jeycat

In additon to Catholic's doing blessings by just the laying on of hands by a Catholic Priest where no holy water or oil is involved they do also do blessings with holy water &/or oil. I see other people have described most of these. Such as Confirmation, or The Anointing of the Sick Anointing of the Sick - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia There is one more "blessing" that Catholic's use anointed/concescrated olive oil for. It is called "The Last Rite" This is A VERY sacred & powerful "rite" Catholic Priests will do for people who are dieing or in close danger of dieing. I'm a LDS Convert. I was raised in a VERY Catholic, Italian American family (lot's of Priests & Nuns in our family). My father however was NOT Catholic. He was Episcopal. He was seriously injured in WW2 & said he woke up in an Emergency Medical Triage place near the battlefeild. There was A Catholic Priest standing over him administering the Catholic Last Rites. My dad said he kept babbling that he wasn't Catholic...but the Catholic Priest ignored him & continued with the Rite. My father claims it was very a very powerful & spiritual experience & while NEVER becoming Catholic did say it "worked a miracle".Catholic Priiests will do this Last Rite for anyone who is dieing or near death it does NOT matter whether they are Catholic or not. Here's a link to the full explaination Last Rites - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia BTW..It doesn't involve ANY anointed oil or holy water but Catholic Priests will allow anyone of any faith to receive the Sacrament of Confession with a Catholic Priest. I find it interestign that while many Religiuos Organizations differ greatly in opinions of doctrine that so many of them do practice the "laying of hands" for a Blessing & "Anointing with (blessed) Holy Water or Oil in extreme cases. I wish Christians could focus more on these similiarities of belief than on all their doctrinal differences!

Welcome. I lived in a small town in IL for awhile. Good people out there but not always too many members close by when you're out in those MidWestern farm lands.

Congratulations! I am also a Convert. Joined the church at age 21yrs. lately I've been thinking a lot about how I felt when I first studied with the Sister Missionaries & practically begged to be Baptised. This is the BEST decision you have ever made. You will be blessed for it. I was Blessed in many ways after Baptism...the biggest one was meeting my husband less than 2yrs after I joined. Welcome & Merry Christmas! What a wonderful time of the yr to be Baptised :-)

Welcome. I've also been inactive & have only recently been compelled to get back to church. I've found a lot of suppport on this site. I pray you also find this same support

Welcome. I am also new to this site. May Heavenly Father Bless you & your family this Christmas

Hi, Welcome. I was a convert who joined the church at age 21yrs old. Eventually I too became inactive. Recently I styated feeling compelled to become active again. I've been pretty nervious about this so I joined this site to see what peoples reaction would be to me being inactive & coming back to church. It's one of the BEST decisions I ever made. I'm working with my local Bishop & Missionaries now. This Sunday I will attend my first Sacrament Service in about 5 yrs. I hope & pray theat things work out just as well for you!

Thank you to all the wonderful, caring people who have replied to my post. Heavenly Father has certainbly heard my prayers & is leading me back to him. I found this iste & thought I would use it to 'test the waters" & see what type of reaction I got from people here before I went back to Sacrament Service. I now know that I will be welcome. I'm no longer quite so scared & nervious. I am anxious to come back. Thanks to all of you & to Our Heavenly Father. May he also Bless each of you & your families this Christmas!

MormonMama, Thank you for being so candid with such personal details about your own life. You said many of the same things both our family Dr & my Therapist have told me. Our family Dr. was so shocked & devestated by my sons suicide she actualy ended up in Therapy for awhile. She said he was the last patient she ever would have expected to do this. He was always so happy, friendly, willing to go out of his way to help others. We live in New England. During the winter he would shovel our elderly neighbors sidewalks. He alwys refused to take any money from them...altho he did love it when the one lady baked him cookies :-) The Family Dr. has said the biggest factor was that Graham (my son) was very impulsive & he felt things very deeply. His suicide was a very rash, impulsive, act. He was a 13yr old boy..he often did things without thinking them thru before hand. He was gentle & kind hearted. Sometimes I think he was just too good to be here on earth for too long.That he was a "gift" form Heavenly Father who was ment to touch our lives & those of everyone he met. To shine his love on all of us & then to return home to help prepare a place for all of us to be with him. I will always miss him but I do believe with all my heart he sees me & would not want me to be in so much pain & saddness. I also believe he wants me (us) to find our way back to church & to him. BTW...the 2 boys who were bullying him came to his Memorial Svs & tho they could barely speak thru their tears they approached my husband & I & asked us to forgive them. Of course we did this. When people ask how or why we could do this we tell them it is simple. Our son Graham always forgave everyone. He never held a grudge. He would want us to forgive. He taught us to forgive by his example. I guess I need to remember this & keep this thought close in my heart when I have difficulty forgiving myself!

WoW 15 yrs is a long time. Was it difficult for you when you first went back? I mean how did people at your ward react they introduced themselves & found out that you weren't someone who was investigating the church, you were already a member who just stopped going for so long?

Hi All, My name is Cat & I am an inactive member of the LDS church. I was a convert who joined the church at age 21yrs. My Mother was VERY upset. I'm in my 40's now. Married to a wonderful man I met at my ward over 20yrs ago. He was also a convert.We build a beautiful family..lots of children lol. We have both always said if it was not for our membership in the church we would not have met each other. That being said we lost our way & ended up inactive. Our son commited suicide a little over a yr ago. He was 13yrs old. He was being bullied & he never told anyone. Since then my family has completely fallen apart. He was never baptised. Even tho we have been inactive for several yrs now we do have a member friend & her family working on his Temple Baptism. Her son who is now only 13yrs himself requested that he be allowed to earn his Temple Recommend & be Baptised for his friend. This is such a beautiful thing for a boy his age to do. We know our son would be pleased with this! I miss my son. I feel so guilty. I believe we let him down. If we had been active this would not have happened. My family has literally fallen apart since this happened. I have recently been in contact with my local LDS Bishop. It's a complicated situation. He & his wife immediately scheduled a time to come to my house & spent all afternoon here. They were so kind & compassionate. I realize how much I needed that visit & what a blessing it is that came over & spent the day with me! I want to come back to church but I am scared. Little things like questions about how many kids I have are so difficult. I have an appointment scheduled with the Missionaries to come over my home next wk. to start working with me so I can quit smoking (started after my son died...feel guilty about this too). When they scheduled this appt they told me they would love to meet the rest of my family. I dodged this remark. Right now there is only me to meet. I'm in alot of pain. I know I need to come back to church & get back on the right path again. I know I am being compelled to come back in answer to not just my own but many peoples prayers concerning this situation. I'm just really scared & feel so guilty. I'm on this site looking for advice & support. I guess you could say I am trying to find my LDS family so I can put my life & my home life back together again. Cat