To be deep in history, is to cease to be Protestant.
BLESSED CARDINAL JOHN HENRY NEWMAN
I came into the Roman Catholic Church in 2013. I have been Catholic for six years now. I was baptized in the Southern Baptist faith and then moved to the doctrines of John Calvin and the embrace of the Presbyterians. Wanting to grow deeper in this faith, I attended a seminary dedicated to that Calvinist theology. While there, a friend and a housemate of mine committed suicide which torpedoed my faith and sent me into the abyss of atheism. Thinking that God and religion was a delusion, I met a Catholic woman who would be instrumental in bringing me to the One True Faith. From there, I "read" myself into the Roman Catholic Church.
Becoming a Catholic is a fairly straightforward process. First, you have to find the parish that is closest to you and have a talk with the priest. Then, you enroll in the RCIA program usually beginning in the fall and go through the classes and the rites. Then, you will be brought into the Church at Easter time. If you're on your deathbed, the priest will skip all that and do his thing right then and there. When you're dying, you don't have time for classes.
This basic information is all you will need to become a Catholic. Unfortunately, there is a flaw in this process. The problem is that RCIA will get you into the Church, but you may find yourself a poorly catechized Catholic like most Catholics today including those who became Catholic in the cradle. I was not one of those poorly catechized Catholics, but it is not because I had an outstanding RCIA instructor or curriculum. Even the best programs are not going to be able to get the job done. No, this proper catechesis requires that you actually read some books. And this is where we lose people because most people living today haven't even finished reading this guide to this point in their short attention span lives. Their eyes have glazed over, and they have returned to their TV programs, video games, smartphones, and social media. If you're one of those people, go ahead and go to Hell. If you don't care about your soul, I can't do it for you.
Before you even go to RCIA, you need to know why you are becoming Catholic. If you're becoming Catholic to appease a new spouse or the in-laws, don't become Catholic. I've already witnessed this tragedy as a mother-in-law pushed her daughter-in-law into the faith. She took her confirmation and her first communion and has never been back again. You need to make this decision of your own free will, and this decision needs to be an informed decision. This is why you have to read books and learn things. If you can't manage this, then go to Hell.
There is only one valid reason for converting to the Roman Catholic Church. You believe that it is true. The Roman Catholic Church is the One True Faith. It is the only Church founded by Jesus Christ. It is the only true religion on earth as all others are man made garbage. So many priests and RCIA instructors are too cowardly to tell you this because they don't want to offend you. So, they try to be "ecumenical" which is a nice word for telling you not to become Catholic and leaving you to stumble in your ignorance for the rest of your life until you die and go to Hell.
Either the Roman Catholic Church is true, or it isn't. Catholicism is not one option among many. It is the only option for salvation. The Church of Rome is not another denomination like the Methodists or the Episcopalians. You can be something other than Catholic and maybe make it to Heaven. But this depends upon something known as "invincible ignorance." Basically, you didn't know, so you can't be held accountable for this. But I have some bad news for you. If you have read this guide to this point, you cannot claim invincible ignorance. It's too late because I just told you. Once you know that the Catholic Church is the true church, you have a duty to get in it and stay in it. Or, you can go to Hell.
If you have doubts about the veracity of what I am telling you, then you need to still do the reading, so you can confirm to yourself that I am lying along with Jesus Christ, His Blessed Mother, and two thousand years of saints and martyrs who all lived and died for this lie. I am not trying to convince you of these things. What I am doing is urging you to make your decision an informed decision. Learn everything you can about the Roman Catholic Church. Study it. Even if you reject it, you will at least know what you're rejecting.
When you start your reading, the thing you will experience is the shocking realization of how poorly informed you are about all things Catholic. The world belongs to the Devil, so the world has done a good job of hiding the truth or distorting the truth about the Catholic faith. Public schools, popular media, and idiot Protestants have done an awesome job of feeding you crap and keeping you in the dark. And you have helped this along by not doing the due diligence of finding out for yourself.
The Roman Catholic Church has been around since 33 A.D. and has penetrated virtually every country on earth since then. They have preached and published for two thousand years. Now, we have the internet where you are a simple Google search away from finding out anything and everything you would want to know about Catholicism. There are many Catholic websites that can help you. My favorite when I was in RCIA was Catholic Answers. If you read the articles and watch their YouTube videos, you will become wicked smart on Catholicism in a short time.
The Catholic faith is not difficult to understand. It is simply difficult to accept. The things you will learn are things little kids learn in the Catholic schools and the CCD classes that are worth a damn. The difference is that those little kids just accept them while you will recoil as an adult. This is why it helps to go into RCIA with full knowledge and a settled mind. Did I have issues like this? Absolutely. For me, I had my Martin Luther moment when it came to indulgences. I have no problem with it now and actively work for those indulgences. I can honestly say that I gain a partial indulgence on a daily basis now. Most Catholics who practice their faith gain them but are not aware of them. I think they will be surprised to see the merits they have gained over the course of their lifetimes. But I digress. . .
READING
You need to read. Here are the books I recommend reading before beginning the RCIA process:
1. Catholicism for Dummies
Despite the title, this is an awesome book. It won't tell you everything you need to know, but it is a good primer. Good RCIA classes use this book as a textbook. If I were an RCIA catechist, I would use this book. Bad RCIA classes use some vague wimpy books aimed at your feelings or something. I never finished the one I was given. But I devoured the Dummies book. You can find this book on Amazon. GET THIS BOOK!
2. Baltimore Catechism
This is a set of four books that formed the backbone of pre-Vatican II catechesis. This is the ones kids used in CCD class before the modernists, sodomites, and lesbonuns took over and debased Catholic education. The teachings have not changed. This catechism is clear and straightforward and easy to understand.
Why did the Catholic Church stop using The Baltimore Catechism? That's simple. This catechism worked. It was clear, orthodox, and easy to understand. Evil cannot thrive with this. Evil needs ambiguity. This is what you will notice about pre-Vatican II and post-Vatican II Catholic literature. The post-conciliar stuff is deliberately vague.
You can find this catechism on Amazon for purchase, but there are also Kindle versions for free. You can also find PDF editions online for free. If you read the Baltimore Catechism, you will probably end up knowing more than your RCIA instructor. I am not making this up.
3. The Catechism of the Catholic Church
This is the heaviest reading you will do, but it is worth it. I heard a modernist heretical priest deride The Catechism of the Catholic Church or CCC as "John Paul's catechism." It actually is John Paul II's catechism, and it is awesome. You should try and find the older editions like this one pictured above. You can find used copies everywhere. Sometimes, I buy them at used book sales knowing I will give them to someone.
The CCC is just a deeper and more exhaustive version of what you will find in The Baltimore Catechism except it deals with many modern subjects you won't find dealt with in a book aimed at children. Now, if you can't make it through the Baltimore, you are never going to read this tome. I can't read it for you either.
4. Butler's Lives of the Saints
This is a book you don't have to read in its entirety. But you will find it handy. They come in multiple volumes. Some are old while others are modern. But it is a handy reference as you learn about saints. When you go to get confirmed if you stick it out, you have to pick a saint for your confirmation. This book will help you find your saint. I think saints find you actually but reading about these saints also helps to introduce you to church history.
You can find these books on Amazon including free editions for your Kindle. You can also Google saints online to find out more about them.
5. Douay-Rheims Bible
If you like the King James Bible, you will love the Douay-Rheims Bible. There are other translations of the Bible, and I suppose they are fine as long as they are Catholic Bibles that have all the books that Luther cut out of the Protestant Bible. But if you're going to lay out money for a Bible, you should buy the Douay-Rheims. It is a classic.
This is another book you don't have to read in its entirety, but you want to keep it handy. You will hear a lot of jokes about Catholics not reading their Bibles, but I find Catholics know their Bibles as well as most Protestants. The difference is that Catholics read way more sources than just the Bible while Protestants just read the one book that they get wrong. When you attend Mass, you will see how vital the Bible is in the liturgy.
You must read books 1-3 completely before starting RCIA. Books 4 & 5 you want to keep handy. If you go into RCIA reading or knowing nothing, you will be at the mercy of whoever is teaching you. If you read those books, it won't matter who teaches your RCIA classes. You will already know what you need to know, and you will thank me for telling you.
SOUL SEARCHING AND PERSONAL INVENTORY
Now, as you read and learn more about Catholicism, you are going to feel the sting of those teachings. This is your conscience. You've spent your life trying to kill it, but it is still alive. When you hear, read, or learn something like this with the sting to it, I call it the Catholic Guilt Ray. Don't let it drive you to despair. If you weren't a sinner, you wouldn't need the Roman Catholic Church.
When you come to Jesus Christ, you are coming to Him on His terms. He is not coming to you on your terms. You need to get this in your head. If you can't do this, then you can and will go to Hell. This is why the Gospels are replete with references about counting the cost and taking up your cross and all that. Being Catholic is choosing to take the hard path. Most people can't do this which is why most people go to Hell.
Basically, we all have baggage. Not everyone has the same set of luggage, but it doesn't matter. You have to get rid of it to move on in your life and become Catholic. Here are some typical issues people have as they come into the Church:
FALSE WORLDVIEWS AND RELIGIONS
1. ATHEISM
You can call it atheism, agnosticism, secularism, undecided, or "none" or whatever. Basically, you don't believe in God. Now, atheists will claim reason and science as the foundation for not believing in God, but then they hit the simple fact that nothing comes from nothing. They are also empty inside and want the God who they say doesn't exist. But the ultimate and real reason for atheism is that atheists can't understand how God can allow evil and suffering to exist. They are mad at God over this. Then, one day they realize their own evil, and they want God's mercy where they were clamoring for His justice. Atheism is stupid. When you know more than God and are more righteous than God, you can go ahead and take the wheel from the Almighty. Until then, go to Hell.
2. PROTESTANTISM
To be a Protestant, you have to believe that Jesus Christ established His church in 33 AD and then fumbled the ball for the next 1500 years until Martin Luther recovered the fumble in 1517. The real reason Protestants exist is because they want God but on their terms instead of God's terms. So, they become their own popes and decide what God has taught them. The result is thousands of Protestant denominations who can't agree on anything except that they hate the pope. The pope is God's shot caller on earth. He is the final judge on the temporal plane when it comes to faith and morals. YOU ARE NOT. Protestants cannot submit to the authority that Jesus Christ established on earth. If you can't submit to the Vicar of Christ, then go to Hell.
3. EASTERN ORTHODOXY
The Eastern Orthodox are no different than the Protestants in rejecting the pope. This is why after their schism in 1054 they have been in schism with each other. They rejected their true father, so they have stepfathers in the form of patriarchs and rulers in the secular realm. The Orthodox Church is the second wife of Jesus Christ except Jesus Christ has no second bride. If you bring up the Orthodox to a Catholic, he is calm about it all. If you bring up Catholicism to an Orthodox, cover your face because the spit is going to fly. Once you know you're in schism, you need to get out of schism and get into the Catholic Church. And if you want to keep those traditions, the Eastern Catholic Church is a great option for you. Otherwise, go to Hell.
4. ISLAM
I feel sorry for Muslims because their conversion to Catholicism will come with a death sentence. That's all you need to know about Islam. But getting your head chopped off beats going to Hell.
5. EASTERN RELIGION
I lump all the religions of Asia into one bag of garbage. If you think the Dalai Lama or Richard Gere is superior to Jesus Christ, then go to Hell. As for Hinduism, it is paganism that lingers like a stench in our world. I pray that India will embrace Christianity, so they can at least get flush toilets and a decent sewer system. Until then, they can go to Hell.
6. JUDAISM
The Jewish religion ended definitively in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed the Temple. Jesus told them this calamity was coming. With that destruction, Judaism ceased to be. But the Jews regrouped and made rabbinic Judaism which is a man made religion. This is because they did not want Jesus Christ as their Messiah. If you don't want Jesus Christ as your Messiah, then go to Hell.
7. MORMONS, JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, ETC.
If you reject the Trinity, you're not even a Christian. Stick with that garbage and go to Hell.
8. WICCA, WITCHCRAFT, PAGANISM, SATANISM, ETC.
Seriously?!
If you have felt disrespect for your worldview or religion, this is intentional. I reject these false paths, and you should reject them, too. It is sad that popes and prelates today feel the need to cater to these other faiths. I do not feel a similar need considering that I converted to Catholicism to escape this garbage and to not go to Hell.
MARITAL STATUS AND SEXUAL IMMORALITY
When you go to see the priest about becoming Catholic, the first question he will probably ask you concerns your spiritual journey. On the heels of this, he will ask you about your marital status. For many people, this is when the deal breaker hits. You can blame it on Protestants who debased marriage long before the gays and lesbians fought for the same rights to debased marriages. Here are some typical issues:
1. FORNICATION
If you are shacked up and living in sin with someone, that has to stop. Fornicators cannot and will not go to Heaven. This is in the Bible. Go look it up. If you can't do this, then go to Hell.
2. MASTURBATION
Masturbation and pornography are also sins. These sins go under the delicate euphemism of "impurity." When you become Catholic, you will need to let this filth go or get used to confessing it to the priest. Or, you can go to Hell.
3. GAYS AND LESBIANS
Despite what some apostates in the Catholic Church may claim with their rainbow vestments and banners, homosexuality is a sin. Gays and lesbians are called to chastity and celibacy just like fornicators. And don't even get me started on gay and lesbian marriage. You know this is a monstrous joke. If you can't do this, then go to Hell.
4. DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE
If you and your spouse are married to each other and neither of you are divorced, you are in luck. You need to get your marriage convalidated, and you will be in the clear with the Roman Catholic Church. If you or your spouse are divorced and remarried, you are going to have problems. Because Protestants threw away Jesus's teachings on marriage, you have train wrecks of people in multiple and invalid "marriages." This can lead to much heartbreak when a couple discover their union is not valid, and they will have to end the adulterous relationship. These cases can be complicated and have to be discussed with a priest and a canon lawyer.
5. ABORTION, CONTRACEPTION, AND IVF
The Catholic Church is famous for opposing artificial contraception especially the Pill and the IUD. The Church definitely opposes abortion as this is blatant murder. As for in vitro fertilization, the Catholic Church opposes this manufacture of Frankenbabies. Children should be conceived in dignity not in a petri dish. As for sterilization for contraception, this is also forbidden.
I can go on and on about these issues as whole entire books have been written on them. The bottom line is that the Catholic Church only allows sex between a man and a woman wedded in holy matrimony and open to life. Anything else belongs to the Devil.
By this point, you are probably already wanting to check out of becoming Catholic and deciding on taking your spot in Hell. What I can tell you is that God is merciful, and He supplies the grace you need to live in chastity. But Our Lady told us that sexual sins were the number one cause of the eternal damnation of souls.
BAD ASSOCIATIONS
When you become Catholic, you're going to lose some friends. Family members may also disown you because you chose to become a papist. You may have to quit your job because being a stripper is not going to work with praying the rosary each day. These are judgment calls, and people will have to decide for themselves. But these are the associations you will have to end that are not judgment calls:
1. FREEMASONRY
The Catholic Church forbids people from belonging to the Freemasons. If you are a Freemason, you will have to formally declare to them that you are leaving their organization. Depending upon location or whatnot, this could carry serious consequences to your job and community standing.
2. KKK
You can't be Catholic and belong to the KKK. The Klan will throw you out after they tar and feather you.for becoming a papist.
3. NEO-NAZIS
The Nazis will not toss you out for being Catholic. But no good Catholic would ever be a Nazi.
4. THE MAFIA
Despite what you see in The Godfather, members of the Mafia and other crime syndicates like the Hell's Angels, MS-13, and others cannot be good Catholics because violence and murder are against the Ten Commandments. That may be a newsflash to some people.
5. COMMUNIST PARTY, PLANNED PARENTHOOD, AND OTHER LEFTIST GROUPS
It will surprise you how many Catholics belong to these groups. It will not surprise anyone when they end up in Hell.
If it feels like I am doing my best to talk you out of becoming Catholic, this feeling would be correct. I am doing precisely that. Being a real Catholic is a hard thing, and I don't think Catholics have done anyone any favors in trying to make it seem easy. It isn't. But if you are still with me to this point, I still have to divulge the Church's baggage to you.
THE BAGGAGE OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
If you look at any typical bulletin board in a Catholic Church, you will see some notice regarding sex abuse in the Church and who you should notify if it happens. This hit me when I decided to become Catholic. Many people have left the Church over this scandal. They couldn't take it anymore. As for me, I joined the Roman Catholic Church in the full knowledge of this scandal. Why did I do this? I did it because the Catholic Church has the truth.
I'd like to say that these scandals are a recent thing, but this is not true. There is a long line of scoundrels and evildoers in the history of the Church going all the way back to Judas Iscariot. In this regard, the Church is no different from other institutions in this world like our governments and our families. But I made a point to my wife about something that cradle Catholics do not consider but Protestants do. There are no saints in Protestantism. There are some good and decent people but none of them are on the same level of a St. Francis of Assisi or St. Maximilian Kolbe or Padre Pio or Mother Teresa.
Saints are the only successful people in life. This is because they are the only ones who attain anything resembling true happiness. You find these saints in the Roman Catholic Church. You can probably find some in post-schism Eastern Orthodoxy, but I wouldn't know. I just know that Catholicism produces saints. The scandalous evildoers are there because the Devil put them there in the same way that he entered Judas Iscariot.
I don't judge the Church by the bad guys in it. On that basis, the Church is no different than the world. I do judge the Church by its saints, and I aspire to be like them. You should not let Judas keep you from Jesus. And Jesus let Judas in to let us know to expect more like him.
You will encounter these Iscariots when you become Catholic. This will be the bishop living in a fancy mansion while covering for sex crimes among his priests. This will be the sodomite priest in his rainbow vestments pushing his LGBT garbage and wanting to molest his altar boys. This will be the lesbian nun in her butch haircut trying to push a feminist agenda on unsuspecting people. This will be the Benedictine monk denying the divinity of Christ at a spiritual retreat. This will be the Catholic politician who supports gay marriage, abortion, and infanticide. They all play for the Devil, and they all want you to go to Hell. Do yourself a favor, and don't go to Hell.
RCIA
When you begin RCIA or the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults, you need to be aware that the Devil will not like this, and he will attack you. I know because he attacked me. I thought I was losing my mind until I heard similar stories from other people who went through the process. For most people, it manifests as discouragement, aggravation, and depression during the day and hellish nightmares at night. I received no relief from this onslaught until I received a Saint Benedict medal, had it blessed by the priest, and started wearing it around my neck. Since then, I have bought and passed along similar medals to others going through the RCIA process or considering it.
The Saint Benedict medal is like having a mini-rite of exorcism with you. The inscriptions on them are prayers against the Devil, and I would ask for Saint Benedict to pray for me along with Saint Michael and Our Lady for protection against the Devil. Those prayers worked.
Another benefit I found was learning to pray the Rosary. I started just doing one decade a day. I found great comfort and consolation in that. I also attended Mass each week though I was not able to take the Eucharist as I was not Catholic yet. But I always went to weekly Mass.
After you talk with the priest, all you really need to do is find out the when and where of the RCIA classes and show up. The first part of the classes are an inquiry stage where they answer your questions and either talk you into or out of becoming Catholic. If you stick with that, you find yourself on a kind of conveyor belt where you get spit out the end as a newborn Roman Catholic.
There are a few things you need to know. First, you need a sponsor. This is like a godparent except they are called sponsors when you're an adult. You should have a friend who is Catholic who can serve in this role or a family member who is already Catholic. Don't worry if you don't have a sponsor. God will provide one.
The second thing concerns your baptism. I was baptized already when I was a Baptist. I just needed to get the certificate from my Baptist church where I was baptized. They did not want to give me my certificate because they could smell that something was up. Sad to say, some Protestant churches will try and stymie your efforts to become Catholic thinking they are doing you some kind of favor. Fortunately, God was with me, and I was able to get it.
People who are not baptized are known as catechumens. They receive baptism at their initiation along with confirmation and communion. The baptized are known as candidates, and they don't receive baptism as their Protestant baptism counts. The only exception would be something like a Mormon baptism where they deny the Trinity. These are not valid since it means that Mormons aren't even Christian. Your priest will know what to do in your situation.
Stick with your classes. Do the rites that your sponsor must attend with you. Before your acceptance into the Church, you must make a confession of your sins to the priest. Be as thorough and as sincere as possible. You can find the Examination of Conscience online to help you in this regard. Don't let your past sins depress you. God forgives and takes away sins.
If you gut it out all the way to Easter and make it into the Church, you will feel the greatest elation and joy. Whatever you endured to get there, it is worth it. There will be an entire parish full of people who will congratulate on you for making it into the club. It happens every year, and I can say that it is my favorite part of the Easter celebrations.
After your acceptance into the Church, the RCIA classes continue for a bit as a sort of wrap up. This is when people lay some gifts on you for having completed the process. You can expect rosaries, crucifixes. prayer cards, and things like that. My favorite gift was a Saint Benedict crucifix.
I promptly had it blessed, and it has been with us ever since helping to protect our home from the Bad Guy.
Once you become Catholic, I recommend my Catholic starter program. Here it is:
--Daily rosary.
--Weekly Mass.
--Monthly confession.
You can build from there as you grow in your new faith. Becoming Catholic is the beginning of a journey. It gets harder from there, but it is also easier as you discover those sacraments give you grace enabling you to live in a way that you were unable to do before. It is a cross, but you will find that God is helping you to carry that cross.
Becoming a Catholic is a hard thing to do. Remaining a Catholic is also hard. I still keep reading and learning about the faith, and I practice my faith. I was also blessed to be a sponsor for someone else that converted to Catholicism, and I am the godfather to one niece and one nephew. I am also a Knight of Columbus, and I receive formation from Opus Dei. The one thing I encourage anyone converting to the Roman Catholic Church to do is to not be half-ass about it. You get out of it what you put into it.
If you put nothing into it, your faith will wither and die like fruit in the desert. I have seen this happen. I know converts who started off strong and are now apostates living in a perpetual state of mortal sin. It happens. But I find that the reason this happens is because they did not read and heed a brutally honest guide like this one that lays it out there as clearly as possible. If you cannot handle being Catholic, just don't delude yourself. Try to enjoy what is left of your pathetic and empty life before you drop into the abyss of eternal damnation. If you're going to pay for it forever, you owe it to yourself to live it up now.
I don't want anyone to go to Hell. But that is not up to me. That is up to you. The Roman Catholic Church is the One True Faith. It is the only religion that exists that was given to us by God Himself. Anything else is a poor copy of the real thing. You must get into the Roman Catholic Church and remain in it. Otherwise, you can go to Hell. And if you find yourself there, know that it was by your own choice, and you were told that this would happen leaving you without excuse.
Those who are saved are in the minority.
SAINT THOMAS AQUINAS
