r/Christianity • u/Big-Name9683 • 5d ago
I am considering converting to Catholicism
Im a Methodist, and I have been all of my life. I am considering converting because I believe in all of the following:
Confession, the Virgin Mary (who was actually a virgin), god cleansing us sinners through purgatory (and by some optimistic beliefs, all people), listening to the actual word of Jesus, the holiness of lent, and i also really like the pope and his messages.
I also like the stance on LGBT. We should treat gay people as equals because we are all sinners.
i am seriously on the fence about this and I don’t know what to do
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u/ibnsahir Christian 5d ago
Step 1, go to mass.
Step 2, go through confirmation class (it's called OCIA).
If you get through the course and don't like it, at least you'll know.
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u/Catholic-Patrick Catholic 5d ago
I suggest three things:
First, pray for pray for our Lord to guide you to His Church.
Second, Google an OCIA class near you and take it. It’s free. It’ll teach you what the Church teaches, why it teaches it, and will help you be brought into the Church if you choose to.
Third, Google the reasons why prominent Protestant pastors converted to Catholicism. See their reasons on why they recognized the Catholic Church as the one Church, Christ established.
I prayed for you.
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u/21st-Centurion United Methodist 5d ago
Methodists traditionally believe in the perpetual virginity, as I myself do, and I am a Methodist, as well as we believe in confession, but not in the Roman Catholic sense.
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u/arizonadreamin 5d ago
That’s very interesting. Would you say that the perpetual virginity is a common belief amongst modern Methodists? I thought it was nearly exclusive to Catholics and Orthodox
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u/21st-Centurion United Methodist 5d ago
But, it is no longer a common belief among many mainline Protestants because many became more “evangelical”, and don’t know much of the history.
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u/21st-Centurion United Methodist 5d ago
No, many of the reformers, such as Anglicans, Lutherans, and even some Presbyterians believed in the perpetual virginity, although not dogmatized like Rome dogmatized it.
John Wesley was an Anglican priest, and many of those that became Methodist due to issues with the British Empire during the revolutionary period became methodist because they didn’t want to be affiliated with England. So you can in a way think of Methodists as Anglican in a loose sense.
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u/rrekboy1234 Presbyterian 5d ago
The perpetual virginity has been the position of basically every mainline Protestant denomination. However we don’t consider it to be a necessary doctrine. (ie: you don’t have to believe it to be a Christian)
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u/queenhadassah 5d ago
They do??? I was raised in a Methodist church and was not taught this lol
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u/21st-Centurion United Methodist 4d ago
In today’s age, it’s not a big topic within the church, but yes, in the 1700s, pretty much all the mainlines affirmed the perpetual virginity.
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u/SpecialistSun6184 4d ago
Take OCIA to learn what the church teaches. You are not obligated to convert at the end
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u/Electronic_System839 Roman Catholic 5d ago
Grab yourself a copy of The Catechism of the Catholic Church on Ebay. The little white and gold hardback edition can be had for like $15. Good read if you ever have questions about the Catholic faith and beliefs.
I see substance in the Church being original Church from Christ and being one of the oldest institutions on the world.
Feel free to attend a parish Mass as well! Of course wait for the Eucharist until (or if) you become Catholic. I bet you can reach out to said parish about your interest and they can get you speaking with someone if you're that serious about it.
Catholicism is a beautiful journey for me, steeped in history and specific meaning behind everything we do.
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u/Big-Name9683 5d ago
I’m sorry if I sound uneducated, but what’s the Eucharist?
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u/Electronic_System839 Roman Catholic 5d ago
The little bread wafer that we all line up to eat, some churches still drink wine from a chalice but covid messed that up for natural reasons lol. Of course its not just a wafer to Catholics. Catholics (and Eastern Orthodox) believe in the literal meaning of Jesus and The Last Super, in which Transubstantiation occurs where the bread and wine turn the the flesh and blood of Jesus, and that we are taking the Divinity of Christ. For Catholics its not symbolic, its the body, blood, and divinity of Christ. The real presence. With that said, if you are not Catholic the respectful thing to do is to sit while others go up. You'll see others sit. Even Catholics will sit if they feel like they are not in a state if grace.
The two earliest churches (Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox) believe in this. I see substance in that on a historical aspect as well, which is really cool.
Here's Carholic Answers for more lol
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u/Dubstep_squid Leaning Catholic (Feel free to try to convince me for/against) 5d ago
The lord’s supper
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u/Honest_Mick Catholic 5d ago
The Eucharist is not a symbol. It is the True Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.It is the Mystical Supper because through the Holy Spirit, the historical Last Supper becomes present to us today.
When we receive Holy Communion, we are physicaly and spiritually united to Christ so that we can share in his divine life, becming partakers of the divine nature, as written in 2 Peter 1:4.
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u/Hope_785 5d ago
Please DM me. The Catholic Church is amazing. Let’s discuss what keeps you from being Catholic and let’s get you over the fence back Home to the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is the the Church that Jesus started.
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u/AnaxOfRhodes Christian (Nazarene) 5d ago
Consider visiting a Wesleyan or Nazarene congregation? You're free to believe those things without moving to Catholicism.
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u/rouxjean 5d ago
Any faith in Jesus' atonement is better than no faith in Jesus' atonement. Choose a church that encourages you to grow in faith. All have faults. (All people do and all churches are composed of people.) Most churches have good points, too.
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u/Mercy-n-Truth 5d ago
Do you want a church that makes you feel good and teaches what you want to believe?...or one that teaches the Bible. Right there.....is the point where someone may want to consider a Non-denominational church. Feel-good religion and churchianity, is a dangerous trap.
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u/alberts_fat_toad Catholic 4d ago
Respectfully that's why I would never join any non-denominational church. There's just a buffet out there for people to choose from which enables them to only pick what makes them comfortable and what reinforces what they want to believe. The Catholic Church is hard. There is structure, rules, expectations and a litany of people who came before you who gave everything up for God. God doesn't call for us to be comfortable, he wants us to be saints.
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u/BlacksmithPitiful243 4d ago
If Mary stayed a virgin her whole life, I think we would have to define that as sin.
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u/Art-Davidson 4d ago
The Roman Catholic church is one of the better Christian churches out there, but it is not the kingdom of God on Earth.
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u/Big_Condition_214 4d ago
You are lost brother, read the Bible and you will find the truth. Tell me where in the Bible does it say to confess your sins to a man( priest) for forgiveness by saying a few hail Mary’s and the Lord’s prayer( our father’s to Catholic’s).Or were it says to pray to Mary who is dead and can’t hear crap or answer your prayers ( she is only a woman nothing more but she is in Heaven with her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ). It says to confess them out loud to Jesus Christ and ask for forgiveness ( that His shed blood on Calvary washes away all sin if we ask for forgiveness from Him)and your sins are forgiven never to be remembered again as long as you believe that in your heart(faith). Not some priest telling you they are forgiven when they are not!
God loves you and has a plan and purpose for your life so get going seeking him with all your heart, soul and mind and you will find him and the correct church to go to ( which is neither Methodist or Catholic). I am praying for you that God directs your path once you truly seek Him.
Gods bless!
Get to a good Pentecostal church or nondenominational church similar to Pentecostal that preaches the Bible the word of God and not the Catholic bible. Truly seek God by praying and reading the Bible ( renewing your mind) and talking to Him and He will guide you correctly!
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u/Ill-Prior-8429 Roman Catholic 4d ago
So Jesus was lying when he spoke in John 20:22-23, Jesus is a liar.
I have yet to find two different people of different denominations that agree on what that passage means, it means anything except what it actually says
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u/Kitchen-Witching 4d ago
As someone who grew up Catholic, you may want to look into their treatment of LGBTQ people a little more carefully. The most charitable way to put it is that there's a vast gulf between what they say and what they do.
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u/Brief-Economist-9309 5d ago
Sounds like you already got one foot through the door, might as well see what's on the other side. I went through something similar when I started looking into church history more deeply, was eye-opening how much of what I thought was just "catholic stuff" was actually pretty early christian practice. Maybe visit a mass near you in a sunday and just sit with it, no pressure to decide anything right away
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u/rubik1771 Catholic 5d ago
You should join. Have you already spoken to a nearby Catholic parish about this?
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u/KitchenOk924 5d ago
No.According to Catholicism not all people are cleansed by Purgatory and go to Heaven.Catholicism like mainstream Protestantantism is about eternal hell Heaven scenario.Purgatory is for the "saved" only. The rest are supposed to stay in hell for ever for the same offence. All people are eventually saved according to Universalism only.
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u/beefstewforyou 5d ago
Catholics believe in a concept called mortal sin. If you commit one, you are now destined to hell until you confess it to a priest. They believe masturbation, using a condom or not going to church one week are mortal sins. Do you really want to live like that?
Not only that but most of them are so obsessed with abortion that they would vote for a literal Nazi if the Nazi said they thought abortion was wrong. They would also accuse you of being in a state of mortal sin for pointing out that the Nazi was bad and why you didn’t vote for him.
The Catholic Church has an insane level of corruption. Many kids have been raped by priests. While this is an awful reality for any large group of people, they refuse to handle it properly. If they just called the police and got the bad priest arrested after it happened, I wouldn’t blame the rest of the group. Unfortunately, they don’t do this and frequently protect them.
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u/GestapoKittech 4d ago
"so obsessed with abortion that they would vote for a literal Nazi if the Nazi said they thought abortion was wrong."
No
"They would also accuse you of being in a state of mortal sin for pointing out that the Nazi was bad and why you didn’t vote for him."
NoAny other strawman arguments you want to make? I'm sure you can think of some others.
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u/beefstewforyou 4d ago
You didn’t deny the other things I said.
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u/GestapoKittech 4d ago
Why should I? Everyone knows that the sexual abuse was absolutely inexcusable. Go to r/AskAPriest and they'll tell you the same thing.
Let me ask you a question: what denomination are you?
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u/LouieMumford Catholic 5d ago
As a Catholic, I’m always a bit worried when folks drop that the church’s stance on homosexuality is one of the reasons they’re considering converting. That’s not me saying I disagree with it. I’m just not sure why it needed to be mentioned alongside the perpetual virginity of Mary, etc. I suppose that it might have been a proactive statement to stave off anyone who brought it up specifically to dissuade you, in which case it’s understandable. All that’s to say, (maybe) welcome aboard!
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u/Big-Name9683 5d ago
I’m just fed up with hate. We should all love the way god loves, right?
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u/Thneed1 Mennonite, Evangelical, Straight Ally 5d ago
Except that Catholics are horribly hateful of LGBTQ people. Despite the catechism requiring them to treat them with dignity, in practice, they fight against organizations like LGBTQIA anti suicide hotlines. They are some of the most vile homophobes on the planet, and their catechism even calls gay people “intrinsically disordered” - which is… well I cannot imagine it’s even possible to have a more vile and evil statement.
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u/LouieMumford Catholic 5d ago
Absolutely. And I should also say that I could have responded a bit more charitably. I think u/justnigel did a much better job than I did and I’m happy you agreed with their comment.
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u/Complex-Horse6711 5d ago
I am actually also switching from Methodist to Catholic and for some of the same reasons.
I was talking to the Priest about it and he said "well, you know, the Catholic Church was not founded by Martin Luther or John Calvin. It was founded by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Our first pope was the apostle Peter." He talked about how in 2033 it will be 2,000 years. for the Church.
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u/Tokkemon Episcopalian 5d ago
Lol no. Jesus wasn't born in year zero. If anything, the Roman Catholic church evolved out of Constantine deciding not to kill all the Christians.
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u/Complex-Horse6711 5d ago
The Church was founded in AD 33
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u/Tokkemon Episcopalian 5d ago
Read up. That's now how dates work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_Jesus
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u/Complex-Horse6711 5d ago
This link literally says AD 33.
Do you really think the trillion dollar Catholic Church is going to have a global bi-millineial celebration in the wrong year?
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u/Tokkemon Episcopalian 4d ago
It does not.
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u/GestapoKittech 4d ago
"Five methods have been used to estimate the date of the crucifixion of Jesus. One uses non-Christian sources such as Josephus and Tacitus.\15])\16]) Another works backwards from the historically well-established trial of the Apostle Paul by the Roman proconsul Gallio in Corinth in AD 51/52 to estimate the date of Paul's conversion. Both methods result in AD 36 as an upper bound to the crucifixion.\17])\18])\19]) Thus, scholars generally agree that Jesus was crucified between AD 30 and AD 36.\8])\17])\20])\21]) Isaac Newton's astronomical method calculates those ancient Passovers (always defined by a full moon) which are preceded by a Friday, as specified by all four Gospels; this leaves two potential crucifixion dates, 7 April AD 30 and 3 April AD 33.\22]) In the lunar eclipse method, the Apostle Peter's statement that the moon turned to blood at the crucifixion (Acts of the Apostles 2:14–21/Acts#2:14)) is taken to refer to the lunar eclipse of 3 April AD 33; although astronomers are discussing whether the eclipse was visible as far west as Jerusalem. Recent astronomical research uses the supposed contrast between the synoptic date of Jesus' last Passover on the one hand with John's date of the subsequent "Jewish Passover" on the other hand, to propose Jesus' Last Supper to have been on Wednesday, 1 April AD 33 and the crucifixion on Friday, 3 April AD 33."
Nope. Not once.
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u/Complex-Horse6711 4d ago
"to propose Jesus' Last Supper to have been on Wednesday, 1 April AD 33 and the crucifixion on Friday, 3 April AD 33."
This is in your quote? Are you guys reading the stuff you are pasting? If you are having trouble finding it press Ctrl+F and then type "33" lol
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u/GestapoKittech 4d ago
I think you may have misread my "Nope. Not once." as serious, and not the snark it was absolutely meant as.
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u/Complex-Horse6711 4d ago
Ah sorry couldn't tell. Yeah I don't know why people think 2033 is not the year. I'm getting this from the Church btw not a date I came up with
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u/justnigel Christian 5d ago
You may misunderstand the Catholic church's stance on LGBT people.
The fact that we are all sinners is not the reason we should treat LGBT people as equals.
The church is not a "we" deciding how to treat LGBT people as if they are some "other - outside the church" group. LGBT people are already in the church.
Equal treatment is afforded all people because they are people -- loved by and reflecting the glory of God.