Calling all converts!

[AmataVeritas]

What brought me to the Church? God’s grace in answer to prayer. I was a strong Evangelical and was getting ready to move to a new town; I started praying God would show me His church - where He wanted me to be. I started looking at Protestant churches in my new town and began digging into doctrine for the first time; it didn’t take long to really see and understand the inconsistencies.

About that time, a coworker invited me to Mass and I went more out of curiosity. After, I decided to research more about the Catholic Church so I could “evangelize” my friend. Long story short, God answered my prayer as I studied Catholic teaching, Scripture and Church history.

I’ll be praying for you as you continue your journey home!

 

[Dolores_IHS]

What made me realise I was meant to be Catholic?

The oneness of the Church, headed by Jesus throught our Holy Father
The beauty of the liturgy and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist
The rich heritage of devotions and Mother Mary’s importance

I am a Catholic convert from Pentecostalism (my mother’s faith) and Anglicanism (where I was baptised four years ago at nearly 22 years of age). My path to Catholicism was a looooooooong one. I wrote a conversion story called “Love Triumphant” through the year I converted, and edited it a little while back. It can be read on the website www.chnetwork.org/converts.html

Welcome home, all converts!

God bless
Dolores
+

 

[Dolores_IHS]

Oops! I forgot to give my surname, if any of you want to find my story on the site! It is the story under “Steenhuis Dolores S.”

 

[Bob_Crowley]

:grouphug:
I haven’t started RCIA yet, as I’m about a month away from leaving for college. But I have a church scoped out near my campus and I’ll start there as soon as possible.

I’m converting to Catholicism from, well, nothing. Unitarian Universalism, if you want to get technical about it, but that mostly because my mother made me go. Most of my life I’ve felt a pull to the Catholic Church, but circumstances prevented me from acting on that pull. (My age, my parents complete aversion to Catholicism [and religion in general, really], my worry that becoming a Catholic as opposed to some other religion would be the thing that sent me to hell etc.)

What I want to know is: what made you realise you were meant to be Catholic?

I was atheist for a while, and Presbyterian when I converted. That’s what I’d been baptised anyway.

But towards the end of my membership of my main Presbyterian Church (9 years - which had a pretty good group of young people and an outstanding pastor who was Methodist trained, and his family - I enjoyed my time there as a whole, mainly because of the people), I was starting to feel a vague sense of dissatisfaction. I was getting a bit sick of “It’s all in the Bible”, and since my then new wife was Baptist, I moved location and also started going to other churches, mainly her Baptist and a Wesleyan Methodist outfit (partly on the reference of one of my former pastor’s sons).

What annoyed me was that there were so many divisions. And I found there tended to be a sort of “clubbiness” no matter which Protestant church I was in. Whenever I’d drive past a Catholic Church, I seemed to be getting this spiritual nudge, quite insistent at times. I resisted for a while, but I had an argument with a particular pastor, and that was the trump card.

So I converted about 13 years ago, which means I’ve now been Catholic as long as I was Protestant (in the sincere sense). Overall I think the Catholic Church is “closest” to the truth (I had a vision of my old pastor where he turned up and said just that), although there are times when I think of the closer fellowship I had in the original Presbyterian Church.

But since a person’s religious experience should incorporate a search for truth, then as far as I’m concerned the Catholic Church is as close as I’m going to get, even if from time to time it’s a bit disappointing.

 

[Moscati]

It started with my Grandpa telling me when I was a little girl that he couldn’t come to the Baptist church with me and my parents because he had to go to Mass. I’d be brought up to believe that Catholicism was generally bad, and that if any Catholics were born again, it was probably by accident and in spite of the Church.

I had the good sense not to say any of that, but I did wonder what could possibly be so compelling about Mass. The question remained when he died 12 years later.

My college roommate was nominally Catholic, and I attended my first Mass with her. I remember sitting through the readings and the homily and the offering and thinking this really wasn’t all that different, but when Communion came, I had prickles. Not the “you’re home” prickles, the “something very important is going on here, and it’s not just superstition” prickles.

I kept going, off and on, for two years. I read St. Augustine, and St. Thomas Aquinas, and Dante, and G.K. Chesterton. I visited cathedrals all over Europe, and the Vatican itself. Finally, I screwed up my courage, and signed up for RCIA last year.

I don’t think I knew for sure I was supposed to be a Catholic until I was one–literally the moment when Fr. traced a cross on my forehead and I was confirmed.

I love what Cardinal Newman said about it:
“Certainty, in its highest sense, is the reward of those who, by an act of will, and at the dictate of reason and prudence, embrace the truth, when nature, like a coward, shrinks [from it]. You must make a venture; faith is a venture before a man is a catholic; it is a gift after it.”

 

[Kahlan_Amnell]

When I was a kid, I always felt pulled to Catholicism, but I didn’t understand it then. I felt that way until I was about 14, and then I was disillusioned after learning about some of our more upsetting history. Then, when I was called to become a Christian earlier this year, I originally thought I was going to stay “non-denominational,” but I felt a strong pull to Catholicism. I did some research and found that some things that I thought were true that kept me away were actually misconceptions. Then finally, I decided to go to mass for the first time. The Sunday I went happened to be Palm Sunday, although I didn’t know it at the time. It was amazing, and I kept coming back. I still resisted for a little while, but it caused unrest within my soul, as cliche as that sounds. It felt sort of like I really, really wanted to convert, but I wasn’t letting myself, and that caused unrest. When I finally decided to convert, I felt at peace inside. So I’m gonna start RCIA this fall .

 

[The_Reginator]

What made me realise I was meant to be Catholic?

The oneness of the Church, headed by Jesus throught our Holy Father

That almost sums up the end point of my journey.

The events that brought me to the Catholic Church began before I was born – when my mother (a Mennonite) married an Anglican. To the chagrin of her family she converted to what was paramount to the Catholic Church.

I was raised a “low Anglican”, believing that the Anglican Eucharist was nothing but a symbol and that Catholics were a species to be avoided.

While at university a couple of Anglican friends (now both Catholic) introduced me to a new idea of “church”. I was unfamiliar with Apostolic Succession and thought, at first, it was a little far-fetched.

Time passed and I married a Catholic. We attended a Catholic Mass weekly and the priests encouraged me to receive. (How very modern of them!! )

After a few years a Catholic friend from that parish handed me a little book:
Confession of a Roman Catholic by Paul Whitcomb. Upon reading it for the second time one idea popped out at me that I had never considered:
**Jesus established only one Church. A divine institution, not one with founded by any human being – a Church created by God Himself.
**
So I sought out that (Catholic) Church, knowing that it was a Church that taught with authority.
I especially (but not exclusively) found authoritative teaching attending the Traditional Latin Mass.

 

[Dolores_IHS]

…
I was raised a “low Anglican”, believing that the Anglican Eucharist was nothing but a symbol and that Catholics were a species to be avoided.

While at university a couple of Anglican friends (now both Catholic) introduced me to a new idea of “church”. I was unfamiliar with Apostolic Succession and thought, at first, it was a little far-fetched.

Time passed and I married a Catholic. We attended a Catholic Mass weekly and the priests encouraged me to receive. (How very modern of them!! )

After a few years a Catholic friend from that parish handed me a little book:
Confession of a Roman Catholic by Paul Whitcomb. Upon reading it for the second time one idea popped out at me that I had never considered:
**Jesus established only one Church. A divine institution, not one with founded by any human being – a Church created by God Himself.
**
So I sought out that (Catholic) Church, knowing that it was a Church that taught with authority.
I especially (but not exclusively) found authoritative teaching attending the Traditional Latin Mass.

As I mentioned briefly in my previous post, I was raised Pentecostal, so I was also told negative things about the Church which scared me. But I couldn’t help being fascinated with Catholicism. My Catholic school friend had introduced it to me as a preteen and I went with her to some Masses. There I fell in love with liturgy and traditional practices. For at least ten years I had to fight to come to believe. One person, who really helped build up my faith and make the decision to convert, was Scott Hahn. His books are superb, especially “Rome Sweet Home” he co-authored with his wife Kimberley. In the Anglican Church (where I went after looking for a liturgical church but not yet confident to explore Catholicism, and where I got baptised at 22) I noticed how there were so many debates on obvious Biblical doctrines and morals. It was only in the Catholic Church where things were definite and solidly set out for us, what was right and what was wrong. Everything was so much more REAL. Especially the Eucharist. And I read in a Protestant book once how in the Kingdom of God there will be no denominations. I couldn’t imagine a church without imagining denominations – until I became Catholic in 2008. Here in the One True Church, there are no denominations. It makes sense now. Glory be to God!

Dolores

 

[The_Reginator]

As I mentioned briefly in my previous post, I was raised Pentecostal, so I was also told negative things about the Church which scared me. But I couldn’t help being fascinated with Catholicism. My Catholic school friend had introduced it to me as a preteen and I went with her to some Masses. There I fell in love with liturgy and traditional practices. For at least ten years I had to fight to come to believe. One person, who really helped build up my faith and make the decision to convert, was Scott Hahn. His books are superb, especially “Rome Sweet Home” he co-authored with his wife Kimberley. In the Anglican Church (where I went after looking for a liturgical church but not yet confident to explore Catholicism, and where I got baptised at 22)** I noticed how there were so many debates on obvious Biblical doctrines and morals. It was only in the Catholic Church where things were definite and solidly set out for us, what was right and what was wrong. Everything was so much more REAL**. Especially the Eucharist. And I read in a Protestant book once how in the Kingdom of God there will be no denominations. I couldn’t imagine a church without imagining denominations – until I became Catholic in 2008. Here in the One True Church, there are no denominations. It makes sense now. Glory be to God!

Dolores

That was another point that made my decision irreversible.
As an Anglican I never was taught about transubstantiation, for instance.
There was no official teaching (that I ever heard of) about moral issues such as masturbation or abortion.
Christ’s Church has a teaching body. That was missing from my Anglican experience.

(One problem I encountered though: I still enjoy the Anglican liturgy over the OF.)

 

[MaryTeresa2]

Wow! What a great thread! There isn’t one story here that doesn’t have an element of how I came to the Catholic Church, 36 years ago. I was raised a Methodist. Like many here, it was subtle little things, little light bulbs in my head, a Rosary given to me, the sight of Nuns in habits, Catholic kids in the neighborhood, my Catholic teacher who died and I went to her funeral… I was 7 yrs old and drawn to the Rosary wrapped around her ancient looking hands. They just kept adding up and up. I married a Catholic but by then I already had the notion and married him partly because he was a Catholic! I began my instructions while we were dating. We raised the kids in the Church. We got slothful and fell away for some years… falling victim to criticisms of the priests and that… big mistake… but the pull came again to me and I began to wake up. I saw a book on Mother Teresa in a bookstore one day and bought it, then another and another… she was leading me to Our Blessed Mother and to Jesus! I had some encouraging words from a Catholic friend (bless you Elizabeth!) who said, forget the stuff about the sins of humans in the Church and just go back for the Goodness of God that’s there! I said to my husband, I’m going to Mass this week and he jumped right in too. I couldn’t wait to get to Confession so I could go back to the Eucharist! I cried my eyes out to that poor priest who repeated the Absolution 3 times during my confession! I was filled with the Holy Spirit, I couldn’t get enough, I couldn’t watch TV, I had (still do) EWTN on the radio 24/7… I committed myself to a challenging schedule of Adoration in the middle of the night. (I thought this would be a penance… it’s a Blessing!) and still I couldn’t do enough… there was something I still had always been drawn to… the religious life. Yet, I’m married, what could I do? It was a call to serve the Blessed Mother in the footsteps of Mother Teresa. It would take pages to tell how I was mystically led to the Order of Servants of Mary. Suffice it to say it was beyond my doing, it was a vocational calling… I am now fulfilling my call to service of Our Lady, my family (several generations) and others as a Secular Servite sister. I pray that I may be an instrument for Jesus to bring souls to Him through His Blessed Mother. How blessed I have been! I want for nothing but to serve! Praise God! Praise Jesus for giving us His Church! Praise the wonderous forces of the Holy Spirit that bring us to His Church! If you feel that call, in any way, don’t ignore it! It doesn’t usually come engraved on a silver platter. He does not force Himself upon us. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” Open that door! Eternity is a very long time, make sure you show up! The Catholic Church will lead you there. Don’t take chances on a watered down version… you have everything to lose. Be a Saint, what else is there?:heaven:
In Service of Jesus through His Blessed Mother,
Mary Teresa, OSSM
May those seeking the True Church be Blessed in your quest.

 

[distracted]

:grouphug:
I haven’t started RCIA yet, as I’m about a month away from leaving for college. But I have a church scoped out near my campus and I’ll start there as soon as possible.

I’m converting to Catholicism from, well, nothing. Unitarian Universalism, if you want to get technical about it, but that mostly because my mother made me go. Most of my life I’ve felt a pull to the Catholic Church, but circumstances prevented me from acting on that pull. (My age, my parents complete aversion to Catholicism [and religion in general, really], my worry that becoming a Catholic as opposed to some other religion would be the thing that sent me to hell etc.)

What I want to know is: what made you realise you were meant to be Catholic?

why would get the thought that being Chtlic would get you to Hell???

 

[distracted]

I’m a revert… I left the Church when i was young and clue-less… uncatechized… If i had been catechized i would never have left… and my life would have been SO much less problematic than it turned out to be… but anyhow…

i knew i was supposed to be Catholic when i studied things yrs ago… and saw that Jesus established ONE Church and it was the RCC… Once i realized that that was the case… that there is only ONE true Church… well, how could i stay away any longer? Actually i had come back long b4 i studied all that … but that’s what cinched it for me… not that i was going to leave if it didn’t but anyhow…
I know better tahn most people what being catechized… could have saved me from… I know because not being catechized seriously messed up my life & the lives of others…

Only Jesus can save… whether we are speaking of souls or wahtever…

and only Jesus’ Church… has the power & means to do this… to do what He wants… to do what is required for us to get to HEaven… The saints and popes used to say there is no salvation outside the Church… technically, this is true…

whether modern popes disagree or not… or i should say whether they SEEM to disagree or not… havnt researched this thoroughly yet…*

 

[jmcrae]

I know better tahn most people what being catechized… could have saved me from… I know because not being catechized seriously messed up my life & the lives of others…

Do you think that you would have accepted an opportunity to become Catechized, if it had been offered to you at that time, or did you feel that you already knew everything that you needed to know?

Because I always try to offer opportunities for young people, and they are always turning me away, and yet, I see them on the verge of making crazy mistakes, and I just think, How do you reach these kids? Do they really have to go through all that, before they finally wake up and realize that it’s a mistake? Does every generation really have to repeat the same mistakes, over and over again?

 

[distracted]

Do you think that you would have accepted an opportunity to become Catechized, if it had been offered to you at that time, or did you feel that you already knew everything that you needed to know?

Because I always try to offer opportunities for young people, and they are always turning me away, and yet, I see them on the verge of making crazy mistakes, and I just think, How do you reach these kids? Do they really have to go through all that, before they finally wake up and realize that it’s a mistake? Does every generation really have to repeat the same mistakes, over and over again?

i would have listend if someone had explained the Cahtolic faith to me… I suppose a big part of why i say this is because i had a religious conversion experience when i was a very young adult… & so i loved Jesus… (i fell away cuz i didn’t kno Him like i do now… didn’t know about the RP and all that… etc)… if i hadn’t had that expeirence, i still feel i would have listened… .because… well, everyone is interested in waht happens to the soul after death, for one thing…

have you tried that approach? i haven’t met one person ever who is disinterested in life after death… especially waht might happen to him personally…

i just wish i KNEW young people… I do tend to isolate & that’s my own fault… but still… i just don’t seem to run across them even when i am out and about… If i knew of one (and i do… when i think of it) who is making mistakes or thinking of making them, i would just say what needs to be said & let the chips fall where they may. many people who get angry @ you for what you say (you sound preachy, etc…) will listen down the road… that concern you had for them will be recalled to their mind… when they are in a given situation & faced w/ a choice… & when they also see the consequences of sin… a seed has definitely been planted… & God can / will water that seed…

 

[Pitcharan]

:…
What I want to know is: what made you realise you were meant to be Catholic?

Hi, this is Pitcharan from India, a first generation catholic born to formerly Hindu parents who had embraced chrsitianity before their marriage, as a family; i.e. alongwith their parents (my grandparents - paternal and maternal).

Despite a good catholic upbringing I did wander into atheism between the ages of 17 and 27 and gradually returned between the ages of 27 and 39. Now there is no looking or going back. What makes me feel that I was meant to be a catholic is a series of experiments (if I may call it so):
My return to Jesus was initialized after a God experience in 1984 when I was going thro’ a bit of tribulation and there was no way out. I was reluctant to pray because of my atheist pride, but chose to test God and asked for a miracle to prove His existence. It happened instantaneously; though dazed, I wondered if it was really a miracle and sought another; again it happened instantaneously. The aftermath was a gradual return to God spread over 12 years. A final encounter in 1996 similar to Paul’s (Saul’s) Damascus road encounter, completely changed me. Thereafter, I sincerely with genuine quest, tried to know which was the true church. I was able to distinctly feel the indwelling real presence of God in all catholic churches. My ten year old son (who had received all his spiritual milk from his eastern orthodox grandfather) corroborated my experience. That very day I realised that I belonged to God and His Spirit leads the Catholic church and no other church.

I am happy to share that I struggled to come to terms with many contradictions for nearly 7 years between 1996 and 2003 and was rewarded with inspired explanations that enabled me to:

• come to terms with prima facie unacceptable contents of the bible.
• find meaning in apparently ridiculous devotional practices
• continue receiving explanantions and purpose of some of the most difficult and complex bibilical texts

My this post is not only a reply but also addressed to bear witness to these miraculaous events that I have personally expereiencd:

*a) My parents’ families were led to Jesus through Marian devotion which is very popular among most hindus and muslims in India.

b) When I was 13 years old, a Hindu neighbour of ours became demon possessed one day and her loud cries and strange utternaces in several alien languages shunned the entire neighbourhood. She was an elderly woman with children and grandchildren who occupied the upstairs house. Her sons and daughters firstly engaged their own hindu exorcist (called Ojhas in India), who tried several things and failed to even slightly improve her condition. The family then hired a muslim exorcist (called Babas in India) through their close muslim friend. He too sincerely tried but failed to achieve any result. The desparate family approached us for help and my father told me to go and inform our parish priest (late Rev. Fr. AJ Adaikalam). He unassumingly but readily responded by ariving on a bicycle. At the very outset he said in a ‘matter of fact’ manner that he will drive out the demon in 5 minutes and we should not be perturbed by the temporary after effect of his hands shaking for a while. He proved his own words to the amazement of everyone and left humbly after politely refusing all rewards offered.

c) I have personally witnessed instant healing of a nagging psychological problem of a hindu colleague after drinking a glass of water from a popular miraculous spring near my present locality (Nagamangalam in Krishnagiri district of Tamilnadu) which is gradually turning into another Lourdes.*

 

[Dolores_IHS]

…
(One problem I encountered though: I still enjoy the Anglican liturgy over the OF.)

I experienced this too. At my previous (Anglican) church, there was an altar rail, the hymns were solemn and most were traditional, with a grand organ and some background guitars, there was a choir dressed in robes, and incense was used every Sunday. At my present Catholic parish, we don’t have an altar rail, the hymns are more modern “happy family-ish” ones with a few traditional ones between. There is a small organ and a guitar, the choir members don’t wear robes, and incense is only used presently at Holy Hour devotions. But of course, we have the REAL thing, which is most important! I really wish the worship would reflect that…

Out of interest, what does OF mean? I kept on getting posts on another thread which I started, and there was OF, amongst other abbreviations. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but presumed it wasn’t important; that it is the Mass I myself am used to. The only ones I know concerning Masses, is TLM and NO (Traditional Latin Mass, and Novus Ordo). I can’t figure out about OF though…

Dolores

 

[Dolores_IHS]

why would get the thought that being Chtlic would get you to Hell???

When you are raised with Pentecostals around you, especially a very devout mother, who has been taught wrong things about Catholics and doesn’t know any better, you grow up believing what you are taught (especially that Catholics “worship Mary, so beware them!”), until God teaches you otherwise through someone – whether a friend or a book, sermon, etc. It took me a looooooooong time to undo all the prejudices I was taught about Catholicism, so I was initially fearful. I was taught the error that Catholicism is half Christian, half pagan, so if I thought of becoming Catholic, I was afraid of losing my soul, doing something that God was unhappy about.

That was until I saw the Protestants were wrong… what a blessed day that was!

 

[The_Reginator]

I experienced this too. At my previous (Anglican) church, there was an altar rail, the hymns were solemn and most were traditional, with a grand organ and some background guitars, there was a choir dressed in robes, and incense was used every Sunday. At my present Catholic parish, we don’t have an altar rail, the hymns are more modern “happy family-ish” ones with a few traditional ones between. There is a small organ and a guitar, the choir members don’t wear robes, and incense is only used presently at Holy Hour devotions. But of course, we have the REAL thing, which is most important! I really wish the worship would reflect that…
I forgot all about that. Even when I can make it to the nearest Latin Mass there are no robes for the choir.

Out of interest, what does OF mean?
That’s simple Delores. OF is used to differentiate that form from the EF.
To seriously answer your question, OF = Ordinary Form of Mass. AKA “NO”. The “TLM” is the EF, or ExtraOrdinary Form.
I kept on getting posts on another thread which I started, and there was OF, amongst other abbreviations. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but presumed it wasn’t important; that it is the Mass I myself am used to. The only ones I know concerning Masses, is TLM and NO (Traditional Latin Mass, and Novus Ordo). I can’t figure out about OF though…

Dolores

 

[lutherlic]

:What I want to know is: what made you realise you were meant to be Catholic?

While there are common threads, every situation is different. I maintain a simple database of convert stories that you may want to look at.

For me, first of all, I had to realize that my Protestant church was - over time - going seriously off-track. After their latest, big, liberal change - I knew in my heart that I no longer had a church. I thank God for that! Otherwise, I would not have had any interest. I felt Catholicism most closely matched what I believed to be the truth - but with “issues” to be studied and resolved.

Once I was in RCIA and also studying heavily on my own, two things happened (1) I intellectually came to believe I was Catholic and (2) felt the Holy Spirit was pulling me here. The latter is hard to describe but very real.

We say things about being “home” so much that some might think it is some kind of marketing slogan, but it isn’t. This is the real deal.

 

[jmcrae]

Out of interest, what does OF mean?

The Pope is asking us to call the vernacular Mass the “Ordinary Form” rather than referring to it as the “Novus Ordo” any more, since, being as it is more than 40 years old, and thus, older than any Mass we have ever previously had, “Novus” is no longer an applicable adjective.

The Tridentine Mass of 1964 is to be called the “Extraordinary Form,” hence, “EF,” rather than TLM.