Question for Catholic converts

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Coeurpieux

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This is a question for previously non-Christian Catholic converts. What made you choose Catholicism and not Orthodoxy?
I considered Orthodoxy myself for several years before i settled for Catholic. I figured that if i wanted to experience Orthodox rites and devotions I can join or attend an Eastern Catholic church.
 
I rather adore Russian Orthodoxy myself, and I had considered it very seriously, but it is no longer a viable option for me. However, i do venerate a couple of Russian Orthodox saints. ( Saint Daniel of Moscow and Saint Xenia of Petersburg).
 
I had problems with papal primacy. It took me a long time to accept the Pope as head of the church.
 
Coeurpieux said:
What made you choose Catholicism and not Orthodoxy?
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Orthodoxy is no different from every other group that has split from union with Rome regarding authority and unity. Rome is where Peter is found.
 
Why would I join something Jesus Christ did not found? I want all of Jesus Christ, not 99%, not half, but all!
 
But Jesus did found the Orthodox church.
If you think about it, Orthodoxy did not actually split from Catholicism.
If you have a loaf of bread and split it into two and named the parts A and B , you cant logically say A split from B or B split from A. You’d say they split from each other, or they split from a larger whole, again from each other.
Catholicism and Orthodoxy both belonged to the early Church, and it was the early church that split into two. Not one from the other. Catholicism and Orthodoxy did not exist as separate churches before the Great Schism.
While the Orthodox do have the shortcoming of being out of communion with the Holy See, that doesnt mean Jesus didnt found their church.
 
I get what you’re saying, but I think it’s important to clarify a couple points so we don’t inadvertently deny the perduring unity of the one Church. Jesus founded only one Church (the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church professed in the Creed) and this Church can only be said to be the Catholic Church alone. We can also speak of “particular Churches” which are defined as a bishop and his flock celebrating the Eucharist. These particular Churches all trace their origin to the Apostles (some directly) and, ultimately, to Jesus. The EO schism is the separation of some of these particular Churches from that one whole/universal (“catholic”) Church professed in the Creed.

In other words, while the EO particular Churches can trace their origin to Christ, their communion with one another is separate from the universal Church Christ founded, and therefore this separate communion of particular Churches cannot be said to be founded by Him.
 
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My dad was Roman Catholic. Had he been Eastern, I’d probably be Eastern. I’m sure my - albeit rudimentary!! - knowledge of the Roman Rite, along with it being familiar to me despite all the changes, influenced my decision.
 
Also in A.D 33. Jesus founded the Christian church that split into Catholic and Orthodox, not the Catholic Church as you know it today. The Catholic and Orthodox churches today are the product of the Great Schism. Neither of these churches existed before that. What did exist was the Christian church, which was sadly split into two, not the Catholic church.
 
Cecilia_Dympna said:
The Christian Church split into two
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Jesus promised the the gates of hell, i.e. heresy/schism/division, would not prevail. The Catholic Church has always been One, always confessed as One, and will always be One.
 
I see that you are intentionally pretending to misunderstand what i am saying. And if you are not, then it appears that you are unable to understand simple logic.
What is so difficult to understand?? Jesus founded a Church in A.D 33 called the Christian church, and the western and eastern traditions of this church split into Catholicism and Orthodoxy respectively. It’s as simple as that.
 
Or do you believe that the early Christians refered to themselves as “Catholic” even before the Great Schism?
 
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