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sweetyface17
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| Joined: | Sun Mar 11th, 2007 |
| Location: | Hudson, Michigan USA |
| Posts: | 43 |
| First Name: | Mandy | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Lutheran, Considering Catholicism |
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Posted: Tue Dec 25th, 2007 01:01 pm |
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| This past summer, I spoke to the preist of the parish I had been attending about attending classes to be accepted into the Catholic Church. He took my contact information and said he'd pass it along to the person in charge of RCIA. A month went by, and I hadn't heard anything, so I asked again. He said she would be in touch. I never heard from her, and I couldn't seem to get ahold of her. I've already been baptized, and I've done a lot of studying on my own. I'm really committed to becoming Catholic, I know that's where God is leading me. I just feel like there are so many road blocks. I've been attending a different parish, and I'm thinking of asking if there's any way I could still join at Easter vigil. It's cutting it close, I know, but I've known in my heart that this is the missing piece for so long. I've always felt a pull to the Catholic faith, and it kills me to think that I might have to wait another year. What should I do?
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5310 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Tue Dec 25th, 2007 01:30 pm |
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sweetyface17 wrote: What should I do?
What does our Savior teach us? He teaches us that we must be persistent in prayer. He also told us that while his yoke is easy, his path is not. Don't take no for an answer. You have a right (under Church law) to become fully initiated into the Church as soon as you are adequately prepared. Try the other parish and if you can't get assistance there, contact the diocese and ask where you might receive preparation.
Don't be discouraged. Many have had a much more difficult path. Even if it is too late to be admitted at the Easter Vigil, there is no requirement that you wait for next Easter. Many parishes admit the previously baptized at regular Sunday liturgies, and Pentecost is a particularly appropriate time to join the Church, as 3000 did on the first Pentecost of the Christian era.
God helps those who help themselves, so if you are persistent, God will show you the way.
____________________
Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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sweetyface17
Member
| Joined: | Sun Mar 11th, 2007 |
| Location: | Hudson, Michigan USA |
| Posts: | 43 |
| First Name: | Mandy | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Lutheran, Considering Catholicism |
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Posted: Tue Dec 25th, 2007 01:40 pm |
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| Thanks. I didn't mean to rant. I just feel a little lost. :?
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CajunRick
Network Helper
| Joined: | Fri Sep 29th, 2006 |
| Location: | Houma, Louisiana USA |
| Posts: | 5310 |
| First Name: | Rick (& Kermie) | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Lifetime Catholic, Latin Rite |
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Posted: Tue Dec 25th, 2007 01:54 pm |
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sweetyface17 wrote: Thanks. I didn't mean to rant. I just feel a little lost. :?
This is the perfect place to rant. So many have experienced the same frustration with the human failures of the Church that it is important you get to hear from an objective source how it should be.
For example, many parishes will tell you that you can only be admitted at the Easter Vigil, and that simply isn't true. It may be the policy in that parish or that diocese, but it is not the rule of the Universal Church. And if you didn't have a place like here to ask those questions, where else would you go?
We're happy to have you here with us, and many here who have experienced the same frustrations can sympathize and offer you encouragement and support. It is worth the effort.
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Understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore seek not to understand that you may believe, but believe that you may understand. - Augustine
Rick Luquette
Luquette Lane
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tedjenczewski
Member
| Joined: | Thu May 10th, 2007 |
| Location: | Richmond, Virginia USA |
| Posts: | 253 |
| First Name: | Ted | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Catholic, Presbyterian, revert Catholic |
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Posted: Tue Dec 25th, 2007 02:52 pm |
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| Your experience is indicative of a poor effort at evangelization in the parish. This is especially troublesome when the church appears to hinder those who seek the truth. You might contact the parish preist (or the bishop which can probably be done via the internet) and ask him to recommend a nearby parish that has an effective RCIA program.
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"...the church of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth." 1Tim 3, 15
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MichaelStEdmund
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| Joined: | Fri Dec 28th, 2007 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 98 |
| First Name: | Michael | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Convert from pentacostal/charismatic/holiness background |
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Posted: Sat Dec 29th, 2007 01:06 am |
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Even with the difficulties you're experiencing, I'm so happy that you know what direction God is leading you in, and that you feel passionately about it. I know it must be small comfort to hear this, but to have a real direction is a blessing. Many people either spend their lives looking for a direction or they spend way too much energy ignoring the direction that our Lord is placing right in front of them. I admire your determination. A lot of people just don't have that. You've received some good advice here. I have nothing new to add - I just wanted to give you a little bit of encouragement.
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"Faith seeking understanding" - St. Anselm of Canterbury.
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Bill Kirscher
Member
| Joined: | Fri Dec 28th, 2007 |
| Location: | Denver, Colorado USA |
| Posts: | 11 |
| First Name: | Bill | | Gender: | Male | | Faith History: | Revert to Catholicism (dabled in Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Evangelical, Messianic ... |
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Posted: Sat Dec 29th, 2007 01:35 am |
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Hang in there! I will pray for you.
My children went through our RCIA program a couple years ago. It was very difficult because my Evangelical/Fundamentalist wife was not supportive at all. I felt that I had to hide things from her that I knew she would disagree with.
It is worth the wait and dealing with the hardships. My understanding is that the process in the early Church took about three years!!!! As a word of encouragment .... Several months after my children were received into the Church at the Easter Vigil, I asked my 11 year old daughter if she ever had a moment in her life that was so filled with joy that she felt her heart would explode. "Yes, after my first sacrament of reconcilliation". At first I thought that she felt this way because she "got it over with" but she assured me it was because of the grace she received. These special graces are definitely worth whatever persecutions or hardships we must endure. Unfortunately, it seems that yours are from a not-so-considerate member of the Church itself.
I suggest you speak again with your parish priest and be very clear about your needs. If this doesn't work, you should go directly to your bishop. I've been able to communicate directly with our Archbishop via e-mail and he promptly responds.
In the meantime, I suggest you continue to go regularly to Mass and really understand what it is all about - especially the Eucharist. While you cannot yet receive the Blessed Sacrament, there is nothing preventing you from adoring the Real Presence of Jesus Christ. I had a three month period where I could not receive the Eucharist while I was waiting for my marriage to be sacramentally recognized. I spent that time adoring Jesus and eagerly awaiting to be able to receive Him again. I would participate in the communal procession and bow down before our savior with my arms across my chest and receive a blessing from the priest. The anticipation was indescribable and when I was finally able to fully participate again, as my daughter did after her first reconcilliation, I felt so much joy that I wept and felt that my heart would explode!!!
Bill
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wisdomseeker
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| Joined: | Thu Dec 13th, 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 32 |
| First Name: | janete | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | always catholics, although have participate in other churches |
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Posted: Mon Dec 31st, 2007 03:21 pm |
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sweetyface17 wrote: This past summer, I spoke to the preist of the parish I had been attending about attending classes to be accepted into the Catholic Church. He took my contact information and said he'd pass it along to the person in charge of RCIA. A month went by, and I hadn't heard anything, so I asked again. He said she would be in touch. I never heard from her, and I couldn't seem to get ahold of her. I've already been baptized, and I've done a lot of studying on my own. I'm really committed to becoming Catholic, I know that's where God is leading me. I just feel like there are so many road blocks. I've been attending a different parish, and I'm thinking of asking if there's any way I could still join at Easter vigil. It's cutting it close, I know, but I've known in my heart that this is the missing piece for so long. I've always felt a pull to the Catholic faith, and it kills me to think that I might have to wait another year. What should I do?
hi there! do not give up, the Lord is worth every bit of your suffering.
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Helen
Member
| Joined: | Tue Dec 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | Rock Springs, Wyoming USA |
| Posts: | 14 |
| First Name: | Helen | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | I was brought up Independent Fundamental Baptist, at about 25 ... |
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Posted: Sat Jan 19th, 2008 05:05 pm |
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This too was my experience. I would call the office and they would say they would get back to me and I would never hear from them again. Finally this year,(The third one of trying) a catholic friend who also became my sponser told me to meet her there on the next RCIA night. I have been so excited but also it has been a very difficult journey for me. One full of doubt and fears. Now it seems I have run into another road block, our lesson last week was on the Eucharist. I had read somewhere that if you are married to a divorced person or divorced yourself you could not receive, so I asked the priest and he was sort of stunned I think that it was just now coming out. He asked about my situation and I told him that I had been married to my husband for 28 years. That he had been married for a year when he was young. He left to find work and when he returned, his wife was living with another man. He had only been gone a couple of weeks. He begged her to come back but she refused. He waited another year and then she wanted to remarry so he gave her the divorce. The priest said we would have to talk about it, and that was that.
When I married my husband our evangelical family was not kind. We were shunned by many. It was a very painful experience, and now I find that I may be unable to be confirmed after so many years of trying. I am trying so hard not to be angry and frusterated. I mostly just feel a terrible grief. I am still so emotional about it I can't really think clearly. It seems that having a heart for God and a true desire to follow Him is not enough. This has always been my delima. I love Jesus and want to walk in his path, but I can never seem to navigate the man stuff. Still, I am trusting Him. One thing I have learned, is that Catholics are never in a hurry. It is good for me I think to wait on Him. I wll be keeping you in my prayers. It is painful to want something so much and seemingly being thwarted at every turn. Also asking why? is usually not a very profitable endeavor.
A fellow traveler,
Helen
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HELEN
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Intercessor
Member
| Joined: | Tue Sep 25th, 2007 |
| Location: | Southcentral, Kentucky USA |
| Posts: | 1203 |
| First Name: | Becky | | Gender: | Female | | Faith History: | Southern Baptist, Catholic |
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Posted: Sat Jan 19th, 2008 05:42 pm |
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sweetyface17 wrote:
I'm really committed to becoming Catholic, I know that's where God is leading me. I just feel like there are so many road blocks.
Helen wrote:
It seems that having a heart for God and a true desire to follow Him is not enough.
Mandy and Helen,
Your pain is very evident and reminds me of the roadblocks I encountered on my own journey. Many times I turned to others for strength and support. It is easy to forget that more is involved than just our love for God, God's love for us, and our firm desire to enter the Catholic Church. The roadblocks are Satan's efforts to sift us and, if possible, to keep us from knowing the joy, strength, and peace that await us. The roadblocks are utterly predictable. It would be shocking if we had none.
We are in the middle of a battle between good and evil. God wants us to become not just soldiers, but battle-hardened soldiers who can remain faithful even when the spiritual warfare is bloody and awful. I pray you come to regard each roadblock as an opportunity to show God how sincere you are and as a chance to grow in grace, as you persevere and overcome. I wish so much that I could give each of you a big, long, warm hug.
Be strong, dear sisters. Have courage.
BeckyLast edited on Sat Jan 19th, 2008 07:12 pm by Intercessor
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"The perfection of a soul may be measured by the degree to which it does the will of God, and finds its happiness in doing it.... O my God,...the only thing necessary is Your holy will," Divine Intimacy, pp. 15-16 Father Gabriel, O.C.D.
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