Returning Lapsed Catholic

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antiquarian

antiquarian

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I was baptized Catholic and had first communion but was never confirmed and lived most of my adult life as an atheist. I'm currently attending an Episcopal Church but I want to come back.

Do I need to bother with RCIA or should I just go to confession and make arrangements to get confirmed?
 
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Anhelyna

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I'm smiling as I read this :)

OK - I'm Orthodox , as all here know that I am , BUT

In our tradition we would answer that question by 'This is an ask your priest question' and being very very honest it is for anyone returning to the Church after being away for many years.

Your priest will want to know just how much you know and understand of the Church's teaching and only then can he make any decision as to how much teaching you will need.
 
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thecolorsblend

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antiquarian said:
I was baptized Catholic and had first communion but was never confirmed and lived most of my adult life as an atheist. I'm currently attending an Episcopal Church but I want to come back.

Do I need to bother with RCIA or should I just go to confession and make arrangements to get confirmed?
Click to expand...
Looks like you've got your answer.

So I'll just say welcome home, brother.
 
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chevyontheriver

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antiquarian said:
I was baptized Catholic and had first communion but was never confirmed and lived most of my adult life as an atheist. I'm currently attending an Episcopal Church but I want to come back.

Do I need to bother with RCIA or should I just go to confession and make arrangements to get confirmed?
Click to expand...
RCIA would NOT be a requirement. But it might be a good idea, depending on what gaps you have in your past catechesis. So, as was already said, ask your priest. It might be that you come back now with a good confession and then enter the next RCIA class as preparation for confirmation.

Do you want to include a bit of your story for us?
 
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antiquarian

antiquarian

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chevyontheriver said:
what gaps you have in your past catechesis.
Click to expand...

I'm sure there are plenty of those, as I've been finding out recently that the education I received as a child was superficial at best.

chevyontheriver said:
Do you want to include a bit of your story for us?
Click to expand...

I was raised Catholic. My grandmother used to take me to Sunday mass when I was a kid. That stopped when she passed away when I was 12. My mother wasn't Catholic, and my father for the most part wasn't around. I lost my faith after high school because I couldn't accept people burning in hell forever.

I came back to Christianity last year when I discovered Purgatorial Universalism. I then looked for a church where that was at least an acceptable belief. I tried an Eastern Orthodox church first. The liturgy there was beautiful, as was their theology. Then I looked into Anglicanism, which seemed to be a better fit. In the course of my time there, I came to believe that I needed to trust God about salvation and hell, and also found out some things about Catholicism that I didn't know about before. So I decided I hadn't really given Catholicism a fair try and decided to look into it further. As an Anglican, I was 80% or more of the way back anyway, so why not? I visited a couple of parishes, and even tried a Traditional Latin Mass. I found Rediscovering Catholicism by Matthew Kelly in a Half Price Books and that seemed to seal the deal, so I'm back.
 
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antiquarian

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I went to confession yesterday. The priest said I should sign up for Alpha, which I did last week. I attended the first session Thursday. It's pretty basic Christianity at this point; the session topic was "Who was Jesus?". It seems to be useful beyond that, though, because this parish is really big, and Alpha nicely solves the problem of new people not knowing anybody.

It turns out that the parish has a modified version of RCIA precisely for people in my situation.

It's good to be back.
 
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Rhamiel

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antiquarian said:
I went to confession yesterday. The priest said I should sign up for Alpha, which I did last week. I attended the first session Thursday. It's pretty basic Christianity at this point; the session topic was "Who was Jesus?". It seems to be useful beyond that, though, because this parish is really big, and Alpha nicely solves the problem of new people not knowing anybody.

It turns out that the parish has a modified version of RCIA precisely for people in my situation.

It's good to be back.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear it! And Alpha courses are a great way to make new friends (so I hear)
 
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Michie

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So glad to have you back! :)
antiquarian said:
I went to confession yesterday. The priest said I should sign up for Alpha, which I did last week. I attended the first session Thursday. It's pretty basic Christianity at this point; the session topic was "Who was Jesus?". It seems to be useful beyond that, though, because this parish is really big, and Alpha nicely solves the problem of new people not knowing anybody.

It turns out that the parish has a modified version of RCIA precisely for people in my situation.

It's good to be back.
Click to expand...
 
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