Catholic converts - were you sure of everything before you converted?

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Guyonthestreet

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Speaking to a Catholic nun today, (well, yesterday now) she asked me at what point do I think I will have all the answers to all my questions, before I convert.

I said I wasn’t sure. But the question really struck home.

She replied she’s been a nun for more than 50 years and she still doesn’t have all the answers.

She’s been through several crisis’ of faith and left her order for 2 years many years ago on a sabatical. She returned strengthened, but never quite the same she said. She didnt go into any more detail and I didnt want to ask. She was the opposite of the monks I met earlier in the week. She didnt wear a habit, used her christian name, fliped her blackberry out to get an address for me 😃

So to those here who converted - were you completely sure the catholic church had all the answers, was the church founded by Christ, or did you, at some point, just take a blind leap of faith?
 
I was sure, and thought I had a pretty good grasp on things, but I didn’t understand how much more there was to learn. I’ve found that the Church is a lot like the Scriptures. One could learn something new every day looking at the same verse, and the same is true of the Church.

Chesterton wrote in “Orthodoxy” (you can find his writings online, by the way) that the Church was like his father’s garden (I’m paraphrasing). There are all sorts of flowers, and all manner of exotic plants and even weeds, but everything has a story tied to it’s bloom. One day I understood why the Priest wears a black suit with a white collar, the next day I understood the Incarnation better, and so on. So far, there’s no end (and I don’t suspect there ever will be).

All my best . . .
 
Guyonthestreet said:
So to those here who converted - were you completely sure the catholic church had all the answers, was the church founded by Christ, or did you, at some point, just take a blind leap of faith?
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Blind leap? More like being pushed off a cliff.😃
 
Guyonthestreet said:
were you completely sure the catholic church had all the answers?
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I was only sure that The Catholic Church was the church founded by Jesus Christ and that He told them “he who hears you hears me”. That’s all I needed.
 
Glory to Jesus Christ!

I was sure on many things regarding the Catholic faith, but others such as Marian doctrines I just accepted because I took as an extension of Papal Doctrines. In my mind, if the papacy was true, then everything else was, too. At the time of my conversion, I took the papal doctrines without question because I was so disenfranchised with Protestantism in all its forms because Orthodoxy was never on my radar. I did not look at both sides of the story vis-a-vis the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, respectively. That was due to my juvenile impulsive behavior.

I’m not saying people who become Catholics are juvenile or impulsive, so please do not think that. In my case, I did not give both sides a fair shake until about a year ago (two years after I became Catholic). My advice would be to you, would be to read the Fathers and make sure you scrutinize the doctrines and dogmas that came after East and West parted.

My prayers are with you and I pray that you will find peace and grow in salvation wherever God leads you. 🙂

In Christ,
Andrew
 
Guyonthestreet said:
Speaking to a Catholic nun today, (well, yesterday now) she asked me at what point do I think I will have all the answers to all my questions, before I convert.

I said I wasn’t sure. But the question really struck home.

She replied she’s been a nun for more than 50 years and she still doesn’t have all the answers.

She’s been through several crisis’ of faith and left her order for 2 years many years ago on a sabatical. She returned strengthened, but never quite the same she said. She didnt go into any more detail and I didnt want to ask. She was the opposite of the monks I met earlier in the week. She didnt wear a habit, used her christian name, fliped her blackberry out to get an address for me 😃

So to those here who converted - were you completely sure the catholic church had all the answers, was the church founded by Christ, or did you, at some point, just take a blind leap of faith?
Click to expand...
No, I was not sure of everything.

How can anyone be when there is SO MUCH to learn about the Catholic Church, it’s beliefs, it’s history, it’s spirituality, and so on? At 20, there was no way I could be sure of it all as I didn’t know it all and still don’t.

I can say that I was sure about that which I did know and that I continue learning daily and continue to increase within my surety of it all.

If you are sure about that which you already know, then take the leap and become Catholic and enjoy the rest of your life learning and becoming more sure about your Catholic Faith while being nurished by the Holy Eucharist in the Mass each day, or at least each week. 😉
 
I dove in head first and decided I’d just figure it out as I went along. There were positives and negatives to that approach, but I guess the important part was that I just took a leap of faith and then took it one day at a time.
 
Convert66 said:
One day I understood why the Priest wears a black suit with a white collar.
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Not to de-rail the thread… But why does he?

Anyway, this is actually a GREAT question that the OP was asked by the nun. I’m glad to have gotten it second hand… I’ve already been convinced on a lot of doctrine, so maybe I should make the leap.
 
Guyonthestreet said:
Speaking to a Catholic nun today, (well, yesterday now) she asked me at what point do I think I will have all the answers to all my questions, before I convert.

I said I wasn’t sure. But the question really struck home.

She replied she’s been a nun for more than 50 years and she still doesn’t have all the answers.

She’s been through several crisis’ of faith and left her order for 2 years many years ago on a sabatical. She returned strengthened, but never quite the same she said. She didnt go into any more detail and I didnt want to ask. She was the opposite of the monks I met earlier in the week. She didnt wear a habit, used her christian name, fliped her blackberry out to get an address for me 😃

So to those here who converted - were you completely sure the catholic church had all the answers, was the church founded by Christ, or did you, at some point, just take a blind leap of faith?
Click to expand...
The Catholic Church. No blind leaps.

One can eliminate thousands of churches from being founded by Christ by taking them at their word. Do they deny being infallible? If they do, I believe them. They don’t have all the answers. If a church says it can makes mistakes, I have a clear conscience about crossing it off any possible list of true churches.
 
Ignatius said:
I was only sure that The Catholic Church was the church founded by Jesus Christ and that He told them “he who hears you hears me”. That’s all I needed.
Click to expand...
Yes. Perfect. What I should have said.
 
I was struggling with a few issues, but I had absolute faith in the authority of the Church, and I knew I would come to understand those issues in time. And I did!
 
For me, it was a little bit of both. I did lots of reading and asking questions first. I more or less understood the major stuff, but a lot of it I didn’t really “get” in my heart. I was ok with that. A lot of it came down to do I believe that this is the church Jesus founded and that the Pope is the head of it? My answer was yes, so at that point I needed to be a part of it, even if I didn’t totally “get” everything. I was able to trust that the last little bit would come with time and with trust.

I think there is almost always going to be a little bit of a leap of faith. We can do all the reading and study we want, but at some point we have to take that last (little or big) step of faith, and just jump in! 😃
 
Like others have said, I came to recognize the Catholic Church for what it is. After that many things fell into place for me. During Lent, before I was baptized, I deepened my discernment. Fasting, prayers, reading the Bible. It helps that the whole parish, our new community, prays for all Catechumens. What remaining doubts I had were settled during that time.

I have learned, God is patient, and knows just what we need. Every time. :yup:
 
Hey Jordan,
Originally Posted by Convert66 forums.catholic-questions.org/images/buttons_khaki/viewpost.gif
One day I understood why the Priest wears a black suit with a white collar.
Not to de-rail the thread… But why does he?
Click to expand...
Okay, this isn’t Dogma or anything, and I’ve never even asked my Priest about it. Like Karen I had done a lot of studying and kind of knew the Church was THE Church, but it hadn’t filtered and blossomed into conviction or into revelation. The final pieces came in a flash of revelation for me, one night. This is just my own symbolic interpretation:

The suit is black because the priest is a man, and a sinner like any other man. In himself he is not good, any more than any of the rest of us. The collar is white, because in his role he is in persona Christi and the authority to speak the Word, pronounce the Consecration, and speak blessings, etc., is the voice of Christ the High Priest.

That’s just my personal, private and subjective view on it. Take it with a grain of salt.

All my best . . .

**Edited to add: then again, it may just be to hide dirt better. They don’t make much at all and probably have to wear the same suit a lot. :cool:
 
I knew from the age of around 8 years old. My friend was Catholic and gave me her hand me down statues, holy pictures and a copy of the Baltimore Cathecism.

I was never in a Catholic Church until I was 17 and while going to college I would go to the church across the street and attended Mass a few times.

I would have to say the Holy Spirit played the biggest role in my conversion. Also as a teenager I would get books on the Early Church Fathers and just knew in my heart that the Catholic Church was the one started by Christ.

I asked the Lord to show me the true Church as I didn’t want to be in error. I prayed and than opened the Bible asking the Lord to direct me. I opened it and lo and behold the verse I saw was Matthew 16 “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church”.

This was the confirmation I needed to know that the Catholic Church was the True Church.
It was no coincidence that out of the whole Bible I first saw this verse.

Of course there are sinners in the Church, but all of us are sinners. God has blessed me and my family with special graces that have shown us that the Catholic Church is Truth.

When I was younger I would tell people I was Catholic, I think because in my heart I was.
I am so happy to be Catholic. It is difficult to explain the freedom I have as a Catholic. Many people are afraid they will lose their freedom if they come into the Church, but I found just the opposite.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette
 
Being “sure” of everything addresses the intellectual part. Having faith is believing when you are unsure.

This is not something that you will know in your brain. It is something you will know in your heart and in your very being, if not you may be likely to fall away later. If you try to rationalize every aspect of any faith you will rationalize yourself right out of faith altogether.

We are not called to “know” we are called to believe. Christ did not expect us to even agree, just to have faith.

In my opinion faith is total surrender. When you can do that, you will find your answers easily. 🙂

Peace Be With You.

HC
 
I am actually a “re-vert”. I was baptized Roman Catholic, did first grade at the local Catholic school and that was it. Never made the other sacraments until I came back in 2004.
I kind of new what to expect because I did allot of research online. I got more out of doing my own searching than I did with RCIA.
 
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