Catholic Answers Forums...Conversion or fallen away?

[Bonarges]

This is addressed to two very specific groups of people. So, if you don’t belong to either group, please refrain from cluttering this thread with your comments. Thanks in advance.

I would like to know if the Catholic Answers Forums have directly or indirectly lead to your:

1. Entering the Catholic Church, or
2. Leaving the Catholic Church.

I think this will be very interesting if folks will be honest. Please, only those who fit the descriptions.

 

[Church_Militant]

This is addressed to two very specific groups of people. So, if you don’t

belong to either group, please refrain from cluttering this thread with your comments. Thanks in advance.

I would like to know if the Catholic Answers Forums have directly or indirectly lead to your:

1. Entering the Catholic Church, or
2. Leaving the Catholic Church.

I think this will be very interesting if folks will be honest. Please, only those who fit the descriptions.CAF has been a tremendous force for me to both return to the Catholic faith and to remain. It has been a source of deepening commitment to Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Church.

Do you have some issue with CAF that you actually wish to discuss?

How is this an apologetics topic to begin with?

Where do you fit into the two groups that you are asking to respond?

 

[deanarrca]

CA has definitely helped in clearing up many misconceptions I had about the Catholic Faith when I first started RCIA in December 2006. In the beginning I posted some questions and concerns and got great responses. It definitely isn’t the main reason we converted but it has most definitely been helpful. I was confirmed last November 2007 and the rest of the family is following suit. If hubby had a question I couldn’t answer I sent him to CA and he was always impressed with the Knowledgeable Apologists here and he knows his Bible extremely well coming from a Fundamentalist Bible thumping background.

Side Note: Because I am so happy today!!! Just to let everyone know. Hubby is at his retreat today and will be making his first confession today. Tomorrow is his big day. he will be confirmed tomorrow!!! Yeah

 

[Bonarges]

CAF has been a tremendous force for me to both return to the Catholic faith and to remain. It has been a source of deepening commitment to Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Church.

Do you have some issue with CAF that you actually wish to discuss?

How is this an apologetics topic to begin with?

Where do you fit into the two groups that you are asking to respond?

Relax. No ulterior motives here. I put the question in this particular forum because I didn’t see any other forum which would be any more applicable to the topic. If you want the thread moved, do it. My reason for the original question is to see how fruitful or unfruitful discussion forums can be.

I don’t fit in either group. Now that you’ve cluttered the thread with questions, and I’ve done the same by responding, let’s get back to the original question, please.

 

[Church_Militant]

My reason for the original question is to see how fruitful or unfruitful discussion forums can be.

But your initial post didn’t say that or make that very clear, hence my confusion.

Which, I think, is a good point on your topic.

If a post is unclear as to topic then of course it makes it all the more difficult for people to respond with good information. That would of course lead to complicated or unfruitful discussions.

I think that when a thread topic is specific and looking for facts then it tends to be pretty good. Opinion polls? Not so much…

 

[Swan]

Leaving. I’m a liberal. I’ll always be a liberal and much of my liberalism is based on my understanding of Jesus’s teachings. I find the RC to be too conservative for me. I strongly disagree with many fundamentals and decided that I simply did not belong there. I’ve also started questioning the foundations of a lot of dogma because of some of the things I’ve read here, which has led to my questioning some of the basic tenets of mainstream Christianity as a whole.

 

[Teflon93]

I joined CAF knowing my wife and I would convert—we were in RCIA at the time.

However, CAF was immensely influential in helping me to understand the faith more fully, and to understand how many myths there are about it in circulation today. Moreover, CAF awakened a love for theology within me that had not been a significant part of my life prior to coming here.

Of course, this didn’t end when I was confirmed the Easter after joining CAF. I continue to learn about the Church and about non-Catholic beliefs as well.

It is a unique resourse, one which I support with time and treasure and heartily recommend others do as well—we must keep this wonderful ministry alive.

 

[rick43235]

After marrying a cradle Catholic and going to Mass with her for a couple of years, I felt called to convert. Started going to RCIA, which I found to be helpful and informative. Then I discovered the CAF. Complete turn off. So much so that I actually dropped out of RCIA. When Father wanted to know why, I told him about the opinions expressed here. He responded by telling me that CAF represents the “conservative fringe” of the Church. However, when I questioned him about specific issues, he had to admit that most of the information found here was in line with Church teachings.

I still attend (and often enjoy) Mass with my wife. But, I have determined that the Catholic Church is not for me.

 

[Bonarges]

So far that’s:

3 entering/reverts,

1 leaving,

and 1 who will not enter at all (not really in either group).

 

[Priscilla_Ann]

I was a cradle Catholic and actually left the Catholic church 10 years ago, and discovered CAF about three years ago. While CAF did not have a part in my decision to leave the church, these forums have certainly confirmed that my decision was the correct one. I realized that I didn’t really leave the Catholic church; it’s simply that I was never Catholic to begin with.