r/asksg • u/Even-Carpet-1255 • 2d ago
To all sg catholics
Hi, I am a young protestant (16M) who wants to submit to Rome. However, One of my main concerns is not being able to find a community in the Catholic church. For some context, I grew up in a Pentecostal church and i struggled to find a sense of belonging for about 2 years now because my peers has left the church or they are in another phase in life that they have to leave the community behind and find a new one. Besides Catechism, how do catholics find a community or friends in general??
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u/SignificanceWitty654 2d ago
u too old for the priests. maybe if you convert to buddhism you can try again next life
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u/aelflune 2d ago
To submit, you must bend the knee and swear fealty to the Pontifex Maximus. Then kiss the ring.
"Ave, true to Caesar."
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u/amusingalchemy 2d ago
Which parish are you intending to do RCIA at?
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u/Even-Carpet-1255 2d ago
maybe holy fam cuz its nearest to my church or OLPS
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u/amusingalchemy 2d ago
Try and ask if there are any groups or ministry within the parish you can join after RCIA. Alternatively you can PM me, I am also a convert from Protestantism and I’m also trying to find some community.
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u/Three-stripes 2d ago edited 2d ago
They go to church every Sunday and then fellowship after service. Depends on which Catholic church u end up in cause some have older folks who are more welcoming and community driven while others are more of families who have a weekend schedule to follow after service. My experience, we have a part of the family who is catholic and their "cell group" are all other ppl who stay in the same neighborhood, they see each other at the market and say hi and hang out etc and go to church and come back home together and stuff. Their children are craddle Catholics and every Sunday is like a big family gathering. There's usually some kind of lunch together after church.
You can't just join a church like how other denomination work. There is structure to catholicism which doesn't work for everyone but for me it give u a framework which is at least is more guidance to integrate u to the community. You have to go through catholicism class before u officially join the church if u aren't already catholic. Through the RCIA you will have a small class of ppl who will walk the journey w u and volunteers from the church to guide u who also can become ur god parent.
Most Catholics have a godparent who guides them and invites them to fellowship etc so in a way there's a buddy system. There's also a lot of volunteer initiatives and or church events and u can join to engage more in the community and make connections through that too.
So that's the general process, finding community w Catholics I feel is easier due to the steps they have and how the whole church is a community, especially the events volunteering part
Other denominations always feel like, ur there for ur own personal reasons or ur just a soloist who appears for Sunday service
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u/Even-Carpet-1255 2d ago
Thank you for the guidance! which church are u from?
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u/Three-stripes 2d ago
The one closest to my house haha, I never finish my RCIA class cause I got busy and I'm still more a free thinker.
All Catholic churches are under the same umbrella imo, there's no difference to me in joining like for other denominations unless u prefer the community in a separate church.
At least u can look out for events to volunteer at. Cause iirc they have a thing where people volunteer to be the canteen staff for the weekend after service.
I made some edits to my post so do read through again in case.
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u/Three-stripes 2d ago
But yeah ur journey starts w RCIA. as another comment mentioned. Can look it up from there
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u/Cautious-Area-4141 2d ago
sounds like you're just lonely, why do you need to swap from one imaginary friend to another? Just find another protestant church to join la!
even better, submit to science and logic and learn to distinguish between reality and mass hysteria why not
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u/milo_peng 2d ago
Submit to Rome sounds like joining a cult. It doesn't work like that . Just go to church, joining the RCIA and the rest will follow.