My journey to the Roman Catholic Church

[Saint Frankenstein]

Wow, that's wonderful that you are considering becoming a Catholic! May God guide you along the right path to joining our family and may He bless you!

As for how you can go about doing it, it's really simple. Find a Catholic parish that you like, begin attending Sunday Mass, get a good Catholic Bible to study and ask a priest about the RCIA program. RCIA starts in the fall.

 

[kepha31]

Jesus may have established a church but He never put the name Catholic on it.

Actually, Jesus inferred universality of His Church.
CATHOLIC comes from the Greek word Katholikos, which was later Latinized into Catholicus. It is NOT the name of a denomination but a divine quality, characteristic or attribute. There are four (one, holy, catholic (universal) and apostolic. I will focus on "catholic".

CATHOLIC means 'Universal', which in itself means, 'of or relating to, or affecting the entire world and ALL peoples therein'. It means, ALL encompassing, comprehensibly broad, general, and containing ALL that is necessary. In summation, it means ALL people in ALL places, having ALL that is necessary, and for ALL time.

Matthew 28:19-20, "Go, therefore and make disciples of ALL nations...teaching them to observe ALL that I have commanded you; And behold, I am with you ALL days, even unto the consummation of the world." ​

That is a statement of Universality, Katholicos, Catholicus, Catholic.

Rom. 1:8 KJV
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.​

spoken or proclaimed: (KATanggeletai)
in the whole universe: (en HOLO to kosmo)”
Katholo - katholicos - Catholicus - Catholic

Thus the word KATAHOLOS or Catholic in English originated from Scriptures.

Acts 9:31
"So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Sama'ria had peace and was built up; and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit it was multiplied."​

There the words "church throughout all" is translated from the Greek words "Ecclesia kata holis" - Catholic.

​

The first known written use of the term after scriptures is in St. Ignatius of Antioch's letter to the Smyrneans, paragraph 8, of 106 A.D.

"Where the Bishop appears, there let the people be, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."​

It is reasonable to conclude the verbal use of the term existed before 106 A.D., because St. Ignatius did not invent a divine characteristic. BTW, St. Ignatius was trained by St. John the Apostle, ordained by St. Peter, and was the third bishop of Jerusalem, so it's safe to say he was a Christian.

After Ignatius, the term Catholic Church became used more and more to designate the true church. For example the Martyrdom of Polycarp of 155AD states:

"And of the elect, he was one indeed, the wonderful martyr Polycarp, who in our days was an apostolic and prophetic teacher, bishop of the Catholic Church in Smyrna. For every word which came forth from his mouth was fulfilled and will be fulfilled" (Martyrdom of Polycarp 16:2 [A.D. 155]).
​

William Jergens, a non-Catholic Patristic scholar, identifies the usage of "Catholic" in his book, "The Faith of the Early Fathers":
Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis 202AD;
Cyprian, Unity of the Catholic Church 251AD;
Cyprian, Letter to Florentius, 254AD

​

Constantine was born in 272 AD, 166 years after Ignatius penned the term "Catholic". The claim that he founded the Catholic Church is made by idiots. Not only can't they do simple math, they have to ignore the distinctively Catholic doctrines in existence since the Apostles.

Actually many Catholic teachings are exact opposite of what Jesus and the Bible say.

I like Bishop Sheen's quote, paraphrased by Scott Hahn, former anti-Catholic- Bible-college teacher: it answers your baseless assertion:

"... there are not 100 people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church, although there might be millions of people who hate what they mistakenly believe the Catholic Church to be and to teach." And thankfully I discovered I fell into the second category. Because for years I opposed the Catholic Church, and I worked hard to get Catholics to leave the Church. But I came to see through a lot of study and considerable prayer that the Roman Catholic Church is based in Scripture.
Newman Apologetics Resource​

 

[Glaurung]

Whatever route you should choose, never cease in your search for God and the truth. All the best OP.

 

[Erose]

Advice you have been given is good advice. Find your local parish and call the parish and set up an appointment to meet with someone there. If you want to get a jump on the situation, start studying a catechism. I would also recommend going to Mass at your local parish, and last but not least pray.

Concerning choosing Orthodoxy or Catechism, you may not have much choice. Orthodox Churches are not very common in the West. So there may not be a parish in your local. But if you do have an option, you really can't go wrong with either. Both have the Sacraments, especially the True Sacrifice. The main (and in my opinion the only significant) difference is the Papacy. You may want to study this from both sides first.

Again I recommend heavily PRAY.

 

[EverChanging]

Advice you have been given is good advice. Find your local parish and call the parish and set up an appointment to meet with someone there. If you want to get a jump on the situation, start studying a catechism. I would also recommend going to Mass at your local parish, and last but not least pray.

Concerning choosing Orthodoxy or Catechism, you may not have much choice. Orthodox Churches are not very common in the West. So there may not be a parish in your local. But if you do have an option, you really can't go wrong with either. Both have the Sacraments, especially the True Sacrifice. The main (and in my opinion the only significant) difference is the Papacy. You may want to study this from both sides first.

Again I recommend heavily PRAY.

There are many differences between Catholic and Eastern Orthodox theology. (There are also Oriental Orthodox, Coptics, and Armenians with other theological differences.) It is too complicated for me to get into all of that, and I'm no expert.

I probably would have considered Orthodoxy more had it been an option, but there are no parishes in my area, and I am very Western in my piety and thinking. After relocating I may also have the opportunity to experience Eastern Catholic liturgies. They are much more rare than the Western rites, but it was a draw to me that the Catholic Church has both Eastern and Western thought and liturgical tradition. In terms of theology, they try to integrate or at least hold in tension both Eastern and Western concepts which was appealing to me. (For example, Western and Eastern Catholics have quite different concepts of the afterlife. The concept of purgatory does not appear in its Western form in Eastern Catholic theology.)

I do have to say this, though. As someone from a fairly high Anglican background, most modern Catholic worship in the Novus Ordo rite is very painful, emotionally speaking, for me to experience. This is a big problem for me not only on a personal aesthetic level, but a theological problem. I consider it a break with the liturgical tradition of the West.

This is not a problem in Eastern Orthodoxy: their liturgies have been kept in tact, though there are controversies related to the Old verses New liturgical calendar.

On the other hand, if you are fortunate enough you might live in an area with the old Latin Rite mass or an Anglican Use mass. Eastern Catholics also still have ancient liturgies. But you might not have these same liturgical concerns. A bonus for me with Catholicism, too, is that the Catholic Church seems to be more open to theological development. The Western tradition in particular has high regard for reason and integrating insights from all fields of knowledge -- science, philosophy, anthropology, and so on -- with the faith. That was also appealing to me.

Catholic parishes are going to vary wildly in how liberal or conservative they are theologically and liturgically. Unfortunately, I tend to be more liberal on issues the Church is quite conservative on, and much more conservative in ways that the Church has become very liberal (such as liturgical concepts and practice). Nevertheless, I do love Catholic devotions, confession, and the Eucharist is wonderful.

 

[Glaurung]

I do have to say this, though. As someone from a fairly high Anglican background, most modern Catholic worship in the Novus Ordo rite is very painful, emotionally speaking, for me to experience. This is a big problem for me not only on a personal aesthetic level, but a theological problem. I consider it a break with the liturgical tradition of the West.

I know how that feels, I've seen some very cringworthy things over the years.

But I hear that the Church is aware of the problem and is slowly working to stamp out the more egregious liturgical abuses. But the old Latin mass will always be superior and I've been meaning to attend it more often.