CONVERTS, do you have a moment?

[CleverUserName]

Yes, i believe everyone has a “moment” if they are a convert and/or converting. I am not even in RCIA yet! But i too have had a moment. mine was when I was thinking on Catholic doctrines ( i had been studying for a long time and at the time I was Pentecostal). And I was walking into the kitchen when i thought “Why am i not a Catholic?” I believed in the doctrines I was studying. That was a very defining moment for me. God Bless

Sometimes it’s such a simple thing that comes through and strikes us. Thanks for sharing, Maegan.

 

[CleverUserName]

I had been praying and studying the faith on my own. I still didn’t think I was ready to make the jump until I walked into a church for Adoration. I knew from the moment I walked in that I was home.

Oooooh Eucharistic Adoration…powerful!!

 

[CleverUserName]

You might enjoy reading the “Surprised by Truth” books, which are collections of convert stories. I’m sure you will find many such moments in them. Last I looked years ago there were three volumes.

Thank you very much for the recommendation, Mike. I will definitely look those up for my Kindle.

 

[CleverUserName]

I had been leaning toward Catholicism for awhile but my moment came when my daughter was being baptized by a woman priest. And being the firm believer that women cannot and should not be clergy that I am that is was cemented my conversion.

Aha. Shana I can definitely relate. Thanks for sharing.

 

[CleverUserName]

I was intrigued by the clarity of anwers in my kidhood neighbor’s Baltimore Catechism. As a questioning adult, that clarity came back to me and I wanted to be part of it. By that time there was a lot of, shall we say, unclarity among the clergy. Neverthless, I knew what I wanted and eventually became Catholic.

That’s really interesting, katy. Do you now feel a part of that clarity?

 

[CleverUserName]

Absolutely remember “the moment.” I had been raised with no religion and had drifted around finding myself in the Methodist Church which had been my beloved grandmother’s faith. I was very involved and was the Outreach Coordinator and participated in several other activities including a book discussion group. I don’t recall the book we were discussing but it was during the March for Life which was countered by some kind of march for abortion rights. I had become more and more distressed about the Methodist’s church’s mushy attitude toward abortion. When the book group leader, a retired Methodist ministered countered my objection to abortion with “A woman has a God given right to do with her body as she pleases!” I knew I had to leave the Methodist church.

I was driving home, very distressed and like the Psalm says I look to the hills for my strength. I was looking at the horizon, the mountains in the distance and I knew at that moment I was going to become a Catholic. It was immediate and I never waivered. I entered the RCIA program that fall and became a Catholic Easter 2005.

It’s kind of a wierd story but I think it speaks to the power of the Holy Spirit.

Lisa

WOW Lisa, very poignant story!! Speaks to the power of the Holy Spirit indeed!!

 

[CleverUserName]

Haven’t converted yet, but…

My moment came when I was sitting in my non-denominational church during service one Sunday and it was time for the collection/communion (it’s done at the same time).

I noticed that the communion was an after thought - it wasn’t done as a whole church at the same time and it was optional.

I thought communion was too important to be an after thought - Jesus commanded us to perform it in honor of Him.

So my search begin and the seed was planted in my heart for the Catholic faith…

Ladylove, you’ll find no church with higher regard for the Eucharist, that’s for sure. I love that you said it was too important to be a ‘afterthought’. I think it’s amazing that you inherently knew that.

 

[CleverUserName]

I had been attending Mass for a couple of years, even made a pilgrimage to Rome. I imagined worshipping the rest of my life as a Catholic, and never returning to my protestant (Lutheran) Church, but without actually joining the Church.

It was when I attended Mass at a local Franciscan parish, and I saw this Friar who was the parish pastor who always had the most amazing smile and look of utter peace on his face. He was never rattled, and always spoke of love.

I told my wife immediately, that everytime I saw him, I couldn’t help but think, he is so happy, and at peace, that I was going to join the church, because, " I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HE KNOWS!"

And I immediately joined RCIA, entered the Church, and now know why the Father had that look of peace, happiness, and contentment on his face.!

Whew, Neo. How awesome is that! Did you ever tell that Friar the effect he had on you?

 

[CleverUserName]

That was beautiful. For me, I’ve always slanted towards Catholicism but it was a combination of something like this where I saw priest radiating with peace and happiness. That and I stumbled upon a pamphlet that had the abridged version of the Holy Father’s encyclical on Love.

Thanks for contributing, onjac. Same question… does that priest know the effect he had on you? Just curious.

 

[CleverUserName]

I have not converted yet either, but I’m joining RCIA in September.

I have two ‘moments’: one was when I first visited this website and began reading the posts. The tone of the website was far more comfortable to me than the slightly hysterical note of the Protestant forum I’d been on for years, and far more tolerant of Protestants than Protestants were of Catholics.

The other moment was when I realised that Roman Catholicism is just one body, which believes everything as stated in the Catechism. So you usually have definitive answers to questions. Whereas Protestantism with its hundreds of denominations could hardly agree on anything. I had been leaning more to the Church of England, but they tend to back down to whatever the Government wants them to do, while the Catholic Church maintains what it believes despite getting a lot of flack because of it.

“Slightly hysterical note” LOL! I think I know what you mean. Have seen that in some forums for sure. And amen to maintaining what the Church believes despite getting a lot of “flack”.

 

[CleverUserName]

My conversion is such a … convoluted thing. There was no one moment but many, many moments that prepared me to receive our Lord. I suppose the ‘final moment’ was when I realized how far I had fallen away from Christ.

After some deep soul searching I just knew I had to be Catholic. I knew very little theology. I knew very little about what Catholics do. I just knew I had to be Catholic.

I would have joined without hesitation, without knowledge, except when I made the decision to convert EVERYONE challenged me… Protestant friends and family were NOT happy with my decision so I had to learn how to defend my decision and the more I studied the more I realized I already WAS Catholic. In how I understood God, in how I thought… it was all Catholic already.

God had been preparing me for years. I just had to be humble enough to say; Your will be done.

Amazing, Nicky. You were already Catholic. And how cool is that, that you learned Catholic theology in order to aptly defend it. I dove straight into apologetics, too, so I can relate to that. Kudos to you for putting on your armor to defend your faith right away.

 

[CleverUserName]

My moment was two moments exactly 7 days apart.

I grew up Anglican, my mother’s denomination, although my dad belonged to a different Protestant denomination (Dutch Reformed); I went to a convent high school, so had attended a fair number of Catholic masses while at school and had various Catholic friends in my adult life, so still had opportunities to attend Catholic masses; my youngest daughter began dating a Catholic man (now my son-in-law and father of my grandchildren) and she felt called to become Catholic; I often went to mass with her when I spent weekends with her. Now, all through this time I’d feel vaguely “resentful” that I could not receive communion in the Catholic church, since so much of what I heard and the way things were done were almost exactly the same as in my Anglican church.

Now for the moments - they happened when I came to work in the Middle East. First trip to church, the familiar Anglican church, and indeed, all the prayers were the same as the ones we used at home, but I felt so strongly that I was in the wrong place. So, the following week I went to the Catholic church and felt right at home the moment I walked it, but the real moment came when it was time for communion, no feeling of “resentment”, just a sense of peace that I was going to join the Catholic church and I would then be able to receive communion.

The ironic thing is that the first taxi driver took me to the Catholic church and I walked around the corner to the Anglican church and then found the taxi had taken me to the right place for me, although not the place I’d asked to be taken to.

Beautiful story. I wonder if the taxi driver had wings…

 

[CleverUserName]

My husband and I were rebaptized in a Protestant church because they convinced us we needed to be (ugh). I announced it on my Facebook and told our families AFTER we did it. We didn’t even invited anyone to come. My mom brought it up and said my brother called me a “Born Again Christian” (which is funny because even the Catholic Church believes you are “born again” when you are baptized) and I told her it really wasn’t that big of a deal. And right after I said that I realized it SHOULD have been a big deal to us, so I retracted and said, “well it was a big deal to US, but we didn’t feel the need for everyone to be there.” But teally this was a lie and I knew it and I think my mom did, too. I realized I didn’t really believe what I was supposed to in order to be a part of this church. I was lying to myself becuase I had been told what to believe instead of searching myself for my own beliefs. Later, I was driving my son in the car and I just had this overwhelming sense of dread about the fact that I don’t believe what our church preaches. It was then that I considered the fact that the Catholic Church, as far as I know, does line up with my beliefs. So why am I not going there, instead of where we’re going now? Or at least looking into it? I felt a sense of peace about it. I have since read “If Protestantism Is True” (which there is a big thread going on in this forum if you want to know more, though the end of it has gone off in a different tangent…) and that book really solidified my decision. I highly recommend it to anyone who is having doubts about Protestantism. I will be attending an RCIA program this fall and getting our 1 1/2 year old son baptized in the Catholic Church as soon as I decide which of the three in our town I like best.

I have read that thread and recognized your story right away. It’s very memorable. Thank you for sharing it here, too. You’ve inspired me to get that book so that I can lend it out to those on the fence… Thank you

 

[LaughingBoy1503]

After many years of not even going to church, I started attending a Lutheran Church.
I noticed on their webpage that they changed some of their doctrine in the early 1900’s after a so called “Spiritual awakening” So in other words, they now believed that even the original Lutheran reformers were incorrect in some of their doctrine.

This got me thinking. I though “So anyone can just start a new church with new doctrine just because they claimed to have had a spiritual awakening”? This did not seem right, nor did participating in it seem right to me. I started wondering just how different all these new churches were from the early Church. I was curious as to which denomination was infact the closest to the early church. I knew that The Catholic Church was older than any protestant church, so I decided I better do my rearch. Now God willing, I will be comming home next Easter

 

[CleverUserName]

I was in 8th grade. We were in a class doing “values clarification”. since I was raised in a liberal Methodist home, I thought abortion was ok. The subject of Abortion came up and whether there should be any exceptions such as rape and incest. A friend of mine, a Catholic boy argued rather passionately that abortion is always wrong even in rape and incest. he said that the child conceived in such manner should not be punished or killed for the way he/she was conceived. At the time, I was incredulous but deep inside of me, I knew he was correct. and that was my moment in 8th grade in the 1970’s.

The second moment was at college in a course called Christianity. It was taught by a liberal protestant theologian and explored the 3 branches of Christianity (Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant) from each of their points of views. The subject of Mary came up and at the time being a charismatic protestant I did not believe a number of the doctrines about mary especially the ever virgin part. This professor and I will never forget it said with a sigh that all the earliest Christian writers supported this belief about Mary. he meant the very first teachers and writers and that Catholic and Orthodox have always believed and taught this. At the time I felt a very deep OH NO and started to rethink my view about our Blessed Mother. From this course, I learned about early Christian beliefs and history and acceptance of them.

What experiences you had in school settings!!! And God bless the young passionate Catholic boy who didn’t fear speaking out on abortion. Great story, Rob, thanks!

 

[CleverUserName]

At JPII funeral:

While I was watching this historical world event, I realized that this was about a Catholic, a priest, a bishop of even a pope who had died.

This public figure, this global “celebrity” /leader, was an authentic and credible disciple of Christ, or tried to be in the best way he knew how.

The healed some old and deep wounds. My trust in God was renewed.

WOW Marie… how he’d love that his death contributed somehow to your conversion…

 

[CleverUserName]

My Dad had a Catholic neighbor who never missed mass. She walked 5 miles to Church in all weather conditions. This impressed my father. It was the reason he converted.

That is inspirational for sure. Thanks for sharing!

 

[CleverUserName]

I grew up church of Christ but I always felt like I didn’t belong, I always joke now saying that I was a “Biological Catholic” bc I always had the urge to make the sign of the cross, and believed in Mary’s perpetual virginity, an wondered why we didn’t pay more attention to her, and I always believed in the real presence in our communion.

I actually had two aha moments

My first moment came whenever I went to a Catholic Mass. I always noticed how I felt at home and comforted and was really really ready to take the Eucharist

My second and big aha moment came when I was riding back from St. Louis, I had been out of the church of Christ for a couple of years and had looked through everything including Eastern and Oriental Orthodox. At this point I had been in the Anglo-Catholic for a few months. I was reading the book Four Witnesses: The Early Church in Her Own Words, and was reading the part where St. Justin Martyr was describing the liturgy and I yelled out that’s what we said at Mass every Sunday!! I then decided that I could not be apart of a breakaway of a breakaway of a breakaway church, so then I decided it ha to be the Catholic Church.

Now whenever I leave confession or Mass I always feel myself getting this little smile on my face and I always thank God that I am home and that I belong to Christ’s Holy, Cathollic, Church.

“Biological Catholic”- love it!!!
"Breakaway of a breakaway of a breakaway church… " also very well put. I’m glad you’re still smiling

 

[CleverUserName]

I had been watching EWTN and reading some Catholic books. I remember when I read John 6 I thought, how is it that I never read this chapter before? A friend and I used to walk inside our protestant church during the winter months and one Monday I noticed that the leftover communion bread had been dumped into the garbage can outside of the restrooms. That’s when it really hit me that my church, which claimed to be Bible based, totally disregarded Jesus words in John 6. Shortly after that I joined RCIA and swam the Tiber in 2006.

God bless you for knowing how wrong this was!

 

[CleverUserName]

After many years of not even going to church, I started attending a Lutheran Church.
I noticed on their webpage that they changed some of their doctrine in the early 1900’s after a so called “Spiritual awakening” So in other words, they now believed that even the original Lutheran reformers were incorrect in some of their doctrine.

This got me thinking. I though “So anyone can just start a new church with new doctrine just because they claimed to have had a spiritual awakening”? This did not seem right, nor did participating in it seem right to me. I started wondering just how different all these new churches were from the early Church. I was curious as to which denomination was infact the closest to the early church. I knew that The Catholic Church was older than any protestant church, so I decided I better do my rearch. Now God willing, I will be comming home next Easter

Awesome!! Easter 2013 will be your best ever