maria -
Methinks the OP wanted to deposit her link in the forum. Nothing wrong with that if you actually read the thread and respond with something relevant.
I know, it’s because they haven’t taken the time or the effort to get to know us and determine our worthiness. They’d rather make us wait months and months to Confirm us so it can all be on their time. We both feel like we have to become saints first before getting access to the sources of God’s grace found in the Church. It’s no wonder so few Protestants even consider the Catholic Church. I’m sorry, but I’m not afraid to criticize the Church when it’s clearly wrong and not following the example of the Apostles. In the early Church, bishops begged people to get baptized (because they were putting it off for fear of not being ready). Now, people like us are begging the bishops! In the Bible, whole households were baptized simply upon their acceptance of the faith. Now people wait years until the Church says they are good enough (as mcrow says, “we can be assured that we are welcoming someone into our faith that has all the tools to be a productive and faithful Catholic.”) We both respect the system, which is why we bear all this and go through it. But we both strongly disagree with it. We’re not going to just let our minds turn to jelly and ignore when the Church sins, like so many people in the middle ages did. “Selling indulgences is wonderful!” said so many people, until the very same Church they worshiped as perfect condemned selling indulgences (among many other abuses that had crept up) at the Council of Trent. It took an entire, horrible schism (that has surely sent countless people to hell) before the Church woke up and fixed itself.
We switched churches because my wife was hurting and getting picked on. She was literally afraid to go back there for fear of being made fun of in front of everyone again. My wife comes before a church community, per St. Paul in the Scriptures.
Unfortunately no, we hardly would have learned a thing had I not researched myself. Again, 90% of everything we learned was self-taught. The amount and quality of teaching we heard at these parishes has been laughable and at times heretical.
No offense taken, I understand your point
I do want to guard against that tendency of mine as well (which is another thing I struggle with), but I still disagree with how RCIA is run. It seems to me that most of the Church doesn’t believe anymore that the sacraments confer real grace. People really are brought closer to God by taking the Eucharist. You really are forgiven of your sins and given the Holy Spirit Himself at Baptism. You are actually given the seal of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation, conferring Him in His fullness. You really are released from mortal sin in Confession. And all this extra help, this extra closeness with God, is DENIED to people because those whom God has entrusted the task of evangelizing WON’T evangelize. “We can’t be bothered, we’ll get to you when we get to you.” What if it’s denied to someone whose faith isn’t as strong as ours, who isn’t already close enough with God to put up with the abuse? How many people are in HELL because the GRACE of God was TAKEN from them, when otherwise with that grace they would have strengthened their faith and persevered?!?! My own mother and father are certainly NO closer because of the treatment we and others receive. It only FUELS their anti-Catholic sentiment. The grace of God is properly vested in His Church, and His own Church is pushing my mother and father further away from where God wants them :bighanky: What if they go to hell because they refused to enter the Catholic Church? Extra ecclesiam nulla salus - outside the Church there is no salvation. This is a DOGMA. Only ignorance and exceptions allow for salvation otherwise. I love my parents, and the Church herself has been the biggest obstacle for my witness to them :bighanky: I’m FIGHTING and making excuses for the Church so as to try and bring my parents into it!!! 
I know, it’s because they haven’t taken the time or the effort to get to know us and determine our worthiness. They’d rather make us wait months and months to Confirm us so it can all be on their time. We both feel like we have to become saints first before getting access to the sources of God’s grace found in the Church. It’s no wonder so few Protestants even consider the Catholic Church. I’m sorry, but I’m not afraid to criticize the Church when it’s clearly wrong and not following the example of the Apostles. In the early Church, bishops begged people to get baptized (because they were putting it off for fear of not being ready). Now, people like us are begging the bishops! In the Bible, whole households were baptized simply upon their acceptance of the faith. Now people wait years until the Church says they are good enough (as mcrow says, “we can be assured that we are welcoming someone into our faith that has all the tools to be a productive and faithful Catholic.”) We both respect the system, which is why we bear all this and go through it. But we both strongly disagree with it. We’re not going to just let our minds turn to jelly and ignore when the Church sins, like so many people in the middle ages did. “Selling indulgences is wonderful!” said so many people, until the very same Church they worshiped as perfect condemned selling indulgences (among many other abuses that had crept up) at the Council of Trent. It took an entire, horrible schism (that has surely sent countless people to hell) before the Church woke up and fixed itself.
We switched churches because my wife was hurting and getting picked on. She was literally afraid to go back there for fear of being made fun of in front of everyone again. My wife comes before a church community, per St. Paul in the Scriptures.
Unfortunately no, we hardly would have learned a thing had I not researched myself. Again, 90% of everything we learned was self-taught. The amount and quality of teaching we heard at these parishes has been laughable and at times heretical.
No offense taken, I understand your point
I do want to guard against that tendency of mine as well (which is another thing I struggle with), but I still disagree with how RCIA is run. It seems to me that most of the Church doesn’t believe anymore that the sacraments confer real grace. People really are brought closer to God by taking the Eucharist. You really are forgiven of your sins and given the Holy Spirit Himself at Baptism. You are actually given the seal of the Holy Spirit at Confirmation, conferring Him in His fullness. You really are released from mortal sin in Confession. And all this extra help, this extra closeness with God, is DENIED to people because those whom God has entrusted the task of evangelizing WON’T evangelize. “We can’t be bothered, we’ll get to you when we get to you.” What if it’s denied to someone whose faith isn’t as strong as ours, who isn’t already close enough with God to put up with the abuse? How many people are in HELL because the GRACE of God was TAKEN from them, when otherwise with that grace they would have strengthened their faith and persevered?!?! My own mother and father are certainly NO closer because of the treatment we and others receive. It only FUELS their anti-Catholic sentiment. The grace of God is properly vested in His Church, and His own Church is pushing my mother and father further away from where God wants them :bighanky: What if they go to hell because they refused to enter the Catholic Church? Extra ecclesiam nulla salus - outside the Church there is no salvation. This is a DOGMA. Only ignorance and exceptions allow for salvation otherwise. I love my parents, and the Church herself has been the biggest obstacle for my witness to them :bighanky: I’m FIGHTING and making excuses for the Church so as to try and bring my parents into it!!! Gosh, I wish this was true. But we’ve barely been welcome in their boring classrooms, let alone their lives. All of them (again, excepting our sponsors) could hardly give a flip about us.
No, of course not… I would try to ascertain how qualified they were for the job. But it wouldn’t take me at least half a year to do it
There is no record of the Apostles or the very early Church doing anything of the sort…after some instruction, people professed the Faith and were baptized. Some hardly had any instruction at all. The Latin Church started without the catechumenate in the early Church, added it, then removed it, and has now in modern times restored it. So which way is wiser? With or without? The Roman Church has at different times held different opinions. ) and kept treating me like I’m five years younger in Christ and mind than I am.I really agree with you there. I feel I would only be brought closer to the Lord by receiving communion in addition to attending mass.
Just as an addendum to this, I recently met someone at a local young adults club who was telling his story… this particular individual had joined the military when he was in his teens, and realized that his relationship with God needed to be greatly improved. He was raised in a supposed “Catholic” family, but they were very irreligious. Anyways, he called the chapel at the military base he was assigned, and asked to be baptized. The operator asked, “Protestant or Catholic?” The man hadn’t actually thought about it, and simply replied, “Protestant.” The operator then said, “You’ll have to wait a few weeks, as all our Protestant chaplains are out of town.” Not wanting to wait that long, the man changed his mind and said, “Okay, what about Catholic then?” The operator said it could be just a week’s wait, and so the man agreed. A week later, the Catholic priest baptized and confirmed him, and then gave him a copy of the Catechism essentially saying, “Here you go!” So, without any instruction, this man went from being a non-Christian to a full-fledged Catholic in a week. And you know where he is now? In seminary for the priesthood. Now, I’m not advocating that someone be brought in that easily… that’s a little much even for me
But if he hadn’t been baptized and confirmed Catholic, then he wouldn’t have received that grace, and the Catholic Church would likely be short a priest. The sacraments DO confer grace - DON’T deprive people of them!!!I’ve seen this in my own way as well. I converted to Protestantism first when I was 16. I got baptized in a rush because I believed it was necessary to salvation, but that rush caused me to be baptized invalidly by Oneness Pentecostals. Fast forward through several years of trying and failing to live as a Christian without the grace of that sacrament, when I learned of Baptismal Regeneration during my search for true Christianity I just knew I wouldn’t be able to put two and two together without that rebirth. So I got baptized during my search by Lutheran pastor, finally valid. I took off like a rocket, changed immensely, cleaned my morals up, actually became a bit mystical (!), and finally accepted Catholicism.
Have you been baptized? If not, then you should go through RCIA for at least a year (one liturgical cycle), then you would normally be baptized, receive confirmation and the Holy Eucharist at the Easter Vigil. If you have been baptized, either Catholic or Presbyterian (in your case), then it would be normal to go at least 9 mos. or until the RCIA team and you feel that you are ready. Confirmation and the Holy Eucharist in this case can be done at any Mass by the priest. I was baptized (as a baby) and did a lot of study before joining RCIA, and I wound up spending 14 mos. in the RCIA program. RCIA is not about learning a bunch of facts about the Catholic faith, it is about becoming a participating member of the Catholic Church and a member of your local parish community! So be patient and participate in your parish, get involved. Patience is a Christian virtue.
Sounds like you need a one-on-one visit with your parish priest or Pastor. Explain your situation fully (as you have done to us) and ask what more you NEED before being confirmed.
Could I join a parish before confirmation or do I need to be Catholic?
Yeah, I’ve figured this out already for sure - 95% of what I’ve learned about the Catholic Faith has been from self-catechesis (and it’s the same for my wife). Unless you have an exceptional RCIA class, don’t expect to learn much at all.
I was able to join 2 of the 3 parishes I attended simply by joining RCIA.
Thank you very much, Clair
Definitely start learning now, because you’re not likely to learn there (unless again, you have an exceptional class). Catholicism is incredibly interesting, and I love to learn more about the Faith that I wish with all my heart I could fully practice - hey, here’s an idea, why don’t they teach Catholicism in RCIA?! Wouldn’t that be really cool?!?! )I was just going through the message boards and saw this post. That’s what happens when you treat someone like a piece of paper, instead of someone with a soul - you lose them to one of the Orthodox Churches or to a more welcoming Protestant community.