For non-cradle catholics

[Mammoths]

Was there a moment when you realized you were catholic? What was it like? Was there a point of doctrine or idea that suddenly made perfect sense and you had to go get confirmed and enter full fellowship with the RC in order to be faithful to what you had come to believe?

 

[USMC_Convert]

I went to RCIA half to explore the Catholic faith, half to show those crazy Catholics what the Bible really said, I knew everything!!!

Too bad I still don’t know everything, and now I am one of those crazy Catholics!!!

 

[SAVINGRACE]

Was there a moment when you realized you were catholic? What was it like? Was there a point of doctrine or idea that suddenly made perfect sense and you had to go get confirmed and enter full fellowship with the RC in order to be faithful to what you had come to believe?

My journey took 3 years, it started in my first year at university when I had a personal encounter with Our Lady and it ended my final year when I was received into the Church.

My problem was with Mary, yes even after that experience where she invited me into the Church. Satan pounces and magnifies all your doubts especially when you are so close.

Two days out from being baptised I decided I wasn’t going to convert but I cam across the video below and it BLEW MY MIND, I changed my mind in an instant. After that I knew without a doubt that I would be Catholic and nothing was going to stop me. I believe amongst the millions of youtube videos of our lady I was led to that one.

youtube.com/watch?v=kUdYeYy3NQA&t=489s

Good luck on your journey.

 

[Mammoths]

I went to RCIA half to explore the Catholic faith, half to show those crazy Catholics what the Bible really said, I knew everything!!!

Too bad I still don’t know everything, and now I am one of those crazy Catholics!!!

That makes me smile. I started reading about Catholicism a while back casually to keep a friend from making a mistake. He made it anyway and now I am at risk of following his bad example.

Was there anything that stood out to you about your becoming catholic?

 

[SAVINGRACE]

I went to RCIA half to explore the Catholic faith, half to show those crazy Catholics what the Bible really said, I knew everything!!!

Too bad I still don’t know everything, and now I am one of those crazy Catholics!!!

yep the first Priest I went to looked so innocent, like he wouldn’t know what I was talking about. Meanwhile he, turned the tables on me, withstood my inquisition and had an answer for all my questions and even the ones he didn’t know he was honest and said “I or we don’t know and that’s okay, we are not meant to know everything”.

 

[venite_adoremus]

The Real Presence. Scripture reports Jesus saying emphatically, “This is my body.” Not a symbol, but a reality. I realized as I looked at the elevated host the first time I attended Mass in the 1960’s that it was true. And that I had a new friend, reserved for my sake in the tabernacles of the world. No matter where I traveled, there He was.

Lourdes. Miraculous healings happen there. No explanation is possible. For those that believe, none is necessary. I was a February baby and my study of the history of the shrine, and of St Bernadette, overcame all of my objections to Our Lady’s role in the Church.

The logic of the economy of salvation. Everything fits together. And, as a whole, makes sense.

Apostolic succession. Grace passed down from Christ to us, person to person, through the laying on of hands–taken for granted until the time of the Reformation, and explicitly documented since. Make a visit to any of several web sites that document the apostolic pedigrees of your bishop. See where the laying on of hands goes.

Baptism. The empty soul, a vacuum, filled immediately and instantly with the warmth and the grace of God. A feeling I will never, ever, forget.

 

[Mammoths]

You mention John 6. Did it ever bug you that Jesus seems to be saying the opposite?

 

[GKC]

You mention John 6. Did it ever bug you that Jesus seems to be saying the opposite?

 

[SAVINGRACE]

You mention John 6. Did it ever bug you that Jesus seems to be saying the opposite?

Do you mean he only meant it symbolically? As a non-Catholic I never had a problem with John 6, once I understood transubstantiation.

Also John 4:32, where Jesus says: “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”…I never understood that to mean physical food such as fish and rice. Here Jesus is leading up to John 6.

Translated in a vacuum I probably would have had queries but placed in context, I didn’t have a problem with it.

 

[7_Sorrows]

saying the Nicene Creed in the Episcopal church as an eleven or twelve year old and saying "I believe in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church (not sure if I have the correct order) and wondering if we say this why aren’t we Catholic?

 

[GKC]

saying the Nicene Creed in the Episcopal church as an eleven or twelve year old and saying "I believe in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church (not sure if I have the correct order) and wondering if we say this why aren’t we Catholic?

You got the order right.

To many Anglicans, they are Catholic. But not Roman Catholic.

No one need agree with that.

 

[SAVINGRACE]

saying the Nicene Creed in the Episcopal church as an eleven or twelve year old and saying "I believe in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic church (not sure if I have the correct order) and wondering if we say this why aren’t we Catholic?

It’s “one holy and catholic apostolic church”…notice the small “c”…

It has nothing to do with Catholic (capital C).

Being Catholic and catholic are two different things. An Anglican is not Catholic but he can be catholic.

 

[GKC]

It’s “one holy and catholic apostolic church”…notice the small “c”…

It has nothing to do with Catholic (capital C).

Being Catholic and catholic are two different things. An Anglican is not Catholic but he can be catholic.

No, as found in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, it’s “C”.

And what you say is just what a RC should say on that.

Anglicans might (not necessarily would) say something else.

 

[SAVINGRACE]

No, as found in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, it’s “C”.

And what you say is just what a RC should say on that.

Anglicans might (not necessarily would) say something else.

The Catholic Church created the Nicene Creed, the original meaning is catholic with a small “c”. A book from 1928 is irrelevant to the original meaning.

When this creed was formulated there was indeed one church. There is still one church today, and I would think one should look at historical evidence for which church that is.

 

[Lenten_ashes]

Was there a moment when you realized you were catholic? What was it like? Was there a point of doctrine or idea that suddenly made perfect sense and you had to go get confirmed and enter full fellowship with the RC in order to be faithful to what you had come to believe?

Yeah, in RCIA I realized this is happening. This Church that i had called pagan and apostate is about to be my Church…how will I explain to my family that I am now in the ‘Whore of Babylon’?

Happened when we went to meet the Bishop, actually. The prior two weeks the RCIA team kept saying we are going to meet the Bishop so get all dressed up for that on such and such date. And in my head I’m thinking, here goes these idolatrous Catholics again elevating man to God-like status. So I’m sitting there in this auditorium style Church watching people shake the Bishop’s hand…some people were even bowing to him…and I’m thinking to myself, how disgusting. That’s a human being up there, not God. And then this little still voice in my head says: “It’s not the person, it’s the office.” And it dawned on me that this is 2,000 years of history I’m staring at. It was the gotcha moment of all gotcha moments for me. My journey actually lasted about a decade as I slowly sifted through my many objections to the faith. But that particular moment was crucial for me. At that point, I knew I was home and there was no turning back.

Coincidentally, my avatar is a picture of that very moment…the gotcha moment meeting the Bishop. I pulled out my phone and started taking pictures.

 

[GKC]

The Catholic Church created the Nicene Creed, the original meaning is catholic with a small “c”. A book from 1928 is irrelevant to the original meaning.

When this creed was formulated there was indeed one church. There is still one church today, and I would think one should look at historical evidence for which church that is.

For that matter, it was “C” in the 1549 BCP, also. But heck, what an Anglican might say on the subject at all is irrelevant, in the RC view.

As I said, no one need agree.

 

[Mammoths]

I think I will save the motion picture show for another venue.

 

[Horton]

My conversion was an instant and gradual. The first time I went to Mass I knew I was where God wanted me to be. I was certain I was meant to be Catholic.

I grew up in a mainline Protestant church and fell away from church attendance as a young adult. I was one of those “spiritual but not religious” folks. I never stopped believing in God but I just didn’t think it was important to interact with him. When my kids were young I started looking for a church home. I tried several different Christian churches but never felt it was the right place. I attended the Methodist church for a while but it was very easy to not go on Sunday to point we just didn’t go anymore. So I stopped looking.

After the first Mass my heart was changed but it took a little while for my mind to catch up. I finally decided to go to RCIA. I thought I will continue to go until there came a concept so opposite of what I knew to be true. Week after week I learned to love the Catholic Church. I went to Mass on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings. Even though I couldn’t receive yet I was still being fed so much.

So yes my conversion was instant and gradual.

 

[SAVINGRACE]

For that matter, it was “C” in the 1549 BCP, also. But heck, what an Anglican might say on the subject at all is irrelevant, in the RC view.

As I said, no one need agree.

Typo. It wasn’t capital C before Anglicanism was invented.

 

[SAVINGRACE]

My conversion was an instant and gradual. The first time I went to Mass I knew I was where God wanted me to be. I was certain I was meant to be Catholic.

I grew up in a mainline Protestant church and fell away from church attendance as a young adult. I was one of those “spiritual but not religious” folks. I never stopped believing in God but I just didn’t think it was important to interact with him. When my kids were young I started looking for a church home. I tried several different Christian churches but never felt it was the right place. I attended the Methodist church for a while but it was very easy to not go on Sunday to point we just didn’t go anymore. So I stopped looking.

After the first Mass my heart was changed but it took a little while for my mind to catch up. I finally decided to go to RCIA. I thought I will continue to go until there came a concept so opposite of what I knew to be true. Week after week I learned to love the Catholic Church. I went to Mass on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings. Even though I couldn’t receive yet I was still being fed so much.

So yes my conversion was instant and gradual.

Instant and gradual simultaneously. I like that description.