physics or herpetology, Shakespearean drama or Wicca.

To find out about Catholicism, read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, attend a parish RCIA meeting, talk with priests and members FACE TO FACE.

But don’t expect that you’ll be evangelized on a message board forum. The majority of Catholic posters here are either preaching to the choir (because we hold the same beliefs as we were TAUGHT) or are DISCUSSING things with others who may or may not hold the same beliefs. Just about everybody here refers anyone who is a potential convert or even “interested” in the faith to sites, or to people, who can help. We don’t just insist that any given individual of us “knows all”.

Please, e-mail one of the moderators, access the teaching part of the site, and don’t forget that you can google the Catechism ONLINE.

Don’t try to make such an important decision based on such an extraneous thing as a message board site ALONE.
 
Tantum ergo:
Don’t try to make such an important decision based on such an extraneous thing as a message board site ALONE.
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I echo this sentiment, as well. I have made several erroneous posts :eek: on apologetics on these boards, so you’re dealing with a bunch of fallible (and sometimes worse) faceless people on this board.

Go to a good church and sit through the Mass. Concentrate on the Liturgy of the Word and see that everything comes from the Bible. So to with the balance of the Mass. Nothing is taken out of context. And it is all very beautiful.

The words of William F. Buckley will serve me well here: “Search for the perfect church, if you will; when you find it, join it, and realize that on that day it becomes something less than perfect.”
 
Carol Marie,

The very fact that you question all these things is a good sign. I believe that if a person searches for the truth they will end up in the Catholic Church. Good luck.
 
Welcome to the wild, wacky world of Catholicism! Tridentine Mass Catholics, Charismatic Renewal Catholics, Latin Rite, Eastern Rite, etc., etc. all show how big and far-reaching the scope of the church. If it exists, you’ll find it here.

As the bride of Christ we are also under attack. The devil loves to inject sin into members of the Church when he can destroy a priest with sin his victory is great. For those very loyal to the church then he may encourage their sin of pride to make them think that their preferences are the only way the church should be.

Without a doubt, we will all have much to answer before God where our pettiness causes others to doubt.

Remember that this same church also is the home of Mother Teresa, John Paul II and many other amazingly holy people. For every priest that choses wickedness there are dozens that reject the glamor of sin and several that embody holiness

For every feminist nun that promotes dissenting opinions there are those that stay faithful to the end in a life devoted to Jesus.

These giants of the faith in the eyes of God go unnoticed in today’s world.
 
These are all great answers to your question. I think that in the end, you owe it to your soul to say that is the Catholic CHurch is correct in teaching, then I must join it despite the people that are in it. As has been so well stated, the individuals can state their own opinions, but that is not always what the Church teaches. When we are Catholics, we still have free will and intellect, giving us the ability to be wrong and choose poorly. Catholics are not in blind alegence to anyone, thought at times I wish we were (to God). Like Barrister, I too have put things on here that were not correct, and like him I have been happy to recant or learn, but some people are not.

I guess I am saying that Jesus granted his Church the blessing of being One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, but he prayed that God keep his followers one and hole despite themselves.
 
I went through the exact same thing when I was first exploring the Church.

I believe you are thinking of the word church in the way a Protestant might, as in it is made up entirely and solely of its members. So therefore, in a Protestant mind anyway, if the church members bicker and fuss and do heritical things…then therefore the church is not united and not holy.

The Catholics look at the Church in a little different way. The Church is the visible institution that Christ established here on earth. Its not just made up of its members. We are united in accepting and being obedient to the teachings of the Catholic church. That is the plumbline…the standard that we measure against…not the opinions or sins of its members. The question is do you agree with all that the Holy Catholic Church teaches? If the answer is yes, then the bickerings or sins of its members is no excuse for staying away.

dream wanderer
 
Christ’s church was originally made up of 12 apostles who were chosen by Christ himself. All of the 12 were struggling sinners but one of the 12 turned against Christ in a deadly way. If Christ himself had such a high percentage of “bad” followers we should expect the devil to make sure the modern day Catholic church will also have a certain percentage of “bad” parishoners. We need to pray for their souls.
 
Hello carolmarie, the Church is going through a difficult time no doubt, but it has been propheized many times, Saint John Bosco for one
I’m sticking with it as bad as it is, but it will get better, sooner rather than later, it’s painful for us all.
Seems in this old world that a whole lot of good is born out of pain sometimes,----childbirth for one & i’m no expert there apart from being in the delivery room for moral support.
Anyone thinking of joining the Church at this time better be prepared to hack it, it’s not easy, Jesus had to suffer for to save us, now the Church is going through it’s cruicifixion, but if I wasn’t in the Catholic Church, then I wouldn’t go to Church at all, because of Jesus in the Tabernacle.
Jesus said if anyone wants to follow Him, they must take up their cross and follow Him, otherwise they are not worthy of Him, ok it’s tough but the prize is so great & over and above anything we will expect, provided we reach Heaven.
Ok the best of Irish to you, and God Bless, and may you be 1/2 an hour in Heaven before the Devil knows your dead 😉

frtommylane.com/homilies/years_abc/corpus_christi-3.htm

geocities.com/Athens/5223/dbosco.html
 
carol,
i know exactly how your feel… i started a few threads asking questions about the things you bring up and it was all summed up in a thread asking “are catholics as bad as protestants?” and what i’ve come up with is yes they are. maybe even worse since they have the fullness of truth and there are still so many within the church who deny it. i went to mass this morning (tuesday july 13th and no i am not catholic yet) and the gospel reading was Jesus telling the people that if the works he was performing were done in sodom that the city would have repented and so it will be worse for the people in capernaum and the surrounding towns that Jesus was ministering to than for sodom and gamorrah (sp?). i think we can say the same for those within the church that is teaching the fullness of the faith (and even some who are charged with teaching it) that it will be worse for them than any protestant denomination if they aren’t living it.
 
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