10 Common problems for Catholic converts

Well, it is probably true that the Catholic honoring of Mary is the #1 problem for most Protestants, but I think it is a bit of a stretch to say that it is reasons #1, 2 and 3. The prohibition against artificial birth control would most likely be reason #2. I am not sure what reason #3 would be.

Number 3 probably transubstantiation

rturner76 said:

Number 3 probably transfiguration

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Did you mean transubstantiation?

Related to that, it always surprises me when Protestants mention that as no-no theology. Are they comfortable with the concept of the Real Presence in general? Or do they perhaps conflate transubstantiation with the Real Presence? It's never clear most of the time.

As a former Lutheran myself I'm actually proud to say that Mary was not as much of a no go as she was the wind beneath my wings.
I became catholic through Mary and I owe her very much.
There has been several occassions in my life where she helped my in profound ways.

I'm so blessed to call mary, or as I like to say Maria my mother. Blessed art thou amongst women cause you crushed the head of the serpent. Amen.

Oh my! what an amazing article!
at 4 years and still running, I think that some of the greatest heroes of our day are the wonderful people who give up so much of their time to teach the RCIA classes. I've gone through much of what the article describes.

When I walked into the first RCIA meeting I looked as though I had it all together.
HA! What a good act..
But I survived a lot more than I ever thought I would have to face.

The fellowship is still difficult, but these last 2 years I've lived an in-depth study of Joseph and Mary, and have learned far more than I ever knew before. And by God's grace I found the perfect place and the perfect (and very patient) teacher to pray me through it.
God bless my priest!

Coming from a non-denominational Protestant sort of background, the question of Mary is one I still struggle with. I don't have much issue on a more intellectual level accepting Marian dogma and other sorts of Church teaching about her, but on a more personal level I don't quite "get it" yet, if that makes sense. Appealing for intercession from Mary (and the saints generally) still feels very weird to me. I try to pray the Rosary daily (well, usually ), but it doesn't really sink in as begin a Marian devotion unless I think about, at which point the weird feeling starts to set in. Outside those set prayers, though, asking for intercession doesn't really occur to me.

Of course, the impression I've gotten is that Mary and Marian devotion is a very big, almost necessary part of Catholic spiritual life. The fact I struggle to "get it" on a personal level can get kind of discouraging, but I'm admittedly very new to Catholicism. Perhaps it just takes time.

Interestingly enough I haven't had nearly as much a problem with the Real Presence. It's still something to totally wrap my head around, but it doesn't trip me up the same way.

The Rosary and Marian devotion are not a “necessary” part of Catholic spiritual life. Those things make our spiritual life richer, but you don’t have to “get it” to be Catholic. The Real Presence however is a deal breaker though. I’ve seen Religious Education Directors tell RCIA classes that if they don’t believe in the Real Presence, they should not go through with becoming Catholic. Yet.

Because the Rosary and Marian Devotion are so different than what Protestants are used to, it does help a person's whole Catholic experience to make a stab at understanding them. It's well worth the effort.

Of all the people on Earth, no one knew Christ better than Joseph and Mary. Fortunately for us, the Bible does record many things about their lives and what they each suffered through in order to live their lives as fully devoted followers.

As Christians we will come upon many of the same problems that they each faced as they lived.
So by reading about their lives, their thoughts, and their subsequent actions, we can ask ourselves "What did Mary do?" or "How did Joseph handle this situation?"
By doing that, we can see how best to lead our own lives when faced with some of the same trials that they faced. and we also know that we won't be facing these things alone!

Best wishes to you!

Michie said:

What a beautiful post Stabat Mater. I find your posts very encouraging when it comes to our struggles.

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Thank you michie, it means a lot to me.
Sometimes I'm wondering if I'm just being a negative nelly around here, if so perhaps it would be better if I left for a while. I dont know, it's not easy to deal with this pope of ours and the rise of heterodoxy within the Vatican, but if we cling to our lady of Fatima we will endure whatever trial God sends us.

As a former Protestant, my own experience of Catholic "hurdles" during the conversion experience were as follows -

1. First and foremost overcoming the absurd Protestant "fear" of the Catholic Church. And that's what it is - superstitious fear.

2. Having gotten through that fear, and bitten the bullet, the rest of it was mainly issues after conversion -
a. Marian devotion.
b. Praying to saints for their intercession.
c. Papal "Infallibility", and what it actually means.
d. Genuflection (more of a habit than anything).
e. The "real presence" (actually I didn't struggle with this one much - the Protestant bread and grape juice always seemed a bit vapid.)
f. Purgatory (which is almost common sense when it's all said and done).
g. Miscellaneous - statues, icons, mantras (Rosary, Divine Mercy etc.), historical bumph I'd heard about in the past - Bloody Mary, Fox's Book of Martyrs (with the Protestants never saying anything about their own bloody past), Constantine and "how it all went wrong", the Bible's "Infallibility" (which is why there are so many interprtetations).

If there are still two issues I struggle with, one is to do with the Contraceptive Pill, or if you like, artificial contraception.

The other one is the Conservative / Liberal divide within the Catholic Church itself. Now that's a real dog fight.

Finally there was the disappointing peadophile crisis, but at least I was warned about that by my wise old Presbyterian pastor who firstly predicted that I'd become Catholic, but that after I did there'd be a crisis regarding pedophile cases, saying "I think there's going to be a lot of them!" And he probably told me that circa 1990/91, since he died in January 1992. So I can't say I wasn't warned.

pdudgeon said:

Because the Rosary and Marian Devotion are so different than what Protestants are used to, it does help a person's whole Catholic experience to make a stab at understanding them. It's well worth the effort.

Of all the people on Earth, no one knew Christ better than Joseph and Mary. Fortunately for us, the Bible does record many things about their lives and what they each suffered through in order to live their lives as fully devoted followers.

As Christians we will come upon many of the same problems that they each faced as they lived.
So by reading about their lives, their thoughts, and their subsequent actions, we can ask ourselves "What did Mary do?" or "How did Joseph handle this situation?"
By doing that, we can see how best to lead our own lives when faced with some of the same trials that they faced. and we also know that we won't be facing these things alone!

Best wishes to you!

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Like all of the things you stated about how they dealt with this new life, they were both made a big life-altering choice that was risky. Mary, by accepting the angel's request (God's request), she made a definitive choice based on her faith in God and her desire to do his will. She could have been shunned by Joseph who could've had her punished severely. Joseph took a risk by accepting the angel's request to stay with Mary and someone else's child (even if it's the Lord's child, how could he believe her? He did it with faith and obedience.

In a nutshell, she is so important because if she says no to the angel, we have no theory for how Christ's story on Earth would begin. It is the first case in which Christ was accepted here and it was a physical and spiritual acceptance. To this day we need to accept Christ and act on that acceptance physically by being obedient. She was really the first Christan even before Crist was born. I don't know if she told him who he was as a child or he got the realization when he came of age or if he always knew who he was but Mary surely was the first one to know his purpose here.

As a convert, I had to understand how important faith and obedience was for Mary to have. Then I could comprehend why she is venerated so. I must admit though I still cringe at the title "Co-redemptrix" I think there is only one redeemer. I think The Gospels don't mention her in that light.

Stabat Mater said:

Thank you michie, it means a lot to me.
Sometimes I'm wondering if I'm just being a negative nelly around here, if so perhaps it would be better if I left for a while. I dont know, it's not easy to deal with this pope of ours and the rise of heterodoxy within the Vatican, but if we cling to our lady of Fatima we will endure whatever trial God sends us.

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don't leave us if you can help it, Stabat. You are appreciated around here, and your voice and wisdom are needed.

Nobody finds it easy to live in these challenging times. But one thing we do know. These days as they go by bring us closer to Our Lord, and His plans are going forward, even if we cannot see where they will lead us.

Trust Him.
Stay in His shadow, abide in His love, and He will carry you to where He wants you to be, make provision for you, and bless you abundantly as well.

AvilaSurfer said:

The Rosary and Marian devotion are not a “necessary” part of Catholic spiritual life. Those things make our spiritual life richer, but you don’t have to “get it” to be Catholic. The Real Presence however is a deal breaker though.

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I thought so, since rosary and Marian devotions are based on private revelations and we are not required to believe in private revelations.

Ugh. I hate Eagles wings. Thankfully we don't sing it in my current confessional Lutheran church.
The closest Latin Mass to my area is quite far away, as far or farther than the closest Eastern Orthodox Church. (I live in a rural midwestern area.)