{"id":152969,"date":"2018-01-30T10:00:32","date_gmt":"2018-01-30T15:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/ask-a-priest-im-scared-would-the-church-welcome-me-back\/"},"modified":"2024-10-22T15:12:43","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T19:12:43","slug":"ask-a-priest-im-scared-would-the-church-welcome-me-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/ask-a-priest-im-scared-would-the-church-welcome-me-back\/","title":{"rendered":"“Ask a Priest: I’m Scared \u2026 Would the Church Welcome Me Back?”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Q:\u00a0For my earlier life I was brought up in the Catholic Church. But eventually my parents moved away from religion, and I just stopped attending. This happened before confirmation. Now as an adult, for the past few years especially, I have felt something pulling me toward the Church, but I’ve been holding back because, being honest, I’m a little scared. I don’t know where I stand exactly. Will I be welcome at church? Am I a Catholic without being confirmed? I just don’t know. \u2013 G.<\/address>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC<\/em><\/p>\n

A: You are most certainly welcome in the Church. You are still considered a beloved son of the Church. Your baptism brought you into her fold.\n<\/p>\n

In fact, I would say that the desires you are discovering in your heart are a sure sign that God himself is moving you from within, inviting you to come closer to him and to discover the grace and meaning that he has in store for you.<\/p>\n

You might want to consider a few steps.<\/p>\n

First, it would be good to go to confession. There are lots of resources on the Internet that could help you prepare for this, you can find an example HERE<\/a>.<\/strong> If the idea of going to confession makes you nervous, you might want to watch this little video about it: From Sorrow to Joy: A Retreat Guide on the Sacrament of Confession<\/a><\/strong>. Scroll down to the bottom to start the video.<\/p>\n

Don’t worry about shocking the priest. He will be glad to have you come to confession. At any rate he cannot reveal anything said in confession.<\/p>\n

Second, you might want to consider some kind of program that would prepare you for confirmation. The best thing would be to speak with someone at your local parish. Perhaps they would recommend the RCIA program<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, it would be good to start attending Mass regularly (Sundays and holy days of obligation), and to make time for prayer every day. Try reading a bit of the Gospels daily, too. This book by my colleague Father John Bartunek might help you: “The Better Part: A Christ-Centered Resource for Personal Prayer<\/strong>.<\/em><\/a>“<\/p>\n

The key thing is to be pro-active. Try to make a plan for when you will contact the local parish, or plan a day to go to confession if you think you are ready. You will want to refrain from receiving Communion until you get to confession first.<\/p>\n

Cultivate a devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, too. She can be a great help. And pray for your parents that they return to the faith. Praying for them will strengthen your own faith.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Keep learning more with Ask a Priest<\/a><\/h3>\n

Got a question? Need an answer?<\/h3>\n

Today\u2019s secular world throws curve balls at us all the time. AskACatholicPriest is a Q&A feature that anyone can use. Just type in your question or send an email to AskAPriest@rcspiritual.wpenginepowered.com<\/a> and you will get a personal response back from one of our priests at RCSpirituality. You can ask about anything \u2013 liturgy, prayer, moral questions, current events\u2026 Our goal is simply to provide a trustworthy forum for dependable Catholic guidance and information. So go ahead and ask your question\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Edward McIlmail, LC","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/485147bd811c2a8642adf1f1806f85f0adef2b00ef8ccabc9b46f8420af19e16?s=96&d=blank&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/485147bd811c2a8642adf1f1806f85f0adef2b00ef8ccabc9b46f8420af19e16?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/485147bd811c2a8642adf1f1806f85f0adef2b00ef8ccabc9b46f8420af19e16?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC"},"description":"Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC, ordained to the priesthood in 2001, taught theology and Scripture at the then Mater Ecclesiae College in Rhode Island and is now a part-time chaplain at Overbrook Academy in Greenville, R.I. He holds degrees from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Connecticut, the Regina Apostolorum Athenaeum in Rome, and Northwestern University in Illinois. He was an assistant publisher of the National Catholic Register and Faith & Family magazine and an editor of the Zenit news agency\u2019s English edition. He has written for\u00a0SpiritualDirection.com\u00a0and\u00a0ePriest. Fr. McIlmail also worked in spiritual retreats in the Northeast, New England, the Midwest, and the South\u00a0and assisted with mission work in Mexico. Born in Philadelphia, he worked in journalism and was active in the pro-life movement before entering the novitiate of the Legion of Christ in 1992. His contributions to RCSpirituality include responding to\u00a0Ask A Priest\u00a0questions and sharing his insights in our\u00a0Weekly Newsletter.","url":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/author\/emcilmail\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/362"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152969"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=152969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}