I'm Out of the Closet Now...

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I read some statistics somewhere out of curiousity that said around 10% of americans are former catholics and that around 7% of americans are catholics that converted from another religion. So there is attrition but its not like the Church is about to roll over in America like the anglicans, especially with migration.

As to Australia catholics are doing ok (comparatively) being 40% of christians and over half the churchgoers (still a pitifiully low 10% of catholics, which is worse than america). But the real problem here is rising irreligion especially amongst the young people. In some places as high as 70% of people under thirty are agnostic/atheist./or “In name only” people thanks to the indifference and cultural environment of their parents who have imparted the materialistic empty darkness of modern society on to their children…

Of religion in genereal the evangelicals are doing ok but are a tiny minority so the growth is not great in numbers(australians in general do not like evangelicalism) and minority ethno-religious groups like Buddhism, hInduism, Islam and Eastern Orthodoxy are doing ok as well thanks to the cultural environment that perpetuates practice and due to immigration.
 
Zekariya said:
When I became Orthodox, a Baptist pastor warned me that I was one step away from being Roman Catholic (i.e. we lacked a pope). 😛
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Thats funny, because some Orthodox practices make the Catholics look soft! The Great Fast from Good Friday to Easter was an interesting read, and an extremely hard practice from what I could gather. In all honesty us Catholics could learn a lot from the Orthodox.

and Gloria in Excelsis Deo! I told my friends quite readily that i was converting, the reactions were everything from “Catholics worship Satan” to “Meh”, however I havn’t came out yet to say im discerning a vocation to the Priesthood! The reactions to that will be overly entertaining!
 
May God guide you in your discernment of priestly ordination. 🙂

I suppose the reaction would be somewhere between denial and 7 consecutive heart attacks depending on the previous reaction of the persons your talking to at your conversion.
 
Jehoshua said:
May God guide you in your discernment of priestly ordination. 🙂

I suppose the reaction would be somewhere between denial and 7 consecutive heart attacks depending on the previous reaction of the persons your talking to at your conversion.
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I havn’t told my parents yet, i think they are catching on though, I will tell them once i am more sure of my calling, i don’t want to “come out” untill nearer the end of my discernment journey, where my decision has been made.

Yours in Christ
 
Medic_Mark said:
Now all my friends know that I am becoming Catholic.

Considering they are mostly conservative Baptist ministers, it has been met with mixed reviews. My best friend is somebody I rescued from the Catholic Church when I first became a Christian years ago. It seems I’m also responsible for rescuing his brother too, after several years of trying. So it was weird.

I got an awkward… “I see…” from one.

“Well… it’s better than nothing” from another.

“Man… if I come over and see statues of Mary and rosaries and things…” from another.

“So… you just want them to tell you what to believe?” from my Roommate Matt who knows of no Catholic who is actually Catholic.

My friend’s wife was actually excited. “Oh cool man, I’m half Catholic. Let’s go to Mass.”
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We are all in the process of continual becoming, aren’t we?

🙂
 
Medic_Mark said:
Now all my friends know that I am becoming Catholic.

Considering they are mostly conservative Baptist ministers, it has been met with mixed reviews. My best friend is somebody I rescued from the Catholic Church when I first became a Christian years ago. It seems I’m also responsible for rescuing his brother too, after several years of trying. So it was weird.

I got an awkward… “I see…” from one.

“Well… it’s better than nothing” from another.

“Man… if I come over and see statues of Mary and rosaries and things…” from another.

“So… you just want them to tell you what to believe?” from my Roommate Matt who knows of no Catholic who is actually Catholic.

My friend’s wife was actually excited. “Oh cool man, I’m half Catholic. Let’s go to Mass.”
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Congratulations, and welcome home!
 
Skeptic92 said:
I havn’t told my parents yet, i think they are catching on though, I will tell them once i am more sure of my calling, i don’t want to “come out” untill nearer the end of my discernment journey, where my decision has been made.

Yours in Christ
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I will pray for your discernment and maybe one day I will see you on The Journey Home 😉

And thanks for adding to the numbers: youtube.com/watch?v=ENcdoitQI5s&feature=feedu

Pax†
 
I got quite a few comments as well as disapproval, etc. I grew up in a very fundamentalist, closed-off Mennonite-type Christian society. At age 18, I split because it was much too rigid. After marriage and my first baby, I realized I had to raise my children in a Christ-centered home. I knew in my heart that the Catholic Church was the one, true Church, but could not get my DH on board. We were Episcopalian until ECUSA consecrated the gay bishop, and then we realized that we had to jump ship and swim the Tiber.
We got:
“…but why go Catholic?..”
“…I don’t want a man telling me what to believe…”
“…the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon…”
“Well, we all worship the same god, don’t we?”
and also reamed for thinking we were “too holy”…(???:confused:).
People don’t say a lot now, and are usually still friendly, but obviously confused as to why I chose this route.
We are happier than we ever have been as Christians, knowing that we have made the right decision.
God bless you for taking the right step - back HOME!!!
 
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