Cradle Catholic question

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dizzy_dave

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I’m a life long Catholic. About two years ago I had a spiritual growth spurt. I still sruggle with a lot of sins, my past was not good, I did a lot of bad things. Now I’m trying to really focus on being a good Catholic. I was curious if some of you could tell us if you were a life long Catholic who had a bad past, what happened in your life that made you turn it around. I can’t put a finger on mine. My dad died - no change, I got married - no change, had a couple kids - no change,
then a small change, don’t know why and I’ve been growing spiritully since, and let me tell you I STILL have A LONG, LONG WAY TO GO.
 
I too am a cradle catholic and left the church for almost 20 years…just recently I came back, I can’t really give ONE answer that did it, but one day i walked into cofession and prayed to the Holy Spirit to quide me with my journey back to God…then I read about the Passion (still havn’t seen it) but plan to when it comes out on DVD. I work in the medical field and I think the one last turning point for me was when I met this retired priest that I had to do a few tests on, we had a few long conversations and the last time I saw him he was dying, I saw his love for God in his eyes… I took his hand as he was singing the Kyrie, the tears just came running down my face:o and I vowed I would go back to my catholic faith and church forever.
 
I was a cafeteria Catholic for many years. A few years ago, 2 things happened which made me start studying my faith more: I had a disagreement with my pastor about something and that made me learn about the liturgy. Secondly, I made an internet acquaintance with a member of Protestant Church and she embarrased me because she knew more about Catholicism and religion in general.

As I studied about my faith, I realized how sinful I had been. I decided to stop being a cafeteria Catholic. I then was at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and made a good confession. My life has been so much better ever since.

P.S. My friend and her husband both entered the Church. 👍
 
sorry, i’m a convert, but i just wanted to express my joy that your friend and her husband swam the tiber. i hope they have the same joy i’ve found!

peace and joy,
jeff
 
As a cradle Catholic, I attended a Catholic elementary school for my first 8 years of schooling. Then came the teen years and I discovered drinking alcohol which totally ruined all of teenage years most of my adult life. I became what they call a cafeteria catholic. I ignored the church’s teaching on contraception never realizing that it could cause abortion. I never, even in my darkest days, ever agree with abortion even in the case of rape nor did I ever agree with tubal ligation. I don’t know why, I just didn’t. I had a serious drinking problem by this time. I would drink to kill the pain which was just about every day after work. I was what they call a functioning alcoholic. About 4 years ago, there was a very repected lady in my town that contracted meningococcal meningitis and was sure to die. While her children, parents and friends were near her death bed, they began praying the rosary. Many people, including non-Catholics, were inspired by what they saw. When I heard of this I began praying the rosary for this lady also. Although she lost both legs just below her knees, her right hand up to her wrist and 4 of her left fingers, she made it through and is alive and well today thankful for her life. This woman inspired me and I began saying the rosary asking God to take away my addiction. Slowly, but surely God worked in me mysteriously. One and a half years ago I quit smoking and curtailed my drinking down. About nine months ago, my marraige was failing, my step-children were out of control and I felt like dying. I began praying with a passion and was finally “delivered from evil” and came back to my true home, the Catholic Church. “Delivered from evil” as one of my Baptist friends calls it. God took away from me that strong desire to drink. Not a day goes by that I want to get drunk. As a matter of fact, I NEVER want to feel that way again. But when and if I shall ever fall, God is my witness that I will pick myself back up again. I have never felt better in years!
 
I love your expression, spiritual growth spurt. How descriptive. I have no intention of rehashing my past sins, they have been confessed and forgiven, and since I am not a presidential advisor I don’t have to account for them to anyone. It was more a case of being just as Catholic as I wanted to be, and outward Catholic without striving for inward grace. Catholic in things that showed, me-ist in the things that really matter. My growth spurt began when the Holy Spirit, whom I received at my confirmation in 4th or 5th grade, finally jump started me at the age of 48, during my mother’s rapid decline and death from cancer. I finally listened and responded, and grew up as a Catholic.
 
Mine came recently, a couple of lents ago…the first time I ever cried during Stations of the Cross. It was weird. And that Good Friday - goodness, I sobbed during service - there was no stopping the flood of tears rolling down my face. My heart ached so.

Born and raised Catholic, Catholic school upbrining (except for 4 years of high schoo), Catholic university, always went to church on Sunday, stations, Good Friday service one year after another - and bam it finally struck my heart that one year.

Discovered the Divine Mercy Chaplet that Easter thanks to the ladies of our church who hand out pamphlets for the novena. Then came my son’s (15) questioning of why God made us an why should he accept the faith. Well that got me to start seeking resources - which led to a church lady telling me about Relevant Radio - which let to me finding these boards.

God is great! I’ve got so much more to learn, but you know what? Through my searching and pulling my son along with me - he’s AOK with remaining Catholic now and ready to prepare for confirmation.

All I know is I don’t want to lose this ‘recharged’ feeling I have toward my faith so I’m excited about keeping on this faith journey of mine.

I pray yours goes well too!
 
I am a cradle Catholic who found my way back home four years ago. I began drifting from my faith in my late teens and early adulthood. By the time I was in my late 30’s, I had become a full-fledged agnostic and was teetering close to atheism. During those intervening years I did many things that I’m not proud of now but at the time felt no remorse for. Ironically, it was my final push towards atheism that eventually brought me back to the church (in reality it was grace from the Holy Spirit). At the time, I had virtually given up on a belief in God and felt that I could live with the notion of meaningless existence because other very intelligent people like Richard Dawkins, Carl Sagan, David Denkins and other assorted scientists and secular materialists were doing so - they were my heroes at the time. However, I could only pretend for so long and about two months later, I had a gnawing urgency (the Holy Spirit again) to determine one way or another whether God really existed. I spent a significant amount of time studying, reading and asking questions and eventually came to the conclusion that God really did exist. The next step was to determine how God revealed Himself to the world. I studied all the major world religions including Judiasm, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and others and the only one that made sense (even arguing from reason and history) was Christianity (and Judiasm before it). The final step was determining the church that Christ founded and that became crystal clear after I looked at the writings of the early church fathers - it was staring at me right in the face: the early church was Catholic! It’s been a joy ever since but it’s also been hard because I had to change certain aspects of my life that I was reluctant to give up. It’s also been hard because not all my family has taken the same path I have and in some cases have been hostile to my renewed faith in the Catholic church. It’s definitely been worth it, though.
 
Dave -

I love your question. In the early 70’s I stopped practicing my Catholic faith after 16 years of Catholic education. About nine years later my wife was pregnant with our first child, and I decided that since we were going to have this baby baptized, I should start to show my face at church. After just a few Masses, I began to hunger for the Eucharist but knew I could not receive without a confession. The pastor at our parish was an old Irishman. I had grown up with old Irish pastors and felt I could not take my first confession in years with him. I was a part time university student at the time, and decided I would stop at the Newman Center after class one night before the baby was born.
Naturally, I kept forgetting. I would get in my car and be on ‘auto-pilot’ heading for home. Finally, as the due date was already almost a week past, I got in the car headed for home. As I was about to get on the freeway, I remembered. My first thought was “Oh well, it’s only Tuesday, I’ll go Thursday night.” Then, however, a LOUD voice inside my head yelled “NO!! GO TONIGHT!!” I did and immediate U-Turn and went to confession. When I got home late that night, my wife was in labor and our daughter was born at 4:59 AM the next day.
I thank God for that moment regularly, and like you, have been growing spiritually ever since. Also like you, I have a LONG way to go. Peace!
 
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