CONVERTS, do you have a moment?

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SecretaryMonday said:
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
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It’s crazy how people don’t see that they participate in do-it-yourself religion. Maybe you could write to him one day and tell him how his story sealed the deal for your decision to find the Truth.
 
jmcrae said:
In one of those debates where I was on the side that was saying, you can belong to any Church, Jesus doesn’t care, as long as you trust Him, someone posted, “One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church,” - just that, nothing else - and I realized in a moment of clarity that he was right. That was my moment.

But I had been building up to it for nearly two decades of interaction with Catholics, and attendance at Mass. (I knew right from the beginning that Sunday Mass attendance was essential for my soul, but I didn’t understand why, and I didn’t see the need to actually be a Catholic in order to do so.)
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WOW. Just plain wow!
Loved your “moment”. Thanks for sharing!
 
Sojourner61 said:
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.
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Beautiful, beautiful…

Welcome Home.
 
GraceSofia said:
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. 🙂
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👍

This is how I feel
 
peace2u2 said:
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.
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Sounds like you’ve had some very powerful moments.
You and I share a love of Padre Pio.
Thanks for sharing your story.
 
SecretaryMonday said:
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
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LOL!

“Pot…meet kettle…Kettle, met pot…”

God bless the pastor who drove you Home!
 
CleverUserName said:
God bless the pastor who drove you Home!
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It war’n’t really his fault. A lot of pastors played a part in that. 😉

Like Rev. Charles Spurgeon’s “Morning and Evening” book of daily devotions. One of the readings demanded that the reader cleanse his house at once of any hint of Catholicism; so I gave away a vigil candle and one or two little ‘Catholic-y’ items, but I told him, “If you think I’m getting rid of G.K. Chesterton, you thought wrong.” Then I decided that my room wasn’t big enough for the two of them, so Spurgeon eventually got reassigned to a new home. :o (I don’t want the library to start getting cranky because some books won’t get along. Of course, sometimes books get along TOO well, and start multiplying beyond the allotted space for shelving…)
 
SecretaryMonday;9491807 (I don’t want the library to start getting cranky because some books won’t get along. Of course said:
My books had that problem. When I moved I had over 500 paperbacks that I donated. I guess they weren’t practicing NFP.😃
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When my Baptist pastor announced to the Sunday gathering…" I simply do not believe that Christ drank wine…" That started me down the road to the Church but it wasn’t exactly a short road as I had a lot of reading to do.🙂
 
I was raised quasi-Protestant and my family have said bad things about the Catholics all of my life.

When I was 25 I started believing in God and started attending several different churches, mostly charismatic ones. I was always bothered that there were so many different denominations and that the theology seemed to be without rules and kind if wishy washy. I had a list of things my family would bad mouth about the RCC, such as they worship a dead woman (Mary), they believe you can buy people out of purgatory, they worship idols, etc, etc. But there were things I had always been attracted to about the RCC so in January of 2010 I made an appointment to see the priest at one of the promiment CC in my city to ask him about all of my questions.

Everything he said made sense to me and then I entered RCIA and started reading. I became Catholic on April 7 2012 and am very happy with my decision, although I just can’t talk about it with my brother…he is always telling me that the church is full of cover ups and lying, bad popes, etc, etc.

But so far I am happy with my choice. My mother always used to bad mouth how grand and ornate our churches are, that they should be plain, and my brother made a biting comment about “seeing how you have now turned yourself over to the Grand Majesty of the CC.”

I love how grand and ornate the churches are, and love the rules, rituals, etc. I feel like I could spend 20 years in the religion and still be learning. 😃
 
pismopal said:
When my Baptist pastor announced to the Sunday gathering…" I simply do not believe that Christ drank wine…" That started me down the road to the Church but it wasn’t exactly a short road as I had a lot of reading to do.🙂
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Another pastor paves the way 👍
 
jenwha said:
I was raised quasi-Protestant and my family have said bad things about the Catholics all of my life.

When I was 25 I started believing in God and started attending several different churches, mostly charismatic ones. I was always bothered that there were so many different denominations and that the theology seemed to be without rules and kind if wishy washy. I had a list of things my family would bad mouth about the RCC, such as they worship a dead woman (Mary), they believe you can buy people out of purgatory, they worship idols, etc, etc. But there were things I had always been attracted to about the RCC so in January of 2010 I made an appointment to see the priest at one of the promiment CC in my city to ask him about all of my questions.

Everything he said made sense to me and then I entered RCIA and started reading. I became Catholic on April 7 2012 and am very happy with my decision, although I just can’t talk about it with my brother…he is always telling me that the church is full of cover ups and lying, bad popes, etc, etc.

But so far I am happy with my choice. My mother always used to bad mouth how grand and ornate our churches are, that they should be plain, and my brother made a biting comment about “seeing how you have now turned yourself over to the Grand Majesty of the CC.”

I love how grand and ornate the churches are, and love the rules, rituals, etc. I feel like I could spend 20 years in the religion and still be learning. 😃
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Welcome home.
I am proud of you for pursuing this in such an anti-Catholic atmosphere. Thanks for sharing your story.
 
I went to an Evangelical Christian college, and considered myself Evangelical. I had this professor of medieval history who challenged me to read some Aquinas and Bonaventure when I bashed Catholicism in his class.

I developed a taste for liturgy and went to an Anglican Church for a while, still not wanting to take the jump into Catholicism because of the Mary dogmas. I was baptized and married in the Anglican tradition. “I will become Catholic when they stop worshiping Mary” I would tell my wife at the time.

After graduation, my wife and I moved. I checked out all the protestant churches in my new area. Something just felt like it was lacking. Finally I agreed to attend a Catholic church. I was sitting in the back, and this guy came up and asked if I would bring up the wine for consecration during that time in the Mass. I told him that I was not Catholic, only curious. He said, not to worry, all are welcome here. During the Gloria, I wept. I knew that I was finally home. I joined RCIA and was received into the Church in 2008. That singing of the Gloria was my “moment” I suppose.

5 years ago, I wrote to my professor telling him how the Pope is the antichrist, and Catholics worship Mary. Now, as I write this, I am wearing a Brown Scapular.
 
Augustus24 said:
I went to an Evangelical Christian college, and considered myself Evangelical. I had this professor of medieval history who challenged me to read some Aquinas and Bonaventure when I bashed Catholicism in his class.

I developed a taste for liturgy and went to an Anglican Church for a while, still not wanting to take the jump into Catholicism because of the Mary dogmas. I was baptized and married in the Anglican tradition. “I will become Catholic when they stop worshiping Mary” I would tell my wife at the time.

After graduation, my wife and I moved. I checked out all the protestant churches in my new area. Something just felt like it was lacking. Finally I agreed to attend a Catholic church. I was sitting in the back, and this guy came up and asked if I would bring up the wine for consecration during that time in the Mass. I told him that I was not Catholic, only curious. He said, not to worry, all are welcome here. During the Gloria, I wept. I knew that I was finally home. I joined RCIA and was received into the Church in 2008. That singing of the Gloria was my “moment” I suppose.

5 years ago, I wrote to my professor telling him how the Pope is the antichrist, and Catholics worship Mary. Now, as I write this, I am wearing a Brown Scapular.
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What a wonderful and inspiring story. The Holy Spirit has such power to bring us “skeptics” to the Truth. Isn’t it wonderful to be Home?

Lisa
 
Augustus24 said:
5 years ago, I wrote to my professor telling him how the Pope is the antichrist, and Catholics worship Mary. Now, as I write this, I am wearing a Brown Scapular.
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Stories such as this give me hope that one day my wife will be Catholic.
 
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