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.
There IS a test (judgment) for certain things.
The analogy is America and the Constitution...the Founders gave us a gift, but things like an abused Commerce Clause get in the way. Yet, we are not recommending that we leave America....we stay and fight, and continue living our lives as a Deplorable Patriots.
Well...most don't recommend leaving. I see at least one FReeper recommending that we leave America, just like people living in NJ, NY, CA, MA are maligned and basically told "well, you should move otherwise you have nobody to blame but yourself." I'm stayin' and fightin' but please don't assume I condone what's going on in Rome, anymore than you or I condoned Obama's Less-that-Constitutional proclivities.
I appreciate your patience. Peace be with you.
I was born in a Catholic hospital:
St. Francis in Beech Grove Indiana.
Only if you can has your own cheezeberger
Well; the devil is in them.
I like to sit in the middle of the theater where I can take in all of the image at the optimum location.
Others are content sitting on the front row.
You ought to see what kind of wrangling has gone on for years over a COMMA in scripture!
https://www.google.com/search?q=johanine+comma&ie=&oe=
‘Tell’ that to...
I’ve always been a middle of theater person myself.
I prefer John 3:16. It pretty much sums it all up; short and sweet.
It sums up GOD’s end of the bargain; now all that man has to do is...
Then WHY do you keep posting ‘obey’ verses when you already know that I preach and teach for people to obey the Word?
It’s possible to believe in salvation by grace through faith and NOT on account of works (as the Apostle writes) while still teaching people to not sin.
And I don’t appreciate your implications that I believe otherwise.
I was “born again” when I was baptised not when pastor Billy Bob told me “come on down and accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.”
Just so many “Catholic” theologians on FR. And of course they all know more than all Catholics theologians of the past 2,000 years.
Take a gander at post 252 on this thread.
Is it our fault that we believe the same thing about our salvation as St. Augustine? And St. Clement, and Jerome, and...
Seems that a rather significant chunk of ‘2000 years of Catholic theologians’ are in agreement with us ‘prot heretics’ and not modern day Roman theology.
A reasonable and rational conclusion, yet each is sure that the Holy Spirit is telling them the Truth and that everyone else is mistaken.
Given that, and given the assumption that all are honest and earnest in their beliefs, how do you decide who has Truth and who has ego, and then, what do you do with that information?
Often we will seek like minded people to hang with and then attack those who don’t agree with us.
And, the more who agree with us, the more certain we are correct, especially if we have in our group men and women with theological degrees from respected schools.
And we humans can easily rationalize our errors, if we have to. Good thing we seek to serve a forgiving God!
If only we could remake Him into our own image, then He would be perfect!
Mercy in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Location does not matter. Water does not matter. You can come to saving faith in Christ in the desert, in space, or on a ride at Disney World.
I'm necronomian - "dead the Law."
...
Perhaps not; but when CONTINUED abuses are seen and when centuries of non-biblical stuff is; if not taught; at least ALLOWED; then SOMETHING sure is not fresh in Denmark!
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Add to the current Pope's error (and a great many popes have been evil, corrupt, wrong, etc.) the KNOWING acceptance of 30-45% likely HOMOSEXUAL clergy, the coverup at all levels of leadership, the largest sexual abuse of children by a religious organization in history, and it is time "to come out from among them and be holy."
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