I attended Catholic schools for 4 years (jsut graduated) which included a religious education class every day for 4 years, which comes to about 600 hrs of Catichism studying. I've been attending Catholic mass (forced in the beginning) for 4 years also. I only recently decided to convert to Catholicism. Are there any steps I might be able to skip in the process since I know the Catholic Faith inside & out, I just am not allowed to participate int he sacraments? Jennifer

-- Jennifer (marchjen6@aol.com), June 25, 2004

Answers

I only recently decided to convert to Catholicism. Are there any steps I might be able to skip in the process

well, there is one possibility, but i doubt it would work. when i was a child my mother had custody of me, and wouldnt let me attend the RCIA classes, which were not on my fathers timeshare. as such, my priest gave me a all the books, and then some, and i studied on my own. when i was finished, the priest quizzed me on my knowledge and we talked alot about the church and the faith. i was later confirmed along with that years class.

since I know the Catholic Faith inside & out

this, jennifer, is not possible after only four years... let me tell you, its not possible after 10 either, although i used to feel the same way you do. learning here at this forum, and reading the works of Dr. Scott Hahn or Tim Staples has shown me that there is an amazing world of catholic faith i dont yet begin to know, and could spend a lifetime trying to fully grasp.

-- paul h (dontsendmemail@notanaddress.com), June 26, 2004.

Hi paul h and Jennifer,

Jennifer I just want to say that I'm so excited that you're joining the Catholic Church this year, as I will be too! I am very anxious for next Easter. Jesus has been calling me in the Eucharist, and I long for Him.

I will say that I was a bit frustrated when I saw the book that my local parish uses for RCIA. After studying intensely for months and somewhat for several years, now I have to take RCIA in the fall. I think that overall I will enjoy the class and hopefully learn more about the Catholic Church, her history, and disciplines. I have a lot to learn in specifically these areas.

However, when I looked over the book for RCIA, the information contained in it is very basic, like things that I learned in elementary school in my Evangelical upbringing. I guess this is good for those who are new to the Christian faith, but I do wish that there were two levels of the course, so that those who have studied a lot could go more in-depth on other issues. I am taking RCIA at another location due to being at college in the fall, and I hope to learn a bit more than that at this particular one. It's difficult to have a good attitude about it when you know the material inside and out. Since I've been studying a lot of in-depth theology and such, this seems rather lacking and disappointing.

Well Jennifer, I think we will still both have to go through the RCIA classes. I guess just pray that God will speak to you through it and teach you new things, or help you grow in your faith.

God bless,

-- Emily ("jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), June 26, 2004.

If the sum total of your Catholic education is typical high school religion classes, it is very unlikely that you know your faith "inside and out". Many graduates of Catholic high schools couldn't list the Ten Commandments. Or the seven sacraments. Or the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit. How about the six precepts of the Church? Or the four marks of the Church by which it can be recognized as the One True Church? Do you know what Apostolic Succession is? Infallibility? Transubstantiation? Intercession? Trinity? Incarnation? Immaculate Conception? Contrition? Indulgence? Redemption? Purgatory? Ascension? Assumption? Pentecost? Grace? Sacramentals? Sacrilege? Mystical Body of Christ? Sacred Tradition? Can you recite the Apostles' Creed? The Act of Contrition? Do you know the criteria which make a sin mortal? Do you know why there cannot be women priests? Can you define conscience?

How you would you respond to a friend who said ...

- The Catholic Church teaches things that contradict the Bible.

- The Bible says we are to Baptize by full immersion. The Catholic Church just sprinkles people.

- The Bible says Jesus made one sacrifice on the Cross for all time. The Catholic Church says He is re-sacrificed at every Mass.

- The Bible says we should pray to God alone. The Catholic Church says we should pray to saints.

- The Bible says salvation is by faith. The Catholic Church says we have to do all kinds of works to merit salvation.

- The Catholic Church added seven books to the Holy Bible.

- The Bible says you must have faith to be baptized. The Catholic Church baptizes infants who cannot have faith.

- The Bible says God alone can forgive sins. The Catholic Church says a priest can forgive our sins.

- The Bible says we go to heaven or hell. The Catholic Church says we can also go to Purgatory.

- The Bible says that God alone is perfect; but the Catholic Church says the Pope in infallible.

- Jesus said that the bread and wine were a "remembrance" of Him. the catholic Church says it actually IS His body and blood.

- The Bible says no-one is equal to God, but the Catholic Church prays to Mary and Jesus equally.

Jennifer, if you are capable of handling most of the above, then you have had a truly exceptional high school religious education program - in fact an unbelievable one! If you cannot address most of the above, then you do not know your faith "inside and out", because all of the above really involve very basic elements of the faith. We all are in a position to learn more. I learn more about my faith every week. Someone who has just graduated from high school, even if they had an exceptional religious ed program, still has a great deal to learn before they are ready to live their faith as an adult Catholic in this materialistic, hedonistic, largely pagan world.

That having been said, RCIA programs differ greatly from one place to another, and sad to say, many of them don't provide much more than high school religious ed programs typically offer. However, if your RCIA program is a good one, you will find that you gain a much deeper appreciation and understanding of your faith than you had when you graduated from high school. In the RCIA program in my parish, which my wife and I teach, every one of the areas mentioned above is covered, at an adult level, in addition to many other essential topics. We meet once a week for an hour and a half, 9 months of the year, about 60 hours total, not enough to do more than scratch the surface of the depths of our Holy Catholic Faith. But we try at least to provide some of the basic understanding and knowledge which the majority of adult Catholics lack. I encourage you not to pass up any opportunity to increase your understabnding and appreciateion of the faith. In the end, it is all that will matter.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), June 26, 2004.

Paul M, in the interest of Catholic education (especially since there were a couple i didnt even know) and since the question has been answered, would you take the first paragraph and give the answers to your questions, while i will provide the answers to the second set of questions below... need to stretch my religious muscle.

The Catholic Church teaches things that contradict the Bible.

there is absolutely nothing in catholic teaching which can be shown to contradict the bible. false exegisis by unqualified "biblical scholars" leads people to believe errant information about both the bible and the catholic faith that leads to fundamental misunderstandings about the christian faith.

- The Bible says we are to Baptize by full immersion. The Catholic Church just sprinkles people.

good question... i would guess that total imersion is merely a discipline of jewish law, and being a discipline rather than a doctrine it is mutable by the catholic church. let me know if im right on this one Paul M.

- The Bible says Jesus made one sacrifice on the Cross for all time. The Catholic Church says He is re-sacrificed at every Mass.

the catholic church says no such thing whatsoever. what we realize is that that one sacrifice for all time is made present to us at each mass. it is not another sacrifice, it is the same one brought to us and to Catholics everywhere.

- The Bible says we should pray to God alone. The Catholic Church says we should pray to saints.

thats simply bible errancy. there is no commandment that we should pray to God only. furthermore, when Jesus goes onto the mount he converses with moses and elijah. if Jesus commands us to follow his perfect example, and He prayed to the saints, how can we be so arrogant as to declare such an action as wrong?

- The Bible says salvation is by faith. The Catholic Church says we have to do all kinds of works to merit salvation.

actually, catholics dont believe that we are saved by merit in any way shape or form. in fact, we recognize the fact that we are but sinners who do not deserve heaven. through our faith which shows itself in Christian works and lifestyle we enter the grace of God and receive the salvation of Christ. HOWEVER, works ARE required, or the faith which leads to grace and salvation is hollow, and wer are not saved at all.

- The Catholic Church added seven books to the Holy Bible.

actually, the catholic church compiled the bible in the 397, including the seven dueterocanoniacal texts. these stood for nearly 1200 years, until martin luther deemed these texts to be inspired, but not divinely infallable through his own personal interpretation (not through the will of the church which had God's blessing). as such, the seven texts were not removed, but were seperated. more than a century later (or more, depending on sources) the seven texts were removed. recent efforts have sought to restore the seven texts to the KJV, although they would still remain seperated.

- The Bible says you must have faith to be baptized. The Catholic Church baptizes infants who cannot have faith.

Christ tells us that we should have perfect faith, like the faith of a child. at what time is our faith any stronger than when we are completely innocent of our own sin?

- The Bible says God alone can forgive sins. The Catholic Church says a priest can forgive our sins.

God does forgive our sins, precisely because the priests forgive them here on earth. the preists, who hold the apostolic keys of power to loose sin on earth (which is in turn loosed in heaven) take confessions, as the original priesthood was commanded to do, and then release the earthly punishment of that sin for a penance. in turn, God forgives us of our spiritual punishment of that sin, which is death.

- The Bible says we go to heaven or hell. The Catholic Church says we can also go to Purgatory.

the complete bible includes several references to purgatory. even the protestant shortened version contains a reference by st paul. note that we know only those who are without sin can enter heaven, yet paul tells us that the devout who die will have their sin purged from them before they can enter into heaven. this clearly represents the fact that there will be a location where we will do penance for our remaining sins until we have been washed clean and are worthy to enter into heaven.

- The Bible says that God alone is perfect; but the Catholic Church says the Pope in infallible.

there is a large difference between being perfect (as God is) and possessing the gift of infallable dogmatic interpretation (as the pope does). contrary to popular belief, the pope is NOT infallable all the time. in fact, several have been very wicked. the Holy Spirit, however, protects the office of the pope from producing false dogmatic teachings. how do we know so far that no dogmatic teaching has ever been false? every ex cathedra statement and other dogmatic interpretation made in church history is still in effect to this very day. not to mention several of those evil popes who i talked about earlier who mysteriously died within a couple days (and sometimes within a couple hours) before speaking ex cathedra.

- Jesus said that the bread and wine were a "remembrance" of Him. the catholic Church says it actually IS His body and blood.

actually, this is another false interpretation. Jesus said that we were to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood in rememberance of him. He also stated that unless we eat His Flesh and drink His Blood, we shall not have life in us. further proof of this comes from the jewish tradition of the passover lamb, who's flesh, once it was sacrificed, was to be consumed by those for whom the sacrifice was to benefit. Jesus, being our Perfect Lamb for our paschal sacrifice, is to be consumed by his followers for atonement of our sins. it is clear that the communion MUST be the true body and blood of Jesus, or we are not saved.

- The Bible says no-one is equal to God, but the Catholic Church prays to Mary and Jesus equally.

again, this is an incorrect view of what the catholic church teaches. first, no one is REQUIRED to pray to mary. they may do so if they choose. second, when we pray to mary, we recognize that she does not have an express power of her own to respond to our prayers, but rather through intercession to her Son do our prayers to her become realized. she is our friend, she is concerned for our salvation, and she prays for us.

-- paul h (dontsendmemail@notanaddress.com), June 26, 2004.

well you said it

"i only recently decided to convert to Catholicism..."

if you only recently decided...then your journey begins now. go to RCIA, study and pray, and then after you've completed that process you can participate in the sacraments.

-- jiggy la douche (jiggy@liggy.com), June 26, 2004.

Paul M.,

I wish that I could take RCIA with you and your wife! Sounds like it would be quite interesting and informative. I will be taking it in the fall at the Newman Center of my college. I can only hope the class would even be half as good as what you explained.

paul h said: evil popes who i talked about earlier who mysteriously died within a couple days (and sometimes within a couple hours) before speaking ex cathedra.

Does anyone have any further information about this? I've heard of such things, but never read anything about it specifically. I would be fascinated to read some stories of this.

-- Emily ("jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), June 26, 2004.

The principle example of this was Pope Sixtus V who, in the late 16th century, decided to have a new revision of the Vulgate produced before prumulgating it as the official Bible of the Catholic Church. The story is somewhat involved but here's the quick outline - first he enlisted a group of scholars to do the job for him. He wasn't satisfied with their work (to put it mildly), and in fact was so angry about it that he then said he would produce the translation personally - something he was utterly unqualified to do. A couple of years later he finished his version of the Vulgate, and offered it to the cardinals to review. They were aghast when they read it. It was full of additions, deletions and translational errors which in some cases amounted to heresy. But Sixtus was determined to officially promulgate this heretical work as the official scripture for the universal Church. The books were printed and bound, copies were distributeded to the Cardinals, and the date was set when Sixtus would sign the necessary papal bull at a solemn high mass in St John Lateran Cathedral. Then the Pope, who was in excellent health up to that point, suddenly died. So his flawed version of the Bible was never officially promulgated as the teaching of the Church.

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), June 26, 2004.

" Jesus has been calling me from the Eucharist and I long for Him."

You can still spend time with our Lord if you feel He is calling you, and you long for Him in the Holy Eucharist.

You will (with Gods Grace)help ease your "longing" if you start praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament(if possible) on a regular basis ever week. Our Lord will talk to you with your thoughts.

May our Eucharistic Lord bless you and your Mom.

-- - (David@excite.com), June 26, 2004.

Thank you, David. I have visited the Blessed Sacrament and I would love to do so more often. However, I thought this could only be done (besides around mass time) during Eucharistic adoration hours, which only occur once a month. Am I confused here? My diocese is really liberal, so maybe they don't have it very often?

My mom and I are planning to go to daily mass as much as possible now that we will have a car available over the summer. This will be whenever I don't have to work.

Any help on this would be appreciated. I would love to visit Jesus more often if I could. God bless,

-- Emily ("jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), June 26, 2004.

Hi, Emily

"Am I confused?"

I have never seen you confused and doubt if I ever will. I know you are a intelect and am very impressed with your knowledge and attitude with Catholicism.

".. I would love to visit Jesus more."

Jesus is usually in the Tabernacle of most Catholic Churches. This is why people bow down and face that way before grabbing a seat before Mass.

If you want to know what Catholic Churches have the Blessed Sacrament exposed for prayer please ask and I'm sure you would be suprised in your Diocese.

I will join you in prayer that Mom and you are able to spend more time with our Lord.

Please pray that I spend more time with our Blessed Lord.

-- - (David@excite.com), June 26, 2004.