Catholic Bible 101
21st Century Catholic Apologetics for Mary's Spiritual Warriors
So you wake up one day, and you realize that a lot of what you had heard about the Catholic Church are just simply not true. Things like:
Catholics worship statues like the Israelites worshiped the golden calf (they really thought the gold in the form of a calf was a god! Catholics only reverence, not worship, who the statue represents);
There is no scripture at Mass (The Mass has scripture all the way through it, in addition to the 3 readings).
Catholics worship Mary like she is a goddess (she is alive and is a very holy saint who prays for us to her Son);
That the rosary is mindless babbling (instead of meditation on the life of Christ and Mary);
That the Mass re-sacrifices Jesus over and over again (instead of making that one time event present through time and space over and over again);
That the Lord's supper is just a symbolic memorial (instead of being the actual body of Christ who forgives venial sin through the very act of participating in it, John 6:55...mortal sin has to be confessed before receiving the Eucharist);
That priests get lots of money for offering Masses for the dead ($5 a Mass is not a lot of money);
That priests do not have the power to forgive sins (in spite of what John 20:22-23 says about it), etc., etc., etc.
Maybe you even took the time to investigate Church history before 1517, and read what the Early Church Fathers, the martyred disciples of the apostles, had to say about things. It's a lot of work to study all of this, but if you did take the time, you would have found out that there was no Baptist Church way of worshipping in the first 15 centuries. The Methodist way of worshipping was non-existent back then. There was only the Catholic Church and its totality of worship. And that the gates of hell did not prevail against the Catholic Church - Nero, the Cathars, bad Popes, the Protestant Reformation, Stalin, etc., notwithstanding. And that way of worship was much more than hymn singing, bible reading, and a sermon.
So now that you know the facts instead of the false hype about the Catholic Church, you have to ask yourself if you are going to worship God in the manner that Jesus Christ said it should be done, rather than in some tradition of man started up in the 16th Century. If you agree with Jesus, then you have to take the next step and become a Catholic.
How do you do this? By going down to your local parish and signing up for the RCIA class, or the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults class. The first stage of this is the Pre-Catechuminist stage, which is mostly just an inquiry class, where you can ask your questions in a noncommittal atmosphere. This stage also includes an interview, where the Church can learn about your background.
After this, you can proceed to the other stages, namely,
Catechumenate -Basic Catechism 101 class;
Purification - Lenten meditations on committing your life to Jesus;
Initiation - Getting baptized on Holy Saturday (if you haven't already been baptized)
Mystagogy- Reflections on the mysteries of the Mass and the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist you just participated in.
During the first 3 stages, you are free to leave if you feel uncomfortable. You will be assigned a Catholic sponsor to guide you through each step of the process, and to be there for you if you have any questions. All this takes place in less than a year, and if you decide to get baptized, it usually takes place during the Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday.
A lot of protestant churches don't go to all of this trouble when you join their church; it is just enough for you to show up on Sunday and maybe make a Bible study on Wednesday. The Catholic Church takes a much different approach to their initiation rite, as the Church that Jesus Christ Himself started (Matthew 16:18-19) is there for you from the womb to the tomb. The Catholic Church is much more than just a Sunday-go-to-meetin' kind of Church. It is a 24/7/365 way of life here on earth, that leads to eternal life after death.
So call your local parish and get started already!
