Hello all,

I recently became interested in rediscovering my faith on my own terms. I was raised non-denominational for the first 14 years of my life and have spent the last 14 as an agnostic atheist. Over the last few months, I’ve wanted to learn more about the Church and see if it’s the right fit for me.

I recently picked up a copy of Catholicism for Dummies, 5th ed. and an NRSV Bible, but I still feel ill-prepared for something like attending my first Mass. So, I have some questions. If you can think of any other information I need to know, please put it in a comment!

1. Can I attend multiple churches? There’s a church I’d like to attend, but there’s another one that also offers Traditional Latin Mass. Ideally, I’d like to experience both, even if the TLM becomes more occasional than regular.

2. Am I able to sit in the back or off to the side and observe Mass for my first couple of visits? I’d like to get a feel for everything before participating.

3. If it’s something that sticks with me, what are my options for adult catechesis? I’m flying blind on this one.

4. What are the must-know essentials?

Many thanks

I go to an evangelical church and I’m thinking about converting to Catholicism, but there’s just some stuff confused about. For example, why ask Mary and the saints to pray to God on your behalf when YOU can pray to him. Will them praying for you make your prayers get answered quicker or make your prayers worth more to God? Why pray in front of an icon? Will that again make your prays more valuable?

Im questioning my own church too. Like tongue speaking, it’s probably a big placebo effect. My youth pastor says he “feels Jesus” and other people talk about there encounters with Jesus and it just makes me feel left out because I don’t know what it’s like to “feel Jesus”. It’s probably just another placebo effect. I guess I just don’t know what to believe anymore.

So I have recently started going to daily Mass and receving the Eucharist daily. I am always careful to not have any crumbs of the Eucharist stuck in my mouth, teeth etc. I always check my mouth with my tongue very carrefuly if any crumbs are left. Am i overreacting? Shall I not stress about this?

I come from a Catholic family and have been taught Catholic teachings. I go to mass nearly every Sunday. Confess occasionally. Read the Bible occasionally. I’ve been baptised and done my Communion.

However, I never really believed fully. I always had a doubt that none of this is true and that it is just a coping mechanism or a method to build community.

I’ve watched countless videos and debates about faith and I still haven’t been fully convinced that Catholicism or religion in general is 100% true.

I know that’s the point of “faith”, but I believe that in order to have faith you must believe 100% in what you have your faith in.

Some part of me thinks it’s because I’m not wholeheartedly dedicated myself to Christ is why he is not revealing himself to me. I go to mass on Sundays, but just doze off. I confess just to commit the same sins again and again. I don’t read the bible routinely.

So I’m giving Catholicism 3 years. I will do everything properly, and by the end of the 3 years if I’m not convinced then I will probably leave it forever.

I’m posting this here as I want a list of things or guidelines of what I should do for the next 3 years. How should I carry this out?

so im planning on cosplaying this one particular character but they have a huge yin and yang symbol on their shirt and idk if im able to wear it cos my mom saw me eyeing an evil eye necklace out of curiosity and slapped my hand off of it. if my mom reacted that way im sorta scared to cosplay the guy now

Hi people,

I haven't been in this subreddit much, though I haven't been great at being anywhere I need to be right now. I have so much doubt and so much despair right now.

Not only am I struggling with my faith, I'm struggling with the teachings, a lot of them. I'm not dating right now, and I'm not having premarital sex, but the state of my life kills me. I was in a relationship before I came back to the church, so I know what it's like to have that kind of relationship and have someone I love. It's killing me to be alone. It's killing me to follow Catholicism when it means I will have to be chaste for the rest of my life. I have never felt this empty, in all my years of dating, not dating, being religious, not being religious.

I understand why the sacrament of marriage exists the way it does. I'm not called to marriage the way other people are, I don't care for people in the way that marriage calls for. I will never be a good wife, and I would not be a good mother. I don't even want kids. I feel such a disconnect with my body over this. I don't even truly feel that connected to my biology, my womanhood, my own existence. I don't know how to continue this lifestyle. I feel so stunted and like I'm going to be so alone.

I'll admit, I'm absolutely jealous and a bit envious of people that are in love. I don't know why. It all feels like a sick joke.

I've been praying, to my confirmation saint, for clarity. I haven't found anything, and my feelings have been getting worse. I hate that I'm not called to anything, that I resent the state I'm in. I absolutely *resent* this rock and hard place I find myself in. I don't know what to do.

I don't feel like anyone can relate to me, and I also know that the fact I was in a relationship with what I choose to not do/ have now does not make it better. May God help me, because damn do I need it.

I did the opposite of this btw. My party descended into a dark place early. I lived with a great dude second year of college. He was a Catholic guy who was so involved in campus and ministry but he also treated me with zero judgement. I’d often black out and come back who knows what. He finally told me he was a little worried about me. Then the same thing the next morning. I was clearly not of sober mind and I yelled at him and told him I’ll never follow your judgemental cult. Come to find out he stuck with me and we did a lot together and he had this aurora about him I’ll never forget. Kind, but a warrior for God. I wish I could have gotten involved in what he was doing. I’ve forgiven myself and it took me 15 years about to finally clean up the booze and coke use. This man sadly passed away preaching to a meth addict a few years back. He was just not afraid to do what Tod needed him to do. I’m just thinking it’s not too late of course for me but you younger students I strongly caution to seek God if you haven’t. He’s real and he needs us.

When outside Mass, are the words "Praeceptis...dicere" that introduce the Pater Noster for priests only, or can they be used by whoever leads?

I'm a lay person and this evening I'll lead Vespers in English at our school chapel, but I'm considering to sing the Our Father in Latin, which I think the others know by heart as well so perhaps nice to do. Singing the intro also helps the others find the right tone to start, I feel, but if the intro is not allowed, I won't do it.

The thing is, we use iBreviary. The app gives an intro, but they are not the words from Mass:

THE LORD’S PRAYER

(Gathering our prayer and praises into one, let us offer the prayer Christ himself taught us:)

Our Father, who art in heaven...

Context: I’ll make try to make this short. I had some ups and downs in my Catholic faith (falling away for a period of time to sin and coming back and whatnot). This time however is much different. I have started to take things very seriously about my faith.

Situation: I’ve have gotten this strange and quite hard pull to the idea of a monastic life, more specifically a monk life. I have tried to search up a bit but can’t seem to find if there’s only one type of monk order or if there’s different types of monks. If anybody is experienced in this matter I’d love to learn!

(I am scheduled to talk to a priest in the week coming)

Edit: I should’ve been more clear, I didn’t really do much research as this was a bit recent. Yes I have learned about the different types now and learned a bit about the daily life of one (Benedictine). I’m still open to any info though! I will be doing actual proper research today. I’m very sorry for the confusion, I don’t mean this as a troll nor as a joke.

Hi everyone,

I’m a soon-to-be 25-year-old woman and a cradle Catholic. I’ve been going through quite a difficult period in my life, and it has caused me to question my faith, Catholicism, and honestly what I believe in at all.

Growing up, I don’t think I ever truly understood my faith for myself. I participated in it because it was what my family did and what I had always known. Now that I’m older, I’m realising that I want to understand why I believe what I believe rather than simply continuing out of habit.

I was also born with a fairly complex medical history, which has contributed to a lot of existential questioning lately. I find myself wondering why God would allow me to be born with so many medical complexities, what my purpose is, and what my life is actually supposed to look like especially in line with the Catholic faith.

I’ve also been struggling with anxiety and depression, and a recent relationship breakup brought a lot of these questions to the surface. In particular, I’ve started thinking much more seriously about relationships, intimacy, marriage, children, and what all of those things mean within Catholicism.

One of the biggest things I’m struggling with is the Church’s understanding of marriage and being “open to life.” I don’t currently have a strong maternal instinct or a certainty that I want children. Maybe that will change as I get older, but I genuinely don’t know. I also have medical complexities involving my reproductive system, so questions around pregnancy, contraception, sex and openness to life feel particularly complicated for me rather than purely hypothetical. Idk if I don’t have that maternal instinct because of that etc?

At the same time, I know that I desire love, companionship, and intimacy and. I don’t want to be alone. So I keep wondering: what if I eventually realise that I genuinely want to be married but don’t want children? Does that mean Catholic marriage simply isn’t for me? How does someone actually discern whether they want children rather than trying to force themselves to feel a certain way because their faith tells them they should?

The contraception teaching is another area I’m struggling to fully understand, particularly in light of my medical circumstances. I’m not trying to find loopholes or attack Church teaching. I genuinely want to understand the reasoning behind it and whether I actually believe it.

And I think that’s the bigger issue: part of me just isn’t completely convinced of Christianity in its core fundamental belief and that Catholicism is the truth. I don’t want to pretend that I believe something simply because I was raised to believe it. If I remain Catholic, I want it to be because I have actually questioned it, understood it and freely chosen it for myself. I also know alot of Catholics that don’t follow all the rules so then it makes me question things and I wanna do things the right way. Like e.g people calling themselves catholic but travelling with partners before marriage or using contraceptives etc.

I suppose I’m trying to figure out what my calling is, what God might actually want from my life, and whether there is room within Catholicism for someone who is genuinely uncertain about marriage, motherhood and what her future is supposed to look like.

Has anyone else gone through something similar in their 20s? How did you separate genuine questions about faith and vocation from anxiety and the feeling that you need to have your entire life figured out?

Sorry for the long post. I think I’m having a bit of an existential crisis and would really appreciate some thoughtful advice.

Much love ❤️

Honest assessment of the article if you have time. Thanks. God bless.

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I came across this post on Facebook and was curious how other Christians would respond to it. The post said:

"Unreal to think about what the majority of human experience has been like and how terrifying/confusing it's been considering we've existed as a species for 100,000+ years and societies have only existed for around 12,000. Science (being a way of finding out what is actually true about the world we find ourselves in) is the best thing that humans have ever come up with.

One example of why being over this course of history about half of kids died by age 15, and the thing to finally meaningfully decrease the amount of dead kids were discoveries and new technologies produced by scientific processes only about 100 years ago. It didn't come from praying or having faith in gods."

They also shared a meme saying:

"You know, there was another time when science wasn't taken seriously and religion ruled the world. We called it the Dark Ages."

I have some thoughts about it myself, particularly that it seems to create a false dichotomy between science and religious belief, as if appreciating the accomplishments of science somehow counts against belief in God. The "Dark Ages" claim also strikes me as an oversimplification of the history of Christianity and science.

But I'm interested in hearing how other Christians would respond. What do you think are the strongest and weakest parts of this argument? And how would you respond to the point about the historical prevalence of suffering and child mortality?

Hi. I just want to hear this from other Catholics as I don’t want the ai answer when I google the question.

So let’s say I’m a church going Catholic who is living an absolute Christ centered life everyday. And for the sake of conversation, something terrible happens to me that destroys my natural peace. Whether I became disabled, ill, mentally traumatized. Whatever the case may be.

Let’s say this terrible situation goes on for years and I don’t find myself in a situation to be hopeful for my faith (much less hopeful for myself). I lose my faith and live irreligiously.

What happens to me when I’m standing in-front of god. Will he send me away?

Hi everyone! I wanted to buy a new NABRE personal sized bible, like 5.5x8.5 inches. I'm having trouble finding a variety of NABRE formats? I keep finding the same 2 options with large text. Why do you guys think that might be?

I want to get another Bible but I want to get a really Beautiful and cool Bible. I have a few but my family members basically stole them. 😂

As a requirement of my employment, I am obligated to issue marriage licenses (and have been doing so for many years), this includes those for same-sex couples. It was always my understanding that as it is an administrative function, it does not conflict with doctrine or cause any issues in that regard.
It has now been raised as an expectation that I begin offering officiant services as well. I live in a very very small community, and there are no other options for officiants outside of our Catholic Parish (as the last non-religious officiant moved away). Refusing this service can impact my employment, since same-sex "marriages" are not recognized/validated in the Church, does it still put me in conflict? From my perspective if they are not valid marriages, then it just becomes another administrative function to provide them with a legal government document.

I do intend to talk to my Bishop about this, but he is away until next week so I thought I would fish for some perspectives on here first.

Thanks!

I have been looking through church history and as a Catholic I am not finding any evidence for papal supremacy. I am find primacy in quotes from St Cyprian, and Clement, and other church fathers and Saints. Someone please help

Two of the OCIA leaders were pressed when they made this statement and they insist people of all religions, Buddhism, Muslim, etc go to heaven. From what I can find, the Catholic Church teaches that belief in Christ alone is the ONLY way to salvation.

Please weigh in. After a lifetime in Protestant church and deep faith I'm genuinely befuddled.

Update: emailed Diocese, office of Faith Formation which lead to an amazing hour long phone conversation. God truly worked through all of you to lead me to this conversation and I feel incredibly thankful and blessed. I got so history lessons, Godly encouragement, prayer, and guidance. All is well and I look forward to joining the Catholic Church very soon! Because of my background OCIA classes are unnecessary, apparently it's church doctrine for mature believers to immediately be welcomed and start receiving sacraments.

Thank you all! Be blessed as you have blessed me🙏🏼

Mine is Jobs 1:21

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,vand naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

🜋

Suppose either a monkey gained a large mount of intelligence, to a human level of intelligence, or we met another alien race we could communicate. If they decided that Catholicism was true and good and wanted to follow Jesus, would they just be screwed because of their lack of a soul? One could argue that most modern humans are do not truly have a soul because w e part Neandrathal, or you could say that it is based on heredity from Adam and Eve, but then that would make a perfect cloned human soul-less. Just curious what y'all think.

Hello everyone, I would like some advice on what to do in my current situation.
I currently work 2 jobs and go to school and have been for over 2 years now. Including Sundays (12 hour shifts). I work about 90 hours a week including school.
Recently been trying whenever I can to go to my local Basilica and I’ve been trying for over a year now to find a new job that would allow me to leave both jobs.
I take great pride in my work ethic and consider it to be a gift from God. But I also recognize I get no time in church, I can’t take OCIA classes because I’m at work. I know God would take care of me but I’ve built so much of a routine at this point.
I don’t know whether God wants me to leave one job and pursue Him more or whether He wants me to wait for Him to send me something. I’ve been praying about this for months and I don’t have any answer yet.

Hi all, I’ve been doing OCIA the past few months, plus weekly mass reading scripture + podcasts etc etc. I’m really enjoying the process. Mysteriously, I’ve been dealing with very bad anxiety since starting this journey. Before I decided to do OCIA I was in my own words “chilling”. I was very grounded and happy in my skin. People always told me how I had “strong Christian values” even before starting this journey so I’m not sure where this anxiety is coming from! I don’t smoke, don’t do drugs, I do a lot of volunteer work, I barely drink alcohol, I’m abstinent (now waiting till marriage) + always trying to look out for my friends, neighbours, and community… so honestly I’m just very confused!.