Question for converts

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Melchior

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Hi,

This is my first post. Nice site you have here.

This is for Roman and Eastern Catholic converts. I am interested in the reasons that converts who may have considered Orthodoxy and Catholicism, chose Catholicism?

If there are any former Orthodox who are now Catholic I would be particularly interested in your response.

Peace,

Melchior (It’s an ancestor’s name if you are wondering), A sacramental, liturgical Protestant who is sympathetic to Catholicism.
 
I grew up attending a Baptist church, but never joined. Two years ago I began to learn about Catholicism when I entered into a serious relationship with a girl who is Catholic. After much stubborn opposition to many Catholic beliefs and practices, I finally began to understand that the Bible was not meant as the absolute authority, because it was not present in its entirety in the early Church. Early Christians appealed to the apostles for guidance, and it is in that manner that much of the New Testament was written. It is for this reason that I joined the Catholic Church.

And thank you for explaining what your name means - when I first saw it, I thought of a character from the game Chrono Trigger 🙂

Peace
 
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Melchior:
Hi,

This is my first post. Nice site you have here.

This is for Roman and Eastern Catholic converts. I am interested in the reasons that converts who may have considered Orthodoxy and Catholicism, chose Catholicism?

If there are any former Orthodox who are now Catholic I would be particularly interested in your response.
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I was a former presbyterian (and all sorts of other protestant denominations), but now I’m Catholic.

Here’s my non-theological reasons for not going Orthodox:
It wasn’t readily available for me at the time. I also didn’t have any God-fearing Orthodox friends. Plus the ethnic problem was a real issue for me, like when people are often unwelcome because they aren’t ‘greek’ as if it’s an ethnic religion. And Catholicism was conveniently closer to me virtually everywhere.

As for my theological reasons: I came to agree with the teachings of the Pope and the development of doctrine.

It seems Orthodoxy doesn’t possess a visible head bishop who is the Church’s prime minister, which has it’s roots from both Isaiah 22:22 and Matt 16:19. The keys were given to Peter, just as Eliakim was given the keys, not to everyone else. So only one guy was 2nd in command in the Davidic kingdom, likewise with Christ as the eternal Davidic kingdom, there would naturally be the same office of ‘2nd in command’.

As for the development of doctrine, some Orthodox believers look at Catholicism as if it mutated to a form of heterodoxy (since they aren’t Orthodox as in Eastern Orthodox), while Catholicism claims Orthodoxy’s development of doctrine completely stopped 1000 years ago.

I don’t even think Filioque is even worth discussing, in my opinion it’s so minor compared to the other issues that brought about the separation between east and west.

However, I have to admit, I absolutely love Eastern liturgy. I visited a Korean Orthodox parish here in Korea and was completely blown away. And yes they do exist here! As a Korean myself, it was encouraging to know that this kind of worship is exactly what I longed for, and plus they’re all ethnically Korean 🙂

But after some serious consideration, I’ve decided to remain Catholic (since I profess all that the Catholic Church teaches). Since I totally prefer the Divine Liturgy than the typical Mass, I’m planning to switch to the Eastern rite. But I honestly have yet to witness the Traditional Latin Mass, so I can’t really compare it with the Divine Liturgy.
 
I’ve just realized that I misunderstood your question, but my last post does point to why I would choose Catholicism over Orthodoxy. It makes complete sense to me that a church founded on apostolic authority would need a head (ie the Pope) to bring unity within the Church.

Peace
 
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Melchior:
If there are any former Orthodox who are now Catholic I would be particularly interested in your response.

.
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Greetings, Melchior!

My wife and I became Catholic in 1995. During our journey from evangelical Protestantism, we became interested first in Eastern Orthdoxy. We started worshiping at a Russian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church outside Moscow). We were particulary drawn by the Liturgy and Holy Tradition. But as time went along, we began to see some of the internal problems of Orthodoxy, particularly its extreme ethnicity. This seemed to us contrary to the spirit of the Gospel. We were also troubled by what appeared to be a lukewarm commitment to evangelism. We live in a rural area, and we had to drive an hour to find the nearest Orthodox parish.

In the end, we became Catholic because of the issue of authority. The ethnic chaos of Orthodoxy and the theological chaos of protestantism just became too much for us. BTW, it’s nice to be home.

in the peace of Christ,
Gary
 
I came from a Presbyterian church, and different denominations before that. I always said I would never become Catholic :rolleyes: Just goes to show never say never. I don’t really know that much about the different rites of the church i.e. byzintine, latin, eastern orthodox, ect… My husband and his family are Roman Catholic. When I started reading up on the Catholic faith, it was all about the roman rite. I know the keys were given to Peter, and the pope succesion can be traced back to peter, and that is the catholic church, again I don’t know the differences between the rites, so for me that is were the truth lies. We don’t have orthodox churches around by us. I am not sure if you are speaking if Eastern Orthodox or greek orthodox. If it is Greek, then I would still have chosen Catholic because they are in communion with the Pope. Please if anyone knows if the greek orthodox are in communion with the pope please correct me. Thats how I learn 😛
 
Hello Melchoir
I am a convert to Catholicism from Anglicanism
For me there is only one church and one head - the Pope.
If that were not true then nobody would know where the true church was. The Authority of the Pope and the Magisterium was the turning point for me.
God Bless
👍
 
I agree with Walter. We’re in RCIA now, started in a 'Pentecostal Episcopal" Church and then a series of non-denoms. I watched the Episcopal Church crater without a center to hold it, and realized that ‘theology by committee’ is dead in the water. It will never work. Sad to say, however, the LA Diocese is less than Orthodox, from what I’ve seen. WE are the ones refering to the Catechism and Harry Crocker’s great History, in our class. I am convinced that the CC is the true church, however. Such an interesting journey.
 
Hi Melchior,

My husband and I attended a Greek Orthodox parish for about a year before we converted to Catholicism. For us, it was moral issues. The Orthodox allow remarriage after divorce and contraception. When I discovered the abortifacient nature of some contraceptives, that settled the issue for me once and for all. The Catholic Church alone has stood firm on all moral issues for 2,000 years.

God bless!

Cindy
 
I didn’t consider Orthodoxy when I first became a Catholic, but have considered it since and have found it to be:

Wrong on divorce and remarriage
Wrong on contraception
Wrong on the nationalism which it has embraced and which entraps it
Wrong on the heresies it has fallen into (and from which it has since recovered)
Wrong because it cannot speak with one voice for the Church on crucial issues; effectively, if not theologically, it’s as splintered as Protestantism; neither have a voice
Wrong on the Primacy of Peter and the role of the Papacy
 
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Shari:
I am not sure if you are speaking if Eastern Orthodox or greek orthodox. If it is Greek, then I would still have chosen Catholic because they are in communion with the Pope. Please if anyone knows if the greek orthodox are in communion with the pope please correct me. Thats how I learn 😛
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Greek Catholics are Eastern Rite Catholics. The Greek Orthodox are in schism.

Russian Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and any other Orthodox (with a capital ‘O’) are in schism, separated from the Catholic Church. They were Catholic for about the first one thousand years of Christianity, but broke from the Church and now call themselves Orthodox (right believing). (They claim we broke from them!) There’s plenty of blame on both sides.

I say that I am an orthodox Catholic (little ‘o’), meaning that I faithfully follow the the teachings of the Holy Father and the Magisterium (the Church’s teaching authority). In other words, I am a “right believer.”

Peace be with you and with all.
 
I was a Methodist, not a very good one, who married a Catholic. When we married I had no intetion of converting but when our first child was born I decided it would be easier to explane things to her if we both went to the same church. So I converted. That was some 30 years ago. I can’t say that I really understood the faith when I converted but I have learned a lot.(Still am). I became involved in our parish i.e. Euchristic adoration for 1 hr. per week, Knights of Columbus, usher, extrordinary minister. I love our faith and feel that it was God’s will that I become Catholic. 🙂
 
I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness and became a Missouri Synod Lutheran for a few years.

When I started becoming attracted to the Catholic Church I considered Eastern Orthodoxy. The local Eastern Orthodox Bishop had his office right across the street from my house. I attended one of his services and found the Eastern Liturgy to be very beautiful.

In any case, the main problem that I had with Eastern Orthodoxy was its inability to deal with universal problems in the Church. Basically, this branch of orthodoxy only accepted the decisions of the first few ecumenical councils. My Bishop friend admitted that in his faith tradition an ecumencial council was no longer possible.

For me it got back to the promise Jesus made about how His Church would not be overcome by the gates of Hell. If that is the case, how could this branch of Orthodoxy ever deal with major issues if an ecumenical council was impossible?

Jeff S.
 
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Lance:
I was a Methodist, not a very good one, who married a Catholic. When we married I had no intetion of converting but when our first child was born I decided it would be easier to explane things to her if we both went to the same church. So I converted. That was some 30 years ago. I can’t say that I really understood the faith when I converted but I have learned a lot.(Still am). I became involved in our parish i.e. Euchristic adoration for 1 hr. per week, Knights of Columbus, usher, extrordinary minister. I love our faith and feel that it was God’s will that I become Catholic. 🙂
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That is freaky. I could have written those EXACT words, except I am only 30 years old right now.

:eek:
 
I do not qualify as one who became Catholic or an Eastern Orthodox, but I can tell you that if I were to change religions it would be to become Catholic and this is why…

Catholics and EOs agree that Christ left authority on the earth to lead his church. Catholics and EOs accept that these authority figures participated in councils and defined the beliefs of the church the first Ecumenical Council being the Council of Nicea. These men and these councils were sealed by the Holy Spirit. It is through the Holy Spirit that the developments/definitions were guarded from error.

EOs believe that the 8th council contains error. They do not embrace any council after the 7th Ecumenical Council. Why? Why did the Holy Spirit abandon God’s Church? What happened?

I am not aware that I have ever gotten an answer to this query, but I suspect the answer would be that it was the 8th Council that introduced the filoque clause and this was a change from the deposit of faith left by the apostles and the Bible. I do not think history will support the position that the filoque clause was a more radical change than some of the earlier definitions/developments that occurred through the actions of the first seven councils. To me this invalidates this argument. I have yet to find another argument.

So, this is why I consider the Catholic read on history, doctrine, and the church far more convincing than that of the Eastern Orthodox.

Aspects of the EO that I like greater than the Catholic Church include:
  • The real presence, but not necessarily explained via Transubstantiation.
  • The EO take on original sin.
Undecided leaning EO on the filoque clause.

Torn on the question of the Pope. I agree with the EOs that the Bishop of Rome was not OBVIOUSLY invested with the earthly headship of the church, but I think a leader is necessary and I would embrace the development through ordained men of the office of the Pope.

Anyway, the 7th – 8th council baulk seems to me to be a fairly fatal falling. And this leans me strongly towards the Catholic Church.

Charity, TOm
 
_Christopher_:
That is freaky. I could have written those EXACT words, except I am only 30 years old right now.

:eek:
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Gets even more freaky. I noticed you are from the U.K., my son just moved there. :rolleyes:
 
Melchior said:
Hi,

This is my first post. Nice site you have here.

This is for Roman and Eastern Catholic converts. I am interested in the reasons that converts who may have considered Orthodoxy and Catholicism, chose Catholicism?

If there are any former Orthodox who are now Catholic I would be particularly interested in your response.

Peace,

Melchior (It’s an ancestor’s name if you are wondering), A sacramental, liturgical Protestant who is sympathetic to Catholicism.
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Mainly because the Eastern Orthodox Church is not that big (compared to the Roman Catholic Church) on the other hand the Catholic Church was and is the Church founded by St. Peter, so it must be correct.
 
Melchior said:
Hi,

I am interested in the reasons that converts who may have considered Orthodoxy and Catholicism, chose Catholicism?
Click to expand...
In the CC there are supernatural fenomena (from God obviously) that you won’t find in Orthodox churches: Fatima, Padre Pio, Faustina, Guadalupe, Martha Robin, Lourdes, etc.
 
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