My RCIA Diary

When I decided to become catholic I knew that there could be some resistance among friends and family. I also had a lot of the same questions and even hangup's as a lot of other people have. I have always shy ed away from organized religion. My father was Amish as a child when they left the order...most of my dad's family did not subscribe to one particular religion, rather individually adopted their own. As far as my mom's family, they did not belong to a specific church as well. As a result I was raised with some definite spiritual values and beliefs and even read the bible as a child, but did not belong to a particular church. Also as a result was not baptised as a child.

My immediate family moved around quite a bit during my childhood moving to different homes yet staying in the same town. I can remember being visited by pastors of whatever churches were in the area. Some of these pastors were rather zealous and pushed us hard to attend their church. As a result, I developed a very negative picture of organized religion.
When I met and eventually started dating my wife I became exposed to not only the catholic religion but also of attending church. Even though I became rather comfortable with attending with her, I still did not identify with this religion. We have been married now for sixteen years. I am not sure exactly when but a question started to develop in my mind. If something should happened to my wife (Sorry Lora!)....would I continue to attend church. This was not an easy answer for me. Previously I would have said... no, and that though I supported her in her religion, it was not mine. However, I realized that this religion in some way had become a part of my history and identity. As I started thinking of all the reasons that I shouldn't convert....they simply melted away. I took a leap of faith to start this process, but it has proven to be a blessing in every way.
I have agreed with everything I have been exposed to thus far except for one thing. I continue to struggle with the Church's view on capital punishment. I will attempt to update my diary as much as I can and I'm sure I will deal with this subject more fully in future posts. I will be referring back to some earlier classes.... as I was not on line at the time I started this process. Just thought some background might be nice as I have been asked a question repeatedly since I started .....Why this....Why now?