From Protestant to Catholic: A Journey With Christ @import "http://www.convertedjourney.com/staging/cj.css"; function OpenComments (c) { window.open(c, 'comments', 'width=480,height=480,scrollbars=yes,status=yes'); } function OpenTrackback (c) { window.open(c, 'trackback', 'width=480,height=480,scrollbars=yes,status=yes'); } This page looks plain and unstyled because you're using a non-standard compliant browser. To see it as I intended, please upgrade your browser. Week 2 January 14, 2004 Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me during my recovery. I'm much better this week, but I pretty much still can only type with one hand...it's going to be this way probably for another couple of weeks. Confirmation is approaching soon. Please pray for me as I try to write more about our Lord, and I plan to add some short, two page write-ups on some of the most common misconceptions of our faith. Also, continue to remember me as I try to discern what ministry the Lord wants me to pursue. Posted at 11:25 PM | Comments? (0) Converted Journey Goes On Hiatus January 06, 2004 Well, I knew this old football injury was going to catch up with me. I'm going in for rotator cuff ligament surgery or somethin' like that. Basically, my ligaments are stretched and they need to tighten them up. I've been having a lot of problems with my shoulder killing me during lifting and whatnot, so I decided to get it taken care of now, rather than being fifty years old with arthritis. (If I don't have some already...) So...I'll be out for awhile. Updates will be slow on the blog, so if you don't see anything for a week, you know where I went. I will have one hand to type with...so we'll see. Posted at 05:39 AM | Comments? (0) Issues with Catholicism January 04, 2004 When the Lord called me home to the Catholic Church, I had the usual reservations about the faith. And I had the usual questions. But being a Christian for so long already, I knew that when the Lord spoke, I had better listen to what he was saying. And I knew that the Lord would help me with any misconceptions that I had through the use of his servants -- online, in RCIA, and wherever else he saw fit. I was talking to a woman today about some issues that she has with converting to Catholicism. And she brought up some important points, that although I've heard before, I thought I'd give my viewpoint on those issues right here on my blog for everyone who may be reading to consider. One of the issues that I've heard many times is the corruption of the Church and how our money (tithe) is being spent. Is it being spent to defend or pay off those priests that have molested young boys? How about the power of the Church? Will the Church use this money for political reasons outside of its authority? These are good points, but then again, are they? Because these points are usually things that are introduced into our minds to feed doubt and to draw us away from God's love. Even in non-Catholic churches, our tithe goes to benefit God's work. While we should be concerned with what our Church does with our money, we should look at tithing as what it is -- a sacrifice to our Lord. Tithing is meant to help fund God's work, and in a strict spiritual sense, we are asking God to take what we've worked so hard to earn, and use it for His purpose. What about the power of the Church? Has the Catholic Church used its influential power before to influence politicians? Maybe. But who hasn't? Show me a Church where its members have not used their religious status in some way to influence others. The key thing that we have to remember here is that, it'd be different if the Church taught those things that are corrupt. For example, anti-Catholic apologists often revert back to the issue of paying for indulgences. They claim that in the early days of the Church, the Church taught that its members could pay money to lessen the time spent in Purgatory for one's soul. Even though the practice did unfortunately happen, it WAS NOT official Church teaching. And furthermore the Church condemned it. There are misguided souls in every church. Unfortunately, some just so happen to be the leaders of certain parishes... When we see those in our Church who abuse Catholic doctrine, we should correct those people, by confronting them in a gentle Christian manner, and if that doesn't work, we should contact the Priest of our parish where we see these things, and if need be, we should contact the Bishop of the Diocese if this is a Diocesan problem. These days, I haven't seen any gross negligence of what the Church teaches by its parishoners. But it has happened in the past. Regardless, the point is that we shouldn't worry so much about those bad apples to the point where we fall away from Christ's Church. Rather, we should work to stay united, not leave the Church, and continously educate and remind those who worship with us, in Christ's love. Otherwise, we fall into Satan's trap, and we forget God altogether. Posted at 12:19 PM | Comments? (0) Adoration January 02, 2004 Tonight I attended my first Adoration of our Lord. It was so humbling, so peaceful, and so enlightening. What is Adoration? It's when we adore our Lord, who is present in the consecrated bread. We take the bread, place it in a container, and then the oval container sits in the middle of a monstrance. What is a monstrance? Take a gander at therealpresence.com and you will see a picture of the Pope, on the right, holding the monstrance with the consecrated host in the middle. We sang some prayers, and prayed a Novena for Priests, that the Lord will defend, and guide those sheperds who lead their flock. I could definitely feel our Lord right in that room... It was great. I'm going to try to get off work early every Friday. Posted at 06:39 PM | Comments? (0) Come On Home, Kim! January 01, 2004 An internet friend of mine, Kim, has recently decided to come home to the Catholic Church after many months of Instant Messaging on her part with myself and other friends on the Christian Forums website where we fellowship. It's so exciting to know that we've helped her in her quest to listen to God's will! Kim, you're in my prayers! Posted at 05:12 PM | Comments? (0) Converted Journey

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From Protestant to Catholic: A Journey With Christ