If you weren't raised Catholic, but still Christian, how open to Catholicism would you be?

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RealisticCatholic

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Obviously, there are so many factors going into this question that it’s almost silly to ask.

Not to mention, conversion is ultimately based in God’s grace.

But I’ll bite the bullet and give ONE example of a possible weakness for me, at least. If I wasn’t raised Catholic but in a Protestant Christian tradition, I may feel less inclined to give Catholicism a chance because of its moral teachings.

I would hope that I’d be responsible enough to follow the Truth where it leads, but I know my moral weaknesses and the struggles I’ve had trying to be faithful. Not to mention I have same-sex attraction. So if I were raised in a more progressive church, I’d probably be more easily at home there. And I could see myself not even wanting to give Catholicism a chance.

Let’s face it, most of us have at least some religious traditions in mind that we don’t feel the need to explore because it’s just “obviously too out there.” Would Catholicism be like this for you, too?
 
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I find this an impossible question to answer because for me, religious practice is very heavily based on my experiences during my formative years and not on any great big path of truth-seeking where I sat around comparing one religion to another and deciding that Catholicism was the answer. Many people I know tend to just stay nominally in whatever church they were brought up in, for example if they were brought up Catholic, Baptist or Presbyterian they just continue to self-identify as that even if they don’t attend services.

Even the people I know in real life (as opposed to this forum) who’ve converted from one religion to another didn’t choose their path based on some kind of dispassionate study of moral teachings. Usually they were not too into whatever religion they had been brought up with, or perhaps hadn’t been strongly brought up in any religious tradition, and then one of the following things happened:

a) they met a person they wanted to marry who was a strong believer in a particular religion and expected/ wanted a marital partner to convert, so they converted to get married
or
b) they found some church in their area that they liked, often because it offered activities/ fellowship they enjoyed, so they decided to attend that church
or
c) in a few cases, somebody who was having difficulties in life happened to run into an evangelist for some religion at the crucial moment and they decided that the world view being presented by said church, whether it was Catholic, Buddhist, evangelical, whatever, made sense and was better than their current situation, so they picked that church.

If I were somehow dispassionately picking a faith without a), b) or c) being a factor in my choice, like just looking at a big menu of religions and picking one, then Catholicism, along with Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism, would have the advantage to me of being a very old, large, mystical religion which in my mind would make it a more credible alternative than many, many newer, smaller, or less mystical religions. Catholicism would probably be ahead of Islam in my book simply because it has a lot of the same themes (one God with a particular prophet coming out of the Middle East, etc) but Catholicism is 700 years older, making it look like Islam just stole its basic schtick and reframed it. I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t be open to Catholicism, unless perhaps I’d been raised by parents who constantly taught me that Catholics were devil spawn.

Even if I were to sit down and compare moral teachings, Catholicism’s basic moral teachings aren’t that different from the other long-established religions. Pretty much every long-established religion and ethical system has similar bedrock moral principles to the 10 Commandments (don’t steal, don’t commit adultery, don’t kill people, make time for God/ spiritual life etc.) and teaches a certain detachment from worldly things, including sexual pleasure, with the goal of spiritual gain. Anybody who picks a religion based on whether it lets them be “progressive” isn’t really serious about spiritual growth.

Just my 2 cents
 
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I don’t understand how anyone that is Catholic can pretend they aren’t Catholic and ask themself if they would become Catholic.
 
Pretty open, thus my presence here.

One of the appeals Catholicism holds for me is that it is demanding. The Episcopal Church demands all but nothing, and even the ACNA is squishy.
 
I don’t have to participate?
I’m sorry, I thought I did participate.
 
RealisticCatholic said:
If I wasn’t raised Catholic but in a Protestant Christian tradition, I may feel less inclined to give Catholicism a chance because of its moral teachings.
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I’m the opposite. As modernism has become more pronounced, if I was non-Catholic I’d feel more inclined to be attracted to moral teachings of Catholicism (contraception, abortion, priests celibate and male, etc). It’s the only denomination whose teachings are squarely opposed to modernism and as modernism/secularism became more and more pronounced, as a non-Catholic I’d start looking somewhere for an objective moral foundation , something that can tell me where North points as everyone around me struggles to figure out which way their boat is oriented in the storm of securalism
 
Well, you weren’t answering the question. You were commenting on the legitimacy of the question. One of my pet peeves on CAF.
 
Aquinas11 said:
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RealisticCatholic:
If I wasn’t raised Catholic but in a Protestant Christian tradition, I may feel less inclined to give Catholicism a chance because of its moral teachings.
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I’m the opposite. As modernism has become more pronounced, if I was non-Catholic I’d feel more inclined to be attracted to moral teachings of Catholicism (contraception, abortion, priests celibate and male, etc). It’s the only denomination whose teachings are squarely opposed to modernism and as modernism/secularism became more and more pronounced, as a non-Catholic I’d start looking somewhere for an objective moral foundation , something that can tell me where North points as everyone around me struggles to figure out which way their boat is oriented in the storm of securalism
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This post is me
 
RealisticCatholic said:
some people are just blessed to be born Catholic then.
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In view of the Church teaching of “no salvation outside the Catholic church,” it is indeed considered a special blessing to be born into the Catholic faith, as the person who is born into it is on the faster track to salvation than somebody who isn’t born into it.
 
Perhaps you should not put words in my mouth. I did nothing of the sort except to indicate that I ( and perhaps others) could not answer that.
 
Okay then.

So it’s hard for you to see how someone born Catholic can pretend they are not born Catholic and then answer this question.

I got it. Like I said, there are a lot of factors that would make this hard to answer.

I gave an example for me. Maybe others will do the same.
 
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I wasn’t raised Catholic, but became Catholic in college. Now I’m in the seminary. So obviously, I was open to Catholicism 😂.

Yeah, certain moral teachings were difficult to grasp at first. But once I understood the truth of things, it was pretty easy to accept.
 
Thomist Philosopher Peter Kreeft was Lutheran convert to Catholicism. He said how as a kid he’d ask his Dad “but there are so many more Catholics than us, aren’t they right?” But his Dad would always have great answer like “well son, numbers alone doesn’t equate to truth” that would satisfy his Catholic inquiry

Then at age 12 him and his Dad visited St Patrick Cathedral in NYC. He was stunned at the interior. He asked his Dad “Dad, the Catholics built this?” And his Dad said yes. Then he asked his Dad “how could the Catholics get the truth so wrong but beauty so right?”

And he said for first time ever his Dad was totally stumped. Had no answer for him. And from there it was only matter of time he became Catholic
 
I likely would become Catholic. There is simply too much I have come across that would lead me to ask "Why?’ or “How did that happen?”. etc.

The liturgy is something to generate questions, particularly because of its history. Even scripture points to the Church, along with the Episcopal/Anglican and what I refer to as “high” Lutheran - which then leads to questions as to the history behind those three.

and because I am curious by temperament, I likely would have come across someone like Brant Pitre, and issues such as Communion in the Hand would have led to reading some of the early Church Fathers.

I had some steady exposure to the Presbyterian church during grad school and got to know and beocme friends with the minister and his family; his wife and I ran a college youth group for several years. And while I loved that minister dearly, exposure to Presbyterian services were insipid compared to the Mass.

The Eucharist is clearly central, and a reading of John 6 leaves most Protestant churches in a pablum-like (as in, bland) approach and understanding of what is right in front of you in scripture. And the group of people I hung around with all attended a lecture series on John’s Gospel, given at a nearby Presbyterian church - by a theologian who happened to be a Catholic sister (professed religious). If you were really paying attention, it was hard not to see the truth in front of all of us.

As a suggestion, rather than to try to make a case that the Catholic Church is the one true Church, I would urge you to get a copy of Theology of the Body, the result of a series of Wednesday talks Pope John Paul 2 gave over a period of time. If you are serious about finding a church, I would urge you to read it several times. I think it would make more sense to you than someone essentially reducing moral behavior to “Because God said so”, which is too often what happens to some of our deepest questions. There are extremely deep and wide issues as to what it means to be human, to be a person, to be in community, and what our sexuality means - which is much, much more than simply “having sex”. I can’t think of anything which makes for a better grounding in morality.

Our world now is hyper saturated in sex, and the deeper meaning of the sexual act and our sexuality has become lost in a hedonistic approach to life. SSA is tough - but guess what - so is OSA.
 
One does not have to pretend, one only has to look at what is attractive about the Church, which other religions do not share, or share only in a lesser way, and see how that would attract one.
 
Almost makes you wonder if Peter and Bishop Barron were chatting some time ago.
 
I was born Catholic and have always felt it made perfect sense, especially morally. I have always looked at Church teaching as a map that keeps me on the path to peace amid chaos.

As I’ve gotten older, I have enjoyed reading early Church history and the lives of the saints. If I weren’t Catholic, I would convert as a result of studying history and the saints.

I have studied other religions in depth and find Catholicism to be far and away, the most convincing and beautiful religion there is. There is not even a close second.
 
RealisticCatholic said:
Let’s face it, most of us have at least some religious traditions in mind that we don’t feel the need to explore because it’s just “obviously too out there.” Would Catholicism be like this for you, too?
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If I was religious, the implication that I must accept a number of doctrines would be a deal breaker. It’s no big secret that a number of protestants disagree with some tenets of their faith. My time here leads me to believe that would be a huge road block.
 
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