Catholic and Never Knew It?

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While I was investigating Catholicism prior to converting, a wonderful Catholic convert told me that a lot of Christians are already Catholic in their hearts, but they don’t realize it.

Have any of you experienced this? Do you feel that before you even began to look into Catholicism that you were already “acting Catholic” or “doing Catholic things?”

I can think of a lot of examples in my life.

The main thing I can think of is that I have always been convinced that Communion is more than just a “symbol.” I didn’t know any Catholic teaching about Eucharist, but I knew that I loved Communion services and wanted Protestant churches to be faithful in their celebration of Communion. (In recent years, many Protestant churches are beginning to offer communion only a few times per year).

Another example. I’ve written a lot of songs, and many of them have extremely Catholic themes or even doctrine.

One of my songs was actually a three verse description of the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary, even though I didn’t know anything about the Rosary when I wrote it. (I didn’t include the Assumption of our Blessed Mother and her crowng as Queen of Heaven.)

When my husband pointed this out in the song, it was really kind of eerie. But after all, the Rosary mysteries are all straight out of the Bible, and I knew my Bible.

My daughter recently wrote me and asked for the words to a fun little song that I had written for her when she was three. It was called “The Boo Boo Song,” and tells how, just as a mother fixes our boo boos, Jesus will make “boo boos” better, too.

But what my Protestant-considering-Catholicism daughter saw in this song was the Blessed Mother, Mary! She wrote me a whole letter about how, just as a mother leads her child into the presence of healing, so does the Mother Mary lead us, the children, into the healing presence of her Son, Jesus.

Anyway, how about the rest of you? Are you or were you “inwardly Catholic” without knowing why, how, or what you were doing?!
 
i can tell you that growing up in a few different churches (born baptist, went to penticostal, and a few others) and really trying to learn about christianity, it never really made sense to me. different people had different ideas about everything. i thought to myself “is this right?” it wasn’t until around two years ago did i find catholic apologetic websites did Christianity have any meaning for me. it was like my eyes could finally see. some things that i read that got me into RCIA was:
  1. the church being founded on Peter and the netherworld would never prevail against it.
  2. Confessing sins.
  3. all catholics believe the same thing.
    there are others, but that is what lead me to RCIA and this Easter i will finally be baptised, confirmed, and recieve communion, Lord willing.
    sometimes i think that God planned this all out.
 
Cat said:
While I was investigating Catholicism prior to converting, a wonderful Catholic convert told me that a lot of Christians are already Catholic in their hearts, but they don’t realize it.

Have any of you experienced this? Do you feel that before you even began to look into Catholicism that you were already “acting Catholic” or “doing Catholic things?”. . . .
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I can’t speak for myself in this because I’m a “cradle Catholic”, but I can relate to it as regards to my raised-Presbyterian son-in-law who, although not yet a Catholic (and shows no immediate signs of conversion), has as my daughter early recognized, a Catholic soul in the way he faces religious beliefs and ethical and moral issues.
 
When I was a kid, I was occasionally forced to go to church (My Dad and his parents were Methodist). it was usually sappy songs and boring sermons, but I remember once when I was a teenager we were attending my grandparents church they had a communion service (the only one I saw all the times I went). Pew by pew, people went to the altar, kneeled and partook of Communion. I hadn’t a clue what they were doing, but it seemed to be something real. I wanted to go up but didn’t.
Years later when I was in the Navy, there was a Protestant communion service in the mess deck on the sub I was serving on. I was invited to join, but turned it down, since I “didn’t believe in that stuff.” Yet, I felt like I was turning my back on something (or perhaps Someone).
Shortly after I left the Navy, I became a Christian and joined a Baptist Church. I felt it was important to partake of the Lord’s Supper, yet was disappointed because in the five or six months I was there, we only had Communion once or twice. When the pastor left to start his own church, I followed him there, but again, we only had communion once. During this time, a friend took me to a weekday Mass. When the time came for communion, I wanted to go up and receive (which was ironic because I was an ardent anti-catholic at the time), but I was told I could not receive.
A couple years later when I finally became Catholic, i was overjoyed, since by this time I understood the real importance of Communion, that we truly receive the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Savior in the Host.
 
Well, I think I probably was Catholic from the beginning, but my path had nothing to do with the Eucharist or Mary, but rather with authority. I passed through a half-dozen little sects, and watched a couple of them disintegrate over arguments about this or that, and this really bugged me. In 1985 I went to an ecumenical Cursillo, which was conducted in a Catholic facility operated by Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and this was my very first up-close look at anything Catholic. It really put a seed in my soul. I started thinking about this authority thing, and reading about the Catholic Church, and some history. A year later, I was a Catholic, but until I got instruction I had no idea about the Real Presence, and Mary was as alien to me as something from Mars. Those things took me a long time to get ahold of, and I’m still working on it. I spend a lot of time before the Blessed Sacrament in adoration, and I see so many works of Jesus in my life.
 
Before ever thinking about becoming Catholic I did things that many protestants would deem Catholic, but I didn’t connect to Catholicism in my mind. I memorized prayers and said them to myself when I was nervous or scared (I will always remember hiking and my Dad telling us to stop, because there was a snake up ahead, and I started rattling off the Our Father again and again as fast as I could. I have a huge phobia against snakes). The few saints I’d heard of I’d talk to now and then (St. Francis of Assisi in particular). I also had a Sacramental view of Baptism and thought there aught to be more holidays and traditions in Christianity.
 
Mu R.C.I.A. instructor must be getting tired by now of the many times we’ll be discussing something, only to hear me say, “I read about that in C.S. Lewis!” Of course, growing up in the Lutheran Church, I was most of the way toward Catholicism already, as far as liturgy, sacraments, etc.
 
I was raised fundamentalist but always felt very drawn and very protective of the Catholic Church. I hated sitting in the pew listening to the preacher, preach against Catholics. I have heard more sermons against catholism then sermons about God. I also felt very disappointed in the way the Lord’s Supper was done (crackers and grape juice). I loved stories about nuns. I have been so grateful that the Lord brought me to the Catholic Church, late, but here I am and will never leave.
 
When I was 7 years old, I was standing at a bus stop with my grandma. Two Nuns (in full habit - it was 1954!) came to the bus stop and smiled at me.
I thought they were the most beautiful beings I’d ever seen. When I told my extemely anti-Catholic family I wanted to be a Nun, you’d have thought I said I wanted to grow up and be an axe murderer!
I still see those Nuns in my mind’s eye.
48 years later, I was Confirmed in The Catholic Church.
 
I know I’ve told this story before, but here’s my thoughts on the subject.

I know for a fact that I was born to be Catholic… I’ve had too many things happen in my life that point towards it.

As a little girl, my Mom sang with Mo-tab. (Mormon Tabernacle Choir). I had a great love of classical music and I loved listening to the choir. One day I came across a radio station, in Utah no less, playing Ave Maria. I asked my Mom why Mo-tab doesn’t sing it because I was astounded by the beauty of it. Her reaction was less than enthusiastic.

Later on in my life we got cable TV. I was still fairly young, but I found a movie on HBO called “The Song of Bernadette”. I’d never heard the story before, and didn’t know who the lady was who met Bernadette either. Wow. My Mom came in the room and yelled at me to “turn off that filth!”. Being the incredibly obedient daughter I was, I waited until it was scheduled for late night/ early morning and pulled a blanket around myself and the TV and sat through the whole movie with the sound turned down low and was just absolutely mesmerized.

In order to go to our Dr’s office in Provo, UT, we had to turn down a side street that ran between the one and only Catholic church in the valley and the Rectory. The church was Franciscan, so the Priest had to walk across the road a lot… There were a few of them and so we’d see three or four of them complete with brown robes and my Mom would make me hide myself on the floorboards of the car so they couldn’t put a “hex” on me.

When I was 15, our high school choir sang during the candlelight procession at Disneyland at Christmas-time. There were a group of Nuns sitting on some benches in full Habit. I took a half a roll of film of those Nuns because I didn’t know they “let them out” to go to Disneyland!.

Now, keep in mind that I was a rotten Mormon…

My daughter would go with her Father on every other weekend after our divorce. A group of friends and I would travel up to SLC to go to plays, out to dinner, or to a local dance/bar place. It was very near the Cathedral. It was always a stop on our way home. We would stand in awe of the building… at least I did.

Then I met my wonderful husband. I had never met a man who was more honest and full of integrity. I called him one Sunday morning while we were yet friends, and his brother told me he was at church. Being from Utah, I thought that meant he was Mormon… but when he called me back later that day he told me he was Catholic!! OH NOOOO!

My family disowned me when I became a Christian. They never gave Paul a chance because he was a life-long Catholic.

During one of my last services in the Assembly of God, the Pastor raised up the bread and grape juice and said, “We could be doing this with a snickers bar and a coke and it would be the same thing”.

Praise God I’m HOME in His church!

in Christ
Steph
 
My husband is Catholic and when I met him I realized we are a lot a like in our beliefs. I think the main difference we have is Confession. I feel it should be available, but not a requirement.
 
I also found Communion to be meaninglessly performed as a Methodist. It wasn’t offered enough, and the sanctity wasn’t there.

My children were born, and after MOm got cancer, it was time to commit to a long standing way of caring for them So they started Catholic school, and it felt right!
 
Hummmm, I not a Catholic and I do not belong to any Religious group. I do believe in God though.

Your post made me think. I may regret sharing this with you guys, but I was born seeing things. (no need for exorcist:) I saw both good and bad. As a toddler I would tell my mom about the people in the air. The angels I called the pretty people in the air LOL I know I scared people sometimes but it is what it is. I believed in angels and saints even though I did not know what to call them.

I remember going to a church as a little girl and getting mad at them for what they were saying about priests and Mary. I was not quite grade school age yet. But I told the preacher at the table we were sitting at, (after church lunch) that he should at least respect Gods mommy. It was good manners. LOL

I remember saying once that I would be a nun when I grew up, I was in elementary school. I only knew a few nuns but thought they were cool, one was a great artist, that may have been why. But anyway, it took a while for my family to come to after passing out and hitting the floor, well almost! LOL
 
Auriel said:
Hummmm, I not a Catholic and I do not belong to any Religious group. I do believe in God though.

Your post made me think. I may regret sharing this with you guys, but I was born seeing things. (no need for exorcist:) I saw both good and bad. As a toddler I would tell my mom about the people in the air. The angels I called the pretty people in the air LOL I know I scared people sometimes but it is what it is. I believed in angels and saints even though I did not know what to call them.

I remember going to a church as a little girl and getting mad at them for what they were saying about priests and Mary. I was not quite grade school age yet. But I told the preacher at the table we were sitting at, (after church lunch) that he should at least respect Gods mommy. It was good manners. LOL

I remember saying once that I would be a nun when I grew up, I was in elementary school. I only knew a few nuns but thought they were cool, one was a great artist, that may have been why. But anyway, it took a while for my family to come to after passing out and hitting the floor, well almost! LOL
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It’s not so strange as you may think. I’ve heard of at least one similar case (but I wish I could remember where)… somebody who apparently saw angels, and especially congregated around when a Mass was being said.

Just curious, how familiar are you with Catholic teaching on spiritual realities? Were you ever moved to compare them with the things you saw?
 
exoflare said:
It’s not so strange as you may think. I’ve heard of at least one similar case (but I wish I could remember where)… somebody who apparently saw angels, and especially congregated around when a Mass was being said.

Just curious, how familiar are you with Catholic teaching on spiritual realities? Were you ever moved to compare them with the things you saw?
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Weird, someone mentioned that to me yesterday, but did not remember where or the name either. Wonder if it was the same one they were thinking of. I see angels both good, and the fallen. My friends do not believe in a real devil but because I see what I see I know spiritual things exists. The reason I am here is because I am curious about how this is viewed and I do not know much about Catholic beliefs. I was christened in the Catholic Church as an infant, but not raised in the Church.

Mom died young. My relatives all held to a huge eclectic mix of beliefs. Anything from Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Church of Christ, Atheist, Pagan, Agnostic, Islam, Unitarian, Native American, etc…Depending upon where I was the influence varied a great deal. I was kicked out of a Baptist church as a kid because of the things I saw, and someone I trusted told on me. They do not like that even if you were born that way. They said it was the devil telling me things, I saw something terrible about the minister and it ended up being the truth, he was caught red handed. They still rejected me and threw me out.

I rejected Christianity after that, why belong to something you will never be accepted in and will be rejected from the very begining? But in a very strange way, because of the visions and everything I have seen I finally realized that God truly existed. I could never force myself to fully accept that he did not. And the beauty of the natural world touched me, something cannot be formed from nothing without Divinity. I do not understand exactly why I was kicked out of church, even as a young teen I thought it ironic, What a way to show someone the love of God, berate them, say they are demonic, and then throw them out, especially a kid. What I saw the minister do was a slap in the face of God, IMO. I was angry but I also felt kind of sorry for them in a way, I wondered to what happened to the preacher that caused him to do those things? I was astounded and did not understand how everyone could be so blind. That is how I saw them, blinded.

Maybe this was TMI, but oh well, thats why I am here and at a few Protestant boards, all by differant names of course.😉 Checking out other view points and beliefs. It would be wrong for me to make blanket judgments about everyone. I believe in God but do not know if I fit in anywhere.
 
Auriel said:
Maybe this was TMI, but oh well, thats why I am here and at a few Protestant boards, all by differant names of course.😉 Checking out other view points and beliefs. It would be wrong for me to make blanket judgments about everyone. I believe in God but do not know if I fit in anywhere.
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Hello Auriel, when you believe in God and you believe that you see thing, I would suggest that you pray a lot to God and ask what He really wants you to do. There gets to be some reason for you to see supernatural.

From my own experiences, it did happen to me, and for what had happened to me, I know more about what God wants me to do with my life. One of the things I need to do is to be a better Christian in general, and a devout Catholic.

Have you got a Bible yet?
 
Well, I must admit I am glad I am not the only one here who sees things. 😃 I used to have a bible but lost it. I was afraid I would regret saying anything. :eek: I discovered there are bibles online, thats how I look things up.
 
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