I'm joining the Catholic Church next month. Advice/Books/Etc.?

[Ultra Sonic 007]

Hello fellow Freepers. I believe this is my first post on the Religion forum.

Over the past week or so, I put some thought into something I've been pondering for a while; my spiritual welfare. As it was, I had been part of the 'Sola Scriptua' school of thought (Evangelical Christian). By the Bible and only the Bible. Sounded good enough.

Well...what about before the Bible was put into word? It stuck in my head when reading an article earlier on FR concerning a deconstruction of Sola Scriptura and its inherent weaknesses as a foundation for one's faith.

This, combined with a genuine lack of churchgoing (as a family, we've been uncertain about going to various churches, given that top-down problems with Episcopal/Methodist/etc. churches and their increasing liberalization are a genuine problem for one's spiritual welfare), compelled me to make a decision.

I don't know if my family will follow me, persay, but I'm going to go ahead and take the plunge.

Next month, I'm going to the Church of St. Thomas the Apostle near my home, and I'm joining the Roman Catholic Church.

As is, I have a few volumes of the Magnificat pamphlet and the Catechism of the Catholic Church to read.

Any other pointers from other Catholic Freepers?

[restornu]

you know what the trouble is one has FM on both accounts one is dormate but they want to have access to the FM.

I still have not learn how to burn a CD yet and there are things I would like to have on the internet but unable to go the next step!

When I was new I had my first accound under Pressforward Goodness and than I was a way for several months and than return and could not at the time remember who I was and so I got a new one I really was here in the late 1990 how I knew I was on one of those continous threads and found my old accout but never knew the password.

It was on the Predestination threads that OP started those were the days if you when over 100 or post it would drag.

[Cronos]

pretty valid. What made me more than just a routines Catholic was when my aunt joined one of these “hope and life” groups — when she dragged us along for these, I noted that the “pastor” spent all of the few hours(!) cursing The Church. I also noted that he just picked up a random verse from The Bible, added another one and fed it to the masses

[markomalley]

By which he meant Rome.

You are believing the fables of man and
rejecting the plain text of the Holy Word of G-d

Thanks for clarifying this.

So then the "whore of Babylon" must be talking about some Mesopotamian slut working in a bordello in a backwater, right? I guess that means that Hislop & Co. must have been "believing the fables of men" when they wrote their classic texts...

Thanks for your validation!

[markomalley]

(*Blinking in astonishment*)

Yup...and a major proponent of that theory is a poster here on FR. I would say who, but etiquette would mandate I ping him and I really don't want to hear it this morning.

[markomalley]

So you are saying the Bible is God, too.

Only the King James Version (you know, the one used by Paul), red letter edition, large print, double wide margins, in loose-leaf (that way they can remove the pages that trouble them).

[Cronos]

Membership in any man-made religion, will not bring you salvation for your sins !

That's true -- The Catholic Church was founded by Christ, so being part of God's community in The Church helps us all grow

Only a personal relationship with the YHvH, the creator of the universe, will provide you with the means to ask Yah'shua for His Salvation for your sins.
The only place to begin a personal relationship with the creator of the universe, the Jewish Messiah, is in His Holy Word.
I pray that you come to know Yah'shua the Messiah.


The Community of believers in God's Church helps us all grow, b'shem, shalom, sh'ma, etc.

[Cronos]

Christian lite — it reminds me of conversations I’ve had with Hare Krishna and American Buddhists — neither of these have any idea about the depth of the religions they’ve gotten in to. They only think in terms of hippies and “eace man”.... ditto with most of these “talk in tongues” groups (not all), it truly is trying to dumb things down to a level that it accepts anything

[Puddleglum]

The sacraments will be the center of your life - they will warm your heart. The bread of life is just that.

[Cronos]

*say a man in Rome in "infallible" in religious matters (recall JPII kissing the Koran)

A beautiful example of the Devil taking up red herrings and falsehoods to attack The Church. Let's break this down:

1. Doc Eek incorrectly states Papal Infallibility -- this is supposed to be ONLY on matters of doctrine and ONLY when voiced ex-Cathedra (i.e. from a specific point of prolaimation) -- the Pope does this only in extreme situations and only on deep reflection with God guiding him.
2. Doc Eck's statement somehow seems to insinuate that the Pope's tendency to kiss the soil and kiss a gift is the same as the Pope making a religious proclamation is such an astonishing bit of sheer intentional misdirection, it take's one's breath away.

[fetal heart beats by 21st day]

There are no “mere” Christians- just separated brothers and sisters.

Thank you for showing class to someone who is simply seeking to follow Christ more perfectly.

[Cronos]

>> I pray that you come to know Yah’shua the Messiah <<

Now the presumption that he hasn’t is just downright insulting.

Well, the post seems pretty clear to me -- Xenia says "I pray that you come to know Yah’shua the Messiah", signifying that Xenia does know all about Christ and that we don't. He's also very proud of that and willing to share his esoteric knowledge with us poor souls who do not have this knowledge and do not have the wisdom to have attained this. It is really very nice of him to be willing to impart this knowledge to us unenlightened ones and we ought to thank him.

Thank you Xenia for these prayers. We, from The Church will also pray to our God -- Jesus Christ for you.

[Cronos]

The most vicious anti-Catholic fetishists repeat the same lies about Catholicism over and over no matter how often they are corrected.

Well, you got to admit, it's easy to be anti-Catholic. All one needs to do is say something, like: "you CAtholics (though mostly they'll say you Papists or you RCCers) all worship Mary and you all do the hokey-pokey. That's what it's all about"

Then, if anyone refutes your statement or asks for any proof, you can do two things:
1.say that this is on a webiste (Jack Chick's guide to the hokey-cokey and how Catholics put their right leg in, then their left leg in and shake it all about)
OR
2. Say "Nope, you Catholics don't even know anything about your own faith. You all do the hokey-cokey and I'm telling you that, so don't contradict me. I know better than you what you believe in and your Pope also is not infallible about which team will win the Super Bowl this year, so THERE"

[Cronos]

Does this mean I have to stop making silly attempts at jokes?
I think God's god a sense of humor -- he made us didn't he? :)

[Cronos]

ah, you nailed it better than me!!

The game goes like this: - I make an outrageous claim with only a tenuous relationship to reality abut the Catholic Church.
+ You ask me to prove it.
- I cite some cultic source which more or less in the right light, squinting, can be understood as supporting my claim.
+ You say that's not a real source or an incorrect understanding of what's being said.
- I accuse you of parsing or complain about the complexity of RC Doctrine.
+ You may or may not respond.
- Sooner or later I produce reams of excerpts from Scripture, leavened with excerpts from Calvin's Institutes or the Westminster Confession or somesuch.
+ You point out that there is little or no connection between what I post and the topic under discussion.
- I triumphantly point out that if you had the right spiritual discernment you'd see the connection.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat

[Kolokotronis]

“well, I wouldn’t say that — I’ve been on many Orthodox-CAtholic threads and they were all initially (maybe 3-5 years ago) bitter and lots of sledges being tossed between both sides.”

They weren’t bitter. You civilized Latin types just weren’t used to the fierce, mountain bandit ways of your Eastern cousins!

“But cooler minds prevailed and we each learnt more about the other and realised they aren’t really “the other”.”

Right. You guys came to understand that down deep you really want to eat baklava, drink thick sweet cafe and maybe dance a little bit after the Liturgy! Since then its been one big “glendi”! :)

[Wonder Warthog]

"I can understand that. What I can't understand is Judith Anne saying she "bows to only Christ" when she is a Catholic. Do you know any Catholic who doesn't bow to Mary or to a saint or two?"

I know many.

"Do you bow to Mary?"

No.

"You see it appears to many Protestants that Catholics contradict themselves -- they say they bow to Christ alone, and yet they still bow to Mary and the saints."

I see a lot of Protestants attempting to be (and failing) mind readers. The only way anyone can know if the actions shown are "worship" (latria) or a "gesture of respect" (dulia) is to be telepathic. I seriously doubt that you are.

You've been told (repeatedly) what the Church TEACHES. If someone disregards that teaching, how is that the fault of the Church????

[markomalley]

Then, if anyone refutes your statement or asks for any proof, you can do two things:

1.say that this is on a webiste (Jack Chick's guide to the hokey-cokey and how Catholics put their right leg in, then their left leg in and shake it all about)

…

Nope, can't site the source with the avian name anymore. That's been ruled out of bounds. (But they can list Hislop & co still. Guess they are a bit more "academic.")

[markomalley]

Right. You guys came to understand that down deep you really want to eat baklava, drink thick sweet cafe and maybe dance a little bit after the Liturgy! Since then its been one big “glendi”! :)

Nope. I can eat baklava, drink good coffee, and even sip on some licorice-tasting sweet liquor as a Latin. No religious test there.

What I want is to bust up some dishes after eating at a wedding!!!!!

[big'ol_freeper]

What no beer? Harumph.