5 kinds of people converting to Catholicism in US today

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My father converted to get married. This was back in the days when the Church still frowned on mixed marriages, and my mother made it very clear that if Dad wanted to marry her he “better do something about his religion” first. So Dad converted right away. As a child he attended Methodist and Baptist sunday school and as an adult went to a Wesleyan university for a year or two, but never really practiced any of those faiths and I don’t think his mom, whom he was close to, was a big church-goer. My impression was that he was kind of looking for a faith to follow and some direction in life, and Mom provided that. Dad always said if he hadn’t met Mom he would have liked to become a monk. He had the personality for it as he was rather solitary and spent time every day in prayer.

Dad was not a big deep intellectual thinker about the faith though. He was a smart enough guy but just not interested in theological arguments. He used to complain about his Catholic instruction course, which was pre-RCIA and was taught by a priest. The other guy in the course with him was some scientist who had all these questions for the priest about matter and anti-matter and how this played into creation and the existence of God. Dad mentioned many times how having to sit through those discussions just drove him nuts. He just wanted to learn Catholicism, convert, and get married. He didn’t want to argue about anti-matter.
 
Hope you have a happy Sunday (this is long so it’s cool if you’d prefer to answer next week, if you would rather at all (but please); if you don’t mind me asking (and to be fair, I am the LAST person to ask) as a Catholic, what do you think can be done to improve RCIA (and catecatical in general) formation and experiences not only to promote retention but help promote an in-depth and devout faith - what can be done to light bright candles that serve as lamps and beacons for the world? Additionally, do you think if cathecism was free and we offered weekly catheisms akin to how many of our evangelical and non-denomination brothers and sisters offer bible studies (why not both for us), could our peoples be more active, involved and informed (and ideally devout). No, I’m not a CCD director, just asking as someone (again last person to ask) who wants to see the Church “work” or be more effective, a lot of churches seem stagnant (granted I know Church isn’t as “simple” as growing a company or non-profit and there’s much more to it than human effort).

Additionally, I guess, one “issue” with CCD is also, is well, its seeming lack of depth, simplicity is alright (and possibly the best way for layman (bad pun and broken drumbeat). I will admit I haven’t read these works but I know of them and wonder why they are not integrated into CCD. For example, we all have these books that appear to provide a rich treasure but from what I know they remain underutilized or not used to the extent they could ( Introduction to the Devout Life, Imitation of Christ and more mystical works like the Diary of St.Faustina and Story of a Soul). Why don’t we share encyclicals and push devotions in our CCD programs? Would these measures be helpful steps or would it be easy for it to go wrong and end up counterinuintively (in my mind, basically, I’m asking, why don’t we push 2000 years of history in the minds of catechist students)? Now to think of it, that does sound like a way to promote burn out, and there is the risk of having these works taught in ways which could be misinterpreted or taken the way wrong. Still we have all these great works, wouldn’t it be a good idea to weave them into CCD programming? Also, would it be unrealistic to expect catechist students to know the general framework of the Catheism by the time they enter adulthood (or is that why there is the Youcat)?

I’d love to hear other answers as well. Pardon for the highjacking, I still want the greater theme of the thread to be preserved.
 
In respect to the greater thread, do any of you see people from other Christian Churches (particularly from mainline sects) coming home as their churches adopt more liberal social positions like moving away from pro-life?
 
I heard Bishop Barron’s Catholicism series are very good. Not sure if that is useful for RCIA purposes.
 
RCIAGraduate said:
In respect to the greater thread, do any of you see people from other Christian Churches (particularly from mainline sects) coming home as their churches adopt more liberal social positions like moving away from pro-life?
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I suspect they will probably just find a Protestant church that is pro life instead.
 
Checking in as one of the intellectual converts who begins RCIA on Aug 19
 
with priests like bishop baron and fr Michael Schmitz using social media to evangelize guess its not that surprising. Its a powerful tool that the church and priests should use more often especially if they want to reach the younger crowd.
 
I’ve been one to not mind Fr. Schmidtz, but have to admit he did lose me in his video on mixed-marrige. To me, he did a lot of speaking in absolutes as if they’re next to impossible and both of you will regret your marriage.
 
In the fall of 2016 I attended our local RCIA class because I was interested in the process of conversion–why did people want to convert? I came early and stayed late to talk in depth to at least two people per class. There were about 20+ people; a few had been baptized Catholic but had not practiced, and wanted to be confirmed. Most were former Protestants of one type or another, including a former minister.

My conclusions based on this rather small number were:
  1. A lot of people were looking for some type of authority. They wanted someone to tell them what to do, that this is a sin and that is OK, etc. Sort of like why some people enlist in the army.
  2. Another large percentage had some emotional experience. “The Holy Spirit spoke to me” sort of thing. Or a dream. Or a “sign.”
  3. Some were there with their Catholic spouses, but that never seemed to be the primary reason for converting. There was always some other overriding reason. Some of these people had been married 20-30 years withOUT converting.
  4. A very small minority (one or two!) were what the article would call “intellectual” converts. It just seemed logical to them.
Tempted as I am to value some types of conversion over others, I realize that I would be superimposing my own tendencies on other people. Who is to say whether one type is better than another?
 
I was confirmed at the Easter Vigil in 2003. Prior to that I had no religious background.

I don’t fit any of the five types of converts in the article. Catholicism hit me out of the blue. If anything my conversion was a response to some strange things that were happening to me. Nothing bad really, it’s just that coincidences kept stacking up in such a way it that it became impossible not to see finger of God working in my life. It became very evident that I was supposed to be Catholic.
 
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TC3033 said:
I’ve been one to not mind Fr. Schmidtz, but have to admit he did lose me in his video on mixed-marrige. To me, he did a lot of speaking in absolutes as if they’re next to impossible and both of you will regret your marriage.
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I watched that video and I didn’t get that impression, but some of the stuff he said was off. Like the story about couples sitting around 20 or 30 years later second-guessing their marriage, that was really weird, who does that after 20 or 30 years together? If you want your spouse to convert, it’s because you love that particular person and want them to share the fullness of truth and want to make sure they go to Heaven, not because “you want to marry a Catholic”.

However, he’s speaking to a really young audience who for the most part are clueless about marriage. If you have to sit around “discerning” marriage or agonizing over whether to marry somebody, you’re not ready to marry anyone, much less someone of another faith.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
but some of the stuff he said was off. Like the story about couples sitting around 20 or 30 years later second-guessing their marriage, that was really weird, who does that after 20 or 30 years together?
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Ya, that was one of the stories that I was talking about…really, honestly…who does that? And that’s what I mean about “absolutes” he said that two couples did that (unprovoked) to him and to me he tried to make it sound so that’s how everyone is going to feel, so don’t do it.
Tis_Bearself said:
However, he’s speaking to a really young audience who for the most part are clueless about marriage. If you have to sit around “discerning” marriage or agonizing over whether to marry somebody, you’re not ready to marry anyone, much less someone of another faith.
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Definitely…did you read any of the youtube comments? If not, it’s worth a scroll through.
 
tad said:
it’s just that coincidences kept stacking up in such a way it that it became impossible not to see finger of God working in my life.
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It’s probably more common than we think but some like yourself learn to recognise this but others don’t.
 
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