Are you a former Protestant now Catholic?

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It was actually an anti-Catholic book that got me to convert to Catholicism. In the book “The Gospel According to Rome,” author James G. McCarthy advises the evangelical reader to study the church in order to know how to “witness” to Catholics better. Well, I took his advice and it backfired on him. The more I read the more I realized he was wrong and the Church was right. The rest, they say, is His-story. :love:
 
I grew up and was baptized in the Lutheran church, but didn’t have any kind of personal relationship with God until my freshman year in college. I became involved in Evangelical campus groups and churches and was in that camp of Protestantism for 22 years. After college I married a man that proved to be very abusive and draining. His anger progressively worsened to the point that I was eventually terrified of him. I left under those conditions. I left primarily to remove myself from the dysfunction and stop the cycle of abuse. I was open to reconciliation, but I wasn’t going to be tricked with superficial promises. I was looking very carefully for evidence that my husband was working through his deep issues that made him such an angry person.

My pastor tried to bully me into moving in with my husband again. I explained in a brief face-to-face conversation and in a letter that my husband’s problems were very severe and he first needed to work those out. My pastor wanted me to come before he and the elders to discuss reconcilation with my husband. In their minds, there was only 1 problem: my husband and I were not living in the same house! I was emotionally and spiritually battered already. I COULD NOT subject myself to a tribunal-type meeting in which I would be manipulated. So I refused to meet with them. I received threatening letters from he and the church elders. The threats bascially amounted to saying I had lost my salvation and they would make sure that any church I attended in my small town would cooperate with them in disfellowshipping me, as long as I remained in “sin”.

I didn’t go to church anywhere for about 9 months. During this time, my husband’s communication with me was reduced to making excuses for his own behavior and preaching to me. He then started making some financial decisions that I didn’t want to be liable for, so I finally filed for divorce.

Some time later, I became friends with a Catholic guy and it occurred to me that my former pastor couldn’t “get me” in the Catholic Church—I was safe. So I started attending Mass regularly with my friend. I found that I absolutely loved Mass! It was so full of Scripture, I loved how interactive it was (kneeling, genuflecting, signing the cross), and it was so worshipful. I felt Christ’s presence there. From there I embarked on a major journey. I bought books as fast as I could read them (and that was fast!) And I started meeting with a local priest. I became a Catholic in Feb. 2002.

I’m still learning a lot, and sometimes I struggle with issues, but with each issue that gets resolved, my faith is that much stronger. I really love being Catholic. I was definitely a Christian before that, but coming home to the Church has completed me.
 
I was born and raised in the Catholic faith but left the church 97-2000 and tried the Lutheran faith for my husband but I was just miserable 😦 Dear husband saw how depressed and spiritually down I was and he encouraged me to go back to the Catholic church and we would just work very hard to make our mixed marriage work and we have and we have grown so much and I’m happy each and everyday that I came back home and I will never leave again, I was like the prodigal son and my father welcomed me home with open arms, it was beautiful, I’m so happy, happy, happy I came home 😃
 
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OraProNobis:
It was actually an anti-Catholic book that got me to convert to Catholicism. In the book “The Gospel According to Rome,” author James G. McCarthy advises the evangelical reader to study the church in order to know how to “witness” to Catholics better. Well, I took his advice and it backfired on him. The more I read the more I realized he was wrong and the Church was right. The rest, they say, is His-story. :love:
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There is a tendency for that to happen when you search for the truth.
 
I was raised in a cultic church. I witnessed many demonic manifestiations in this church while I was growing up. I thought all churches were like this, so I stopped going to church as a teenager.
I stayed out of church for 10 years, then about 8 years ago, some Catholic friends of mine invited me to their church. I loved it, and wanted to convert, but didn’t because of my family. They convinced me that I would go to Hell if I became a Catholic, so I quit attending Mass.
About 6 years ago, a co-worker invited me to her church. She knew that I wasn’t a Christian, and started sharing the Gospel with me. She was a member of a Church of Christ.
I was in the Church of Christ for 3 years, and was never happy. The people in my church were uncaring, including the church leadership. I had several bad experiences in Churches of Christ. These experiences left me feeling hurt and disillusioned with Christianity. I didn’t go anywhere for several months, but then began to feel a spiritual longing again. I started going to a Catholic Church again, and loved it. The peace and love I felt at that church was amazing. But my family again convinced me to stay away from the Catholic Church.
After that, I drifted from one denomination to another. Still searching, I began to research the Catholic Church 3 years ago. I wanted to find out if the Catholic Church really was the one true Church or just an apostate harlot like I had been told. I traced Catholic history all the way back to the New Testament, and traced the major doctrines of the Church back to the first and second centuries. I found Scriptural and historical support for such things as infant baptism, purgatory, and the Catholic view of Mary.
After spending two and a half years researching the Church, I started attending a local Catholic church here in my town. I have never felt this loved or this welcomed. I have been attending since January, and have made friends there. I have met with the priests at the church many times, and they have helped me with issues and questions that I’ve had. I’m enrolled in RCIA, and have had many opportunities to talk about questions that I’ve had, and issues that have bothered me. I feel like I’ve finally found a real church with real Christians. I have finally found Christians that treat me with genuine love.
I’m not an expert on the Church. I don’t know everything there is to know about the Catholic faith, but I’m learning. I now believe that the Catholic Church is the One True Church that Christ established.
I’ve told my family. They’re livid. I’m not leaving. My mother and sister pray for me daily, and I pray for them as well. I pray for them to become Catholics.
I hope I haven’t bored anyone, but when I saw this thread, I felt compelled to post this message. God bless, everyone.
Jeff
 
After an ugly divorce, and falling in love with a wonderful woman I met online (long story in itself!), we started looking at churches.

To me, it was like shopping… keep going to them until we found one with the right fit and price. When we attended them all, I thought the local Methodist might suit us. Then, for some reason (gee… I wonder what (Who?)?), I remembered there was one we hadn’t attended.

I remember the morning very well. It was late summer, and a full church… we stood in the back… couldnt hardly see anything. But we stayed the whole mass. Then, we came back the next week.

And the next week.

And the next week.

Then signed up for RCIA.

Then began learning how badly I’d been lied to over the years.

I met Mother Mary for the first time.

We learned the Rosary.

We attended adoration.

3 weeks ago, my wife and I, after waiting for the marriage tribunal to finalise our applications, we were baptised, confirmed and received First Communion.

We go to confession every week, and still attend adoration.

I agree that there is a subtle and quiet movement coming… a slowly rising wave of them that were lied to, them that were not told the whole truth… them that are wanting the WHOLE truth. We are those that are seeking to `swim the Tiber’, as they say.

The Catholic church had better be ready… we are many, and we are hungry for the truth. The Lord serves his supper here… at Mass, in our catholic churches, at the hands of his preists. The Holy Father is wise in calling for the new evangalism. Get ready! The Roman Catholic church is going to be busting at the seams!
 
Blessings friends.

I am married to an Anglican priest, though before marriage I was on my way to either Greece or Rome! Instead, I ended up in Canterbury. Presently, I believe Canterbury is for the most part Apostate.

My husband feels the same, but instead of going Catholic, he is planning to leave the American Episcopal church and join an orthodox Anglican group.

I have tried to persuade him to go to Rome!!! His main sticking point is his view of transubstantiation. He is also not convinced of the authority of the Pope. I listened to a Scott Hahn tape and I think that gave him better insights.

But, meanwhile, I have been attending a local catholic church and not taking Mass. I wonder if I can join the church and still be allowed to worship with my husband when possible? I feel it is necessary to support him because he is a wonderful genuine believer in a different church.

Peace
 
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kallen:
Blessings friends.

I am married to an Anglican priest, though before marriage I was on my way to either Greece or Rome! Instead, I ended up in Canterbury. Presently, I believe Canterbury is for the most part Apostate.

My husband feels the same, but instead of going Catholic, he is planning to leave the American Episcopal church and join an orthodox Anglican group.

I have tried to persuade him to go to Rome!!! His main sticking point is his view of transubstantiation. He is also not convinced of the authority of the Pope. I listened to a Scott Hahn tape and I think that gave him better insights.

But, meanwhile, I have been attending a local catholic church and not taking Mass. I wonder if I can join the church and still be allowed to worship with my husband when possible? I feel it is necessary to support him because he is a wonderful genuine believer in a different church.

Peace
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Hello
I am a convert from Anglicanism. Easter vigil 2003. I was a lay reader for many years but always continued my search for the truth - I definitely found it in the Catholic Church. My wife continues on as an Anglican and I try to support her the best that I can. I go to the odd service there but cannot take communion. You will no longer be able to take communion there if you become a Catholic. I have written my conversion story in another thread and also is on Steve Rays web site.
Your husband must surely see that the reason that there are so many problems in the Anglican faith now is because of the lack of authority. I don’t know if the Orthodox Anglican is the same as the Anglo-Catholic here in Canada - but I can only say - why stop there - go all the way home. Have you heard of Marcus Brodi’s - Coming Home Network. He has many conversion stories and maybe your husband would listen too some of them.
Anyway I will be praying for you both.
God Bless
 
As Cardinal Neuman said to be deep in history is to cease to be protestant. Congratulations on all of you people who dared to look objectively at history. Yes reading about the early councils and early church fathers did the trick. They sure the heck were not non denom types with no central authority they were very dare I say catholic.

Logic gets one thinking if sola scriptura works why are there over 2000 churches in the USA alone? Everybody could point out why the catholics were wrong but seldom knew why the Methodist was wrong the Lutheran, The Vineyard, Calvary Chapel why didn’t they agree and why did we have to justify why Rome was wrong in just about everything we differed from them from. Well becuase all of us were protesting the true church. For those who truly seek soemthing diifernet a more present Jesus in the eucharist the catholic church is becoming a more attrative option to serious christians. It may never win the masses live the Jesus movements of evangelical churches but it will win life long adherenets who take their faith seriously and our numbers are grwoing.🙂
 
I grew up in the Anglican church in an evangelical family. My outlook was more evangelical than Anglican. For instance, I believed sacraments to be but empty signs, denominations to mean nothing etc. When I was aroung 18 or 19, I started going to a ‘Zen’ Presbyterian church (altho ‘reformed Baptist’ would be a more adequate description.). That church had a cadre of very gifted teacher/preachers who taught me a lot about my faith.

Meanwhile, my brother (who is also on this sight) remained Anglican (which was, according to him ‘not Protestant’). At the beginning of 2002, he told me that he had been looking into Eastern Orthodoxy, which facinated me. He recommended some Ortho websites which I read with vigour. After a couple of months reading and talking to the Orthodox chaplain at university (himself a convert from Anglicanism) I knew that Protestantism was not true and that it was to be a toss up between Constntinople and Rome.

By this stage, I knew that the early Church was definately not Protestant, that sola scriptura was false, and that we needed tradition and an authoritative interpreter of tradition. (The latter of these points dawned on me when I realised that without a magisterium of some sort, the bible would become but ‘a falible collection of infallible books.’ This would would defeat the purpose of God having given us his Word, as then there would be no way of determining what his Word actually is.)

One day I stumbled upon a web page that outlined a number of ante-Nicene father quotes giving evidence for the Papacy. The weight of the evidence convinced me: the early Church believed in the primacy of Rome. After this I knew I had to convert, so I drank up as much Catholic apologetics as I could, so I could be as well equiped as possible to debate my elders when I was to break the news to them. During this period I felt like I had no home. I kept going to my Preso church, but knew I didn’t belong. This went on for about 6 months.

Eventually, after reading Jesus, Peter and the Keys by Butler et al. I was ready. I rang up my elder and broke the news (one of the hardest things I have ever done), told a Priest of my intention, and was recieved into the Church on the feast of Ss Peter and Paul 2003 (where the Gospel is Matt 16:14-20).

And a word of advice to Kallen, I recomend you have your husband read Jesus, Peter and the Keys by Butler et al. and Upon this Rock by Steve Ray. Challenge him to ask himself if he can honestly remain Anglican (or even be Orthodox) in the light of the facts brought foward in those books.
 
I appreciate all of your comments. Thanks for taking time to respond.

I can’t agree more with most of your comments. And guess what? Until I discovered a Catholic author by the name of Thomas Dubay (The Evidential Power of Beauty) given to me by a friend, I never even really took time to get to know what the Catholics were all about. Thomas Dubay literally had me in tears with his profound and (beautiful prose) into what the Eucharist means to him. Next thing I know, I am reading Catholic authors like crazy!!!

Then I discovered the Saints. Oh, Boy! I found myself, night after night, exclaiming “This is it!!” This is what I’ve been seeking all my life when I left protestant church after protestant church. Everytime I joined or visited a new protestant church, I quickly became overwhelmed with a sense of longing for reverent worship. And, as a great lover of God’s creation, the arts, poetry, and prose, I couldn’t fit in because a lot of low-church Protestants seemed to see beauty in church as a “bad thing!” Go figure.

I do credit the Anglican church as introducing me to liturgical life. I definitely found a home in liturgy and reverence and beauty. After all, our Lord created so much beauty and they are mere reflections of who He is…we certainly don’t “worship” them as my friends like to accuse.

However, now that the Anglicans are so divided over fundamental issues such as sexuality/marriage/fornication/etc…I am praying my husband will see that the Catholic church is a beacon of light. I can’t imagine the Pope ever endorsing or blessing sin as an alternative lifestyle. The Catholic church has had its problems, but the actual teaching and what she stands for remain strong. I see that so clearly!!! The Catholic church has stood the test of cultural fads.

Thanks again for your comments. I continue to pray for my husband. The good thing is, my husband is not a nonthinking protestant. (After all, he married me! ha ha ha ha ha)

P.S. thanks for the additional book recommendations; I am currently reading Hans Urs von Balthasar Church and World.

In Christ,
K
 
I too, love the replies to this thread.

How is it that so many younger folks are becoming Catholic? I mean, aren’t we supposed to be knocking all of that established religion and ritual stuff?

I’ll tell you why. It is because we have been there done that and we know where reality truly is. We are tired of the rock performance kind of evangelical Christianity. Or we are tired of the head-banging inconsistency of sola scriptura. Free-for-all worship leaves us numb. We want what Jesus tried to give us and that is a consistent, organized way to come into his presence. We still have the freedom to express ourselves and rejoice in his unfathomable riches, but now we at least have some way to corporately worship in a meaningful way.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. There is also that earth shattering truth of how (who knew?) Catholicism fits so nicely with scripture. Oh yeah.😃
 
My wife’s experience was the same as many other posters here. She was in the Church of Christ and all her early years heard the usual bad rap about Catholics. Then one day she began by believing that all of the things said about Catholics could not be true. She ended by learning that all of them were false.

Deo gratias!
 
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kallen:
I appreciate all of your comments. Thanks for taking time to respond.

I can’t agree more with most of your comments. And guess what? Until I discovered a Catholic author by the name of Thomas Dubay (The Evidential Power of Beauty) given to me by a friend, I never even really took time to get to know what the Catholics were all about. Thomas Dubay literally had me in tears with his profound and (beautiful prose) into what the Eucharist means to him. Next thing I know, I am reading Catholic authors like crazy!!!

Then I discovered the Saints. Oh, Boy! I found myself, night after night, exclaiming “This is it!!” This is what I’ve been seeking all my life when I left protestant church after protestant church. Everytime I joined or visited a new protestant church, I quickly became overwhelmed with a sense of longing for reverent worship. And, as a great lover of God’s creation, the arts, poetry, and prose, I couldn’t fit in because a lot of low-church Protestants seemed to see beauty in church as a “bad thing!” Go figure.

I do credit the Anglican church as introducing me to liturgical life. I definitely found a home in liturgy and reverence and beauty. After all, our Lord created so much beauty and they are mere reflections of who He is…we certainly don’t “worship” them as my friends like to accuse.

However, now that the Anglicans are so divided over fundamental issues such as sexuality/marriage/fornication/etc…I am praying my husband will see that the Catholic church is a beacon of light. I can’t imagine the Pope ever endorsing or blessing sin as an alternative lifestyle. The Catholic church has had its problems, but the actual teaching and what she stands for remain strong. I see that so clearly!!! The Catholic church has stood the test of cultural fads.

Thanks again for your comments. I continue to pray for my husband. The good thing is, my husband is not a nonthinking protestant. (After all, he married me! ha ha ha ha ha)

P.S. thanks for the additional book recommendations; I am currently reading Hans Urs von Balthasar Church and World.

In Christ,
K
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Hello Kallen
I believe that Anglicans believe in the branch theory ( that they and the Orthodox are just a branch of the Catholic church.) Of course the Catholic church does not agree with that.
Also wanted to comment on John Henry Newman. I believe he started out trying to prove the branch theory and eventually came to the conclusion that it just was not so which eventuallly lead him into the Catholic Church.
I also loved the liturgy of the anglican church and most of the people are lovely God loving people but that is not a good enough reason for staying there.
I believe - as far as transubstantiation goes - I think the Anglican church is living with the shadow and not the reality. They are serving the manna - as in the old testement - and not the real Jesus.
God be with you in your journey.
🙂 👍
 
There are so many wonderful conversion stories so I’ll keep mine short.

I came from a “one-ness/Jesus-only” Pentecostal background. I was baptized Catholic but wasn’t reared in it since my parents were not active in their parish and later divorced. When my father re-married, we then all went (after my father’s “conversion”) to Pentecostal church. It is there that I had a profound encounter with Jesus Christ at the age of ten. While I didn’t speak in tongues or anything, I really felt so much love that it was almost overwhelming.
However, as I grew into my early teens, I didn’t want to live by the “standards” anymore especially since they were in direct conflict with my “tomboy-ness”. As a young lady, I was not allowed to wear pants, jewelry, makeup, etc. We didn’t even have a TV set in the house. (this wasn’t so bad though.) I started to question “truth” when my parents later left that church and attended a “trinity” Pentecostal Church. The jump didn’t seem to phase them. How could it not? Even though I was thirteen at the time, I still understood that the doctrine of the Trinity was either true or it wasn’t, and that it was NO light matter!

Fast foward to my adulthood. I was still “pentecostal” attending church sporadically, but not getting a whole lot out of it since they (the various churches in the SAME DENOMINATION) all taught something slightly or majorally different.
I had gravitated toward the likes of Kenneth Copeland and others ministries until I couldn’t keep up with finding my every need and claiming it from the Bible. It got to where I felt I was doing the equivalent of looking up the “secret witche’s recipe” for a spell, (based on child-like impression of witches, mind you…) and I just felt there had to be more. Remembering the fact that I was baptized Catholic, I finally decided to check what the Catholic Church itself taught instead of what my pastors and the likes of Chick said the Church taught. Anyway, as of 30 March, 2002, my husband and I have been Catholic and don’t look back. -Praise Him for His Mercy and thanks to His Mother! - Mfaustina1

Did I mention that I would keep this short? :rolleyes:
 
The Lord works in mysterious ways. No matter how we got from there to here, we are so fortunate to feel the fullness of the Catholic church! I was received into full communion with the Catholic church this past Easter, after being Lutheran for 32 years. There are no words to describe the beauty or the feeling of peace within me. Now I feel a desire to bring others to the true Church so they can possess this wonderful blessing also.
:blessyou:
Weezir
 
I was raised a Baptist. I am terrible with numbers – we use dyslexia for reading, dysgraphia for writing, but I can’t recall the dysfunction for me and numbers.

Anyway, I could never cite the passage and verse of scripture very well. That didn’t make me a good Baptist. I also am not a shy, obedient, QUIET, female – that also made me a bad match.

Mostly though, I disliked that most of my Sunday School classes were either lessons that taught us how to disarm various denominations in order to win their souls for Christ. I understand that the Word of the God is powerful, but I couldn’t quite believe that Jesus wanted us to do that. That was another issue for me – we only prayed to Jesus — the rest of the Holy Trinity was pretty much ignored. As were the Gospels – the stuff Paul wrote was good for them, but still, I know that I never heard a lesson on John 6.:banghead:

After having my salvation questioned by the Deacons and my father, I gave up on God. Then I met my wonderful husband and almost 20 years ago, I became a convert to Catholicism.

I am very grateful to my husband for leading me to the Chruch that Christ founded. :getholy:

Pax et bonum,
Mamamull
 
At the moment I am in the RCIA process, I am converting from Lutheranism. The conversion process has had its ups and downs. Most people including my parents don’t approve but I have never been happier. I came to the see the Catholic Church has the fullness of truth after looking at the early Church Fathers and coming to believe in Sacred Tradition. The Catholic Church is now a safe haven for me and I am overwhelmed by its riches. So, everybody keep me in their prayers!
 
At the moment I am in the RCIA process, I am converting from Lutheranism. The conversion process has had its ups and downs. Most people including my parents don’t approve but I have never been happier. I came to the see the Catholic Church has the fullness of truth after looking at the early Church Fathers and coming to believe in Sacred Tradition. The Catholic Church is now a safe haven for me and I am overwhelmed by its riches. So, everybody keep me in their prayers!
 
I converted at Easter Vigil 2002 from Lutheranism and was raised in the Methodist faith. My husband and I have been married 16 years and when my children and I became Catholics, he started attending Mass with us, which up until that time, he didn’t attend church. He has expressed an interest in converting. Thanks for asking!
 
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