I went through RCIA in 1997 through 1999. It usually takes a year to become Catholic, but I was ill they took 2 years for me.

I was the ONLY person who was there because I wanted to be there. Every single other person was converting because they were married to a Catholic and the decided it was best for everyone that the family be of the same faith.

I felt very alone, but I was also completely at peace with my choice.

I have never regretted my decision, I love being Catholic. Nevertheless, the Faith I joined is so far different from what I have heard about that I some question if we are talking about the same faith.

When I discovered that the priest most involved with my journey to the Universal Church gave the $$$ he inherited to a Buddhist Monastery and he told me, "In the end, there is no difference between a good Catholic, or a good Buddhist, or a good Hindu." I was sold. This was a faith I could embrace with my whole heart.

No one had ever spoken to me like that before.

Later Father Tupper told me after I was upset over various things and guilt when he told me, "You know, Kirsten, God knows all you have done and all you will ever do, and yet He thought you were worth being nailed to a cross."

I have had many feelings in my life, but guilt is no longer there, at all. Maybe guilt is not the correct word. I think Toxic Shame is what I am really trying to describe. It is all gone. Guilt is actually a healthy feeling which leads us to reconciliation, whereas shame is an unnatural/sick emotion.

What I am trying to say is that for myself, becoming Catholic has been one of the best things I have ever done for my Mental Health outside of becoming gainfully employed, owning and driving a car, and living in my own apartment. Furthermore, I would argue that I was able to become employed, drive a car, and have my own place because I finally found a faith that I could accept and that accepted me exactly where I was.

Very, very, very wise words. The "true" essence of Christianity I believe.

God is not concerned about what religion we choose.

What God is more concerned about is....

have we believed on his Son Jesus...and also..have we asked His

Son Jesus into our heart.


That is what concerns God ......cause by accepting Jesus,

we can be brought back into Right Relationship With God once

more....

So we can come back home to be with God.....where God meant

for us All to be all along.


You see....God just wants His kids to come back home.

That is what concerns God.

That is what God wants.


And He is just waiting for us All.........to decide.....

when are we gonna come back home.