Any Catholics here?

[Rubyupbeat]

I am a lapsed Catholic, but dearly wish to worship in our local church. It's been so long that I have forgotten what is expected of me.
Should I make an appointment to see the priest? Or just go along to mass and see how that goes.
Also, and this is very silly I know, but I have very bad knees and can't kneel, is there an alternative for that?
Please don't give all the negative and anti God and Catholic comments please, that's not what this post is for, thank you.

It honestly won’t matter at all if you have forgotten responses or when to sit / stand etc.
As long as you are quiet and respectful no one will notice if you know the responses .
There will usually be Mass books at the back of the church - you can use these to follow the order of the Mass if you want. Or use the online link given earlier.
I hope the congregation is warm and gently ( not overpoweringly) welcoming .

🙄

The struggle is part of the faith journey IMO. I remember telling a priest I was lapsed and he said ‘aren’t we all in one way or another?’

Yes I don't go to communion in the Catholics c church but if I go to my local C of E I will go to communion. I used to be against confession but I feel a bit of a draw back to it. I was going to go on Saturday but I had a cold!

Yes Op get a mass book. I had a long time away from the church, and they've changed the apostolic creed and some other responses but my brain still keeps saying the ones I learnt when I was a child!

Just wanted to add OP, if it goes well and you want to move back towards receiving communion, a lot of parishes in our area do reconciliation services during lent, I find it a much easier way to go to confession as part of a crowd!

It may be but doesn’t mean anyone, including the priests, take any notice of it. It’s a bit like old bylaws.

hi op, I returned to the Catholic Church last year after the death of my lovely dad. It’s one of the best things I’ve done to help me with my grief. I looked forward to mass and sitting listening for 45min. Don’t worry about kneeling. Just join in where you can. Welcome back 😊

Lapsed Catholic here myself, got back into mass last year as child is going to local Catholic school next year. Just showed up at the parish, go to mass at least twice a month, got involved in some events and now genuinely am quite fond of my renewed faith.

Re the knees… a lot of faithful Catholics are very elderly! They are well used to poorly knees. You can sit out the kneeling with no worries.

the only thing I have found difficult in my parish is the relentless badgering for money. I am Irish and living in the UK and I’ve never known anything like it at home. The worst was when they sent out a handout with a rough estimate of how much of your income you should be contributing to the church and it was insane. So my advice would be go, get out of it what you need and don’t overthink it. I love having a faith and I am deeply spiritual so have enjoyed getting back to prayer and healing. However as a millennial mother I have my own issues with some of the church’s teachings and old ways. I take what I don’t like with a pinch of salt!

@Recycledblonde
The about:blank Catechism of the Catholic Church is the official summary of beliefs of the about:blank Catholic Church. It was published in 1992 under about:blank Pope John Paul II.

It contains the core teachings of Catholic Christianity, organised into four main parts
Doesn’t sound like old byelaws to me

Just coming in to say that as it’s Lent (second Sunday coming up), your church may be holding stations of the Cross in the evening. Also, there may be a program of discussion for deepening your faith, should you be interested in doing some thinking. Have a look on your local’s website or fb page.

Raised Catholic in Kerry and Dublin. Learned about what the church did to kids and that was me done.

Just go to Mass :-)

Sit at the back perhaps, if you don't feel comfortable at first?

If you're not going to kneel, scooch yourself forward a bit in the pew when others are kneeling so the person behind d you can rest their arms on the back of your pew. I did this all the time when heavily pregnant.

You don't need to talk to the priest at all. The priest would be delighted to know you're interested in going to Mass again, but there's no requirement to introduce yourself.

This is a good time to start going - Lent has started and Easter is in early April.

Yes it is. I stopped going to Mass for several years as I had concerns about the 'Catholic Guilt' and transferring it onto my DCs. I was amazed when I decided to go to Mass again & prior to that went to confession to tell the priest how I'd not been going to Mass & not brought my children up in the Faith (although all had been baptised. He asked me why I was so angry with the Church & we had a very fruitful discussion. I also tried to tell him about other transgressions & he said not to bother about them as I'd made the decision to come back into the Church & all was forgiven.

Agree with others just to go and not worry. I went for the first time mid week and sat at the back. Didn’t go up for communion/blessing, I just took it all in. Our church is big/busy, but only has mass sheets on Sunday. You can get an ‘Order of Mass’ book on Amazon etc super cheap. As others said, some of the wording/responses have changed.

The priest is welcoming to anyone new. I hope you enjoy it, it’s been one of the best things to happen to me.

I think it was until recent decades, but things have liberalised a lot in a bid to keep people going.

If you want to read through the liturgy of the word beforehand there are lots of sites that give a short discussion - I like this one https://www.agapebiblestudy.com/ - next Sunday the Gospel is Matthew's account of the Transfiguration, but the one after that has John's account of Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. The reading often gets shortened for reading in church, but it's worth reading the whole thing. She is an extraordinary figure.

I love the woman at the well. She is almost teasing Jesus.

I haven't knelt at Mass for a decade due to poor knees. I sit upright, not bending my head down in that weird way, known as the 'shampoo position '.

And yes, I would go and see the priest first. Ours have all been wonderfully approachable, to the extent it made me cry when I decided to swap to Catholicism after a lifetime as an Anglican.

Just go along. If it is as big church with a lot of masses maybe have a look at the website to see the types of mass - my nearest has early mass with minimal music, a mass with a choir and a lot of latin, one with main hymns and just a piano or organ.

No need to kneel. At the back of the church there may be a sheet or newsletter or a card that has the readings and the prayers. Even if you don’t join in you can then follow as it will have changed. (I attend regularly and they did a new translation of the language in the readings and some years ago the words for prayers changed)
Take a hymn book if offered, but don’t worry about singing.

From my personal view please don’t take communion, but if you don’t you could go up arms across your chest for a blessing, or neither is fine as well.

There will probably be a collection but you can just pass the plate or bag to the next person without putting anything in.

The teaching of our catechism is really lacking. It’s sad that people don’t even know we’re supposed to go to confession regularly. It’s offensive to Jesus if we receive the Eucharist with unconfessed sins on our souls. Sorry I don’t want to make anyone feel bad, just sharing what I’ve learned. It was the lukewarm believers Jesus saw in the future when he was in the garden of Gethsemane that caused him to sweat blood

In the US children are educated fully about the faith and those catholics who attend public school go for special classes outside school time, although I think a lot of American catholics have started homeschooling rather than send kids to public school. This sort of education would be great.

Hi, yes we need to be in a state of Grace i.e. no unrepented, unabsolved mortal sin, to receive the Eucharist because it is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. I know you're far from the only person who didn't know this and the Church needs to work to make it clear, as it's due to a lack of adequate Catechesis, which is our clergy's responsibility really.
Not being funny with you at all, but please go to Confession asap. It's not the ordeal many people fear it is , far from it, you'll feel so much better and the spiritual effects of it , plus receiving Our Lord in a state of Grace, will be really beneficial for you.
I'd also advise anyone to get a copy of the Catechism. We can even look individual issues up online now if we aren't sure or want to know more.
OP just go to Mass, go to Confession before you take Communion and maybe start watching vids by Catholic content creators as well. As a former lapsed and now returned Catholic, I find them really helpful. Welcome back, God bless you and all here!

I did know this in theory, but DM is a cradle irish Catholic 50s convent school goer, and I haven’t heard her even mention confession since I was about seven and took my first communion. The sort of provisos and advice given on here is exactly what makes people lapse, in my personal opinion. Probably why a previous poster’s priest was more relaxed at actual confession. As for home-schooling for Catholics - hmm.

I'm a Catholic and go to Mass most weeks. Lots of people don't/can't kneel so just sit during those parts of the service.

I haven't been to confession for years but still receive communion. I'm also a 'special minister' so regularly assist the priest in serving communion. There is the general confession at the start of each mass and for me that feels like enough.

There's absolutely no need to approach the priest before attending mass. Services are public events and open to everybody regardless of their religious background.

IME priests and regular worshippers are delighted to see new faces in church and are generally very welcoming.

I loathe the new wording… I think it’s clunky and to be honest, it has put me off going to mass unless it’s the sung mass where they do the I confess, creed and Gloria in Latin . There was something very comforting in saying words one has uttered weekly for decades.
Possibly the new translation works better in other languages, but in English it’s awful !
On confession, I’m like a PP… I haven’t been for nearly 40 years, but still take communion. I think reconciliation can be between oneself and God; I’m not sure it needs a priest to intercede and even as a child, I was never sure the priest took me seriously ( ie they were smirking at childhood faults)
Am I in the minority???!!
Re kneeling… the priest always says “if you are able”.

Just go to Mass. No one will bat an eyelid.