I’m going through OCIA and have been attending Mass at the same church for months. I don’t know anyone there, so I have been learning how to act at Mass solely through observation. I noticed that many people hold out their hands during the Our Father prayer, so I started doing the same because I thought that’s what you were supposed to do. I just saw something on social media that said the complete opposite? What do I do guys 😭

Charismatic Christian here seriously exploring Catholicism. How did you other converts in this thread get on board with Marian doctrine? It is so new to me as a concept and I come from the south where many say that Marian doctrine is demonic, including the historical apparitions. I’ve been reading the transcripts from Fatima and some others and I don’t understand why Mary would ask for statues and chapels in her honor and for reparation of sins against her when she supposedly only points to Jesus? Overall, Marian doctrine is unsettling to me and I don’t know what to make of the apparitions and the instructions that were spoken. I’ve also read many people’s experiences when they started praying the rosary and some experienced demonic attack, others deliverance. I’m just having a hard time with this and would love to know of anyone’s personal experiences praying the rosary, devotion to Mary and any general thoughts on Marian doctrine. Thanks!

Hello, everyone. I am going to be 70 in a couple months. I wasn't brought up in any faith, then became a born again Christian at age 22; a mental health crisis caused me to lose my faith about 12 years later; practiced SGI Nichiren Buddhism from age 40 to age 67. That's my backstory.

For the ten years before leaving my Buddhist practice, I also fell in with the crowd indicated in the subject line. I *was* able to "create my own reality" and manifest outcomes through a combination of Buddhist chanting, New Thought "treatment prayer," affirmations and visualization. As a result, I became very, very arrogant because I never factored in my relationship - or what *should* have been a relationship - with God. (Now I understand why Jesus called people like me "thieves and robbers"). For the past year, year and a half, I've become very disillusioned. Sure, I accomplished some things and avoided some problems over most of my adult life, but where did it get me in terms of my own soul? I am older now. I am closer to my demise. This, plus the Evil with a capital E at work in the world now, sent me running for the holiest realm I'd ever known: Christianity.

So now I'm working toward my first Catholic Confirmation. I feel a very deep peace at my core about this. One niggling thing is this: After 35 years of "Look What I Did!" and feeling in control of events, letting go feels like losing part of myself. I'm sure that part is ego.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Thanks.

Hi everyone!
My fiancé and I are currently attending OCIA, and we’ve recently started the paperwork for marriage preparation. I’m hoping to get some insight into what we should expect throughout the process.
For some background, I was baptized in the Catholic Church as a baby, but I wasn’t raised in the faith and never received any other sacraments. My fiancé was baptized in the Methodist Church as a teenager. We’re both now pursuing full communion with the Catholic Church.
One complication is that we’ve already been living together for the past two years. We’ve discussed the Church’s teachings on this and have agreed to live as brother and sister until marriage. We’re actually in the process of fixing up our spare bedroom so we can sleep separately. I understand this is something we’ll need to discuss further with our priest, and we’re prepared to do that.
My biggest questions are about the timing of everything. Will we both need to receive Confirmation before we can be married in the Church? Would it make more sense to get legally married first, or should we wait and have everything done through the Church?
It’s incredibly important to me that our marriage be both valid and sacramental, and I really want us to approach this process the right way. We’re not looking for shortcuts, just trying to understand what our options are and what the timeline might look like.
I know our priest will ultimately be the one to guide us through our specific situation, but I’d love to hear from anyone who has gone through something similar or has experience with Catholic marriage preparation while attending OCIA.
Thank you!

I was raised in a very non-religious household. Every day my heart grows closer to catholicism, I have previously very much explored the avenues of Quakerism and even Conservative Judaism, but so far Catholicism has felt the most like home. As a socially liberal person I do struggle with come church teachings, but I still feel this pull. I would love a catholics perspective on why I should feel grounded in this new belief rather than scared or doubtful.

I’m interested to hear the experiences of anyone who has either been in a similar situation, or anyone who has any advice for a former Mormon who is considering joining the Catholic Church.

For me I feel like learning about the Catholic Church is like coming home, especially coming from a religion where you have to deal with cognitive dissonance in order to stay faithful once you learn about unreconcilable inconsistencies with the history and doctrine of Mormonism.

I’d like to hear the experiences of anyone, good or bad, who has gone from leaving Mormonism to becoming Catholic!

Hello, I hope you are doing well, I have a few questions.

I want to become catholic, I was raised protestant, then agnostic for two years. I am just now coming back into christianity. I don’t know how to start, and there aren’t many Catholic churches around me, The closest being 25 minutes away by car, which wouldn’t be a big deal but I am a teenager, and I don’t know if my mom would drive me down.

I am asking, what should I do? How should I do it? I am sorry if this seems ignorant, I truly do not mean to be. I am curious and I want to find myself again. I am also sorry if this isn’t the place to ask questions, like I said, you will probably see me in other threads.

Thank you, Have a good rest of your day/night

Being raised in a very secular part of the world, everyone around me is atheist. In my whole life I have literally known maybe a few christians and none who I was close with. My whole family is atheist, all my friends and pretty much all my fellow physics students. And my whole life I have felt like atheism was the only reasonable reality, because that is how I was brought up. However I have gradually come to believe that science doesn't have to exclude god. So for quite some time I was agnostic, but searching further for truth. Now I have come to believe in Christ and have specifically oriented towards Catholicism which has inspired me a lot. I am not yet a Baptized Catholic and to be clear I am very new to the faith, but I intend to give this a real and honest shot.

But here comes my problem. I haven't told anyone about my new faith yet and I know it would be difficult for the people around me to understand given their secular worldview. I feel like it is wrong of me to keep my faith a secret, but I lack the courage to be open about this. I am most afraid of telling my parents as I fear they would struggle to understand.

Does anyone have suggestions? Thanks to everyone for reading my story and please pray for me to become more firm in my faith.