What should I know about Catholicism

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AeonJ

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Hi, I’m a fairly new member of the Mormon church, yet I’m thinking I chose the wrong church.

I grew up methodist and I was always looking for something a bit more formal and legit. I saw my answer after doing a little research that two churches claim to be directly decendent from Jesus himself the Catholic/Orthodox church and the LDS (Mormon) church.

Hailing from the United States, I more easily could visit the headquarters of the Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah than I could say Vatican City (which I now know is limited access anyway). I toured the LDS buildings there, and met with their church missionaires.

…To make the story short I ended up converting to Mormonism.

I do have doubts however as to the accuracy of the claims that their was a “Great Apostasy.” This is a Mormon term for describing that the true church of Christ was lost and corruption took place over truth in the early centuries. However, I’m not so sure this was the case. There is reason to believe that the Catholic/Orthodox church endured from the time of Christ to the present day, thereby refuting the need of a “restored” church.

For this reason I am investigating the Catholic church and would like to know more about the church from people who know about it or better yet that are in it. So please feel free to give me a run down about anything about the church I should know about, particularly on the legitimacy of the church, inspite of a possible negative history.
 
AeonJ said:
Hi, I’m a fairly new member of the Mormon church, yet I’m thinking I chose the wrong church.

I grew up methodist and I was always looking for something a bit more formal and legit. I saw my answer after doing a little research that two churches claim to be directly decendent from Jesus himself the Catholic/Orthodox church and the LDS (Mormon) church.

Hailing from the United States, I more easily could visit the headquarters of the Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah than I could say Vatican City (which I now know is limited access anyway). I toured the LDS buildings there, and met with their church missionaires.

…To make the story short I ended up converting to Mormonism.

I do have doubts however as to the accuracy of the claims that their was a “Great Apostasy.” This is a Mormon term for describing that the true church of Christ was lost and corruption took place over truth in the early centuries. However, I’m not so sure this was the case. There is reason to believe that the Catholic/Orthodox church endured from the time of Christ to the present day, thereby refuting the need of a “restored” church.

For this reason I am investigating the Catholic church and would like to know more about the church from people who know about it or better yet that are in it. So please feel free to give me a run down about anything about the church I should know about, particularly why on the legitimacy of the church, inspite of a possible negative history.
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First and for most, welcome to Catholic Answers Forum. The information about Catholicism can be found in Catholic Tracts in catholic.com

We Catholics believed that Jesus founded his Church and appointed Peter as his Prime Minister. We believe that the Peter is the first Pope, though the word Pope is not found in the Bible. It does mean Papa, or Father. We consider the Pope the spiritual father, who watch over the sheep.

We believe the Church to be Apostolic, meaning that the Church received its teachings and traditions from the Apostles.

The teachings, are Sacred Scripture, and Sacred Traditions, which we believe are the Word of God.

We do not believe the Catholic Church to be in Apostacy, because Jesus promised Peter that His Church will be protected, “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” as stated in Matthew 16;17-20.

The center of Catholic worship is the Eucharistic Liturgy, and we truly believed that we received Jesus Christ during Mass.

We also believe that God is Triune God. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Three Persons, but One God. The Trinity is a mystery itself which cannot be explained by human reasoning.
That is why the Catholic Church came up with the term to describe the nature of God.
 
AeonJ said:
I am investigating the Catholic church and would like to know more about the church from people who know about it or better yet that are in it. So please feel free to give me a run down about anything about the church I should know about, particularly on the legitimacy of the church, inspite of a possible negative history.
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May I suggest finding out if there are any Catholic parishes near you that are having Inquiry classes? These provide a forum for curious people to ask questions.

Also, the Bible and the Catechism are theh best written sources. You don’t need to travel to the Vatican to find the heart of the Faith. 🙂
 
The website as Many show you has great information on the menu located on the left. LittleRose’s advice is great too.
Also, on this same website, there is an article called “Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth” - it is small, but you can get lots of information out of it.

catholic.com/library/pillar.asp

AeonJ, I keep you in my prayer tonight and coming days. May the Holy Spirit guide you to the searching. Keep your mind and heart opened, you will find what you are looking for.

:blessyou:
 
At catholic answers you can also search their radio programs which are archived.
Ewtn has shows in their audio library which are archived.
I recommend Scott Hahn’s audio program “Our Fathers Plan”
in MP3 format
in real audio format

He goes through the Bible giving an overall bible history with the covenants. Showing how each was expanded until Jesus established a church, through out the program he covers the catholic teachings as they come up in scripture.
Though I haven’t read it, I have heard good things about Scott Hahn’s book “Catholic for a Reason: Scripture and the Mystery of the Family of God”
Also a good book is “Surprised by Truth”
And in May he will have a new book out " Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic Faith " which sounds like a good book.

I was not born Catholic, I married my wife who was Catholic, and I Joined the Church early in our marriage. I just went along with the flow for many years, but it wasn’t until we had some Baptist friends who were concerned with our salvation, that gave us a tape to listen to. This was the first time I ever knew that people questioned someone else’s religion. At this point I started to look into my faith, I listened to the Bible Answer man show, and I listened to Catholic Answers.
The Bible Answer man had many good insights, but I noticed that when he was talking about the Catholic faith, he kept saying that we believe in things that we don’t really believe in, and then arguing against those things. But I found Catholic Answers had consistent answers and replies to questions, and they didn’t put down other religions.
After doing much reading and listening to different materials, and reading of scripture, I have found that I am drawn to the Catholic faith more that other faiths.
And even if I had never read the Bible, I probably would have been drawn to the Church, because you can trace it all the way through history to Jesus Christ himself.
 
water said:
The website as Many show you has great information on the menu located on the left. LittleRose’s advice is great too.
Also, on this same website, there is an article called “Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth” - it is small, but you can get lots of information out of it.

catholic.com/library/pillar.asp

AeonJ, I keep you in my prayer tonight and coming days. May the Holy Spirit guide you to the searching. Keep your mind and heart opened, you will find what you are looking for.

:blessyou:
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Woah I’m Many… I thought I was Manny. I know you made a typo. it’s ok. I make mistakes too on numerous accounts.
 
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