How do I return to being Catholic after having forgotten all the teachings?
I became Catholic at age 7. However, over the years, my parents took me to a Presbyterian church. I now want to resume being Catholic. However, at age 21, I have just about no memory of what I knew back then. Thus, How do I resume being Catholic?
If you are interested in rejoining or just learning more about the Catholic Church, contact your local parish and ask for information about their RCIA Inquiry group.
You can go and ask any questions you want.
This is the first step in RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) but you can stop at any time.
There is no obligation to become a Catholic.
Some resources: http://www.archdiocese.la/evangelization/rcia/index.php
With love and prayers in Christ.
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May 15 2010 02:16 pm | Catholic
Donna on 15 May 2010 at 7:52 pm #
Go to a catholic church?
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gutbucket on 15 May 2010 at 8:30 pm #
I think they have catechism for adults.
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Thomas on 15 May 2010 at 9:08 pm #
uh pick up a bible.
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Lalitha R on 15 May 2010 at 9:18 pm #
God is one;how you worship Him is what matters. Whether you are a catholic or a protestant or even from another religion, if you are a good person willing to help the needy , feel the oneness of all created beings and be humble , you become a catholic or protestant or follower of other religions.
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Songstress13 on 15 May 2010 at 9:36 pm #
Research Catholic teachings and beliefs. Or you could visit a local Catholic Church and there may be someone their to explain Catholic beliefs to you.
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Daniel John on 15 May 2010 at 10:17 pm #
You could ask the Priest if you can participate in RCIA classes, even though you don’t need to be baptised again or anything…
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Wanderer
Misty on 15 May 2010 at 10:42 pm #
Contact your local parish and ask about joining the RCIA class. This is a class for converts and reverts, which goes over the teachings of the Church, so that you understand.
Welcome home and God bless you.
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Daver on 15 May 2010 at 11:25 pm #
Well, you’re going to have to re-educate yourself on Catholic belief and practice.
Get a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church – and read. You’ll be up to speed in no time.
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Matt on 15 May 2010 at 11:42 pm #
RCIA. It is a free class you can enroll in and take at any Catholic Church.
Go talk to a Priest and WELCOME HOME!
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answer4you on 16 May 2010 at 12:16 am #
If you were baptized Catholic, then there is no issue. If you have not received confirmation as a Catholic, you would need to attend RCIA to be fully initiated and to complete that process. However, if you got your first communion already, then you would simply need to go to confession, do penance, which would bring you in communion with the Church. But if still not confirmed, I would highly recommend doing so.
Talk to a priest first, and he will instruct you on how you can once again be in full communion with the Church.
GOD BLESS…
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imacatholic2 on 16 May 2010 at 12:57 am #
If you are interested in rejoining or just learning more about the Catholic Church, contact your local parish and ask for information about their RCIA Inquiry group.
You can go and ask any questions you want.
This is the first step in RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) but you can stop at any time.
There is no obligation to become a Catholic.
Some resources: http://www.archdiocese.la/evangelization/rcia/index.php
With love and prayers in Christ.
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sparki777 on 16 May 2010 at 1:25 am #
All you need to do is sign up for the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults class (RCIA) at your local Catholic parish. That free class will teach you everything you need to know and give you a chance to ask questions. At the end of it, you’ll have the opportunity to be confirmed if you want.
In the meantime, you can start going to Mass. Did you make your First Holy Communion when you were 7 or 8? If so, don’t receive Communion until you’ve been to confession. You might not feel ready to go to confession yet because you’ve forgotten so much — you can speak with a priest about your readiness if you are unsure. If not, you’ll have to wait until you are confirmed.
There is a great little book that can help you remember how to participate in Mass. It’s called The How-To Book of the Mass by Michael Dubriel, and you can get it at Amazon.com. It’s not expensive and it goes through every point of the Mass so you know exactly what to do.
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Paul on 16 May 2010 at 2:01 am #
One answer hear was helpful, the rest miss the mark somewhat.
PRAISE GOD and I’ll pray for you. BTW you don’t have to resume being Catholic, you have been all along. You just need to resume practicing the Faith. Once Catholic always Catholic in the eyes of the Church. That doesn’t change.
You can attend Mass anytime. You do need to go to confession before receiving communion. In the confessional just tell the Priest your story – that you were initiated as a Catholic but do to your parents you’ve never really practiced and he will be very understanding about helping you along with confession.
Here’s a couple of decent links on confession http://www.wf-f.org/Confession-Penance.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Good-Confession-in-the-Catholic-Church
If you came into the Church at 7 then you certainly received first communion and you might have been confirmed as well (this will confuse some Catholics). Properly speaking a 7 year old entering the Church should be baptized (if not already baptized), confirmed and receive first communion.
If you don’t know whether you were confirmed or not just call the Parish where you entered the Church and ask them to look it up. They keep impeccable records of these things.
In any case, the RCIA classes are a good way to get started learning about your Faith. I attended RCIA for 2 years in college even though I had been through Religious Ed for 10 years and was confirmed because I wanted to know my Faith.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church http://www.amazon.com/Catechism-Catholic-Church-Accordance-Promulgated/dp/0879739762/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273332865&sr=1-2 is great but not a breezy read. You really should get it at least as a reference. There are also several guides and compendiums you can get to accompany it that make it a bit easier to digest.
I’ll leave it at that for now, but email me in YA for prayer requests or for websites or sources to answer questions.
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Mediator on 16 May 2010 at 2:11 am #
If you parents took you to Presbyterian church, then you have been separated from the full faith and grace of the Catholic Church. You probably would benefit greatly from joining the Catholic Church as a convert would, through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program at your local Catholic Church. In fact, I’m certain that would be best because the RCIA administrator can help to bring your faith back from the jungle of manmade reasoning that goes on in the legacy of the Dutch Reformed churches following John Calvin’s legacy. While Calvin may have been a capable attorney, an able administrator, he ain’t Jesus Christ or anything close to Him. His institutes are not faith, they are logical rationalizations and an attempt to reform the Catholic Church. Instead, they created something entirely unworthy of the Catholic faith, which is why Calvin’s ideas were not adopted as revealed truths in the 16th century. Even worse, the Presbyterians divided up along North and South during the War of Northern Aggression, and just in 1983 resolved those differences between Yankees and Rebels. There is beautiful American history within the Presbyterian churches (in fact many Presbyterians are more likely to love their history rather than their actual church), but it isn’t anything close to the full faith and grace of Catholicism when it comes to your soul. You are making the right decision.
Why is this ramble important? Because it is revealed truth that you are exposed to always in the Catholic Church, not logical rationalizations of men. If your parents separated you from that at a young age, you may not realize the importance of the difference. Which makes you more Protestant than Catholic in your expression of faith. If they’d taken you to an Anglican or Episcopalian church, wouldn’t be so different. The Catholic Church is alive and well in those expressions of faith, so much so that the convergence of Catholics with Anglicans is now a foregone conclusion. It will happen in the next 100 years, no question about it.
I will show you below a short writing from an Italian thinker Archbishop Marini back in 2006 called Returning to the Sources. It is exactly what you need to bring you back to the full faith and grace of our Catholic Church. You have available to you every single day the Liturgy of the Word, the shepherds feeding the flock as Christ instructed. At least once a week, you should attend Mass, but take communion only after you’ve received the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. Step by step, your local shepherd will renew grace within you, and then you will of course bring that to all around you.
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Returning to the Sources
A Service to the Liturgy
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/2006/documents/ns_lit_doc_20060323_ritorno-fonti_en.html
Expressions of Prayer
http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p4s1c3a1.htm
Catechism of the Catholic Church
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc/index.htm
RCIA
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cclergy/documents/rc_con_cclergy_doc_14041990_acat_en.html
sebastian c on 16 May 2010 at 2:30 am #
you would have to go through the Rite of Christian Initiation for adults, or RCIA. contact your local church classes should start around august.
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