How to tell former (protestant) pastor about conversion?

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DH was Baptist when we first married 15+ years ago. In the early years of our marriage, he attended, and was very active in, a Baptist congregation. I got to know a lot of the people in this community as well and generally had a very good, non-confrontational relationship with them. They were respectful of my Catholic faith and basically didn’t ask too many questions.

DH left that congregation years ago (not for theological reasons) and has since, by the grace of God, joined the Catholic Church. Though we have our faith struggles, we are now joyfully both Catholic and feel more united than ever. Praise God!

Recently, I happened to “run into” DH’s former Baptist pastor online. We happened to be part of the same local online forum and he then sent me a quick “hi, how are you, what’s up” kind of email afterward. We haven’t spoken with him in almost 10 years, since he (the pastor) left the congregation to pastor another one. We weren’t terribly close but cordial.

The fact that DH converted is so huge in our lives, and something about which I feel so incredibly blessed- and yet I didn’t want to gush on and on about this to his ex-PASTOR, you know? If that wasn’t enough, another guy (“Ron”) who attended the Baptist church with DH back in the day was in RCIA with him and they entered the church during the same liturgy.

So when Pastor X asked “what’s up”, I told him the usual about the kids and jobs and then mentioned kind of casually- ‘oh, and DH became Catholic a few years ago and remember “Ron”? He did, too.’ I didn’t say anything else about it other than to say that I “felt blessed” and that there was “much more to say” (hoping to encourage him to ask more questions if he wanted) but didn’t want to push it.

That was a week ago and he hasn’t responded, so I hope I didn’t offend him. Did I say too much? Not enough? I shouldn’t overanalyze this too much, I know… sigh…🤷
 
I think you gave the right amount of information. 👍 Don’t stress. 🙂
 
It sounds like you did fine with what you said. If he has any questions, he’ll probably ask. But you weren’t waving it in his face or anything of the sort, and since you haven’t seen him in such a long time, I wouldn’t worry too much about his reaction.

I’m in a similar situation as my husband and I will start RCIA in 3 weeks. We’ve already told our families and some friends, but I grew up in the same protestant church, and my parents still attend there. The protestant pastor is a close family friend and I’m really not sure how to “break the news”. We want to tell him and his wife, but aren’t sure how. It’s kind of a scary situation!
 
I’d invite him to Holy Saturday Mass to watch me receive the Sacraments. But that’s just me.
 
Larowyn said:
I’d invite him to Holy Saturday Mass to watch me receive the Sacraments. But that’s just me.
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We’re inviting my parents and brothers to go to Mass with us while we’re visiting them. I don’t know what they’ll say or do, but we’re barely brave enough to do that, so it’s something!🙂
 
Maybe you drew a line in the sand for him? Someone might have responded with we are all healthy and happy, etc. how about you? Then you might have gotten some feedback in a friendly way. What we write to each other in emails, isn’t quite sent or received as what we might write in a snail mail letter. He should have responded with another email/letter! Now you won’t know much about him or his family, unless you have the time to read all of his responses, and he was open about it; you know that you astonded him and … and he decided that he could not respond for some reason. The only group that “ostracizes” is the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I think that gushing would have been okay, because it was your true feelings.
 
As a former protestant conver, many evangelical denominations (like Baptist) don’t think well of Catholicism. Many of my friends in the pentecostal/charismatic church were former Catholics (they said “recovering”).

When I talk to other people about faith, religion, etc. I say that “I am a Christian who worships and fellowships within the structure and authority of the Catholic Church”.

Your friend is probably avoiding responding to you because he is not happy with your decision and doesn’t want to discuss it.
 
it sounds like you handled it very well. there is so much anti-catholicism in various protestant and evangelical churches that many don’t know how to respond or maybe they are dealing with their own feelings as to why they are reacting negatively to the news.
i recently told a pastor at a church that i had attended that i had just joined the roman catholic church and i never heard anything. no congratulations, nothing.
there are definitely strong lines of division - which side are you on type of thing?
i wouldn’t worry about it. if you went 10 years without speaking, the fact that you haven’t heard anything from him shouldn’t bother you too much.
 
Maybe he’s just really busy with his non-online life and hasn’t had time to email you a response…?
 
Maybe you should have told him you would be praying to Mary and the saints for his conversion, since it worked to well for your husband and friend.
 
that might have seemed a little presumptuous on her part. don’t you think?
 
sixeyes said:
DH was Baptist when we first married 15+ years ago. In the early years of our marriage, he attended, and was very active in, a Baptist congregation. I got to know a lot of the people in this community as well and generally had a very good, non-confrontational relationship with them. They were respectful of my Catholic faith and basically didn’t ask too many questions.

DH left that congregation years ago (not for theological reasons) and has since, by the grace of God, joined the Catholic Church. Though we have our faith struggles, we are now joyfully both Catholic and feel more united than ever. Praise God!

Recently, I happened to “run into” DH’s former Baptist pastor online. We happened to be part of the same local online forum and he then sent me a quick “hi, how are you, what’s up” kind of email afterward. We haven’t spoken with him in almost 10 years, since he (the pastor) left the congregation to pastor another one. We weren’t terribly close but cordial.

The fact that DH converted is so huge in our lives, and something about which I feel so incredibly blessed- and yet I didn’t want to gush on and on about this to his ex-PASTOR, you know? If that wasn’t enough, another guy (“Ron”) who attended the Baptist church with DH back in the day was in RCIA with him and they entered the church during the same liturgy.

So when Pastor X asked “what’s up”, I told him the usual about the kids and jobs and then mentioned kind of casually- ‘oh, and DH became Catholic a few years ago and remember “Ron”? He did, too.’ I didn’t say anything else about it other than to say that I “felt blessed” and that there was “much more to say” (hoping to encourage him to ask more questions if he wanted) but didn’t want to push it.

That was a week ago and he hasn’t responded, so I hope I didn’t offend him. Did I say too much? Not enough? I shouldn’t overanalyze this too much, I know… sigh…🤷
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It’s no big deal. Forget about it. You and DH are following God’s will. The opinion of others is of no account.🙂
 
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