Converts: why did you become Catholic?

[Whitney]

I’m sure this is frequently a post topic! But I can never hear enough stories of people finding God. For those who converted to Catholicism, what was the tipping point where you knew you were ready to commit?

 

[1ke]

Women’s ordination in the Episcopal church.

 

[TexasWife]

After researching apostolic authority.

 

[Augustinian]

For those who converted to Catholicism, what was the tipping point where you knew you were ready to commit?

This is interesting, hearing different people’s spiritual journeys.

I’m just surprised how few people convert to the Catholic Church in order to impress a woman. I haven’t heard of anyone saying the they did it to make their wives or girlfriends happy.

 

[angell1]

it does happen, and I think it used to happen a lot more when there was more social pressure to go to church and in regards to which religion you belonged to.

but a “conversion” like that is pointless, it’s not sincere, a person should join the church in orde rto follow Christ and its because they believe it’s the right thing to do. it’s not a very good reason just ot make someone else happy or to not make your mother-in-law angry, ETC…

 

[Fauken]

It was after I was starting to get really interested in the LCMS. They opened my eyes to the fact that the Christianity of my upbringing was not the Christianity of history, nor the one Luther believed, that it was in fact closer to Catholicism. I was becoming increasingly disturbed at the doctrinal differences between various protestant denominations and concluded that if God is indeed loving and merciful, He would not leave us in such a mess. I concluded there must have been some way that doctrinal disagreements could be solved and enforced, and that it would require an authority that wasn’t the Bible. It was then a matter of finding who that authority was, which I believe is the Catholic Church.

 

[jtavington]

I went to a Southern Baptist college (fairly liberal, don’t think Bob Jones). One day in Introduction to the Bible, we were reading the book of James aloud and the reader came to James 2:24. I was floored because it was the complete opposite of everything I had been taught. I had always thought the Catholic Church was beautiful and never really felt like I fit in among my fellow Baptists. When I had to attend an actual Catholic Mass for another class, I was enraptured. It was beautiful, it was reverent. And at the same time, my professors were telling me quite bluntly that the early church looked more Catholic and Orthodox than what I saw on Sunday. I did some research and converted.

 

[Thom18]

As a revert (I stopped practicing as a teen), I returned because I was invited to Mass my first semester of college (I think it was the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception). It was a very short service because there were so few people in attendance, but it was a nice re-introduction to church. I was invited afterwards to a Taize event that was taking place later that night, and in the meantime, I began reading from the KJV Bible I had brought along. I didn’t get very far, but I got farther than I ever had before.

I didn’t have access to many resources at that point. I figured all branches of Christianity were pretty equal. Around a month later, I found Catholic Answers. Until then, (for example) I had no idea what the Real Presence was, let alone believe in it. Whenever I “discovered” a “new” Catholic doctrine, I immediately believed it. I had been raised (mostly) Catholic, so it made sense to adopt the Catholic beliefs. Luckily, my acceptance of Catholic doctrine grew from accepting it by little more than blind obedience to recognizing that our beliefs and Church itself date all the way back to Jesus Himself. It’s for this reason that I remain Catholic.

 

[LostSheep7]

When I started to study the Church Fathers more seriously and discovered their position on the Real Presence and Apostolic Sucession there was no turning back, I could no longer be a reformed protestant