Technically I’m a revert (baptized, had first communion but never really practiced), but here goes.
- The Eucharist
At one point in my journey it all really boiled down to whether that host really was Jesus or not. During that time, I figured that only Catholicism or Orthodoxy could be the true church if Christianity were true, since all the others had many claims that were inconsistent with the Bible or History.
I figured if the Eucharist really was the Body of Christ I would join the group whomever this treasure was entrusted to. No matter how irreverent or hypocritical their members were, if they had the Eucharist they had to be the true church!
- Mary and the Saints
When I was investigating Christianity more closely, I never thought of praying to the saints in heaven as sinful even as I was being courted by the Pentecostals and non-denominationals. I just considered it to be useful but unimportant. Needless to say, I was proven wrong - and all of a sudden I realize those guys up there praying for me really did have an effect and it was huge!
- Sacrament and Liturgy
Though I wasn’t strictly traditionalist then nor am I now, I wasn’t terribly fond of those Stadium/Mall “seeker friendly” megachurches that some of my friends attended. I mean I had no preference at the time for any particular style of “doing church”, but this “counter-culture” seemed to blend disturbingly well with the modern pop culture it tries to “hijack”, so to speak. I thought churches that tried to look like… well, churches, were being a lot more honest - “counter-countercultural” so to speak.
The Catholic Church though, instead of picking a style and working on worshipping God based on that, does exactly the reverse - build ritual and reverence around acts of God’s Grace. I realized I didn’t have to go to church because of the praise band, or the excellent preaching, or because my friends were there, but because God’s grace was being given to me, whomever he choses as the person who he’s using as an instrument. I also thought it was most ironic that many sects that are very critical of the Church’s “ritualism” can be very strict in the rituals that they believe are
purely external acts by the believer in response to God’s grace (e.g. baptism). The Catholic Church guards her Sacraments because we believe that God acts through them and must not be tampered with, not simply because of the act itself.
- The Church (Authority)
If it was the true church it had to be authoritative and it had to claim that it is authoritative and that it is the true original church. On the one hand many sects claim this, but the Catholic Church can substantiate her claim the most both Biblically and historically. On the other hand non-denominational attitude of “we agree on the essentials” or “we just focus on different things” is a complete cop-out, frankly a half-baked attempt at explaining away the scandal and contradiction of a divided Christianity.
- The Church (Her Members)
Although I’ve accepted in my mind many of the claims and doctrines of the Church as being self-consistent and logical, it was the witness of holy priests and laypeople that really led me to accept this all as true. Nothing can beat a Christian’s example than his Christ-likeness, his life of discipleship and prayer. I was desperate and didn’t believe that the Catholic Church was the Catholic Church…but Our Lord had sent some of His most faithful people to help me out in that regard. These people together with the Saints in heaven prayed be back to the Sacraments, back to Jesus.
I’m home, thanks be to God!