I’M part of a minority group within the Catholic faith – a convert, rather than a “cradle Catholic”.
I haven’t suffered discrimination, but I found that welcoming and instruction of converts is not one of the Church’s strong points. None could deny that faith is a gift from God. He calls us in his own way and in his own time. Some may struggle for years before being ready to accept Christ, and others, such as me, can take a matter of weeks.
I came to the Church in answer to my calling in September last year. I met with a pastoral minister at the diocesan cathedral and said I wanted to become a member, and learn the “nuts and bolts” of the faith. I made my position clear. I was not “inquiring”. I had faith, and wanted to experience all that the faith had to offer.
I was told that the only way was via the RCIA program. I attended one meeting, and found that everyone else in that group was “inquiring”, and therefore the meeting was at that level. I could not attend regular weeknight meetings due to work commitments, and also it wasn’t meeting my needs.
I was attending weekly Mass, and not understanding what was happening around me. I wanted to understand Catholic beliefs, how confession worked, the Profession of Faith, what did “Eucharist” mean, etc.
I arranged one short meeting with the pastoral minister, who told me I’d “pick it up as I go along”. He’d “get back to me”, but remained unreachable until the following January. I told him I was frustrated with the lack of support, and was told that the process could take many years and that I shouldn’t be so impatient.
I went to another parish, met with the priest, and was referred onto the “RCIA co-ordinator”. The co-ordinator told me they had an existing group which would receive Confirmation at Easter, and I’d have to wait until they could arrange another group. They had four people interested, but had yet to arrange a catechist to run the group.
Someone from the parish loaned me an excellent book called At Home with God’s People, which finally answered some of my questions, but still I attended Mass every week and still I sat there feeling like a spectator. The Easter Vigil came and went, and I remained a spectator. The parish priest, incidentally, never once inquired as to how I was.
Eight months after my initial request to become a Catholic I sat at home one Sunday afternoon feeling utter despair. I had (and still have) a deep love for the Church, and a tremendous need to be a part of it. God had called me to be with him, and to be part of his Church. God said “Now!”, and they said “Wait!” A miracle had happened to me, and I felt the wonder of his grace each and every day, but no one was interested. There was no place for miracles, as they did not fit in with RCIA programs.
It would be fine if everyone was called at exactly the same time and came at the same stage of understanding, but the Holy Spirit doesn’t work to a parish calendar. If I did not have such a clear calling, I would have walked out and given up long ago.
Protestant Churches, especially the “born-agains” would never ignore someone who was there every week for eight months, but it was the Catholic faith I was called to. Why is the Church so disinterested in spreading the gospel and the faith to the un-converted? Why is Catholicism such a closed shop?
The positive side to this story is that I sat there on that Sunday and started ringing parishes. I thank God I found a very special priest at home that afternoon. He was an older priest in his 70s, and he understood my needs and my despair completely. He said he could find the time to instruct. This elderly man would talk for hours with a twinkle in his eye in total awe of the wonders of God.
Incidentally, the pastoral minister and parish priest who ignored me were both young men. Our old priests are like living treasures. Six weeks later I received the Blessed Sacrament of Confirmation, nine months after first asking to become a Catholic. I hope that one day this reluctance to welcome new converts would disappear from the culture of the Church, as it has so much to offer.
JEFF HARVIE Rockhampton, Qld
