Bizarre reactions to conversion?

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I converted to Catholicism at the age of 21 from Methodism. My parents at first thought this was youthful rebellion and took it personally, but they came to accept it. In fact, I often send them prayer cards assuring them that they will be remembered in novenas and Masses–they don’t think that I am trying to convert them, which I am not.

This does not necessarily involve conversion, but I have encountered a lot of extreme prejudice, hatred, and misunderstanding toward Catholics. To help charitably combat this I have enrolled in an apologetics course through my parish. If anyone has access to such a course, I strongly recommend it.

Sad to say, even after being a Catholic for many years, I fell under the influence of fundamentalist Christians who almost persuaded me to leave the church. Fortunately, I got away from them and entered a program in my parish called “The Journey Home” which provided much healing.

I don’t wish to be uncharitable, but some fundamentalists not only have an unreasonable hatred–and of course no understanding–of the Catholic church. For one thing, the people with whom I was involved said “Catholics added books to the Bible.” Well, we all know that Protestants subtracted books from the Bible!

I was homeless for a time, and lived at a mission where it was required that residents attend chapel every day and a “Bible-believing” church on Sundays. I followed the rules but continued to attend Sunday Mass. Nothing was said, but the disapproving looks spoke volumes. There is a widespread belief among some fundamentalists that Catholics do not read nor understand the Bible. There are all kinds of excellent Bible studies taught through the Church, some at no cost. Maybe we can’t all quote chapter and verse, nor do we usually make a habit of bringing our Bibles to Mass so we can argue with the priest (as I have seen some parishioners in fundamentalist churches do), but who in the heck first translated the Bible? Not King James.

“Traditions of men.” Heard that before.

“Vain repetition” as arguments against the Rosary. Heard that too.

But what was the most astounding thing was the argument made by one man who dragged me from one fundamentalist church to another–seven churches in all in the space of three years (He said the Holy Spirit directed him to do this. I could not help but wonder why the Holy Spirit directed me to the Catholic Church and wanted me to stay put. Could we be in contact with totally different Holy Spirits? How could this be?) Well, the last straw, before I broke off contact with this man, was when, after all of these sojourns from one church to another, he then proclaimed that he no longer had any need of a church because he had a direct pipeline to God, who spoke directly to him. I dismissed him as a madman and hightailed it right back to the Catholic church.

I think this man was not only mad, but downright dangerous, because he also bought boxes of tracts from Jack Chick who does nothing more than vilify the Catholic Church, and as you all probably know his theology is totally awry.
In conclusion please let me say that nobody is safe from brainwashing from convincing and charming people. I nearly lost my faith because of them, do not let it happen to you. If there is a course in apologetics in your parish, or a class for people who have been away from the faith please consider attending. Remember what the old commercials used to say “accept no substitutes.” Grace and Peace be with all of you.
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I came into the CC four years ago at Easter Vigil through a series of unforeseen, fortuitous events. I was raised in a Baptist/Bible church background and was “born again” at around age 12 or so (without any thunder or flashes of lightning). Fast forward about forty-two years, two children and eight grandchildren later, I started exploring the Catholic Church confident that I would confirm all the myths and misconceptions that I had held for basically all my life. Instead, much to my surprise, I found great beauty and truth in the history and tradition of the Church. In fact, what I ended up confirming was that I was ignorant (not to be confused with stupid) about the Mass and everything attendant to it. In short, I lacked the knowledge necessary to fully appreciate what the Mass was all about. As I now fast approach my 65th birthday, I thank God every day for leading me “home,” as Scott Hahn might say. And, yes, I did get a few questionable looks from my Protestant friends, but nothing that I wasn’t able to explain away by simple saying, “I am now a Catholic Christian.”
 
kimbaichan said:
I was talking to a friend of mine today who asked, “What’s up with you? You haven’t been acting like yourself for a while now, you’re not getting religion are you?” When I told him I am converting his reaction was, “Catholic, oh no! NO, NO, NO, You can be anything else, but not Catholic!” We discussed it for a bit and I thought it was okay but the last thing he said to me was, “We’re going to talk about this later, I can’t let it go like this.”
Has anyone else had a REALLY strange reaction to their conversion?
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Oh DEFINITELY! That kind of reaction is almost the norm … after a while, you’ll find it’s more surprising when someone is actually happy about your conversion. 😉 As another poster commented, there’s a lot of ignorance out there about what Catholicism truly is. For much of the year leading up to my baptism, I found I was spending a lot of time hearing what everyone else thought about Catholicism and religion in general … they’d ask why I was converting, and then immediately launch into a monologue about their own beliefs, or lack thereof. It was frustrating.

But a year later - and a few months after ‘swimming the Tiber’ - I’m slightly better-equipped to set people straight … that, and I’ve stopped being too concerned about it, because I knew this was something I just had to do, and I’ve never regretted it.

So hang in there - it gets better. And congratulations on your decision to convert! :blessyou:
 
Make sure that when someone talks about the sex abuse scandals that you set them straight: 85% of the victims were post-pubescent males, which speaks to the problem of homosexuality in the priesthood, which is being addressed. True pedophilia involves pre-pubescent children.
The media will not expose this element of the scandals because they protect homosexuality. We need to get the truth out.
 
dsulpizio said:
Make sure that when someone talks about the sex abuse scandals that you set them straight: 85% of the victims were post-pubescent males, which speaks to the problem of homosexuality in the priesthood, which is being addressed. True pedophilia involves pre-pubescent children.
The media will not expose this element of the scandals because they protect homosexuality. We need to get the truth out.
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That’s a good point. What I keep in mind, however, are names like Ted Haggard & Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, and others, in addition to the financial abuse of TBN, Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, and others. . . careful to point out that sexual or financial scandal can happen no matter the religious practice.
 
Straying from topic here, re: sexual scandals: I just started reading a book called “The Courage To Be Catholic” by George Weigel. Does anyone know anything about him/it? The post about homosexuality vs. pedophilia made me think of it because he addresses that right away. Thanks and God Bless youse guys! KayCee
 
kimbaichan said:
Straying from topic here, re: sexual scandals: I just started reading a book called “The Courage To Be Catholic” by George Weigel. Does anyone know anything about him/it? The post about homosexuality vs. pedophilia made me think of it because he addresses that right away. Thanks and God Bless youse guys! KayCee
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KayCee, George Weigel is a first-class Catholic writer - very orthodox and insightful.
 
I had a bizarre reaction when I converted. Total silence. 🤷

I had been fully active in my Baptist church (participant in adult Sunday School; nursery worker; Sunday School teacher for an elementary class; choir); and yet when I converted there seemed to be a conspiracy of silence.

It almost seemed like, “If we don’t ask any questions, it won’t be true.”

I had looked forward to sharing my discoveries and my new understandings. I had been eager to ask my Baptist pastor, teachers, and friends questions about “our” faith that were puzzling. But instead, whenever I saw any of them, there was a stone cold silence.
 
yelladaisybug said:
It almost seemed like, “If we don’t ask any questions, it won’t be true.”
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If your baptist family is anything like mine they may be trying to be polite after all Baptist to Catholic? Somebody’s gotta be wrong.😉

FCEGM–thanx for the info. It’s a library book and in the public arena. I was worried because it can be hard for me to tell the difference between pro-Catholic and faux-Catholic.
 
kimbaichan said:
FCEGM–thanx for the info. It’s a library book and in the public arena. I was worried because it can be hard for me to tell the difference between pro-Catholic and faux-Catholic.
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I understand completely. Weigel also wrote an excellent biography on John Paul II that your library should have.
 
I converted at the age of 30. My family never went to church, although Grandma was raised Southern Baptist, and when I did go to any church, it was a Baptist one.

I have had both good and bad reactions.

I was scared to death of what my Grandma would say when I told her, But she simply said she was happy I had found a faith that made me happy! Yay!

My parents didn’t say anything at all. My dad was raised by his mom and his step-dad who was a Nazarene minister. Dad said his step-dad “preached the love of God on Sunday then beat the hell out of him the other six days of the week.” My dad was in WWII and was the assistant to the Navy chaplain, so Dad simply told me about his experiences helping the chaplain prepare for Catholic Mass. Some five years after my Dad died, my Mom converted and joined the CC!

My husband was also not raised in any church or particular faith. When I asked him what he thought about my going to Church, he simply said he thought “The Big Guy” would strike him down with a lightening bolt if he prevented me ! Then - praise be to God! - my husband converted via the very next RCIA class after mine!

My Sponsor in RCIA was herself a convert and another very good friend, also a convert, were so very happy at my conversion ----- then, weirdly enough, they both have fallen away from the Faith! One joined some sort of American Indian native religion as she is 1/4 Native American.

My former boss was very, very, VERY opposed to my being a Catholic and I think he and his wife saw it as a challenge sent to them from God to try to convince me of the “errors” of the CC. He even wrote a long letter and mailed it to my home, copying some information off of a Catholic-themed wall calendar I had hanging in my office, and then pointed out, complete with quoted Scripture, how these Catholic statements, prayers, etc., were “wrong”. He even said in the letter that I would go to hell for teaching Confirmation Class and “leading little children to hell with me”. (He quoted the Scripture verse about “better to have hung a millstone around one’s neck…”) He and his wife offerred to meet with me in their home and “discuss” this. (At first I wanted to pull his leg a little and say only if I can bring my own advocate person with me - since it would be two to one with he and wife against only me - to help in my argument…say, uhhhh, my friend **Sister **Agnes!!! lol) As he was my boss, I had twice a year job evaluations and they always turned into his attempting to prove my faith wrong! He was and still is a very sweet man and a friend, but I finally had to tell him I was tired of him trying to push his version of religion onto me and that I would sue him for harrassment if he didn’t leave me alone on this!

So…I have had quite a mixed bag of reactions. Hubby & I had our best friends stop seeing us because they are Fundamentalist.

But I have also had people seek me out to inquire about my faith! And I believe I was one instrument of God in helping a young man at my new job (who was about to be ordained in a Protestant church) see that Catholicism * is * the True Faith. He is now Catholic and a team leader in his Church’s RCIA.

I joined my Parish’s RCIA Team six years ago and have had the blessings of helping new converts and some “reverts” get answers to their questions about the Church. I feel they are all “spiritual children” of mine now and I feel truly blessed!
 
“You are so going to Hell!” my mom yelled after I told her I no longer want to attend Baptist service and I wanted to revert back to the catholic faith.

I’ve been praying for their conversion ever since. ( half of my family abandoned their catholic faith )
 
You never really know what people’s reactions are going to be … that I have found.

Anyway …

back to the bun.

What is a Catholic BUN??? :D:D:D

I think that I might want to put my hair up in one!

I did have my neighbor tell me that I looked Catholic the other day. :rolleyes: Don’t know what the meant … didn’t realize that Catholics had a look.
 
DJgang said:
You never really know what people’s reactions are going to be … that I have found.

Anyway …

back to the bun.

What is a Catholic BUN??? :D:D:D

I think that I might want to put my hair up in one!

I did have my neighbor tell me that I looked Catholic the other day. :rolleyes: Don’t know what the meant … didn’t realize that Catholics had a look.
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Haha, when I went to mass for the first time the RCIA director introduced me to the priest and he said, “You’re not Catholic, then? But you look so Catholic!” Apparently we have the same gene! 🙂
 
I was raised without faith and converted around the age of 16. Some of my framily members were pleased, some indifferent and assumed it was just a teenage phase. My hardcore atheist grandmother treated me pretty badly though. Her comments were simply nasty and every single time I would see her she would bring up my religion. She died 2 years ago and I pray for her soul.

When people find out I am Catholic they tend to hide their feelings about it but of course I can tell if they are surprised and put off. It bothers me less and less to be honest.
 
Anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice.

I was depressed at one time and went to the doctor about it, she said it was because I was Catholic and that I should think about “supplementing my faith” with “alternative spirituality”. Never went to her again 😉

I live in the south and I’ve had some protestants who didn’t like it. But whatever. Truth be told I love the south and I like protestants. I don’t agree with them but a lot of the ones I’ve meant are kind people with a sincere and simple faith.
 
Thanks to everyone for sharing your stories! I don’t feel so alone, now. My intention in my Rosary today will be that Mary help all converts grow closer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and draw others closer to Him, as well.
Thank you again, Love you guys – kimbaichan
 
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