For converts what drew you to the faith

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taylormcbee

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Hi , I was thinking we could use this thread to share conversion stories. Ill start , I have been attracted to Catholicism my whole life, I was raised a Southern Baptist and was baptized in a SBC church at the age of 9 years old. But when I was in middle school I started watching the daily mass on TV. It was celebrated by the passionsist priest in Scranton Pennsylvania. And I was enthralled by how It was so reverent. Anyway I continued being a Baptist, Until I went off to school and then I didn’t attend any church but I still believed in Christianity, I meet my girlfriend at the time there and she was a catholic. When I came to her house for a weekend they took me to mass because It was Sunday, I had to leave early so instead of Going on Sunday evening like they normally do they Took me on Sunday morning. At the risk of running out of space or boring anyone , Ill just say after that mass , I immersed myself in the teachings of the church and began watching all the EWTN I could get online. But I didn’t go back to mass 😦 Till the first Sunday of advent I went to the Parrish i attend now which is different from the one they go to (different towns) . I went on the 4th Sunday of advent as well , and on Christmas, Mary Mother Of God and a few daily masses. And on 2nd Sunday of Ordinary time. Anyway on the vigil of the 3rd Sunday of Lent I went to mass with them and her mother said , Taylor if you are serious about being catholic as you say you are , you need to call the church in the town you attend school (I had transferred to another school) and arrange for a ride. So that is what I did and I have not missed at mass since and when I return to the school and the parish in my schools town, I will begin RCIA. and God willing be Confirmed at Easter.
I would love to hear others Journey’s of Faith to .
Thanks
Taylor
Also advice to other converts if you are not active in your parish please do so , the rewards from God are incredible, I worked at Vacation Bible school at the parish and do paper work for the RE department and Sing in the Choir at Saturday night mass and Sunday Noon Mass. But it is Nothing compared to how it will feel when i receive our Lord in the Eucharist for the first time.
God Bless.
 
I’d say I’m drawn to the Church for several reasons, only some of which I can enumerate here. One is the fact that it occupies a position outside of politics and popular opinion. I also like how it occupies a very moderate position among Christianity (e.g. drinking is okay, in moderation).

In addition, I’m very drawn to the intellectual history and foundation of the faith. The 2000 years of philosophy and theology, the creation of universities, the invention and nurturing of science and the scientific method, hospitals and modern medicine, etc. This got me thinking about legitimacy, history, and the logical connection to its claim to be true. The consistency and internal logic is quite strong.

Then there’s the fact that I found out much of what I thought was true about the Church was based on lies and propaganda, such as the Church’s role in WWII, the Crusades, doctrine, etc.

As for morals, I really like and appreciate how they’re explained using rational, academic arguments. They are able to give reasons why premarital sex is wrong without using scripture or circular reasoning.

Of course, half my family is Catholic, so I’ve been exposed to Catholicism growing up, especially by my grandparents. This might make the rituals, icons, prayers, etc. seem comforting, especially now that some of those Catholics in my family are deceased.

I’m going to have to work through some things whilst in RCIA, such as the Marian doctrines, the Eucharist / real presence, praying to saints and intercession, the concept of purgatory, etc. Strangely enough for a Protestant, I don’t have a problem with papal infallibility now that I’ve read up on it, and I see the reasoning and logic behind the proscription on artificial birth control. (I was convinced of this by non-religious arguments put forward by well-catechised Catholics.)
 
Really simple for me. Just a few things. One is the beauty of the Tradition. The other is having a definite authority that defines doctrine and makes decisions on morals. The last thing is that it just makes sense. There was nothing i had to “explain” away. Coming from a Baptist background…there were tons.
 
buzzoff1031 said:
the beauty of the Tradition

…]

having a definite authority that defines doctrine and makes decisions on morals
Click to expand...
Yes, I forgot to mention those for me as well. The part about a teaching body and a single unchanging interpretation of scripture especially appeals and makes sense to me, particularly when you see how many protestant denominations there are and how illogical and unreasonable it would be for Jesus to expect everyone to just “figure it out” on their own. Such a view also is historically inaccurate, and for someone who took a degree in history and believes in objective truth (as opposed to relativism), I cannot accept it.
 
My wife converted from Islam,her brother converted as well.My brother-in-law lay critically ill in hospital and asked me if a priest could baptize him.My sister-in-law converted from Church of England,my other sister-in-law converted from Seventh-Day Adventist now her father attends mass randomly on his own;two work colleagues converted from atheism and Mormonism,a now close friend who hated religion especially Catholicism has now had his entire family baptized.The latter was the one who gave me hell for 5 years at my previous job;an old school Chinese militant.I find the best notion for all these was the example you set.You could speak about doctrines until you’re blue in the face.They will not be moved without example and of course,penance and prayers.I may have aided a little here and there,but it was them that responded to God’s grace.I will not go in to detail with their conversions,but I am godfather to most of them.

Okay,I’ll tell you one.I left my wife(girlfriend at the time)to cut all ties due to religious differences.As much as I loved her,obedience to my spiritual director was paramount.Well,let me tell you,she drove one hour to front Fr.S a Swiss-German priest of SSPX at the priory.She demanded an explanation why her love(me)could up-root and dissolve a long time relationship?She voiced her contempt for meddling with private affairs and scolded Fr.S for his interference.He calmed her down,explained the religious aspect to which she replied "I understand,is it possible if I could learn the faith?"She initially did it for me,but as time wore on I saw there was contention for this Baltic beauty between God and myself.She started to love Him more than myself.She was finally received on Easter Sunday(midnight).

For all the romantics,we actually met walking on our way to the same bus stop in the heart of the city.Of course,I was a cut between Charles Bronson and Steve Mcqeen in those days:D and she was like Sophie Marceau,but I had a feeling,even then,she was a keeper.And little did I know what plans God had in store for us.

JMJ
 
Hello, I am a 51 yr old woman in NC who has found Catholicism after many years of rejecting all kinds of Christianity due to bad experiences in my childhood with born again independent fundamentalist churches that my parents forced the teenage me into attending.

To make a long story short, I was a staunch pagan and committed pro choice feminist (tho feminist is not what I would term it now that my eyes have been opened finally) right up to the beginning of this year. I am not sure what happened exactly, but I suddenly began to consider going to a mass and seeing what it felt like. I’d only been to one before with a boyfriend at the time who was staunchly against the church and resentfully attended to make his mother who we were visiting happy, thus my focus was mainly on him. However, this time, I was going by myself and on my own initiative.

In the past, I’d on occasion come upon a “what if” scenario or two especially on message boards where I’d answer a question like “If it became the law that you had to be some form of Christian, which type would you be?” And of course, my answer tended to be Catholic, though I never really could give a good answer as to why that would have to be my choice in such a situation. I’d think about it at times, but since I’d never likely have to make such a choice, I only did so briefly and then shrug it off.

I never would have thought in my wildest dreams that I would choose to become Catholic of my own free will.

Then this past Feb '12, I decided to try out going to a mass. The reason why was that I had become more and more concerned about the way that the world was going. Weren’t we supposed to be far more advanced then the preceding centuries getting more rights and advocating equality, inclusion and opportunity and less prejudice then ever before in the history of mankind? Then why was everything so very much worse now for our families? I was quite frankly afraid, especially as a disabled person who was growing older.
I arrived at the end of the service, right as the host had been raised and the bell rung as the Eucharist was transformed into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. I stared eagerly up to the altar and slipped into a pew having no clue about genuflecting or crossing myself with holy water. I was drinking in everything which was going on and suddenly I was no longer just investigating what things were like but knowing that it was for me however it turned out to be… it was just right and I had to be a part of it. Even this all doesn’t give it true justice and every time that I try to put into words what happened, they always fall short in the telling.

Mind you, there was no lightening flashing in the sky, just that I was CHANGED radically in one moment to another and it was without effort, shock or protest. It was natural for me as breathing. There never was even a wow moment save in a solely intellectual way if I gave it any thought as I acknowledged that it should be something of a surprise to put it mildly, yet it was no such thing. This trend has continued and it seems as things are explained that so very often I just simply get it in a ‘well of course’ manner instead of the very rare struggles to accept things about Church teachings that I don’t necessarily ‘get’ immediately. And most of those times, it’s more about someone explaining it in a way that I can comprehend which fixes even those.
Well, it seems that I am writing a tome’s worth and that wasn’t my intention. Though, discussing my conversion seems to require a lot of words to try to explain just what happened and I am still struggling to do that. Mostly, I’ve found that I am leaning more and more to the ok, it’s happened now, let’s proceed to learn how to become the best Catholic that you can be!

In Christ,
Julia
 
Hi Julia! Thanks for sharing your story! I was talking with some friends last night about what brought them to the Church. It’s really beautiful to hear all the stories. I hope this thread stays open, as it might help others to take the leap and explore further, taking RCIA classes and the like.
 
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