CONVERTS, do you have a moment?

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andrewstx said:
Just as an aside I find the very word “convert” offencive. I much prefer Catholic by choice.

So many times being called convert makes one seem like a second class Catholic. I was rejected by a religous congregation for not being born Catholic.

Yet most of us know more about the faith than poorly catechised cradle Catholics.
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That’s horrible. I just don’t understand how anyone can treat someone that way.

Personally, I prefer to be called a convert. Until recently I was a Protestant Christian of strong faith. Now I’m a Catholic Christian of strong faith. I don’t like the term revert b/c I wasn’t a Catholic who fell away from the faith and came back. Based on your experience I can understand why you don’t like the term convert. I prefer that someone know that I’m a newbie and still learning everything I can about the faith.

I agree that some of us know more about the faith than poorly catechized cradle Catholics. I’ve been told a number of times that I know more than those who went through RCIA or were brought up in the faith. I still have a lot to learn.
 
Oh and another thing about religous that some may not know. People who take solemn vows regardless of gender live in monasteries.

People who take simple vows live in convents regardless of gender.

So you can have men in convents, and women in monasterties.
 
CleverUserName said:
No problem!

I love hearing about scapulars. I have a green one in someone’s pillow case right now…

You can wear it yourself, if you like. But if it’s for someone else, put it in their house or belongings.
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Thank you.
 
andrewstx said:
No it was a Catholic religous community of brothers, when you don’t take solemn vows you are in a congregation, not an order.

It was a Franciscan community not part of OFM, it was one of the many third order congregations.
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How long were you Catholic at that point? Because it is common for religious communities to ask converts to wait for a few years before they can join.
 
The thing was it was an extremely conservative German Congregation. They were very picky about who they took.

It was only in the 70s they addimitted any Americans at all, and the first were german americans. This was in the early 80s when I was a postulant 6 months and then told to go back home. They gave no reason other than I did not get enough votes in chapter.
 
My wife and I haven’t officially ‘converted’ in that we haven’t signed up for RCIA classes yet but in our hearts we have embraced Catholicism. For me, my moment was the first time I went to Mass. We were there on the invitation of a dear friend who like us, had removed himself from the Pentecostal Charismatic movement. The moment we walked into the nave at Sts. Peter and Paul, I was drawn by the Holy Spirit to pray and repent. Every time we have attended since then has been the same. My prayer life has dramatically improved since then, and I owe it to being exposed to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. We have had several meetings with the parish priest, who has been patient, kind, and very detailed in his presentation of what Catholicism consists of. He has also been working with us to get previous marriages annulled so that we can enter the Church. Long story short, we felt like we were at home the first time we walked in, even though we only knew one person there. I can’t imagine wanting to attend anywhere else.
 
andrewstx said:
Just as an aside I find the very word “convert” offencive. I much prefer Catholic by choice.
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While in real life I do not advertise the fact in my parish or when talking to other Catholics that I’m a convert (just realised that LOL), I don’t mind the term, and when talking to Protestants or atheists I actually like to say that I’m an adult convert because some people think only people who have blind faith or are born into Catholicism are Catholic. 😛 And then I hope they will ask me why on earth I became Catholic. 🙂

However, the vicar general who confirmed me objected to the term “convert” because he said we ALL should be converting, or turning to God, every day, all the time.
andrewstx said:
The thing was it was an extremely conservative German Congregation. They were very picky about who they took.

It was only in the 70s they addimitted any Americans at all, and the first were german americans. This was in the early 80s when I was a postulant 6 months and then told to go back home. They gave no reason other than I did not get enough votes in chapter.
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So actually you don’t know the reason, and it may not have been that you were a convert. This is the right of the group, as I understand it, to choose whom they accept because after all you would be living in community.
I am sorry that you felt rejected. Perhaps you could have tried another order?
 
andrewstx said:
Oh and another thing about religous that some may not know. People who take solemn vows regardless of gender live in monasteries.

People who take simple vows live in convents regardless of gender.

So you can have men in convents, and women in monasterties.
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Actually, in the Catholic Church, those who belong to Religious** Orders** make solemn vows, but not all of them live in monasteries. The Dominicans, Franciscans, and Jesuits come to mind. The Society of Jesus was the last religious order approved by the Pope.

Those who make simple vows usually belong to Religious Congregations. They may or may not live in convents.
 
andrewstx said:
Oh and another thing about religous that some may not know. People who take solemn vows regardless of gender live in monasteries.

People who take simple vows live in convents regardless of gender.

So you can have men in convents, and women in monasterties.
Click to expand...
Actually, in the Catholic Church, those who belong to Religious** Orders** make solemn vows, but not all of them live in monasteries. The Dominicans, Franciscans, and Jesuits come to mind. The Society of Jesus was the last religious order approved by the Pope.

Those who make simple vows usually belong to Religious Congregations. They may or may not live in convents.
 
andrewstx said:
They gave no reason other than I did not get enough votes in chapter.
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I’ve heard that some religious communities vote when it comes to taking new people in. You can only guess why you didn’t make it. Maybe they had specific criteria in mind and for some reason you were not a good fit.
 
Contra_Mundum said:
I’ve heard that some religious communities vote when it comes to taking new people in. You can only guess why you didn’t make it. Maybe they had specific criteria in mind and for some reason you were not a good fit.
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Yes, this is how it’s done. No community is obliged to take anyone they feel will not fit into it for whatever reason they might determine. It’s like joining a family. One is going to be a permanent member, so the community needs to be sure the person will be a good match for that community. This should not discourage anyone from seeking a religious vocation. Another community might be a better fit. 🙂
 
andrewstx said:
Just as an aside I find the very word “convert” offencive. I much prefer Catholic by choice.

So many times being called convert makes one seem like a second class Catholic. I was rejected by a religous congregation for not being born Catholic.

Yet most of us know more about the faith than poorly catechised cradle Catholics.
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You can have your preference, but I object to it seeming like a second class of Catholic.

The term tells us of the choice made and of having the courage to make it.

This makes the term convert in reference to someone in the Catholic church worthy of high esteem.

I am proud of those around me that are converts to the faith, and believe it a badge worth wearing and telling others of.

It is appalling that a catholic would be such a bigot against someone that freely chose the faith. Perhaps they were jealous?
 
CleverUserName said:
Sometimes it’s not passionate theological debates that shifts the position of people who are against Catholicism. Sometimes it’s just a poignant…moment.

Will you share yours?

Example: I was a new Christian, going from church to church, never fully comfortable in any. I was studying scripture voraciously. My Reformed Episcopal Priest said to me, in conversation : “I love Protestant theology”. :newidea: That was a “moment” for me, when something shifted. Because I realized at that very moment the crux of my problem: I did NOT love Protestant theology. This sent me in an entirely new direction…

That was a very significant moment for me personally.

Please, folks, this is not a place for debate or judgment. I would just really love to hear your “moments” when something shifted…

Thank you in advance for sharing.

God bless
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I’m not a convert, but I have had 3 conversions or “moments”.

My first conversion was during a time that I had been praying for physical healing and realized that God was calling me to return to Church to pray and to worship Him as part of the community of faithful. I was not worshipping God in the Church community sense and just showing up for weddings, funerals and baptisms, etc.

My second conversion was during a Romans Bible study after reading chapter 2 verses 2-5and stumbling across or actually God placed in my path, His faithful servant, Saint Padre Pio, I realized I needed to repent and I was led into the confessional where my relationship with God and His Church was restored.

My third conversion I was doing a healing prayer retreat and received my baptism in the Holy Spirit or I guess you can call it “slain in the spirit”. I realize now God’s plan for me is to be part of His Church in service to Him to edify His Church and the members of the Church and to always glorify Him in all things.
 
I have read and enjoyed every post in this line It has been very uplifting.
 
catholickat4 said:
I had a few different light-bulb moments, but one is a short enough story to fit nicely into this thread:

I was sitting in a Lutheran Service, listening to our pastor give his sermon. My ears perked up when he said the words: “…because Truth doesn’t change.”

Now he was probably talking about why this particular sect had split from that particular sect when the more liberal of the two had slid towards acceptance of homosexuality or whatever. Splintering on and on over different viewpoints on different issues.

But when he said “Truth doesn’t change” I just said to myself “Then, what in the world am I doing here??”

You know, llike go back to the beginning…before Truth was edited and edited and edited, forty million different ways, by MAN!

I am surprised I didn’t walk out right then and there.

(I’m sure that was not the effect the pastor was going for with that as his sermon theme. LOL!..But you would think he could see the bigger picture of what he was saying. ?? If it is true for two steps away, it is true for two hundred steps away from the original.)🙂
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I had a similar experience…I was already starting to attend Mass and looking forward to RCIA, so it wasn’t a moment that “converted” me, but it made me want to just “walk out right then and there” (I didn’t, of course).

I attended my niece’s dedication service at her/my family’s Baptist church (I’d already attended an early Mass that Sunday) and the pastor talked for an hour about the sin of Korah who thought he could “do religion” under his own authority while ditching the authority assigned by God, Moses. He compared it to I’ll-do-it-myself Christians who shun ecclesial authorities like pastors and good teachers. Of course I was busy comparing the story to the pastor’s non-relationship to Rome…didn’t tell him so, though. :o
 
I was attededing a non- denominational church for 10 years and we were all talking about the most holy people we personally new. I mentioned a catholic person I knew.

The lead pastors brother yelled at the top his voice
Catholics are not Christians
The catholic church is a cult.
It hit me like a ton of bricks I was in a bad place.

I have a habbit of documenting many things and always take notes then I went back through my notes of 7 years of lectures and was astonished what I was learning compared to what was actually in the bible

Thank you catholic answers
 
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