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?

[Petronski]

...I’m pretty tacky myself.

Then you'd love the devotional I picked up in Tijuana last year. It's called "Piedad de terciopelo" and when I say terciopelo, I'm talking about a luscious purple velvet that you could just eat right up!

[wagglebee]

They have to repeat the same lies, they only have a handful of comic books tracts to get their misinformation from.

[mockingbyrd]

Aquinas, Aquinas, Aquinas.

Sprinkle liberally with Augustine, Athanasius, Damasene. But Aquinas all the way. You will not be disappointed.

[Theo]

Preaching “Christ, the Messiah” is great. Preaching “Rome” is tiring.

[Judith Anne]

Does this mean I have to stop making silly attempts at jokes?

Absolutely not! Don't you know He's laughing too?

[Theo]

You write to me that “maybe you need to consider coming into the fullness of truth.”

That’s exactly the arrogance I tire of, that the church in Rome is somehow the one church in which the “fullness of truth” resides.

You stick with Rome. I’ll stick with Christ, in Whom is found “the fullness of truth.”

[Judith Anne]

ROFL!!!!

[OpusatFR]

“I’m talking about a luscious purple velvet that you could just eat right up!”

Only if it has a painting of St. Dickie the Philbot on it. He looked just like Elvis! He’s the patron saint of shubees.

[Petronski]

Preaching “Rome” is tiring.

I tend to preach all the European capitals: Rome, Paris, Berlin, Prague, etc.

[Mad Dawg]

As I said, Prove it. Where is the Dogma?

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.

But the POINT, or what I think of as the "payoff", is that I know I've irritated you and I've controlled your behavior. So that way I know I "count". I can go to bed happy that I have bugged you and pushed you around. I count because I can make you feel a certain unpleasant way and I can make you do stuff.

It's kewel!

[Judith Anne]

Yes, I agree.

[Antoninus]

You're one of my favorite FReepers--and a fellow veteran of the Hunter brigades. Welcome home!

May God bless you in your decision. The Catholic Church is a vast treasure trove of spiritual riches and it takes perseverence and will to mine it. Just remember--the men who lead the Church are not perfect and never have been. But the doctrine is pure and true. It leads to fulfillment in life, a joyful death, and a place with Christ after death.

Two words of advice--1.) avail yourself of the sacraments of confession and eucharist as often as possible. 2.) find yourself a priest who preaches strongly about the evils of abortion and the sexualization of the culture. These are the crises of our time and a priest who refuses to address them is abdicating his duty.

[Judith Anne]

The way to end the game is to a)identify it b)end the response and c)make the game a joke. :D

Amazing.

[Antoninus]

Read the 1994 Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Actually, use the 1997 Catechism. The 1994 issue, if I remember correctly, had some "coincidental" translation errors in English which--if I remember correctly--made it seem like the Church recognized that homosexuality was an inborn and unchangeable condition. That is, of course, not what the Church teaches at all.

[OpusatFR]

“But the POINT, or what I think of as the “payoff”, is that I know I’ve irritated you and I’ve controlled your behavior.”

Bingo!

There is an obsessive/compulsive factor in it. The compulsive need to be right. I know assumptions should not be made, but I wonder how that same compulsive behavior translates to their day-to-day functioning.

Erggg......I’ve hijacked another one!!! Bad Opus!

[Petronski]

A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. --Joshua, WarGames

[Judith Anne]

ROFL!

[Petronski]

Got a link on that? I’ve never heard of it.

[Judith Anne]

Yep.

[wagglebee]

Don’t forget that there is a problem with the Catechism being a couple hundred pages longer than an INCOMPLETE translation of the Bible, but there is NO PROBLEM with the fact that Calvin’s Institutes is twice as long as the Bible.