Ten Reasons why it’s (sometimes) hard to become Catholic.
Be sure to read the comments…
Behold, I stand at the gate and knock. If any man shall hear my voice and open to me the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him: and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)
As I was going under there was a defined period of blackness, not a color, but a sense, all around me, even inside me, this wasn’t the usual fade out, I was being given a message. I woke up in the recovery room, with my wife by my side and the next couple of weeks with all the medicine I wasn’t quite myself.
Over the next month I started to develop this debilitating fear: That blackness kept haunting me, always anxious, could not keep my hands steady, fear of failing my family. This was completely opposite of my normal personality. But the seed that had been planted was starting to develop. I sought the help of professionals, to no avail.
One evening when I was talking with my wife’s aunt, she suggested I might want to talk to a priest. I had been thinking about it anyway. I was pretty sure God had given me a message: I need to change my life, I need to be baptized.
As soon as I started thinking about my life in this way, everything started to make sense.
RCIA: Needlessly complicated barrier to entry … or a wonderful gift of the universal church?
by Doug Lawrence
A recent article in the Catholic Herald about the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) once again has me wondering: If the Catholic Church is indeed the original and true universal Church … founded by Jesus Christ himself,while he still walked the earth (it is) … and the RCIA program is the best the Church can do … then why aren’t people lined up outside, 24/7 and 365, waiting to sign up?
I don’t recall the recently deceased modernist Cardinal Martini saying anything in particular about RCIA, but if he had, it might have been something like this (and he would have been right):
Is it rational for the Catholic Church to expect to attract large (or even reasonably acceptable) numbers of converts by means of a one size fits all, once a year, six month long program of religious instruction … often of dubious quality … from a world full of people who have come to expect instant (or at least, very prompt) gratification in everything from their choice of food, to their ordinary communication and social interaction, oil changes for their automobiles, downloads of their music, and virtually everything else?
Perhaps the Catholic Church might be able to attract more than one or two real converts each year, per parish (as opposed to the usual cadre of badgered relatives and spouses) if they concentrated on offering a modern, responsive, technologically up to date RCIA program that addresses at least some of the particular needs and sensibilities of ordinary people … rather than making them overcome totally unnecessary obstacles and jump through various “hoops”?
Isn’t that what the original apostles did?
A case in point: Make a visit to a Catholic parish … other than your own … and see how long it takes you to find the rectory or parish office, gain entry, and obtain a face to face meeting with someone who can actually tell you about the RCIA program … and get you signed up.
If you can get that done in less than an hour and a half, send me an email with your name and address, and I’ll send you a free copy of my latest Catholic CD.
A cop’s conversion to Catholicism: All that it should be, and more!
When I entered into the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program, I did so with an open mind. Every Sunday, my enthusiasm increased. I wanted to discover more about Catholicism. But there were also times I had doubts.
There were times when others in class talked of the tragedies in their lives that drew them to the Catholic faith. But I felt my life was normal. My family was healthy. Why I was being drawn into this?
I came to realize God had been looking after me my entire life. My skills that had seen me through difficult and dangerous situations were a gift from God and there is no such thing as luck, just divine intervention.
Former Protestant writes about how and why he became Catholic
When I got into R.C.I.A., I then realized what had been calling me to the Catholic Church ever since I was a little boy; John 1:14 “…and the Word became Flesh and made His Dwelling among us…”. The Eucharist; the TRUE Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! It was not just ‘communion’, it was not just bread, or a cracker, or a wafer and wine, it was the TRUE BODY of Jesus and it was and IS the TRUE BLOOD of Jesus!
This knowledge transformed my life, my ways of thinking, living and what I was going to do in the future. I often tell people, I fell in love with my Catholic Faith so much that I wound up marrying my R.C.I.A. instructor! I came into Full Communion with the Church on Holy Saturday, April 19, 2003, and for the next several years I had prayed that God would send me a Beautiful Woman, a Holy woman, a Spiritual Woman; a woman I could continue to grow and learn my Faith from. I thought the Lord was going to have to let me marry a Nun! He gave me my beautiful Bride, Donna L. (Grant) Lane, and we were wed in St. Alphonsus Liguori “Rock” Church on May 27, 2006.
Jesus said, in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life…”, and the Church has given me the Vision of how Jesus has and continues to make a Way out of no way for me in my life; how Jesus has shown me Truth in His Church and in my own personal life; How Jesus gives us eternal life, if we continue to do His Will and Follow His Church; He gives us the ‘fullness of the means of Salvation’ within His Church. The Eucharist! The Body of Jesus; the Blood of Jesus; the Soul of Jesus; the UNENDING Divinity of Jesus is all contained within the Eucharist! Why am I Catholic? I will give you one guess; it starts with an E and ends with a T!
How To Become Catholic
How T
o Become Catholic
Many people ask about how they can become a member of the Catholic Church, often without realizing that any validly baptized Christian (baptized with water, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) is already a member of the Catholic Church … just not a full-fledged member.
With a bit of faith, plus some formal training and preparation, just about anyone can become Catholic.
Another comprehensive article explaining the process
More, from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website
Recent Catholic convert and Republican strategist Mary Matalin (wife of Democratic loud mouth, James Carville) speaks
The Republican strategist, editor and talk show host (and wife of Democratic loud mouth, James Carville) spoke to the Catholic Media Convention last weekend. At one point, she mentioned that she was raised Methodist, but joined the Catholic Church this past Easter, through RCIA.
From Catholics News Service, via the Catholic Spirit:
She shared her observations on the current political climate in the country as it heads toward midterm elections.
A former adviser to President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, Matalin is editor-in-chief of Threshold Editions, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. She also is a CNN contributor and co-hosts a radio show.
She filled in for her husband, Democratic strategist James Carville, who was scheduled to speak but had a last-minute conflict. The couple and their two daughters live in New Orleans.
Matalin was introduced by Father John Carville, retired vicar general of the Diocese of Baton Rouge and her husband’s cousin.
After series of dreams about the Blessed Virgin Mary, local Hindu couple joins the Catholic Church
From Hinduism to Catholicism
After a series of dreams about Mary, a local Hindu couple has joined the Church
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Katie Bahr | Catholic Herald
10/21/09
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It was three years ago when Uma Krishnan says she first dreamed of the Virgin Mary. It was January 2006 and she was living in Singapore with her husband, Kumar, and her son, Karthi. In her dream she saw a “very humble lady” surrounded by candles.
She and Kumar were devout Hindus and they knew the lady in Uma’s dreams was not a Hindu god. They knew little of Christianity, but they thought this lady might be the Blessed Mother. Still, because they came from a long tradition of Hinduism in India, they didn’t give the dream much thought.
Later that year Kumar got a job that took him to San Diego. A few months later, he found a new job in McLean. Uma and Karthi joined him that December.
This past April, Uma began to have more dreams of Mary.
New Catholic Teaching Aides from the Knights of Columbus
The award winning Luke E. Hart Catholic Studies Program
from the Knights of Columbus, is now available in MP3 audio, or in PDF text file format, free of charge, to everyone.
This is a wondeful series that is authentically Catholic, that complements RCIA and normal catechism studies, and can be played on most CD players and IPod/MP3 players.
Membership is not required, but every Catholic man should consider becoming a member of the Knights of Columbus, which currently numbers almost 2 million.
Funny hats are optional!
Doug Lawrence's Catholic Weblog 
