CONVERTS, do you have a moment?

[JoyfulAlpaca]

I had a few different “moments”. My process of conversion started in 2008 when I was attending my Lutheran Great Grandmother’s funeral. That was the first time I remember feeling what I now believe to be the presence of the Holy Spirit. I then processed to go about things the wrong way and explored various protestant church and even talked to Mormon missionaries because there was NO WAY I was ever going to become Catholic (haha). But, to my chagrin didn’t find that feeling that I so deeply needed to feel again at the time of the funeral. I would then spend the next few years believing in God, but drifting with no real direction. It wouldn’t be until Labor Day of last year that I would feel that presence again until I went to my other Great Grandmother’s Funeral Mass. For some reason I was very resistant in the beginning, but over time my heart began to soften to the idea of becoming Catholic. I started attending Mass but not without doubt. You see I had to make sure that I was making the right decision to make such a serious commitment. By making this commitment this was me announcing to the world that entirely accepted the churches teachings. So, I attended an Episcopalian church, a Non-Denominational church, and an Orthodox Church. Once again I didn’t find what I was looking for. I attended Easter Mass for the first time this year and well, the rest is history. In my opinion the Catholic Church is the most beautiful, sacred, and truthful church in the universe.

 

[CleverUserName]

I had the same experience at the Methodist church. Communion was only once a month and very casual. You’d walk up the aisle, chatting to friends and then take a square of Wonder Bread and a thimblefull of grape juice, toss it back and return to your pew. I don’t think much was said, maybe “God bless you” as the communion was handed over.

I remember thinking “what’s the big deal” with Catholics and Communion. Now I know.

Lisa

 

[CleverUserName]

An extra credit assignment in my NT Class when I was in college and then from there I visited a parish and was utterly amazed at how it looked like the stained glass, candles, incense, etc.

Yes, what beauty…

 

[CleverUserName]

I had a few different “moments”. My process of conversion started in 2008 when I was attending my Lutheran Great Grandmother’s funeral. That was the first time I remember feeling what I now believe to be the presence of the Holy Spirit. I then processed to go about things the wrong way and explored various protestant church and even talked to Mormon missionaries because there was NO WAY I was ever going to become Catholic (haha). But, to my chagrin didn’t find that feeling that I so deeply needed to feel again at the time of the funeral. I would then spend the next few years believing in God, but drifting with no real direction. It wouldn’t be until Labor Day of last year that I would feel that presence again until I went to my other Great Grandmother’s Funeral Mass. For some reason I was very resistant in the beginning, but over time my heart began to soften to the idea of becoming Catholic. I started attending Mass but not without doubt. You see I had to make sure that I was making the right decision to make such a serious commitment. By making this commitment this was me announcing to the world that entirely accepted the churches teachings. So, I attended an Episcopalian church, a Non-Denominational church, and an Orthodox Church. Once again I didn’t find what I was looking for. I attended Easter Mass for the first time this year and well, the rest is history. In my opinion the Catholic Church is the most beautiful, sacred, and truthful church in the universe.

Awesome. I’m glad your drifting is over and you’ve come ashore for good

 

[Bill670]

I had several aha moments-all of them a long time ago. A high school history class assigned me Quo Vadis and reading that opened my heart to a serious consideration of Christianity. My Catholic English teacher spoke of the political considerations in the rise of English Protestantism which was different than what I had been told at the church (Congregational) that I had been attending.Then I noticed the ads that the K of C used to put in newspapers ( this was in 1951 ) to explain misconceptions about Catholic beliefs-such as " Fr Smith instructs Jackson that Catholic do not worship Mary." I found these series very enlightening and looked forward to reading them. Then I discovered The Catholic Digest and was charmed by the warm family life stories in them. Particularly, I noticed a section that they had, “The Open Door” which told short stories of converts to Catholicism. This was another aha moment as I had never heard of anyone changing religions.That put the idea in my head and as I liked what I saw of Catholicism,I started to think of it.Then I read an article in the Reader’s Digest " The Catholic Viewpoint on Contraception." The article made sense; I saw that Catholics can have reasonable positions. Another moment was when the Congregationalists had a lecture " Why am I Protestant?" I remember thinking that “If you’re going to keep me Protestant, this better be good! It wasn’t ;so on March 29, 1952 I said I’d give myself a year to consider the arguments. A year later I was convinced but my mother wouldn’t let me convert so I had to wait until I turned eighteen. Those were the days before R.C.I.A. so I took instruction from a priest going over the Baltimore Catechism. I still have my copy. He also gave me Faith of Our Fathers by Cardinal Gibbons. That sealed the deal for me. I also read John Stoddard’s " Rebuilding a Lost Faith;” the story of a Congregational minister who lost his faith and later found it in Catholicism. This gave me a lot of the dirt on Luther and Calvin that I never heard before. All these moments, of course, were gifts of the Holy Spirit for which I am very thankful.My true spiritual birthday was when I was baptized ( I had never been baptized before) as a Catholic on Nov. 30, 1953! Deo Gracias!!

 

[minkymurph]

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

My moment was discovering Christ was the Incarnate God. Total change of direction after that.

 

[Bill670]

Opps! I forgot one important aha moment.We used to play sandlot football in the late days of summer. One of our main players couldn’t come out and play until he said the rosary with Archbishop Cushing on the radio-which didn’t start until 7:00 p.m. At first I was annoyed but gradually I came to respect his piety. When I became more interested in becoming a Catholic, I thought to myself, “I’ll have to learn the rosary.” So I found the radio station he listened to and every day I would listen to it ,pencil in hand, and write down the mysteries ( only fifteen then ) and the Archbishop’s thought for each meditation before each mystery I still remember most of those thoughts. I said the rosary before and while taking instructions and I’m sure Our Lady’s help pulled me over the goal line

 

[mlz]

I had a few different “moments”. My process of conversion started in 2008 when I was attending my Lutheran Great Grandmother’s funeral. That was the first time I remember feeling what I now believe to be the presence of the Holy Spirit. I then processed to go about things the wrong way and explored various protestant church and even talked to Mormon missionaries because there was NO WAY I was ever going to become Catholic (haha). But, to my chagrin didn’t find that feeling that I so deeply needed to feel again at the time of the funeral. I would then spend the next few years believing in God, but drifting with no real direction. It wouldn’t be until Labor Day of last year that I would feel that presence again until I went to my other Great Grandmother’s Funeral Mass. For some reason I was very resistant in the beginning, but over time my heart began to soften to the idea of becoming Catholic. I started attending Mass but not without doubt. You see I had to make sure that I was making the right decision to make such a serious commitment. By making this commitment this was me announcing to the world that entirely accepted the churches teachings. So, I attended an Episcopalian church, a Non-Denominational church, and an Orthodox Church. Once again I didn’t find what I was looking for. I attended Easter Mass for the first time this year and well, the rest is history. In my opinion the CatholiChurch is the most beautiful, sacred, and truthful church in the universe.

Amen!!!
Z

 

[jbelaguas]

Call me re-converting. A re-communion with the Catholic Church.

I grew up a cradle Catholic, like most Filipinos. Went to church, but never really understood what it meant to accept Christ, His grace, and make Him a part of my life. I saw church mostly as a social thing and otherwise a drag.

Really came “into terms with my faith” first and second year in college, where I got involved with this group called Intervarsity fellowship. We did traditional Bible study, and despite being a mainly Protestant/evangelical organization, I’ve met godly (and well, the not-so-godly) people in the fellowship, took the step to “have a relationship with God” and slowly but surely started to dedicate my life to Him.

I’ve recently been immersing myself into theology, and well, Catholic theology and the issue of justification caught my eye. Took a look into Calvinist and Lutheran views and kind of rejected them. The Catholic point of view made more sense, seeing as I believe the whole “process” of receiving His grace is happening to me right now. Then I look at some of the faulty leadership within the New Calvinist movement and the dissonance within Protestant denominations and was easily convinced that it was not for me anymore. Then read into strictly Catholic practices and traditions and pretty much concluded that the Catholic faith is most consistent to the Gospel (and the Bible in general).

I was lucky enough to have been baptized at birth. Now, I’ve been seeing what it all really means.

I’m a cerebral scholar at heart and I’ve been exposed to a lot of apologetics. I have a soft spot for people not in communion with the church and I hope that God leads them into the fullness of faith that is the one, holy, true Catholic and apostolic church.

 

[fred_conty]

I had a few different “moments”. My process of conversion started in 2008 when I was attending my Lutheran Great Grandmother’s funeral. That was the first time I remember feeling what I now believe to be the presence of the Holy Spirit. I then processed to go about things the wrong way and explored various protestant church and even talked to Mormon missionaries because there was NO WAY I was ever going to become Catholic (haha). But, to my chagrin didn’t find that feeling that I so deeply needed to feel again at the time of the funeral. I would then spend the next few years believing in God, but drifting with no real direction. It wouldn’t be until Labor Day of last year that I would feel that presence again until I went to my other Great Grandmother’s Funeral Mass. For some reason I was very resistant in the beginning, but over time my heart began to soften to the idea of becoming Catholic. I started attending Mass but not without doubt. You see I had to make sure that I was making the right decision to make such a serious commitment. By making this commitment this was me announcing to the world that entirely accepted the churches teachings. So, I attended an Episcopalian church, a Non-Denominational church, and an Orthodox Church. Once again I didn’t find what I was looking for. I attended Easter Mass for the first time this year and well, the rest is history. In my opinion the Catholic Church is the most beautiful, sacred, and truthful church in the universe.

Your great grandmother’s prayers may well have been the reason the Holy Spirit gave you sight to see. Our prayers are always answered but some take years. I’m sure she is terribly happy for you.

Praise to the Holy Spirit our guide in life.

 

[cmforte]

I think I had a few"moments."

One was realizing that if I was going to accept any form of organized Christianity, then why not the Catholic Church? Sure, it has and still has it’s problems (to put it mildly), but any Earthly institution led and made up of humans (even if divinely created) will. So why not? I wrote this as a facebook note at facebook.com/chris.mforte#!/notes/chris-forte/why-i-am-a-catholic/122333521139955 :

Ultimately I became a Catholic because I used to be against organized religion. “How can innately sinful humans rule God’s church? Or speak for God? I have the Scriptures, that is all I need”.

I found some people who thought like me. So I fantasized once of us meeting in the mountains and worshiping Jesus Christ our own way, with prayer and the Lord’s Supper, the whole shot. Then I started thinking about how we would ORGANIZE the event. Who would be in charge of what. Who would preach, who would bring the food, etc. and etc…My thinking led me to the logical conclusion that we would be organized, we would be an organized religion! Uh, oh!

That is the only logical conclusion. Who studies the Scriptures and preaches on them? Who owns and maintains a church building or office? Who runs the outreach ministries? Keeps the books? Once you start something, even a religion or church, the only logical conclusion is that it must be and may naturally become ORGANIZED.

Ok…so if I am going to accept organized religion, then why not join the Catholic Church? After all, it is the most organized of them all. Which is partly why I hated it so much. And that human organization led to sin and corruption…yet, I know now that a religion or church must be organized. And I also know that according to the Gospel, all humans are sinners so it shouldn’t be a shock that there is sin and corruption in an organized religion or church. For all the Lutherans talk about an “invisible church,” the fact is that in this world, a church is visible. This, coupled with some theology and history as written below, led me to the Roman Catholic Church.

Another moment was when I was studying with my former Lutheran pastor and I could not find in the Bible “Bible alone,” or “faith alone,” except where it says, “not by faith alone.” (At which point my pastor went to get Luther’s Small Catechism to help explain it to me…so much for “Sola Scriptura”!! lol)

As explained in another thread, I also had a “moment” when I tried to explain Catholic theology and ritual to my Lutheran congregation at Bible study to show why it was all wrong and I was becoming Lutheran instead, but ended up believing and agreeing with everything I was trying to explain as being wrong!!

And, finally, when I again (because I already kind of knew) remembered Church history, particularly before A.D. 1500!!

I don’t mean to start a debate on anything in my post, those were just my “moments”. I’m sure some non-Catholics, particulalry Lutherans, might take issue with this. However, I still have much love and respect for my Lutheran brethren, especially as my whloe family on my mom’s side were Lutherans for generations and even one of the original founders of a Lutheran church here in California. So please don’t think I’m bashing Lutherans!!

-Chris

 

[dal61]

May I add to my earlier post?..Last week I was trying to decide whether to sign up for RCIA this year or wait until next year to go through…and had the chance to run into a friend (more of an aquaintance) that is a Lutheran pastor…I don’t know him well, but really respect him…so I asked if he would have lunch and discuss some things (he is not my pastor, so I figured he might have a more objective view, but still I was expecting him to point out why the Catholic Church was not the thing to pursue)…We met yesterday and well, to my suprise, he used to be Catholic!..and still very much loves the Church! My jaw about hit the table… He told me if it were not for celibacy and maybe an issue he had w/ purgatory, he probably would have become a priest. Currently one of his spiritual advisers is a Catholic priest…and he goes on a yearly retreat to a monastary (which he could not say enough about)… Although he advised me to continue to explore and give it a year …his attitude toward the Faith was so positive, that it was really, really encouraging for me.

My wife and I probably will wait until next year for RCIA…I’ve got 2 daughters currently exploring Catholicism and I’d love for us all to go through together…but we’ll see.

 

[LisaA]

May I add to my earlier post?..Last week I was trying to decide whether to sign up for RCIA this year or wait until next year to go through…and had the chance to run into a friend (more of an aquaintance) that is a Lutheran pastor…I don’t know him well, but really respect him…so I asked if he would have lunch and discuss some things (he is not my pastor, so I figured he might have a more objective view, but still I was expecting him to point out why the Catholic Church was not the thing to pursue)…We met yesterday and well, to my suprise, he used to be Catholic!..and still very much loves the Church! My jaw about hit the table… He told me if it were not for celibacy and maybe an issue he had w/ purgatory, he probably would have become a priest. Currently one of his spiritual advisers is a Catholic priest…and he goes on a yearly retreat to a monastary (which he could not say enough about)… Although he advised me to continue to explore and give it a year …his attitude toward the Faith was so positive, that it was really, really encouraging for me.

My wife and I probably will wait until next year for RCIA…I’ve got 2 daughters currently exploring Catholicism and I’d love for us all to go through together…but we’ll see.

You know I would really encourage you to explore this year. Often there is an early and informal meeting (we have a potluck and invite last year’s class) so you can get to know people and ask questions in a less intimidating setting. You can even start the process and if you decide this isn’t the year, there is absolutely NO reason you can’t return next year. I have found many of our RCIA classes wish they hadn’t waited so long! The more they learn about the Church the more they want to be received as full members of the body of Christ.

BTW speak to the Religious Education director at the Parish. Sometimes young people are included in RCIA rather than going through the track for children. We’ve had several teens in the past and last year had three siblings, twin girls age 14 and their younger brother age 10. There were some challenges but it was important that the family stay together during the process.

Again, there is no obligation. Just make inquiries and decide what works for you and your family

Lisa

 

[GraceSofia]

You know I would really encourage you to explore this year. Often there is an early and informal meeting (we have a potluck and invite last year’s class) so you can get to know people and ask questions in a less intimidating setting. You can even start the process and if you decide this isn’t the year, there is absolutely NO reason you can’t return next year.
Lisa

Lisa,
I have a quick question which I hope won’t derail the thread. If a person went through all the RCIA classes but just wasn’t sure they could commit and then decided after say 9 months that they wanted to become Catholic, would they have to do the year (or season) of RCIA classes again?

 

[LisaA]

Lisa,
I have a quick question which I hope won’t derail the thread. If a person went through all the RCIA classes but just wasn’t sure they could commit and then decided after say 9 months that they wanted to become Catholic, would they have to do the year (or season) of RCIA classes again?

I can’t speak for all RCIA programs but ours would not make you repeat the year before becoming Catholic. We have had several people go through the entire year, decide they did not want to enter the Church that year. But the following year they were ready. By choice they did attend some of the sessions and of course they had to go through the Rites that they didn’t accept the previous year, have a sponsor and the rest of the requirements.

We also had someone who started and got about halfway through before a work commitment forced him to drop out. He returned the following year and participated in the sessions he’d missed, then came into the Church.

I would definitely ask the director of the RCIA program because I suspect most are like ours, taking it case by case but not being so procedure oriented they made them take all classes etc.

Lisa

 

[GraceSofia]

Lisa, that is good to know. Thanks.

 

[Weary_Pilgrim]

I was a Mormon turned Protestant (Calvinist) and a friend loaned me “How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization” by Tom Woods. I only borrowed it because I like Tom Woods Austrian economics writings (I didn’t know he was Catholic) and love history. My intention was to not offend my friend and browse through it so I could say I gave it a shot. Wow! I plowed through that book in a couple of days! It was so interesting and thought provoking! I realized that I had a myriad of presuppositions about Catholicism that I needed to seriously address or I would never have peace of mind. I was baptized a couple of years later

 

[GraceSofia]

I was a Mormon turned Protestant (Calvinist) and a friend loaned me “How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization” by Tom Woods. I only borrowed it because I like Tom Woods Austrian economics writings (I didn’t know he was Catholic) and love history. My intention was to not offend my friend and browse through it so I could say I gave it a shot. Wow! I plowed through that book in a couple of days! It was so interesting and thought provoking! I realized that I had a myriad of presuppositions about Catholicism that I needed to seriously address or I would never have peace of mind. I was baptized a couple of years later

That’s interesting. Everyone has different nudges along the way, don’t they? I read that book after I became Catholic and realised how distorted history is as taught in the English-speaking world and wanted to learn more. It’s a very good book, and I’m storing away the fact that non-Catholics can get intrigued by it, too.

 

[Candescent]

Although my mother became a devout Christian Scientist in her latter years, I was not raised in any religion. I did always have a deep, numinous relationship with the Virgin- and I’m not sure why- as no one else in the family did. I vividly recall being spanked for secretly wearing a locket with the Virgin inside it when I was in second grade.

I spent decades searching for the right path- and thought I had found it in Judaism. I was within weeks of converting when my Rabi told me I really would have to get rid of the Virgin Mary statue I had kept in a place of honor since High school. After much discussion, he said,’ I think that She has been calling to you all of your life. Do you think that it is wise to ignore that call?’

And at the same time, I was volunteering with abused children. This put me in close contact with quite a few Catholic nuns. Watching their faith never waver when faced with horrible pain and trauma, I knew that I wanted what they had.

Starting RICA this fall!

 

[GraceSofia]

• and thought I had found it in Judaism. I was within weeks of converting when my Rabi told me I really would have to get rid of the Virgin Mary statue I had kept in a place of honor since High school. After much discussion, he said,’ I think that She has been calling to you all of your life. Do you think that it is wise to ignore that call?’

Wow… very admirable. I love his honesty.

Starting RICA this fall!

May you be blessed on this wonderful journey. :dancing: