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Carol Heather
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Hi, guys —
I'm a 14-year-old teenage woman who lives in the United States; I live with both my parents.
Since I was little, I have gone to a Methodist church in the town I was born but when I turned eight, my dad got a better job in another part of Texas. When we moved, we just couldn't find a good church to join. I don't agree with either the Baptists or the Methodists down here.
Recently, I've been looking into the Catholic faith because I know some people who are Catholic and they say the Church is amazing and makes them feel welcome.
I've been looking into what Catholics believe and I agree with it. My mom said she would be more than happy to take me to the Church near by if I was really committed.
I think I'm committed but I am also wondering if I'm just rushing into the Church because I want to find a church.
- Is just agreeing with the beliefs of the Church a good enough reason to join?
Carol
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For a 14-year-old teen, is agreeing with the beliefs of the Church a good enough reason to join? }
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Mary Ann replied:
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Carol,
It is true that agreeing with the beliefs is enough to belong to the Church, but that also includes being willing to live by them. If you want to join the Church, you will be invited to participate in a group with other young people, RCIA, learning and preparing to receive Sacraments of Initiation:
- Baptism
- Confirmation, and
- the Eucharist.
This will start around September and will last until Easter.
Mary Ann
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Eric replied:
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Carol,
One thing you should be aware of is that the Catholic Church is different from other churches in that it's not a club for people who agree with each other.
You should not join the Catholic Church because it agrees with what you believe; you should join it because you trust it as a truth-telling Church.
In the first case, your measure of truth is what you believe. You are measuring the Church against what you believe, and if it matches, you join the Church, but this is not the biblical view of the Church. 1 Timothy 3:15, calls the Church the pillar and foundation of the truth. The truth flows from the Church, and the people conform what they believe, to what the Church teaches, not the other way around.
Also, the Catholic, when he embraces the Church, embraces, not only what he knows about what the Church believes, but everything he doesn't know, and even things that haven't been defined yet. In other words, you must be willing to accept not just what the Church teaches now, but what She teaches in the future. This was a key revelation for me in my journey back to the Church.
Also, Jesus told His Apostles, of whom the bishops are successors:
16 He who listens to you, listens to me; he who rejects you, rejects me, and he who rejects me, rejects Him who sent me.
(Luke 10:16)
I'd recommend you do some study. I know you have done some study, but we need to make sure that information is accurate and complete. I recommend you read the Catechism of the Catholic Church. That will give you both a complete and accurate understanding of what we believe.
Mike Humphrey, our Web Administrator, and fearless leader used to run a free program that sent Catechisms to seeking Protestants and non-Christians but no longer has the financial or operational means to do this anymore. Nevertheless, if you wish to go deeper, consider buying a cheap copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to learn everything we believe as faithful Catholics.
I will say that you will probably not be able to join until you are 18 because your parents are not Catholic. This will definitely prevent you from rushing in, :-) but talk to the local priest to confirm this.
Eric
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Mike replied:
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Dear Carol,
Thanks for the questions and sharing your story. Your desire to join is a call of the Holy Spirit.
If you are still interested in learning more about our faith which, as you said, is amazing, you can purchase a copy of YouCat on-line; they are pretty cheap, and whether you are a teenager or adult, you can learn a lot.
The Church has lots of material and mechanisms!
If you are still interested in learning more about our faith which, as you said, IS amazing, you can purchase a copy of YouCat, Youth Catechism; they are pretty cheap, and whether you are a teenager or adult, you can learn a lot.
It stands for Youth Catechism; it's the Vatican's way of trying to be cool with the youth, after all, we now know that Homer Simpson is Catholic : -) Here are some other ways the Pope and the Vatican is trying to keep in touch with the Youth:
If you're a seeking Protestant, no matter what age and don't know where to start. This may help.
There are forums and knowledge bases like:
- Ours! From this page, you can:
- Ask a question
- Read the most recent postings
- Read the Frequently Asked Questions, or
- Search for an answer that may have already been answered.
(To date we have answered over 5,952 questions.)
- Our Mass and Adoration pages go into depth in explaining what the Mass is and how it historically developed.
It also has links at the end of some pages for future references.
- Our Family pages help Catholics deal with every day issues they run into:
- Marriage Prep/Marriage
- Home schooling
- Single Catholics
- Catholic Christian Women
- Same Sex Attraction Ministries
- Politically Catholic and more
- Our Church pages have links to:
- Vatican web sites
- Where do I write?
- and a Vatican II web page
- Our Resources pages have catechetical and apologetic references for the faithful
to improve on their faith including
a page for the Early Church Fathers, Basics for
non-Christians and a Books and Periodicals page of recommended reading from the team.
Want to have fun learning try Who Wants to be a Catholic. (from our home page)
- Our What's New pages have mini-sub apostolates under the Features page,
that I run along with a Favorites page and Catholic humor, Catholic Convert, and theological opinion pages like Mike's Theology Corner. Other theological opinion pages can be found under the Resources page.
- Our colleagues on the West Coast at Catholic Answers: Catholic.com
Their forum is a little different than ours but can be found here:
- There are other very fine Catholic apologists who have written fine books on the faith including:
- EWTN, the Eternal Word Television Network has:
If someone is interested in Catholic history try this site:
- New Advent It has the entire 1917 Old Catholic Encyclopedia, indexed by an alphabetic list at the top of the home page.
Our goal at AskACatholic is to supply our fellow Catholic or potential Catholic visitors with the needed resources to be a more knowledgeable, practicing Catholic who will enjoy being faithful to the Church.
Mike
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