Posted on 03/30/2019 8:12:59 AM PDT by Salvation
Question: I had reason to hope my niece was going to convert to the Catholic faith. But there were so many obstacles the Church set up that discouraged her. She was asked to go to classes, and they told her that her marriage was not valid and she would need an annulment. Further, it was necessary to wait until Easter, etc. The nearby evangelical church set up no such obstacles, and she was able to join at once and be considered a member. I hear so much talk of evangelization today, but I share my niece’s frustration. Can we not streamline this process?
— Name withheld
Answer: There is a kind of appealing simplicity that you describe in many Protestant denominations. But there are problems with the approach that should give us pause. Ultimately evangelization is more about conversion than mere membership. We are summoned to embrace the saving teaching of the Lord and to walk according to it.
Because adults make informed decisions, the Church considers it important to teach them the fundamentals of the Faith so that they can know what it is they are agreeing to when they enter the Church. Although some of the Scriptures portray an almost instant, on-the-spot baptism, the consensus in the early Church shifted to a lengthy, three-year period of instruction (called the catechumenate) prior to baptism. This likely was because of the insight that quick conversions often led to quick departures or a falling away when the true demands of discipleship became known.
Instructions are most insisted upon for those who are unbaptized. In the case of those who are baptized and come from different Protestant denominations, the length and content of instructions will depend on their background. It is up to the discretion of the pastor who discerns with each individual what is needed. It is certainly not required for those already baptized to “wait until next Easter.”
The concerns about a person’s marital status are rooted in the very words and teachings of Jesus himself. He teaches without ambiguity that for a person to marry, then divorce and enter another marriage, puts them in an ongoing state of adultery in the “new” marriage (cf. Mt 5:32; Mt 19:1-9; Mk 10:11-12; Lk 16:18, etc). He adds rather firmly, “What God has joined together, let no one divide” (Mt 19:9).
It will be further noted that when the Lord was evangelizing the woman at the well, he brought her to a moment of conversion, and she asked for the gift of faith. But the Lord Jesus saw fit to first raise with her the fact that she had been married five times and was now living with a man outside of marriage. Her conversion would not be complete or adequate until she was willing to live chastely. Then the graces could flow.
For reasons of their own, many Protestant denominations have decided to practically overlook such passages. But the Catholic Church takes the Lord’s teaching on these matters rather seriously, as he clearly intended that we should. In some cases, after an investigation based on evidence, the Church may use its power to bind and loose, to indicate that the previous marriage was not “what God has joined,” and it recognizes the first marriage as null. A person’s current marriage then can be blessed and recognized. But we simply cannot set the Lord’s words aside as if they were of little importance.
Thus some conversions to the Catholic faith will take some time to be faithful to the teachings of the Lord and the nature of true conversion. It is worth the diligence required.
Apparently not in picking out homo or child predator priests or their present Pope.
too many churches put their man made (maybe bible inspired but still distroting/timeline etc thru the lens of man’s) standards/rules on people and yes it turns many off.
Just as kids can skip grades etc people who have Jesus already working in their lives should be able to hurry through some of the man made formalities to belong to a church. When you catch fire from God you want to dive in not have to follow some check list and program like you’re in quality control to see if you pass inspection.
Meanwhile, too bad the Catholic church and other churches who are helping pour in thousands of illegals in to the USA don’t set higher standards of following God’s way of not using tax payer funds to do it or setting them up on govt assistance but just only use local church raised funds, people who actually want to support that - especially when other citizens already in the community are in need of help. Or Churches handing out food boxes for years to illegals and the food was not local donations but govt assitsed large food buys. Some of whuch do nothing more than hand out food boxes to feel good, they don’t actually try to get to know the situations and get people up and out of needing food box. Not following Acts ways of church pull together and help community in need but just a business of churches being on govt dole of getting some form of helps from tax payer monies and spreading it around. It’s out of line with God’s word.
The Bible makes it clear that all men are to seek the truth and act on it justly. Catholics and all Christians are judged individually, not collectively. No Christian gets away with error just because a priest or pastor has told them to believe it. If that was the case, then all priest and pastors would get the blame by God when individual members fall into error because of what was preached or perhaps misunderstood from the preaching.
God wants everyman to know and act on truth for him or herself...because a minister can’t be around for every moral crisis that comes around. That is why God sent his Spirit!
However, I also recognize that the Catholic Church has the best understanding of all that is Holy, including all that isn’t written in the accepted books of the Bible.
This means that the knowledge and understanding I seek is kept in a place where, because of my perceptions, I am unable or unwilling to enter.
Worse still is Satan’s infiltration into the Church and his corruption of both Scripture and our understanding in these times.
Saint Michael the Archangel,Thanks for your posts. I know you take a lot of slings and arrows when you open these Catholic threads to all.
defend us in our battle against principalities and powers,
against the rulers of this world of darkness,
against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle,
be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
Thank you, Salvation!
Even the priests molesting little boys? Do you really want to go there?
“Christ, not the church, “saves to the utmost”. One is saved by believing on Him, not by joining a church.”
Agreed! Now ministers for Christ who are truly doing God’s work should certainly earn our respect, but it’s not about a specific organization or Church, when we have Christ in us the temple is in us!
1 Corinthians 3:16 -
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?”
No one here hates Catholics. Only the false teachings the propagate
Interesting. My very catholic cousin was married in the Catholic Church by a priest to a non catholic she had lived with for quite some time before getting around to marrying him. In a dresss that was barely there and certainly didn’t cover her shoulders. Need I say her mom is a pillar of the church and gives them a lot of money?
She remains a catholic in very good standing despite her pro abortion pro gay marriage pro democrat stances. So don’t tell me the superior morality of the Catholic Church. Even without it being for sale. Funny how the rich and famous never have a problem getting that little anullment or are never bothered about those little votes in favor of partial birth abortion. Rank hypocrisy all around
If your husband was a baptized Lutheran there is no requirement for him to be baptized again. The absolute longest RCIA lasts is a year, not three years. And that’s for a person who has to be baptized, which would have not been your husband. His RCIA could have been a month or two, or a week or two, getting some instructions from the priest, not an RCIA group. Three years RCIA....never.
You forgot the most important qualification for an annulment — being rich or influential.... do the Kennedy’s ring a bell?
Oh, and before someone brings up the sacrament of Confirmation, all that did was cause grade school kids to memorize responses in case the Bishop asked us a Catholic tradition question. It’s certainly didn’t “confirm” our baptism. Now this is probably the point where Catholics will use Latin terms to impress us snake-handling, mouth breathing, unsophisticated Christians who are not Catholic or fled from it.
That is so wrong. The only thing necessary to come to Christ is a contrite heart and belief in His promises. Period. Any obstacles you throw in the way of people coming to Christ are not of God
The knowledge you seek is in the Bible. Open to all no special initiation or being good enough to join anyone’s special club. Ask the Holy Spirit to open scripture to you and He will. Better yet join a Bible study at a sound Bible believing church. No man can withhold the knowledge you seek. God bless you on your journey
It’s hard to make a case for an annulment, in some instances, but, if you apply, and provide enough information about the circumstances before and after the wedding day, an annulment is probably going to be granted, in my experience. I have worked on annulment cases in a couple of dioceses and, after about 50 of them, I can say that I only encountered one that had to be denied. It was because the person asking for it gave unresponsive answers to the questions, so there was nothing to build a case on at all.
I read every day and also listen to various radio programs every day by various Protestant denominations and find the differing translations of the same Scriptures fascinating.
In both politics and religion, you will find irreconcilable disagreement and confusion between people who are each absolutely sure that they have the correct understanding and who also have absolute hostility toward those with a different understanding.
X
I was a team leader/sponsor in RCIAfor 4 years. I never heard that it takes 3 years. Our program was about 8 months one evening a week. My mother, at the age of 73, decided to become a Catholic. Our priest said she quizzed by getting 3 children through the Baltimore Catechism and making sure they were raised Catholic.
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