When you came into the Church....?

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murphdog261

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About three years ago, I started to become serious in my faith, and I slowly began to understand more about Catholicism. Looking back to where I was a few years ago, I see a huge contrast into how much less I knew back then, and how much more I try to practice my faith today.

I’d like to ask you all:

When you came into the Church, did you have a full understanding, or at least a general acceptance of all Catholic doctrine?

The main reason I ask this is because of my father. My dad (who has been going to evangelical services for about three years) is now re-looking into Catholicism. His main difficulties with Catholicism as of now are the Pope’s authority and intercessory prayers to saints and Mary. I’m just worried that he might feel he needs to completely accept and understand every aspect of Catholicism. OR, maybe he does, and I need to start being a little more helpful than just handing him books on the Church Fathers.

Just looking to see how other people returned to Christ’s Church.

Thanks and God bless!

Murph
 
I’ve been Catholic for almost 60 years and do not have a full understanding of all Catholic doctrine, so am guessing the answer for newer Catholics would be the same. However I do have faith, which means I accept all that the Catholic Church holds and teaches as given by Christ himself, the culmination of God’s Revelation, and preserved and transmitted by the Catholic Church through the protection of the Holy Spirit.

I don’t understand how microwave ovens work, the solar system, or how children cannot hear parents in the same room but can hear an ice cream truck 4 blocks away, but I accept the truth of these phenomena based on the authority of those who do know and understand. If I can believe these earthly things, I can certainly accept Divine things on the basis of the authority of Jesus Christ, clearly transmitted to Peter and the apostles through the ages in the CAtholic Church.
 
No, actually there are two things I can think of right now that after really looking into both issues I just don’t agree with. I’ve questioned many times if I should have even become Catholic because of my differences with these issues, but too late for that now 😛 . Yet, despite my disagreements, I intend on obeying what the Church teaches. I may not agree with a certain speed limit, but because a power higher than myself made it a certain way, I know I nee to obey it. I try constantly to understand the Church’s position on these issues, but honestly I just don’t agree with it. I hope the fact that I continue to try is good enough…
 
My conversion was a long process. Yes, I had to at least mostly understand, then work through myself the doctrines. But finally it all came down to faith. I agreed with most of it, so I figured the rest had to right too. If Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would guide the Church, then obviously the things I didn’t get yet were from my own weakness, not something that the Church did wrong. Now, I can’t think of anything that I don’t agree wholeheartedly with. Trust, and the graces to understand will be given.
 
I’m with [user]puzzleannie[/user]. As a cradle Catholic, no, I cannot say I had full understanding when I came into the Church, nor can I claim to have such now. But I grow daily (I pray) in age and wisdom and grace.

tee
 
murphdog261 said:
When you came into the Church, did you have a full understanding, or at least a general acceptance of all Catholic doctrine?
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Nope, Not at all. But, the Lord has a plan for me, as well as for you and your father. He is outside of time, so He has born with me all these years, revealing what needed to be revealed to me to overcome my obstinence or lack of obedience. Patrick Madrid has a pocket-sized apologetics guide that refers to the scripture passages that Catholic doctrine is based on. You can get it at your local Catholic book store, or from www.patrickmadrid.com/

Bless you for leading your father(!) to the fullness of truth. No better way to keep the commandments of the Lord.
 
Converted 2004 after nearly nine years of thinking about it, so, I’d say, I had a fair understanding and acceptance of all doctrines, nearly more acceptance than my priest.
We had a converstion once, I told him: “I do not really understand this about Mary been received withaout sin…” He: “Well, that was not a really thought-through dogma, because then all of Jesus ancestors should have been free of sin” Duh?! :rolleyes:

But I wouldn’t say that I had a COMPLETE understanding… I am still learing so muc about the church and her teachings, not only through study, but also (and much more) through prayer.
 
As long as I live, I pray I never know it all. I mean that sincerely. I enjoy the journey, learning more all the time. It reminds me of humility and faithfulness. If I am still learning, how can I become complacent or take my faith for granted?
 
murphdog261 said:
When you came into the Church, did you have a full understanding, or at least a general acceptance of all Catholic doctrine?

The main reason I ask this is because of my father. My dad (who has been going to evangelical services for about three years) is now re-looking into Catholicism. His main difficulties with Catholicism as of now are the Pope’s authority and intercessory prayers to saints and Mary. I’m just worried that he might feel he needs to completely accept and understand every aspect of Catholicism. OR, maybe he does, and I need to start being a little more helpful than just handing him books on the Church Fathers.
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Well, I haven’t come into the Church yet, but am officially signed up for the Profession of Faith class and seem to be getting closer and closer. But here is my thinking for now…

At this point I have a pretty decent grasp of at least basic Catholic beliefs and history. Part of this I know is just my personality. Whenever I make a decision about anything, from which church to join to which computer to buy, I like to have as much information as possible. I read stuff, talk to people, pray (more so about churches than about computers! 😉 ), and think about it a lot. That is just the way I am and the way God made me. So my guess is I will be more informed than the average person entering the church, but I’m also probably more informed than the average person in my current church. 🤷

As for the difficulties, for me it depends on what specific doctrine I have issues with, and exactly what those issues are. If I disagreed with the fact that there should be a Pope, I couldn’t join the church. That is a MAJOR issue. If I disagreed with the assumption of Mary, I think I could still enter the church. For me, it isn’t as big of a deal. Sure it could have happened that way or it didn’t, it doesn’t hugely affect my faith.

It also depends on how I disagree. There are some things that while I know all the right words to say and even the reasoning behind it, I just don’t “get.” I don’t really “get” the whole intercession of the Saints and Mary. I know what the teachings are, but it just doesn’t really process in my brain or heart right. And I’m ok with that. I trust that if everything else comes together and I can accept it all, that one day I may “get” it more, and if not, I can still live with not “getting” it. Not exactly “getting” it is very different in my mind from disagreeing with something outright. The first I could enter the church and profess to believe all that the Catholic Church teaches, the second I couldn’t.
 
KarenElissa said:
Part of this I know is just my personality. Whenever I make a decision about anything, from which church to join to which computer to buy, I like to have as much information as possible. I read stuff, talk to people, pray (more so about churches than about computers! 😉 ), and think about it a lot. That is just the way I am and the way God made me.
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As Saint Paul admonished us: “Test everything. Retain what is good”

Put the church to the test, as you must in this day of heretics, sects and cults. I had “the Mary problem” when I entered, but the Lord, being astonishingly patient with me, revealed the truth.

Christ’s peace to you.
 
I didn’t have a full understanding of the Church (and there’s so much to learn, I will probably never have it) but I believe that by God’s grace I was able to accept everything that I learned while coming in with no problem and surprisingly no questions. I still love to learn and will continue to learn about the Church until God decides my time is over here on earth. Being Catholic has been the most fulfilling thing that has ever happened to me.
 
Amen to all the comments here, especially PuzzleAnnie and Angel Rose 81.

I had my conversion experience during a Catholic funeral mass in May of 2004, for my father in law. My wife is a cradle Catholic, and I was baptized in a Presbyterian church as an infant, but for the first 24 years of our marriage (married in 1980, in the Catholic Church) we had no faith life to speak of. Then in that mass, the homilist (a deacon who had been a student of my father in law in high school) read John 12:24, and it was like a light coming on in a dark room. By the time the funeral was over, I knew I was coming back to Christ as a Catholic. I just knew–no thinking, no struggle. When we got home I went to a local parish recommended by a Catholic friend and co-worker, had an hour long conversation with the RCIA director, a Brigidine Sister, and started reading everything I could get my hands on about the Church–starting with the Bible. Obviously I was given grace beyond description by the Holy Spirit, for which I thank Him frequently. By the time I started RCIA that September, I had also started praying the Rosary every day, and began a growing devotion to Our Lady. I had, and still have, no problems whatsoever with any of the teachings of the Church. Do I claim to fully understand them all? Of course not, but I hope I have lots of years left on this Earth to keep learning. Do I “agree” with everything I’ve learned? Mostly, and those I have not yet fully come to terms with (very few–indulgences and the Coronation are still on my list) I still accept because I promised to do so when I was confirmed.

I’m also now on the RCIA team in that same parish, and as any teacher will tell you, one learns by teaching as much as, if not more than, the “students.” I supplement that with continued reading, watching EWTN about three hours a day or more, reading This Rock, and browsing through these Forums whenever I can. And I’m a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus, a daily communicant, a lector, and have a regularly scheduled weekly adoration hour in our 24-7 chapel. It’s all good!!!
 
One must believe all the doctrine which the Church teaches.
I’m just worried that he might feel he needs to completely accept and understand every aspect of Catholicism. OR, maybe he does, and I need to start being a little more helpful than just handing him books on the Church Fathers.
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He doesn’t need to completely understand, but he does need to profess belief in all the Church teaches. Sometimes obedience comes prior to understanding. For instance, if he came to the point where he was convicted that, “the Catholic Church is the true Church” but still didn’t believe, in say, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, that would be the point to put obedience (to the divinely instituted, infallible Church) before understanding (before one can have a positive reason for professing it besides the authority of the Church).

-Rob
 
I studied my way to the church. The important point in my journey was that I wanted to find the real, original church that Christ founded to await His return. Once I found it, it didn’t matter what my little brain thought about certain doctrines. It was time to get with the program and obey. I knew that it could take a lifetime to understand even all of the major things, but in the meantime it was important to follow the teachings if I believed they came from the one, true church.

I didn’t have any huge sticking points anyway. I came into the church by attending RCIA classes with catechumens for about 9 months. We were walked through very good lectures and discussions that built from basic beliefs of all Christians through all of the major dogmas/doctrines that we needed to affirm to become Catholic. It was great and lots of misunderstandings of what the church actually teaches were cleared up for me.

I read tons of books on my own and I still do. I love conversion stories, especially by former Protestant pastors. They can explain how they came from a certain position held in a particular denomination and how they got to the Catholic position on the subject. Perhaps some of those stories could help the OP’s father? The Surprised by Truth series has lots of stories from different perspectives with good explanations of the faith.
 
I also studied my way into the Church. That said, there have been certain things I haven’t understood right away, however since obedience to the successor of Peter was the main issue for me in coming into the Church, I have spent the last 7 years occasionally (actually, all too often) saying, “I believe, help Thou my unbelief”.
 
No matter how a person cuts it, whether a cradle Catholic or a Convert one either stays in the Church or comes into the Church with a "leap of Faith’. Not even a theologian knows and understands everything the Church teaches. It takes a certain trust that Jesus and the Holy Spirit will not allow the Church to play tricks on you. That does not mean never questioning what someone tells you or what you read. It is the only way to learn.
 
Absolutely unprepared in all areas EXCEPT the one that counted – the ability to accept all the graces for growth that God allows and provides. My conversion process (before the days of RCIA) was under the direction of a hippie-dippie young priest in the late 1960s, early 1970s. When I would aske questions about Mary or the Saints and he would tell me not to worry, “nobody deals with them any more!”

Fast forward nearly 40 years. Not only am I a devout Rosary-praying, church going, faithful Catholic – SO IS HE as a loving, shepherding pastor of a parish in St. Louis. He happened to be assigned to a parish where one of my Goddaughters attended elementary school and I saw him at her Confirmation. We both had a good laugh at who we were then, who we had become, and what God may have in mind for us next. 👍
 
murphdog261 said:
About three years ago, I started to become serious in my faith, and I slowly began to understand more about Catholicism. Looking back to where I was a few years ago, I see a huge contrast into how much less I knew back then, and how much more I try to practice my faith today.

I’d like to ask you all:

When you came into the Church, did you have a full understanding, or at least a general acceptance of all Catholic doctrine?

The main reason I ask this is because of my father. My dad (who has been going to evangelical services for about three years) is now re-looking into Catholicism. His main difficulties with Catholicism as of now are the Pope’s authority and intercessory prayers to saints and Mary. I’m just worried that he might feel he needs to completely accept and understand every aspect of Catholicism. OR, maybe he does, and I need to start being a little more helpful than just handing him books on the Church Fathers.

Just looking to see how other people returned to Christ’s Church.

Thanks and God bless!

Murph
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hi,

you can get your dad a book here at CA, its called Pillar of Fire Pillar of Truth. its not a book, its a booklet. its easy to read. you can also go to the library here, and look at the upper left hand screen and you will see the word: library. there is a list of titles. the first one starts out God and Christ. it details everything we believe. you can print out the information from each link you click on starting from God and Christ if it suits you, or you can go to the relevant topic and print that one out. the church and the papacy are one that your dad might want to read, and also Mary and the saints. it explains everything in detail.

i was baptized Catholic as an infant, and went to a Catholic school when i was a kid. so it wasn’t hard for me to accept at all then. until i became a jw that is. then all my cherished beliefs flew out the window. i had a hard time getting back into the faith because i held their beliefs as true. when i finally did the research on my own about the Catholic faith, only then did i let go of my brainwashing by the falsetower. so the road back was not easy for me. do i fully accept the Church as the truth? yes. i do. and i wont ever believe otherwise. i wont ever leave it again.
 
Well, not even Scott Hahn understood everything. Just look at the continuing work and study he has done since converting. And, he had an awesome command of scripture when he converted!

Jesus told the parable of the two sons: one who said that he would not do his father’s will, but later changed his mind and complied-the other immediately said “yes”, but never actually did his father’s will. Jesus did not say that the first son agreed with his father’s wishes-only that he was obedient and did as his father asked.

I believe that it is much the same with us, especially since the intent of the parables was to instruct. In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed that he be spared the cup of His Father’s will, but accepted it for our sake. If we are obedient and keep Christ’s commandments-never mind fully agreeing with them, it will be sufficient.

Christ’s peace be with all of you.
 
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