I am currently in classes to become Catholic. I just found faith for the first time earlier this year and have been going to Sunday service each week with my boyfriend. We both started the process to convert to Catholicism together. He went to Catholic school but was never baptized or confirmed. So in class our priest told us we would be baptized together at Easter service.

It has come to my attention that remarrying is a sin and that our marriage wouldn’t be recognized by the church or God. Which is actually really painful for me. My first marriage was never about love or God. I didn’t want to get married I just felt like I had to because I couldn’t support myself financially, I don’t have family and I could get health insurance.

Now I am finally with someone I have chosen and I would like to marry and have a family with that we raise inside of the church. The church these last few months has been a big part of our lives. I started reading the Bible almost every day and praying. My teachers and priest in class told me how lucky I am to get baptized as an adult all my sins would be forgiven and that made me feel like finally a clean slate I can be a faithful Catholic woman, I can get married and be apart of this wonderful church community.

I have heard about annulments. I did a little reading saying I need a “witness” which I don’t have, the only people at the wedding or in my life at that time was his family. I feel such shame having to tell the priest this information. I feel like they won’t allow me the annulment and then why did I even join the church in the first place if I can’t get married

Good morning, companions, Salve Maria! I have a somewhat sensitive question: Canon 1395, §2 provides for automatic excommunication for the crime of clerical rape. However, when the rape is committed by a layperson, is there a Canon that applies to this?Or does canon 1395 already apply to all cases of crimes against sexual morals? And is the crime of rape committed by a layman subject to automatic excommunication? If not, what are the cases in which excommunication Is it foreseen? Is it only subject to excommunication when it involves minors? I am very confused, I would like someone to explain to me how the Magisterium understands these cases. I thank you in advance.

Hello!

This will be a bit ramble-y

I'm really not sure what grade I was in, but I went to Catholic school and was baptized. I think it was before 3rd grade. I distinctly remember taking communion? I had god parents at some point, they're just distant memories. I have no family to really speak of. But I do live near the church/school I attended. My husband and I were not religious when we got together or were married. I have two children out of "wedlock", but am now married to my second child's father- however this is only legally as we didn't have a religious ceremony.

I have the strong urge to return to the church, but have no idea how and I'm also nervous about if I can manage. (My husband is a semi truck driver and is only home every other weekend) I have a special needs child who has lots of appointments. So joining the classes I've seen mentioned seems almost impossible.

My husband is beginning to think of going back to church, but his background with that is non-denominational and he is still on the fence as he had a bad experience. However, he also doesn't feel like Catholicism speaks to him. He in no way shape or form has the desire to stop me from attending the Catholic Church, and he is fine with me taking the children with me as well. I'm just so nervous, do I just go to mass? I just have blips of memories of how things go. I have a highly anxious child who does well when I can explain things to him. How accepting is the church or people who have husbands that may not be willing to be married in the eyes of the church?

I know no one can speak for everyone or every church. But I'm afraid my children will face adversity and that we may face some sort of back lash. My husband's idea of church is somewhere willing to understand when we are absent at times due to schedules and more laid back. But I cannot imagine going to any other church.

Any tips? Would I be considered a convert? Do I need to take the classes? I've seen a lot of recommendations about talking to the parish? I wish I had more knowledge but this is really all I have in my brain.

Thank you

How would you respond to someone whose primary objection to religious beliefs is that they are “inherently dependent on the time and place a given person was born”? Secondarily, how would you then show them that Catholicism is the one true faith?

I haven’t had any exposure to Catholicism past a few conversations and whatever I’ve seen on the internet, but I’m curious - how do you know that the councils of Nicaea were mediated by God and not men?

I’ve heard that the popes priesthood authority can be traced back to.. Peter iirc which might have something to do with it.

I’m confused because I believe that men in position of authority are put there by the Lord - even the evil ones are a part of His plan. At the same time, i can’t understand devoting my whole faith to one church because the men in charge are imperfect beings and it’s known that many of them have or will fall away from the Lord, even if they hide it well.

I know more about JWs and Mormons and Baptists - I’d love to hear how you all handle this issue. I’ve just decided to pray for discernment and study the Bible while attending whichever church I feel called to that week.

I'm not quite sure if I agree with him. I feel like this discounts the sacraments. Any thoughts?

Hello there! So i’ve been thinking of veiling and coincidentally, i found an unused piece of cloth that is enough to cover my head and shoulders. I am aware that it is no longer required for women to wear a veil since the Vatican II, but for me, it is justified to bring tradition back. my only concern is that this piece of cloth is dark colored and it has designs. (i’m an unmarried woman)

To women that does veiling, can i use this piece of cloth as a veil?

On the topic of Total Consecration to Mary popular Catholic youtuber makes this statement (my apologies for the length but I think it's important to include all of it)

"The things you would normally do for yourself, do them FOR Mary and WITH Mary to PLEASE Mary. So for example you would normally brush your teeth for yourself, but this time you are going to act as if you are brushing your teeth for the Virgin Mary! Because you have consecrated everything totally over to her. You're gonna buy groceries for the Virgin Mary, you're cooking dinner for the Virgin Mary. You're driving your car to best of your ability for the Virgin Mary. You give it to the Virgin Mary and she gives it to Jesus Christ."

If you want to listen yourself the link is here, it's short:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/P5Xo3ZS0VFM

I don't know about you guys but in my opinion this statement is exhibit A as to why some Protestants feel justified towards criticizing our Marian theology. In my opinion Gabi's language goes way to far and it's bizarre that it gets no pushback from anyone - am I wrong in thinking this ?

This touches on a broader topic of the limits of Marian devotion, it essentially feels like we as Catholics are free to say almost anything at all to Mary as long as we have our 'hyperdulia' cheat code on hand to excuse us from idolatry. As a Catholic this just feels wrong.

TLDR; maybe we should be brushing our teeth to maintain good health and hygiene and not as an act of Marian worship

Hello! I just wanted to ask if there are any good books online that can be read in a reasonable amount of time (like 3-14 days) discussing and summarizing Catholic Theology. Thank you very much!

I’ve tried “praying the gay away” before trust me. I’ve been to bible studies, confession, youth groups in the past, i’ve talked to my priest and even talked to some of the clergy, but no matter what i’ve never felt anything for a man. I never will most likely. I see man as something i can never love romantically, i’ve never found men attractive or when they’ve asked me on dates i’ve never felt happy about it. When women have complimented me or asked me on dates it makes me feel extremely happy and i feel that type of romantic love that you hear in movies and how the bible describes love. I’ve never had sex with any gender so i haven’t had anything premarital. I’ve been with my girlfriend for about 2 years though and it’s more special than i’ve ever felt when i was with a man. But it’s eating me up inside that we can never marry or raise a family together like everyone else does. I feel as if this will never go away as i’ve felt this since i was 14 when i first got asked out by a boy. I’ve never liked men and most likely never will, no matter how hard i try. Will it still me a great sin if i never marry my girlfriend just stay the way it is right now with no sex but just going on dates and hanging out like any other couple? Sorry if this post is confusing i just had to get it off my chest right now

I have a beautiful Sacred Heart of Jesus picture from my grandma and the Immaculate Heart of Mary picture. We just moved to a new house and I’m contemplating where to put it. As of right now I have in on the wall near front door but my sister said Mary shouldn’t be next to Jesus and possibly should be in the dining room? Or put them in living room but separate walls?

Any thoughts on where or how I should place both pictures?

I can't do it anymore, religion is mentally exhausting me...

Hello everyone,

I need to get things off my chest a little and confide in someone because I'm at a point in my life where Catholicism is making me extremely unhappy and stressed. I've been mentally exhausted for months.

I feel like God hates me deep down, that he will always reject me no matter what I do. Nothing ever seems good enough in what I do religiously... Sometimes I miss Sunday mass because my depression makes me stay cooped up at home crying alone in my bed and feeling anxious. I feel like committing suicide very often even though I take antidepressants and see a shrink from time to time. Going out and talking to people sometimes makes me cry and takes a lot of energy. Nothing motivates me anymore or makes me want to live this life. I feel like God is watching me every moment and wants to punish me for anything and everything. For example, if I forget to pray before eating, I feel guilty and anxious, I say to myself "am I going to hell?"... Also, I feel very guilty when I am interested in things other than God like literature, history or astronomy. I have then abandoned all my passions.

I think about hell almost every minute to the point of having huge anxiety attacks and crying for hours. I watch videos like this to put pressure on myself and it hurts me even more: https://youtu.be/SEucLZLMkac?si=RChXBnWhB6X5YOw6

When I enter a church, I feel nothing but anxiety and fear. I have never been able to pray a rosary properly and it makes me cry because I know that God will never hear me. I have no friends, no one to confide in about these anxieties that last every day that passes. I can't take it anymore. I was so much happier before I discovered the Catholic religion that doesn't want people like me. I can't practice Catholic orthopraxy or do everything that is asked of me... Faith creates mental problems for me and I have an extremely bad headache from thinking so much. I think my brain is damaged because I am so anxious and can't sleep anymore. I cry every day. I am also envious when I see other young women being happy and succeeding in everything, whether they are Christian or not. God hates me and doesn't want to see me happy.

I live in constant paranoia and I am exhausted from constantly thinking about the salvation of my soul. I converted only out of fear of going to hell, to give in to Catholic blackmail.

I feel like mutilating my body for things I can't control like sexual desire around the time of my period, to avoid mortal sin.

I cannot leave Catholicism because it would be a mortal sin and I would go to hell. I am condemned to remain a prisoner of this religion forever.

I am going to hell... Please pray that I go to purgatory one day...

My faith has been waning recently because for some reason atheism has flooded my social medias. Some I can answer but some of the arguments are convincing. But as a convert that relies heavily on evidence alongside faith, I would like to read some books to help answer atheist questions and arguments. Thank you and may God bless you all.

Recently I've been pondering how we ought to "keep holy" Sunday, as a day of rest. It's the the Third Commandment and I think that we generally don't take it as seriously as we should. (At least, that's my experience, perhaps others have always taken it seriously.)

Chick-fil-A – a fast food chain in the US – is quite famous for closing on Sundays, explicitly for religious reasons (the founder was a devout Baptist).

I personally think that's great, and I totally approve of them closing on Sundays in order to keep Sunday as a holy day of rest for their employees.

But if you approve of that, is it not then hypocritical to go to an alternative fast food place on a Sunday? I think that it is quite clearly hypocritical, and so I've personally stopped going to all fast food places on Sundays.

This principle can obviously be extended... Suppose that there was a local café which closed on Sundays. I think that I'd approve of that too. So does that mean that I ought to hold myself to that standard, and not go to any cafés on Sundays? Maybe. The same could apply for restaurants, cinemas, etc.

I'll just finish with this quote from the CCC, which is relevant to my own thoughts on the issue:

2195 Every Christian should avoid making unnecessary demands on others that would hinder them from observing the Lord's Day.

Curious to hear any thoughts. Have I got the wrong end of the stick? Or is my principle sound, and it would indeed be hypocritical to go to an alternative fast food place?

Today has just been a day filled with just tiny annoyances that have drained me pretty much fully and I just got to ask can we be unlucky or is everything bad that happens a supernatural attack which I’ve seen some Catholics here post along those lines

hi everyone. Im a baptised Christian brought up by my protestant family and it has been this case for 12 years. Im a youth in my late teens stepping into adulthood now and i have been really interested about Catholicism. I started reading and researching about Catholicism, the traditions, the history and the culture. my family and friends are all protestants and i have 0 friends and family that are Catholics, which makes it difficult for me to ask for help in wanting to find out more about my true calling. was wondering if there are any catholics reading this that would be able to help me out. Thank you for reading and god bless.

Moses (etymology of name)

Im student of theology, and I need your help in finding sources about this topic. I found something about egyptian orgin of name (son of God XY) and some resources about akkadian orgin. Most probably hebrew translation was made later. If you have some knowledge about this topic, please help me and share it. Thank you!

Today I talked to an atheist friend and kinda explained him what Christianity was for the first time, and after talking to him I feel like I did a really bad job. There are a couple parts that stick out to me

--->He was convinced the bible was a "very good story." Since he didn't know who Jesus was I gave him a run down of the old covenant and God's deal with Abraham, then said Jesus was the son of God and the Messiah, and that he died for our sins. At the end of this he just thought the bible was a very coherent well put together story.(there were many questions and answers that came during it though)

1. Why humans and not any other animal, you think very "human-centrically." I told him that we were special and tried to back it up with the fact that neanderthals had bigger brains then humans, but they were not as smart and couldn't think outside of the box. We were created in the image of God that is why we are special. I don't think I was able to convince him this though. Sadly he laughed every time I said we were created in the image of God.
2. Why Abraham's family, why did they pick middle east and not China, Asia, North/South America, and why not multiple families. I honestly didn't have a good answer to this question, so I just kinda said that he was a good man amongst a lot of sin and God liked him. He said there were probably more good people at the time so why him, and why not multiple people, there were probably good people in China (he is Chinese).
3. He said that there is no historical proof, and said he could not believe in the eye witness testimonies of the Apostles. "If the miracles can't be replicated today I can't believe in them," I feel like this idea is fundamentally flawed because if they were easily replicable then it would not help with the claim that Jesus is the son of God. He said, you know how important it is for compsci to be able to replicate things(we are both compsci majors), it is scientifically impossible for these miracles to happen so its probably fake. I asked him why did the people who say them believe in it, is it more likely to be massive hysteria or for them to actually happen. He was convinced it was mass hysteria because people who believe in religion are "stupid." He backed up his point by saying, who are the smartest people in college admissions, asians, and I don't know many Chinese people who are religious. He said we have Daoism, but that can be correct because it is rooted in "fact" and he can't respect any religious country.
4. Why do miracles not happen today, why doesn't God just come down again why are there no new prophets. I just kind of said, Jesus died for our sins and there was no need. I also said people who saw Jesus but rejected him because of greed and desire for power. I honestly didn't have much of a response to this question either.
5. How do you know these people existed. I said like yeh they existed they have their bones, and that early manuscripts of the bible were carbon dated so we know its not tampered. But he said like, honestly, this just seems like a really good story(like one without much plot holes).

---> I kinda ended up using some talking points about things like objective morality and that there needs to a cause to create everything. He thought that, it could be possible that something caused the big bang, it def was not God, and he magically disappeared afterwards.

1. He ended up agreeing that objective morality does not exist, hitler was not inherently a bad person.
2. God was more likely to be an alien that created the universe.

---> We talked about sins, especially masturbation. This stemmed from the conversation of him saying "you will probably be very disappointed when you die." I said I won't because even if God doesn't exist I would strive to live a better life without sin.

1. He talked about what is sin, particularly with masturbation. The idea is that masturbation is good for you because it reduces stress and likely hood of prostate cancer. I said that porn was bad for your brain, so was masturbation, and that it is like a drug very addictive. He told me that no, nicotine a drug and that quitting masturbation would be way easier and it isn't addictive. I told him, it probably is harder to quit masturbation, idk about this statement though, and porn has really bad effects on your brain. Maybe the ejaculation could make you feel better, but doing it by sleeping around or watching porn would ruin your brain. He said, no a drug like heroin would completely ruin your brain, and it ruins your life when you do it. It is in your human nature to masturbate so how can it be a sin. I talked about how human nature isn't always good, like your human nature to sleep around with many women, he agreed but said but why would masturbation be bad its good for you. What is a drug is caffeine and its addictive.

I went to bed after wards since it got late. I feel like I didn't do a good enough job of explaining the catholic faith and the argument for God. Looking back I wish I mentioned the fine tuning of the universe as an argument since he is a much more scientifically minded individual. For future references, how can I introduce catholic ideas to new people, because I feel like doing so through the bible isn't very effective.

ps: I honestly a pretty new convert so I'm not that knowledgable on the faith sadly

So I don't have a great relationship with my father, and I try to speak to him as little as possible. But recently feel like I've been resenting him/ jumping to the worst conclusion about everything he does. I don't entertain these thoughts, but how can I genuinely forgive him?

This is a repost to the previous post I made yesterday as I had made some minor revisions on both the Latin and English prayers and corrected some grammatically incorrect words, as someone has pointed out in the comments on the previous post. I also corrected some scripture sourcing on one of the mysteries as some of the scriptures were sourced incorrectly. I also added page numbers. This is the final version (hopefully) of the prayer book and there will be no more further changes to be done. I apologize for some of the errors and mistakes I made especially for those who have already printed their own copy. If you have already printed a copy, I highly recommend to reprint the prayer book for more accurate and grammatically correct Latin prayers (especially if you will pray the rosary in Latin).

Here is the Canva link for the revised final version of the Rosary Prayer Book and you may download the images from there: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGYH0ObwI4/WjhFWdzCmqYO0SPZk61Pfw/edit?utm_content=DAGYH0ObwI4&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

The image is sized as 8.5 inches x 11 inches and you may utilize a short bond paper to print. I prefer and recommend you to use a short clear book to store all pages instead of stapling them or making a traditional book (bookbinding).

Note that all pages are exactly counted and to fit all pages of a typical 20 sheets of a clear book. For a more elegant and organized look and to follow the page number, please do include the blank pages in the book.

BTW, the first prayer on page 7 which is the Prayer to the Medal of Saint Benedict is an optional opening prayer. I included it in the Rosary prayer as I believe so, by reciting St. Benedict’s medal prayer before praying the rosary, it will help to avoid temptations and being distracted by the devil himself while praying the rosary. I mean, after all the prayer is very powerful and it is even used in exorcism. The devil hates it when you recite the prayer.

Also, feel free to comment or message me in Reddit chat if you have any questions or suggestions or if you wanna add or change something for personal preference (i.e. Add or change the prayers of intercession located on page 19 for any saints that you wanna add or to be changed according to your patron saint), I will be glad to customize the book from your own liking.

I hope you do find this Rosary Prayer Book helpful especially that Christmas is coming and we should pray the rosary more frequently to prepare for the advent of Jesus Christ.

Ut in ómnibus Glorificétur Déus!

i’m trying understand catholicism and religion, and i’m asking this question out of pure curiosity and not judgement. but why do you guys deem homosexuality a sin and that gay people will be sent to eternal hell? as long as you’re not harming anyone, why is it bad? i’ve been reading the things that the bible say is a sin and such as lying and judging and even a woman cutting her hair apparently is a sin too. i see a lot of catholics lie and judge their whole lives (like anyone it’s normal) i but i don’t see the same hate and condemnation the same way it’s towards being gay.

if judging is a sin then why not care what people do with their lives as long as they’re not harming anyone and leave it up to god to judge if they are a good person or not when they pass. also is “because said so” a good enough reason? just trying to wrap my head around it. thank you!

Does anyone know who are the one that Jesus mention in John 21 verse 22 which is "Jesus answered, 'If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.'"Does any writing of Church father or doctor refering this to one of the Jesus disciple and who are that person.Im sorry because my grammar are bad but i was curious after reading that phrase.

My husband and I have been married for thirteen years. Through these years my relationship with God is stronger but it hurts me to see how distant my husband is from God. He’s never happy or grateful for we have. He doesn’t want to share anything with family or friends. It hurts so much at times I don’t want to be with him because he is so mean. I also can’t divorce him. Please help me pray for him to allow God in his heart. Idk what else I can do.

Sorry, first time posting ever. Also, apologies, I am on mobile.

I am trying to leave behind offensive metal that mentions anything pagan or anything remotely negative (I stay away from anything satanic as it really bothers me). However, having been listening to that genre of music since I was 6, it's kind of hard to give it up.

Over the years, I have found and continue to find some actual bands and songs that have such lovely lyrics that speak of Jesus, Mother Mary and great worship in general, but I do feel some doubt as my dad has always had something against even the songs I've shown him that spoke of God in a great way, saying it's the way they sing that's terrible. He says it's demonic and, granted, they do be wildin'.

However, I identify greatly with it and it makes me happy because I personally feel pumped up and excited but tbh, I'm open to being corrected if I'm wrong.

I know that in the abscence of a deacon (and priest,) an acolyte can lead a communion service. So, how does the communion service in this situation work? Does transubstantiation happen? Or is whatever is in the tabernacle used? And, more importantly, does the layman/acolyte act in persona Christi during this process? And most importantly, if yes, then how is it that women are allowed (as of 2021) to be acolytes? I would really like to learn more about how a communion service lead by an acolyte works before I ask more questions. Thank you!

Now I moved north earlier this year as I was in a bad place and had to leave. When I moved North, I lived with my sister who needed someone to help around the house with her 2 young nephews whilst her husband was away. I did a mixture of practical things whilst also being a firmer hand and father like figure when needed. For the first time in a long time, my nephews made me feel life nothing in life mattered more than the moment spent with them, essentially a feeling of wanting a family and something more.

Whilst up there, I also had a break from a full time job and helped my brother in law's parents doing up their new house (I'm a tradie) in which over the 6 months gave it my best whilst making enough money to survive on. I heard that I was the answer to a novena to Saint Joseph for all I did for them and what they wanted done.

Not only that, I made good friends with my brother in laws sister and her family in which I also helped them and they were very grateful for the help I gave the whole family and how much it meant.

Now I moved south shortly after as I was looking for a career change which was tricky as it was hard to get a job up north for what I wanted. Not only that, but a priest from a parish south asked me to make a addition for the church to build on what I had done previously so it all seem to work in timing.

Once completed, I moved in with another sister who had her partner away on work in which she also needed some support and appreciated me being here with my niece and nephew. Meanwhile I realised for work that I'm not meant to do what I wanted to and secured myself a good paying position in my current trade and things were looking up.

However, my sister's partner is set to return home so I got myself a temporary place to stay. My job has gone downhill and I can't do anything to change it, I've had some financial difficulties arise and I feel like all the change that I've experienced this year may fade away as I return back to my life as it was before I moved up North (Trade is toxic and depressing and doing the right thing almost impossible).

I decided a new move to sales for my next job and start again as alot of my problems stem from my previous life down here and in my original line on work.

Yesterday, I facetimed my sister up north and I was so happy to see my beautiful nephews who are growing up fast. Made me realise I miss them and the friends I made up there and nothing down here is holding me back now I've decided that the reason for moving down here (employment) has changed anyway whilst my sister and her extended family north all are Catholics and have been a good influence on my life for the time I was up there.

I feel like once again, I should head North but am just not sure if it's just me running/drifting from my problems here or if I'm meant to be part of a greater plan up North with them again.

I'd appreciate any advice especially from anyone whose had a life journey as such. Thanks so much for reading this as long as it is as I just need a second opinion on this side of my life. God bless you all.

Dear fellow Catholics. I’d like your opinions on a situation involving the OCIA coordinator at my parish. After attending Mass with me for two years, my husband said he wanted to start RCIA (it was still called that until today in my diocese), so he signed up an and we started going.

To explain how the class is going, I’ll just give you an example of what happened today. Between 9:00-10:15 we listened to a lady talk about the liturgical calendar. Most of what we heard were her personal memories, or “funny” little stories about her kids. The handout she gave us had coloring pages. It was clear she was repurposing worksheets she uses in classroom. She teaches second grace at a local Catholic school.

I was a catechist for six years, so I am familiar with the process catechumens and candidates go through to come into the Church. Unfortunately, the first day of class, the coordinator told my husband that I couldn’t be his sponsor. I knew that wasn’t true, so I politely informed her, thinking that she might not know, but she insisted she was right. I let it go, double checked with the diocese, and waited for my priest to straighten things out. He did so without us ever having to say anything to him.

But things have gotten progressively worse. The coordinator told the class that there are 8 mandatory events which include attending the Chrism Mass, which is over an hour away, a retreat that is almost two hours away and a second retreat at the parish. I know that’s not true, so I told my husband to just ignore her, but some of the other people in the class don’t know the truth, and they’re totally stressed over these imaginary dates. Then today after the Rite of Entrance, the coordinator, who has terrible communication skills and didn’t really make it clear that we were having class from 9:00-10:15, Mass at 10:30 with dismissal, and an undetermined amount of time for Breaking Open the Word, told the class that anyone who didn’t complete the Rite of Entrance wouldn’t be able to come into the Church until 2026. After that, her daughter showed up and started setting up for a banquet. She said the Rite of Entrance was a celebration, so we were having brunch on her, but out of the 30 people in the class, only seven of us were there because she didn’t tell anyone about The brunch she planned.

Next she started telling us about people who failed to come into the Church because of their spouses (she’s still mad I’m my husband’s sponsor), and while looking straight at us, she said, “Spouses can be sponsors but they can’t be godparents.” Then she started tasking about how people can’t come into the Church unless they have community. She eventually broke into a story about home bound ministry. A woman was dying and she couldn’t find a priest to head to the hospital to give the woman Last Rites. It was a sad story, but it made the few of us that were in the room uncomfortable when the coordinator burst into tears and sobbed, “She died on my watch!” A few minutes later she was back to telling us all about the business of couples that hadn’t finished RCIA in the past. She just really seems to hate the idea of spouses being sponsors. Alas, after half an hour of her talking about nothing that had to do with Breaking Open the Word, we informed her my husband had to work and we had to leave. She snapped at us and we made a quick exit.

This lady is so bad at communication and now she’s holding it against people because they’re missing classes, brunch, and her personal therapy session. The schedule says class is from 9:00-10:15, but now she says that it’s mandatory we all attend the 10:30 Mass, and the amount of time we’re expected to stay in class after dismissal is undetermined. So OCIA runs from 9:00 to whatever time she wants to end it. It’s almost like she’s trying to make it as hard as possible for people to come into the Church.

I love my priest. He doesn’t have a deacon, but he does a wonderful job providing Mass every day of the week (twice a day Tuesdays-Thursdays), and I’m so thankful he’s in our area. I’m in Utah, so priests and churches are scarce. I don’t want to be seen as a complainer, but I feel like this woman is causing great harm to people who have trying to enter the Church. Should I bother my priest with this issue? Report the problems to the director of OCIA at the diocese?What would you do?