Attention Catholic Converts

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Your wonderful testimony made me teary-eyed. God gives us so many chances in so many ways for us to come closer to him.
First you had your wife, then the Baptist church, and finally, the Catholic Church. You were indeed very fortunate right from the start. God loves you so much. A saying goes: When God closes a window, he opens a door for us.

PAX
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achief1652:
I was raised Southern Baptist. I was very fortunate in having preachers who lived what they taught. One thing they taught me was to read the Bible and PRAY. If the doors were open I was in church. After many years I met a wonderful woman and guess what religion she was??? She was a very devout Catholic. She would go to mass then come to church with me. When I asked her to be my wife she agreed. But wanted to be married catholic. I said fine by me and we went to see a priest. Just our luck we see one that has a strong dislike of any non-catholic. When we left the rectory I swore I would not step foot into a Catholic church. My wife and I were married Baptist. She left the catholic church and joined the baptist church with me.I had a few questions that the baptist preacher could not answer. He always told me to pray and find the answer in the bible. About this time a disagreement arose between the deacons and the preacher. The preacher was forced to retire. And I quit going to church. My wife went back to the Catholic church. After a few weeks I started going with her. This was to a differnt parish then the earlier priest. And I found answers to my questions. RCIA classes were GREAT. The priest could answer: “WHY” I have been catholic for 9 years and I love it. I am now involved with the RCIA program. And put my Baptist background to very good use teaching prospective Catholics our faith. My daughter will make her first communionin a few weeks. Anyone who works with our faith finds the job very rewarding. I am still learning and growing I now teach the person who sponcered me. We are still married after 14 years. One bit of advice be open minded and the Holy Spirit will lead you.
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Father Ambrose, while I appreciate that I may have offended you unintentionally, one post about it is quite enough. I did say ‘to put it crudely’, I could have put it better but I wasn’t really out to offend anyone either. It’s my experience and that’s just how I feel about it. I wasn’t trying to say anything bad about the liturgy or any other number of things about the EO church, I was strictly talking about the theology. ( well that and the nationalism which I found distasteful to be quite honest but the main thing was the theology) Which is why I left and went back to the RCC. Which was the point of the story. So sorry if I caused offense, didn’t mean to. And I think the thread should be concentrated on the subject its meant for so I hope there won’t be anymore threaddrift about it, thanks.
 
[A TROUBLED IDENTITY

The research also found that Orthodox Churches are struggling with the issue of their changing nature and mission in American. Beginning in the 1970’s, fundamental changes took place in the demographics of the Orthodox jurisdictions. These changes included

the increasing proportion of the American-born members and of converts who came to the Orthodoxy mainly through the inter-Christian marriages,

the new developments in religious education and liturgical life, and

the grassroots movements encouraging greater Orthodox unity for the sake of mission

These changes have essentially altered the standing of the Orthodox Churches on the contemporary American religious scene. Religious faith and ethnic identity, once seen as inseparable, are increasingly less important for the socially-mobile, geographically-dispersed, English speaking second, third and fourth generations of Orthodox in America. Nor is this an important consideration for the ever-increasing number of Orthodox converts raised in other religious traditions. Nevertheless, at the beginning of a new millennium, the jurisdictional distinctiveness still does remain a basic characteristic of Orthodox Christianity in the USA.

](http://www.ocl.org/Hartford Institute.htm)

Surely, Fr Ambrose is aware of some of the challanges facing the EO church in America. The over identification with certain ethnic/nationalistic groups is daunting. It does not make outsiders feel as if they are part of a Universal Church, I’m sure.
 
Lumen,

Let’s get back to sharing conversion stories…
I was raised free-will Methodist. We were Sunday morning christians. Mom was/is a lapsed catholic. She did not often attend church with us. Never was baptized as a child. Went away to college and there I did a little soul searching. I was walking back from a class one early winter evening. It snowed the kind of snows that have those big fat flakes that you can actually hear hit the ground (making a little “pat” sound) and I heard Church bells. That got me thinking about how I had never been baptized. I had some exposure to the Church. My fiance was catholic and so was my best friend so why not?? The next month I entered an RCIA…they got me up to speed because the classes were already in session. It was a university chapel and the priests in there were…fun. It was a great experience. Then I got married and we started a family. It was kind of like going thru the motions though. I didn’t understand alot of what catholics believe even though I was one now. It took being catholic for over a decade before I questioned what I believed. This questioning came when my faith was under attack from a “bible christian” family member. I couldn’t defend the Church. So I researched and found out what it is that I said I believed. I read Scott Hahn’s books, Patrick Madrid, Karl Keating. I also read up on the early Church fathers. I of course, got familiar with the bible.( I am not gifted with the being able to pull out chapter and verse …but I am now familiar with where to look). I had a renewal of my faith. Now, on those issues that I had a tendency to be “cafeteria-ish” I accept with all my heart the Church’s teachings. Although I did not like being attacked by this family member, I thank God for him every day. He made me step up to the plate. And now I truly live what I say I believe. All I am going to say is that He is a loving God…and how blessed are we to have the sacrament of confession?? To be able to sit and pour your heart out and cry those big tear drops ( I didnt notice if they were making a “pat” sound on the ground) and be forgiven…whew! What an awesome feeling. I truly know the meaning of the word Humbled.
God Bless you on your journey. It is a life long one. I continue to be amazed at how God shows me the way. I am even more amazed when His love for me remains even when I make a mess of things. You will be in my prayers tonight.
Peace,
B
 
Dear Aloejamb,

That was so touching. God is marvelous, indeed. 🙂
While I was growing up in Catholic schools as a kid,
I was taught God gave each of us the gift of free will.
I can just now but realize this free will is God’s tool
of making us come closer to him. This free will lead
you to question what you believed in, and with God’s
grace and mercy, he revealed you the truth by letting
your “bible christian” family member be the instrument
in your journey of searching and finding the truth.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation is that bridge
between God and us, sinners. Indeed, we are so
blessed that God made this bridge available to us
so that we can come closer to him despite of our
humanly sinful nature. God shows us his love
by forgiving us endlessly, and through the Sacrament
of Reconciliation, he teaches us that guiding light -
humility. Thanks for including me in your prayers.
I have the feeling the road is getting shorter
and shorter everyday, and with God’s grace and
mercy, I know his work is at hand for me through
inspiring stories like yours. God bless you and
your family.

PAX
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aloejamb:
Lumen,

Let’s get back to sharing conversion stories…
I was raised free-will Methodist. We were Sunday morning christians. Mom was/is a lapsed catholic. She did not often attend church with us. Never was baptized as a child. Went away to college and there I did a little soul searching. I was walking back from a class one early winter evening. It snowed the kind of snows that have those big fat flakes that you can actually hear hit the ground (making a little “pat” sound) and I heard Church bells. That got me thinking about how I had never been baptized. I had some exposure to the Church. My fiance was catholic and so was my best friend so why not?? The next month I entered an RCIA…they got me up to speed because the classes were already in session. It was a university chapel and the priests in there were…fun. It was a great experience. Then I got married and we started a family. It was kind of like going thru the motions though. I didn’t understand alot of what catholics believe even though I was one now. It took being catholic for over a decade before I questioned what I believed. This questioning came when my faith was under attack from a “bible christian” family member. I couldn’t defend the Church. So I researched and found out what it is that I said I believed. I read Scott Hahn’s books, Patrick Madrid, Karl Keating. I also read up on the early Church fathers. I of course, got familiar with the bible.( I am not gifted with the being able to pull out chapter and verse …but I am now familiar with where to look). I had a renewal of my faith. Now, on those issues that I had a tendency to be “cafeteria-ish” I accept with all my heart the Church’s teachings. Although I did not like being attacked by this family member, I thank God for him every day. He made me step up to the plate. And now I truly live what I say I believe. All I am going to say is that He is a loving God…and how blessed are we to have the sacrament of confession?? To be able to sit and pour your heart out and cry those big tear drops ( I didnt notice if they were making a “pat” sound on the ground) and be forgiven…whew! What an awesome feeling. I truly know the meaning of the word Humbled.
God Bless you on your journey. It is a life long one. I continue to be amazed at how God shows me the way. I am even more amazed when His love for me remains even when I make a mess of things. You will be in my prayers tonight.
Peace,
B
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It is truely a blessing to read all your conversion stories. In order to understand mine, you have to understand my mom.

She was brought up in an abusive, alcholic household during the fifties. A lot of us don’t realize today that there was a time in the rural south when being dirt poor meant actually going without food. Her father refused to work and her mother had to leave her with friends and family members who were sometimes sexually and often times mentally abusive. This was done because my grandma had to work and had to accept work where she could get it. Because my mother was not abused physically by her dad, as her sister and brother were, she was often the go between. It was accepted that she could calm her father’s rages. The result was that my mom was and is a mentally unstable person.

My mom married six times and was constatnly looking for something. Except the love she wanted was not what most people would term love, it was total adoration. She needed to be adored. Whenever a relationship, and she was always trying to find a man, began to grow beyond the superficial she would break it off. We kids were expected to sit around and assure her that she was the most beautiful, young looking, witty woman in the world. If not she went into rages. When I was 11, I would sleep under my bed because I was afraid that my mom would go nuts and kill us. THere is too much more for this post. I could include her suicdal tendencies, her addiction to perscription drugs, her paronia or her belief that she was dying from every known disease. But you get the idea. Luckily, I was mainly brought up by my grandma-a occasionaly salty, down to earth, non complaining woman. Nan, as we called her, was not a physically demonstrative women. If you wanted a hug you had to go hug her. But she showed her affection by actively doing things for you. Waiting up for you, pressing money into your hand when you went out-money that she couldn’t afford to give, cleaning the house, cooking big meals, worrying about you.

When I was 16 an elderly couple, for reasons unknown, invited me to spend the night at their house and attend mass. WHy would anyone invite the child of a rather promiscious, obviously loony woman to their house? I am just grateful that they did. This particular woman also had the added burden of caring for her son who had been paralyzed in an accident and a mentally retarded daughter. Yet she and her husband took the time to take me to church. I was blown away by the mass. Cradle Catholics can not know how the solemn nature of the mass, the procession of the priest and the alter boys can affect someone witnessing it for the first time. I was blown away. No one in the house tried to actively convert me, but there were plenty of Catholic material laying around the house. I learned, in secret, to recite the rosary. I counted the hail Mary’s on my fingers. What frightens away most protestants actually drew me in. Devotions to Mary. I saw Mary as the stable mother that I was denied on earth. I am still amazed that Jesus chooses to share his mother with us. What a wonderful gift. I did talk to the priest-a Father K. He knew that my mother would be against my conversion, so he suggested that I wait until I was 18. I didn’t convert then, but my story is just a little longer and I have to feed my four children breakfast. I’ll post later. I certainly hope that no one thinks that I am being egotestical talking about my childhood in such detail.
 
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deb1:
I certainly hope that no one thinks that I am being egotestical talking about my childhood in such detail.
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Not at all! This is an incredible story, and obviously a very personal one; I’m just grateful that you’re willing to share it. Eagerly awaiting the rest of the story…

God bless,

Chris
 
Here goes I am going to try an summarize my reversion story. Might be long so please have patience.
I grew up a Catholic, but never really knowing why I was Catholic other than because my parents were. My brothers and I grew up going to Catholic Church, my eldest brother was really touched by the Church and went on to seminary, whereas each of the rest of us really drifted off. This brother did do something that probably helped keep me in the Church, I spent 2 weeks at a seminary, my brother arranged for a vacation for me their, which was sprung up on me. There was so much peace and unity there that really stuck in my mind. No-one argueing why they believe this or that. But let’s continue on my story of leaving the Church.
As soon a I graduated High School I stopped going to Church and joined the Navy. I was free to do what I wanted and I did do what I wanted, the only times I really went back to Church was when I was in Boot Camp (most everyone went, to have a little break) and when I visited home and was forced to by my parents.
In the Navy, I started drinking, partying and enjoying the Navy life. At this time I started going to a small independant Church which met at someone’s house. This was my first taste of Bible Christians which impressed me, but I was wrapped up in other things and really didn’t stick with it, I stopped going.
I eventually finished my time in the Navy and entered College. I met some evangelicals there but still was just drifting about. About this time I met my soon to be wife. She was involved in a Four Square Gospel Church. I went with her to this Church a couple times until we got married. I wasn’t really comfortable going there due to something I saw when I was there.
I went to a service and one person from the congregation, who wasn’t the pastor read the Bible, he then proceeded to comment on this. What bothered me is a nagging thought that he was just saying what he thought it meant, but how do I know that is right, if I think it means something differently. How do we resolve differences of opinion? This bothered me more as I saw what happened to this small Church.
It reorganized and became another Church, over some disagreement within it. Some people left, but some remained and formed another Church, now independant, called Iglesia Agua Viva (Living Water Church). This was head by a new pastor. This was a very good man, who I really admire and we went to this new Church, my wife more than me as I started feeling uneasy as to what is the true faith God wanted for me.
Well this Church grew, but the Pastor had some problems with his wife as he dedicated too much time to the Church. They reorganized again and then became affiliated with Calvary Chapel. I still would go with my wife to this Church, Calvary Chapel, but many things bothered me and I was very disturbed inside. Why was this or that right in this Church, but not here?
Calvary Chapel is a non-denominational Church which is very popular here in Southern California. I would go to this Church and see why. Being non-denominational everyone feels they can be there as a sort of universal church. As with all non-denominational it claims an openess, but just as long as you agree with their interpretation.
Calvary Chapel is nice\popular and they do stick to the scriptures as people always point out. The problem is they stick to their interpretation of the scriptures, with no authority to back up their interpretation. This becomes then the Chuck Smith, apostolic succession, in which his followers follow his initial interpretation and their own. The Calvary Chapel tradition of interpretation then looks true to the scripture, as long as you look at it from their point of view. That is how they run the show “To Every Man an Answer”, they interpret the scripture for you.
Why is Calvary Chapel interpretation any better than the Lutheran, the Apostolic Church of Christ, the Episcopalian, the Baptist, the Church of Christ, the Jehovah’s Witness, the Calvary Baptist, the Calvary Christian, the Harvest Church or the Seventh Day Adventist interpretation etc, etc, most if not all claim to go by the Bible alone, they all have a love for scripture, I am sure all of them can claim to have pastors who are loving and caring people dedicated to serving God.
 
Cont.

What led me back to the Church is my other brother, who then fell away from the Catholic Church and started going to a new Church, World Harvest Church. Started by Rod Parsley this Church gave him an intense anti-catholic mindset. He then invited me to his Church and we went, it just seemed like a very intense version of Calvary Chapel with a few things that were disturbing, but that is another story. His anti-catholic ranting helped lead me to the Catholic Church.
I remembered the Church as not too interesting, but not evil as he said. I could remember the serenity of the people in the seminary I visited, but he was coming with some pretty off the wall stuff.
I decided to check it out for myself, and started to investigate the Church. This was last year and for about 4-6 months had a really hard time with my marriage, my family and my faith as I decided to seek the truth no matter where it led. As one by one each of the objections to the Catholic Church was debunked and explained, I shared this with my wife. This was extremely difficult as she was conditioned to believing the Church was corrupt and wrong. There were nights where I would just lay awake wondering what is it that God wanted from me? But after a lot of prayer. and frustrating discussions, she started to understand and let herself be more open.
We soon discovered the show “The Journey Home” which really opened our eyes. I was astonished to hear stories of dedicated protestants coming to the Catholic Church. I didn’t know this was possible, especially with really dedicated pastors or anti-catholics. I then bought books and more books. Catholicism and Fundamentalism, Evangelical is not enough, and more.
About the end of last year we started going to Mass together, I went to confession for the first time in many, many years and in February we were married in the Catholic Church. We also baptized our 2 kids and finally our marriage is united. I have finally come back home and am confident and fulfilled in my faith.

Scylla
 
Thank you for sharing your story and the story of all the others. You help me love the Church even more. Lately I have been praying that the Holy Spirit stirs up the graces of baptism and confirmation in the souls of those who have left the Church. We need always remember to pray to our Mother Mary, the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. God bless you all. Callie
 
Deb,

We’re are all looking forward to read the continuation
of your story. God bless.
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deb1:
It is truely a blessing to read all your conversion stories. In order to understand mine, you have to understand my mom.

She was brought up in an abusive, alcholic household during the fifties. A lot of us don’t realize today that there was a time in the rural south when being dirt poor meant actually going without food. Her father refused to work and her mother had to leave her with friends and family members who were sometimes sexually and often times mentally abusive. This was done because my grandma had to work and had to accept work where she could get it. Because my mother was not abused physically by her dad, as her sister and brother were, she was often the go between. It was accepted that she could calm her father’s rages. The result was that my mom was and is a mentally unstable person.

My mom married six times and was constatnly looking for something. Except the love she wanted was not what most people would term love, it was total adoration. She needed to be adored. Whenever a relationship, and she was always trying to find a man, began to grow beyond the superficial she would break it off. We kids were expected to sit around and assure her that she was the most beautiful, young looking, witty woman in the world. If not she went into rages. When I was 11, I would sleep under my bed because I was afraid that my mom would go nuts and kill us. THere is too much more for this post. I could include her suicdal tendencies, her addiction to perscription drugs, her paronia or her belief that she was dying from every known disease. But you get the idea. Luckily, I was mainly brought up by my grandma-a occasionaly salty, down to earth, non complaining woman. Nan, as we called her, was not a physically demonstrative women. If you wanted a hug you had to go hug her. But she showed her affection by actively doing things for you. Waiting up for you, pressing money into your hand when you went out-money that she couldn’t afford to give, cleaning the house, cooking big meals, worrying about you.

When I was 16 an elderly couple, for reasons unknown, invited me to spend the night at their house and attend mass. WHy would anyone invite the child of a rather promiscious, obviously loony woman to their house? I am just grateful that they did. This particular woman also had the added burden of caring for her son who had been paralyzed in an accident and a mentally retarded daughter. Yet she and her husband took the time to take me to church. I was blown away by the mass. Cradle Catholics can not know how the solemn nature of the mass, the procession of the priest and the alter boys can affect someone witnessing it for the first time. I was blown away. No one in the house tried to actively convert me, but there were plenty of Catholic material laying around the house. I learned, in secret, to recite the rosary. I counted the hail Mary’s on my fingers. What frightens away most protestants actually drew me in. Devotions to Mary. I saw Mary as the stable mother that I was denied on earth. I am still amazed that Jesus chooses to share his mother with us. What a wonderful gift. I did talk to the priest-a Father K. He knew that my mother would be against my conversion, so he suggested that I wait until I was 18. I didn’t convert then, but my story is just a little longer and I have to feed my four children breakfast. I’ll post later. I certainly hope that no one thinks that I am being egotestical talking about my childhood in such detail.
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I was born to an Atheist, racist, bigotted father and a caring and sometimes controlling (for my safety) United Methodist mom. I was baptized on Christmas Eve in 1985, at the age of 15 days. We moved to Virginia from Pennsylvania when I was two and left my devout Methodist grandparents behind. My mom made sure we went to church at least every few weeks. My dad never went and rarely showed me affection or attention. He cheated on my mom numerous times and finally led to a divorce. My mom and I movied back to Pennsylvania in 1994 when I was 8. We started going to the United Methodist church my mom grew up in. I soon began acolyting, reading scripture, and singing in the children’s choir. As a youth I was involved in chapel drama and became Vice-President of the youth group. But I went for my friends, not for God or anyone else. It was selfish motive. Within this time my mom married again, but soon after divorced again as well. I stopped believing in God and started cursing His name (ironic I didnt believe but still cursed at Him). But then I reasoned that there had to be a God and that Christianity made the most sense. Well, I kept going to church and all but something was still missing. Jump ahead to 2003, I am 17 and a senior in high school. Then I met the girl of my dreams (who I am still with, 1 year and 6 months later). She was a (and still is) devout Catholic. Well, I myself was a staunch anti-Catholic, always making rude remarks and trying to bash the faith. My Pap (R.I.P…my mentor and best friend) had family that was Catholic, his father for instance, but he was a United Methodist who read the Bible everyday and prayed unceasingly. It was from him I learned the power of God. When he died, the family was all around him and we all prayed, for an example. He used to tell me not to bash Catholics that they were good people and loved God. My Gram on the other hand was ignorant of the faith and still is. She is the typical fundamentalist that doest understand the Catholic faith. My mom also is like her, but a little less. Anyway, I wanted to convert my new Catholic girlfriend into a United Methodist, but things for me were gonna change. My Gram made the statement that “we would never work becuase of her being Catholic” To this day she denies saying this but she did. It sparked an interest in Catholicism and why people dont like it. I thought I would be able to disprove it with scripture and history but to my surprise, it turns out the Church really is historically sound and biblically grounded. I also found out about the Reformers and where all the denominations came from. Now, I am no longer walking, but sprinting towards the Tiber with an eager heart and spririt, ready to swim across at any cost. Good luck to all you converting…go home to Rome.

DU
 
It was a man that brought me to the Catholic faith. I was fifteen, living overseas and was head over heels in love with a very handsome man, who was also a devout Catholic, and Mexican.
I was raised as a Methodist and very involved in my church. Running the nursery, Youth choir (then later Adult choir) and president of our MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship). I was afraid that my parents wouldn’t allow me to date someone not of our faith our heritage (Irish). Well I was wrong about the heritage part. My parents loved my Mexican friend. Loved his manners, the respect he paid them and his personality. The Catholicism was the stumbling block. My parents weren’t anit-Catholic, they just didn’t understand the theology and believed the sterotypes of Catholicism. However they did allow the dating and one Sunday we went to the Catholic mass. I was in for a treat for the Mass was conducted in Latin. I never seen or heard anything so beautiful in my life, it brought tears to my eyes. That was my introduction to Catholicism.

Many years went by and many explorations of spirituality and religions. I played around with New Age paganism, Wicca, Buddhism and Hindu. However I kept going back to studing and reading about Catholicism. I eventually got married to a young man that was studying to be a doctor, and I was in Art School. He was Methodist, I had gone back to being Methodist and we lived happily ever after.

You don’t believe that, do you!!!

Anyway, after four years of marriage, we divorced. By this time, my younger sister was going to RCIA classes but had not been received into the Church. She still some unresolved questions.

Some more years passed, and while I kept at a status quo, my sister went on to join the Church and went to college to study Theology. I finally met the man I would later marry and am married to today. He is a cradle Catholic, though not very devout, but enough to renew my interest in Catholicism.

Now comes the good part.

My husband and I had get married, I have started attend Mass on a somewhat regular basis. My sister has received her Masters in Theology, my parents have divorced and my father remarried. I have our first child, a daughter, absolutely beautiful. People stop in public and say how beautiful she is. My heart tells me it is time to start my conversion. Then I am pregnant with our second child and there are some problems. At this time my sister has told me about a video titled “Ocean of Mercy” It highlights the lives of Maximillian Kolbe, JP2 and Sister Maria Faustina Kowlaski
(sp?) It touches me, I bought my own copy and start studying about Sister Faustina. I read, study and pray. My son is born. Very healthy. Very happy. Very loving and of course very beautiful.

I thank the communion of saints, Jesus and God for my two healthy children and I start RCIA. I apply for my annulment. I attend my RCIA, I call my sister with questions, I answered questions about my previous marriage. My RCIA class is received on Easter Vigil 2001, and I am there to watch, pray for them and to cry for myself because I am not received, still waiting for my annualment. The week between Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday I am in daily mass, praying, asking if I am doing the right thing, that maybe it is not the time. Divine Mercy arrives and the Bishop is there for our evening Mass. After Mass, our RCIA leader introduces me to the Bishop. After we shake hands, he offers to give me a special blessing. How’s that for a sign that I am doing the right thing!!! Of course I knew who would be my patron saint.

9/11 happens. Incredible heartbreak. My sister is my sponsor, her husband works for the Air National Guard and is working 18 hour days since 9/11. My annulment is granted and my husband and I make our plans for our vows and me being received into the Church, however it doesn’t look like my sister will be able to make it. She lives in Seattle WA and I am in Knoxville, Tn. I get special permission to come into the Church with a proxy sponsor.
The week before I am to be received, my sister calls and says, yes, she will be able to make it, but it will be a very quick trip.

October 9, 2001. My husband and I are married in the Church and I am received, taking the name of St. Faustina as my confirmation name. My Sundays are filled with Mass, CCD, and Scripture Study. I continue to feel the Love of God, Christ and the Communion of Saints in my heart and all around. I remind my children when they are afraid that God, the angels and the Saints are all around and we are not alone.

So it was the love for a man that brought to the Church and it is the Love of a Man (Christ) that has kept me in the Church.
 
I am going to try and finish my original post. I am sorry that it took so long for me to return but writing what I knew would be a long post meant that I had to wait until I had time to continue.

Around the age of 17 I started writing a group of nuns in Boston. I found their address in a Catholic Digest. They responded and sent me a rosary. I thought that I might have a calling. The elderly couple that I had spent weekends with had a book about St. Theresa. It affected me greatly and made me yearn to spend a life of prayer. Up until this point my mom had been rather indifferent to my interest in Catholisim but I believe my approach to a legal age worried her. She began to make snide comments about the church. I also seemed to be constantly running into Protestans that didn’t hesitate to challange my faith. I could have grown in my knowledge but I chose to abandon what I deep down knew was right. I was angry at loosing my sense of peace and would not gain it back for many years.

I looked for God everywhere. The religions that I studied did not fill that hungry void and deep down I just wanted to return to praying the rosary. Briefly, I got into new age beliefs-Wiccan especially but it all seemed like silly play acting to me. I was partying with my friends but I found this all pretty empty.

About this time, I met my husband. He, also, had come from a dysfunctional family. His father was a deacon at a baptist church but he cheated on his mom and had a huge stash of porn and slasher movies. Although his mom had converted to Christianity, she was of Jewish descent and had lost a good portion of her family under the Nazis. Despite his upbringing my husband is one of the most honest, kind men that I have ever come across. I hate to say this but my pregnancy was the prime motive for us marrying. It took me awhile to realize that the first feelings of lust for a man was not love, but the deeper, more mature, almost comfortable emotion was. The fact also that my husband, despite his upbringing(probably due to his mother’s influence), understood and lived by his morals caused me a great deal of respect for him. Love came after we were married, but even now, I feel that I love him more each day then I did the day before.

When my husband decided to search into his jewish heritage, I was intrigued. Maybe this was where God wanted me. For two years I read books and tried to live a Jewish life. But when it came time to convert I just couldn’t do. I still have a deep respect for Judiasm though. I had met a very good christian woman who was an abassador of Christ for me. She never tried to evangilize me-I would have been very angry if she had. But her example made me long for what she had.

I briefly started attending a Catholic Church on base. I respected my husband enough not to try and pressure him to change. We still celebrated the Sabbath and he attended synagogue. On Sunday he came to church with me. I had my children baptized and would have started RCIA but my hubby got orders. He also expressed discomfort with the Catholic church.

(Continued in next post)
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WHen we moved we started attending a small independent Baptist Church. The people were warm and welcoming and the pastor came personally to our house for weekly bible studies. My husband became saved through the pastor’s efforts. I should have been happy but I wasn’t. I didn’t agree with most of what this man taught. What seemed so apparent to him didn’t seem to me to be in the bible. Once saved, always saved; alcohol drinking equals lack of salvation; faith only. I was having major problems with this church but I continued to attend because I assumed that the problem was in me. What was worse, the pastor let us know that he wanted to train my husband for more of a leadership role. I would have to become more active in the church. I was even approached by a group of ladies and the pastor who accused me of not being spiritual enough because on top of going to church twice a day on SUnday and attending church functions I didn’t want to go to Wednesday service. I was stubbornly honest. I informed them that I didn’t go to Wednesday service because I wanted to stay home. It is an understatement to say that this didn’t go over well.

The final straw for both my husband and myself came with the movie The Passion. I had, through the internet, been reading about the film and I was very excited. Long before it was released, I had tried to get my congregation to share in my excitment. A lot of doubt was expressed to me that this might be a film like Martin Scorces’ Last Temptation of Christ. I assured them that Mel Gibson was Christian. WHen the movie did come out, much to both my husband and mine shock the pastor handed out a sheet of paper advising people not to see the movie! Most of the reasons seemed silly. Like that we would get the impression that Jesus looked like Jim Cavezial and therefore that was bad(I didn’t fully understand that) But when my husband and I talked to the pastor the major reason boiled down to the one fact. Mel Gibson was Catholic.

I stopped attending the church and my husband stopped shortly after. It annoyed my husband that the pastor suggested that as the head of our houshold, my husband should make me go to that church. A lot of guilt trips were thrown at us. People called us and asked if I was mad and what they had done wrong. I was visited at home. Luckily, we were in the process of moving so this didn’t last long. Because of the pastor’s attitude I began to research, first on the web and then in books, the questions that I had against the Catholic church. Everything I found led me to believe that the church was correct. Especially when I researched the hsitory of the bible. That alone led me back to saying the rosary but Karl Keatings book cinched it. I wanted to be Catholic. This site has been a tremendous help.

My husband is not anti Catholic but he is wary. He has agreed to go with me to mass, but he has expressed a lot of reservation. I have shared my readings with him and he has told me that he would like to attend RCIA with me. Not necessarily to convert but to show support and understand what I believe. That is all that I want. He has surprised me in one way. I have been teaching my daughters the Hail Mary. One night I was unwell and he got out my How to Say the Rosary booklet and helped them pray the prayer. He also likes Father Corapi and records his sermons when he is on EWTN. We don’t start RCIA until May But I am so happy.I finally have the peace that I had as a teenager. I feel like I was Catholic all along, I just had to discover it for myself
 
Dear Deb,

Thank you for that very inspiring story. Mama Mary
and your rosary prayers indeed helped you to come
closer to Christ. Thank Jesus for giving us Mama Mary.
The church teaches us that the family that prays
together stays together. And I should add that the family
that stays together comes closer to Jesus. Good luck
on you with the RCIA come May. My prayers for you and your
husband and your family. God Bless.

PAX
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deb1:
WHen we moved we started attending a small independent Baptist Church. The people were warm and welcoming and the pastor came personally to our house for weekly bible studies. My husband became saved through the pastor’s efforts. I should have been happy but I wasn’t. I didn’t agree with most of what this man taught. What seemed so apparent to him didn’t seem to me to be in the bible. Once saved, always saved; alcohol drinking equals lack of salvation; faith only. I was having major problems with this church but I continued to attend because I assumed that the problem was in me. What was worse, the pastor let us know that he wanted to train my husband for more of a leadership role. I would have to become more active in the church. I was even approached by a group of ladies and the pastor who accused me of not being spiritual enough because on top of going to church twice a day on SUnday and attending church functions I didn’t want to go to Wednesday service. I was stubbornly honest. I informed them that I didn’t go to Wednesday service because I wanted to stay home. It is an understatement to say that this didn’t go over well.

The final straw for both my husband and myself came with the movie The Passion. I had, through the internet, been reading about the film and I was very excited. Long before it was released, I had tried to get my congregation to share in my excitment. A lot of doubt was expressed to me that this might be a film like Martin Scorces’ Last Temptation of Christ. I assured them that Mel Gibson was Christian. WHen the movie did come out, much to both my husband and mine shock the pastor handed out a sheet of paper advising people not to see the movie! Most of the reasons seemed silly. Like that we would get the impression that Jesus looked like Jim Cavezial and therefore that was bad(I didn’t fully understand that) But when my husband and I talked to the pastor the major reason boiled down to the one fact. Mel Gibson was Catholic.

I stopped attending the church and my husband stopped shortly after. It annoyed my husband that the pastor suggested that as the head of our houshold, my husband should make me go to that church. A lot of guilt trips were thrown at us. People called us and asked if I was mad and what they had done wrong. I was visited at home. Luckily, we were in the process of moving so this didn’t last long. Because of the pastor’s attitude I began to research, first on the web and then in books, the questions that I had against the Catholic church. Everything I found led me to believe that the church was correct. Especially when I researched the hsitory of the bible. That alone led me back to saying the rosary but Karl Keatings book cinched it. I wanted to be Catholic. This site has been a tremendous help.

My husband is not anti Catholic but he is wary. He has agreed to go with me to mass, but he has expressed a lot of reservation. I have shared my readings with him and he has told me that he would like to attend RCIA with me. Not necessarily to convert but to show support and understand what I believe. That is all that I want. He has surprised me in one way. I have been teaching my daughters the Hail Mary. One night I was unwell and he got out my How to Say the Rosary booklet and helped them pray the prayer. He also likes Father Corapi and records his sermons when he is on EWTN. We don’t start RCIA until May But I am so happy.I finally have the peace that I had as a teenager. I feel like I was Catholic all along, I just had to discover it for myself
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Dear Scylla,

Thank God for you and your family is now with the
true church, the Catholic Church. Yes, you are finally
home, and with God’s grace and mercy, your family
will be strengthened in faith just like how Christ keeps
the church - his bride strong and united.

Remember, the church teaches not only about
faith, but good works as well. Your faith in Christ and
his church is your foundation for good works within your family
and within the church. God bless your family and let
your family set a Christian example to others for we all
should serve as instruments for bringing others closer
to Christ too.

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scylla:
Cont.

What led me back to the Church is my other brother, who then fell away from the Catholic Church and started going to a new Church, World Harvest Church. Started by Rod Parsley this Church gave him an intense anti-catholic mindset. He then invited me to his Church and we went, it just seemed like a very intense version of Calvary Chapel with a few things that were disturbing, but that is another story. His anti-catholic ranting helped lead me to the Catholic Church.
I remembered the Church as not too interesting, but not evil as he said. I could remember the serenity of the people in the seminary I visited, but he was coming with some pretty off the wall stuff.
I decided to check it out for myself, and started to investigate the Church. This was last year and for about 4-6 months had a really hard time with my marriage, my family and my faith as I decided to seek the truth no matter where it led. As one by one each of the objections to the Catholic Church was debunked and explained, I shared this with my wife. This was extremely difficult as she was conditioned to believing the Church was corrupt and wrong. There were nights where I would just lay awake wondering what is it that God wanted from me? But after a lot of prayer. and frustrating discussions, she started to understand and let herself be more open.
We soon discovered the show “The Journey Home” which really opened our eyes. I was astonished to hear stories of dedicated protestants coming to the Catholic Church. I didn’t know this was possible, especially with really dedicated pastors or anti-catholics. I then bought books and more books. Catholicism and Fundamentalism, Evangelical is not enough, and more.
About the end of last year we started going to Mass together, I went to confession for the first time in many, many years and in February we were married in the Catholic Church. We also baptized our 2 kids and finally our marriage is united. I have finally come back home and am confident and fulfilled in my faith.

Scylla
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Dear Snowman10,

Thank you for that inspiring and courageous story.
And as you sprint with an eager heart and spirit, ready
to swim at all cost, God is with you to welcome
you with open arms to his Holy Roman Catholic Church.
Keep the faith. God bless you and your family.

PAX
40.png
snowman10:
I was born to an Atheist, racist, bigotted father and a caring and sometimes controlling (for my safety) United Methodist mom. I was baptized on Christmas Eve in 1985, at the age of 15 days. We moved to Virginia from Pennsylvania when I was two and left my devout Methodist grandparents behind. My mom made sure we went to church at least every few weeks. My dad never went and rarely showed me affection or attention. He cheated on my mom numerous times and finally led to a divorce. My mom and I movied back to Pennsylvania in 1994 when I was 8. We started going to the United Methodist church my mom grew up in. I soon began acolyting, reading scripture, and singing in the children’s choir. As a youth I was involved in chapel drama and became Vice-President of the youth group. But I went for my friends, not for God or anyone else. It was selfish motive. Within this time my mom married again, but soon after divorced again as well. I stopped believing in God and started cursing His name (ironic I didnt believe but still cursed at Him). But then I reasoned that there had to be a God and that Christianity made the most sense. Well, I kept going to church and all but something was still missing. Jump ahead to 2003, I am 17 and a senior in high school. Then I met the girl of my dreams (who I am still with, 1 year and 6 months later). She was a (and still is) devout Catholic. Well, I myself was a staunch anti-Catholic, always making rude remarks and trying to bash the faith. My Pap (R.I.P…my mentor and best friend) had family that was Catholic, his father for instance, but he was a United Methodist who read the Bible everyday and prayed unceasingly. It was from him I learned the power of God. When he died, the family was all around him and we all prayed, for an example. He used to tell me not to bash Catholics that they were good people and loved God. My Gram on the other hand was ignorant of the faith and still is. She is the typical fundamentalist that doest understand the Catholic faith. My mom also is like her, but a little less. Anyway, I wanted to convert my new Catholic girlfriend into a United Methodist, but things for me were gonna change. My Gram made the statement that “we would never work becuase of her being Catholic” To this day she denies saying this but she did. It sparked an interest in Catholicism and why people dont like it. I thought I would be able to disprove it with scripture and history but to my surprise, it turns out the Church really is historically sound and biblically grounded. I also found out about the Reformers and where all the denominations came from. Now, I am no longer walking, but sprinting towards the Tiber with an eager heart and spririt, ready to swim across at any cost. Good luck to all you converting…go home to Rome.

DU
Click to expand...
 
Dear Snowman10,

Thank you for that inspiring and courageous story.
And as you sprint with an eager heart and spirit, ready
to swim at all cost, God is with you to welcome
you with open arms to his Holy Roman Catholic Church.
Keep the faith. God bless you and your family.

PAX
40.png
snowman10:
I was born to an Atheist, racist, bigotted father and a caring and sometimes controlling (for my safety) United Methodist mom. I was baptized on Christmas Eve in 1985, at the age of 15 days. We moved to Virginia from Pennsylvania when I was two and left my devout Methodist grandparents behind. My mom made sure we went to church at least every few weeks. My dad never went and rarely showed me affection or attention. He cheated on my mom numerous times and finally led to a divorce. My mom and I movied back to Pennsylvania in 1994 when I was 8. We started going to the United Methodist church my mom grew up in. I soon began acolyting, reading scripture, and singing in the children’s choir. As a youth I was involved in chapel drama and became Vice-President of the youth group. But I went for my friends, not for God or anyone else. It was selfish motive. Within this time my mom married again, but soon after divorced again as well. I stopped believing in God and started cursing His name (ironic I didnt believe but still cursed at Him). But then I reasoned that there had to be a God and that Christianity made the most sense. Well, I kept going to church and all but something was still missing. Jump ahead to 2003, I am 17 and a senior in high school. Then I met the girl of my dreams (who I am still with, 1 year and 6 months later). She was a (and still is) devout Catholic. Well, I myself was a staunch anti-Catholic, always making rude remarks and trying to bash the faith. My Pap (R.I.P…my mentor and best friend) had family that was Catholic, his father for instance, but he was a United Methodist who read the Bible everyday and prayed unceasingly. It was from him I learned the power of God. When he died, the family was all around him and we all prayed, for an example. He used to tell me not to bash Catholics that they were good people and loved God. My Gram on the other hand was ignorant of the faith and still is. She is the typical fundamentalist that doest understand the Catholic faith. My mom also is like her, but a little less. Anyway, I wanted to convert my new Catholic girlfriend into a United Methodist, but things for me were gonna change. My Gram made the statement that “we would never work becuase of her being Catholic” To this day she denies saying this but she did. It sparked an interest in Catholicism and why people dont like it. I thought I would be able to disprove it with scripture and history but to my surprise, it turns out the Church really is historically sound and biblically grounded. I also found out about the Reformers and where all the denominations came from. Now, I am no longer walking, but sprinting towards the Tiber with an eager heart and spririt, ready to swim across at any cost. Good luck to all you converting…go home to Rome.

DU
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