Comments for Renewal at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 14 out of 14 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Thu, 23 May 2013 11:58:11 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/renewal.html#comment-6530 Congratulations Mr. Miner. As someone who went through RCIA at age 57, I appreciate how important good catechesis is. Older students can struggle. If it's any consolation, the Church in the 70s seemed pretty chaotic when I graduated from a Catholic high school (as an Episcopalian). And if you don't mind my saying, your bride is beautiful. God bless you both. - Graham Combs Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:24:25 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/renewal.html#comment-6529 Howard, all life is a conundrum. I did not rule out God's existence, merely question his sometimes disappearance from the affairs of humankind. Such as the lack of response to prayer, among the many mysteries. If we are to do "God's will," then what of our own? Seems as though He has dealt a stacked deck. Well, on to more pressing matters. Such as how am I going to fill up my gas tank. - Grump Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:10:18 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/renewal.html#comment-6528 Dear Louise and Brad: May I use your parallel experiences for a lesson? Both of you are where you are today because of the Holy Spirit working in your lives in separate but similar ways. This is the result of prayer; both yours and others praying for you. You both experienced clerical apathy/indifference because they believed what you were requesting was unnecessary, i.e., why bother with these details if everyone is already saved! Universal Salvation is a heresy which is why it can never be named, merely assumed. You both are to be commended for what you have accomplished against such extraordinary odds! - Bill Mon, 11 Apr 2011 10:19:20 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/renewal.html#comment-6527 Dear Mr. Miner, Heartfelt congratulations to you and your new wife. :) My husband and I were married in the Methodist church in 1955. In about 1964 or so, we were baptized and received into the Episcopal church. Neither of us had had any documentation of previous baptism, and knowing my mother to be a great procrastinator, I knew that, despite her best intentions, she would probably have never gotten around to it. She thought of herself as a faithful Christian, and she tried hard, but she was not a consistent church-goer. And my husband's "Christening" in nobody-knows- quite-where, was probably not valid. So we and our children were baptized in the Episcopal church. Some of us were even confirmed. In 1971, we received instruction of sorts in the Catholic Church by a priest-professor at a local (sort of) Catholic university because the priest in the local parish didn't want to be bothered giving instruction. After being formally received, we consulted the priest in the next closest parish, and we also requested conditional baptism for all of us. He was very obliging. Nobody ever mentioned confirmation or blessing of our marriage. Eleven years later, we left the Church. In 2002, I went to Confession and received the Sacrament (my husband followed a few months later), but, again, nobody inquired about our Confirmation status. After a couple more years, it occurred to me that maybe we should have been confirmed. So, we were. No RCIA program, though, we just had endure some completely forgettable videos by an Archbishop. But we were confirmed. Marriage? Nobody mentioned it. Finally, after seeing a few renewal of vows of long-time marriages at our parish, I made the enquiry myself, and we renewed our vows after Mass one evening. So, after 55 years, we are finally completely married. I guess, at long last, we are all square with the Church. I still haven't written out my funeral arrangement requests, though. Maybe I had better see to that. You never know the day or the hour, after all. It really is a struggle getting all the necessary details worked out. This was nothing at all like the warnings my mother-in-law used to give my husband: "Be carefull! The Catholic Church is out to get you, and there's a priest waiting behind every bush to pull you in." Ah. If only. Bill: How is that for another example of An Odyssey of a Modern American Catholic? Again, Congratulations, Mr. Miner, and may you both enjoy many more happy years together. - Louise Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:04:11 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/renewal.html#comment-6526 @ Grump. At first your assertion that your agnosticism is attributable to God's mysteriousness seemed, at best, like a conundrum; at worst, impossible. Then, on second thought, He could be testing you. So, I will pray for you, that you will rise to the occasion of this enduring test...that you will not weary of it, that you will seek, and accept, His graces through reconciliation and the Eucharist. The ball is in your court. - Howard Mon, 11 Apr 2011 07:09:20 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/renewal.html#comment-6525 My most heartfelt congratulations to you and you wife, particularly given your initial reservations concerning renewal of vows. I pray that our Lord will bless the two of you even more richly in the years ahead than He has to this day. Keith Töpfer - Martial Artist Mon, 11 Apr 2011 07:05:30 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/renewal.html#comment-6524 Brad: Thank you for sharing with us An Odyssey of a Modern American Catholic, complete with a "mazel tov" from one of the readers. In the paragraph below the very attractive photo, you cite the need for a dispensation to marry your wife who, at that time at least, was unbaptized. I am not sure someone flubbed this as they are very difficult to obtain due to the Disparity of Cult. Best wishes! - Bill Mon, 11 Apr 2011 06:57:01 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/renewal.html#comment-6523 Congratulations! Like you, my wife I and were already married (by a Methodist minister) but re-married in the Catholic Church last spring. It was a wonderful renewal, and a beautiful day for us, our children, our friends, and our family. Last Easter, my best friend--a man who had been as snarling an atheist as you can imagine--officially joined the Catholic Church after a long RCIA program. He was baptized, received first holy communion, made penance, became confirmed, and got married (renewal) all in one day! Had we only found a way to get him martyred, it would have been perfect! - Michael Reilly Mon, 11 Apr 2011 06:29:40 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/renewal.html#comment-6522 Just curious, did your wife become a Catholic or is that none of our business? I became a Catholic by baptism, first communion and confirmation more than 50 years ago. Now I am agnostic. Just goes to show how God works in mysterious ways. - Grump Mon, 11 Apr 2011 05:00:22 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/renewal.html#comment-6520 Congratulations. May you both accept God's blessings, received at your recent marriage renewal, to persist in keeping your twenty-seven year union holy and strong. - Howard Mon, 11 Apr 2011 03:31:36 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/renewal.html#comment-6518 Congratulations! - Ray Hunkins Mon, 11 Apr 2011 02:54:49 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/renewal.html#comment-6517 Congratulations, Mr. Miner! I am so happy to hear that you will be fully received into the Church. Much luck to you and you wife and family. - Barbara Kaine Mon, 11 Apr 2011 02:22:31 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/renewal.html#comment-6515 Congratulations and Mazel Tov! - Sandra Jones, CPA Sun, 10 Apr 2011 22:41:02 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/renewal.html#comment-6514 Hearty Congratulations indeed to you and your wife Mr. Miner! May God's blessings fall upon your marriage for many years. - Adam Hermanson Sun, 10 Apr 2011 17:52:13 +0100