Question for those who have converted to Catholicism?

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Would anyone who is a convert to the Catholic Church like to share what convinced you to convert? Maybe even your conversion story? Thanks in advance and God bless you all.
 
I converted 3 years ago. I attended RCIA to learn more about the Catholic teachings. I had not made the decision to become Catholic, only to learn more. I ended up embracing the faith with my heart.

For conversion stories, find the books, “Surprised by Truth” I, II, and III.

I am amazed at the entirely biblical support for the Catholic Church. The questions in the back of my mind were answered by the Bible in support of the Catholic Church. In all honesty, the Protestant Churches do not have very good answers to many questions.

Where does the Bible come from?
What must I do to be saved?
Where is the “personal relationship”, alter call salvation explained?
What does the Bible say about Sola Fide (salvation by faith alone)?
What does the Bible say about Sola Scriptura (Bilbe alone)?
Where are all the Catholic beliefs about Mary supported in the Bible?
What is the Biblical support for the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist as opposed to being merely a symbol?
What basis do the Sacraments have?

Also check out www.maryfoundation.com for Scott Hahn’s conversion CD and other good explanations of the Catholic Faith.

If you want more resources to answer and address questions about the Catholic faith, let me know and I can direct you to many audio and book resources, many of which are free or inexpensive.
 
I came to the faith in 1996. Almost 10 years now. I was born and raised Baptist. Was Baptist until age 40. However, during my 30’s I attended many different denominations, always searching for a home. I studied Islam and Buddism. I also got deeply into the New Age Movement in my 30’s. It was actually the New Age Movement which brought me to our Lady.

I read two to three books a week on average. So I visit many, many bookstores. One day while in a book store, I saw this book about the apparitions of Mary…Now I knew NOTHING about Mary, or the apparitions, and besides, I was studying (at that point) reincarnation, and so Mary seemed pretty mundane to me. Well, every bookstore I went in, it seemed I ran into this one particular book. This went on for months on end. Finally one day, in frustration, after again running into this book, I seriously looked up to the sky and said, “OK, fine, if you WANT me to buy this book, then the VERY next bookstore I go into this book will be on sale.”

You know what happened…it no longer surprises me. The same day, I went to another bookstore, and upon entering, was a WHOLE display of this book, and they were ALL on sale. TALK about God hitting you on the head to get your attention. So I bought the book. It took me all of about six hours to read the entire book.

When I finished, I wanted more. More information, more news about what apparitions were going on now. So I thought to myself, that I would just call the local Catholic priest and ask about it. He invited me over immediately, gave me a family sized Catholic Bible. A Rosary, (I had told him I was interested in learning about it), and a small library in booklets. By the time I finished them, (except for the Bible), I was convinced that I needed to look into Catholicism. I wanted to find out what the first generation after the Apostles were taught. So I started reading the Fathers. It took all of about two months for me to decide that I needed to be Catholic. I converted that year, along with my daughter and my son. I have never looked back.

I spent half of my life searching for truth, feeling lost, knowing I wasn’t ‘saved’ as I had never had that ‘epitome’ that so many fundamentalist Christians insist is the sign of salvation. I hope I spend the next half of my life bringing the faith to those who can use the information. I figure if I can only touch ONE soul during my entire lifetime, then I have accomplished something to be very proud of.

Catholic by the Grace of God, and the direct intervention of the Holy Mother.

Gracie
 
For me it was a combination of two things. First, I came to realize that (contrary to the teaching of my Pentecostal/Baptist/Reformed upbringing) we are not qualified as individuals to interpret the Bible, meaning either that there must be a central authority, or Christianity in toto is a washout. Second was the Eucharist.

DaveBj
 
I am a retread! I’ve told my story on other threads.

Long story short, I found all the contridictions in Protestant opinions and all the unity in Catholic Dogma, Faith and Morals!

I owe my journey home to Rome to Joe Smith (LDS founder), Baptist Doctors Dean and Martin, James White, Jack Chick, jesus-is-lord.com, bible.ca, mtc.org, and a few others. Mostly I must thank the Holy Spirirt for taking the ‘scales’ off my eyes and bringing me home to Christs body, His Catholic Church!

How could I have been so blind all those years as a non-denomination denominational, Baptist and Lutheran?:banghead:

I guess it was easier to do what I wanted then what Jesus wanted.

Sola Fida - not in Scripture.

Sola Scriptura - not in Scripture.

OSAS - not in Scripture.

Be schismatic and form new churches at will - not in Scripture.

No need to go to church or belong to one - not in Scripture.

Must read the Bible - not in Scripture.

Blessed Mary is favored - in Scripture.

Eucharist - in Scripture.

Loyalty to His Church - in Scripture.

Celibacy - in Scripture.

Faith proven by works - in Scripture
 
I was born & raised a Baptist,in ,by and for the Baptist church, I felt that there was always something missing, like accountability & consistancy.
became inteested in the Catholic Church after hearing lots of slanderous remarks (pretty nasty bashing),something I was not raised with,so I started to study Catholic Doctrines (i.e. the catachism),combined w/ a pastor who thought he could prove me wrong on any issue(from the pulpit).

The final triggers came from st. pauls writings @ “partaking of the body” & a private revelation (I saw Christ on the host at consecration twice)
it took me 2 yrs to go through RCIA & came into full communion Easter 2005

I thank GOD I found my way home
 
Thank you all so much for sharing your stories! They are all so inspiring and welcome home. I was born Catholic, and was the first in a long of line of Protestant ancestors to be born into the faith. My parents converted when my dad was studying to be a Methodist preacher. They just couldn’t deny the truth they found in the teachings of the Catholic Church. Thanks be to God and I feel truly blessed.
 
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Gracie2004:
I came to the faith in 1996. Almost 10 years now. I was born and raised Baptist. Was Baptist until age 40. However, during my 30’s I attended many different denominations, always searching for a home. I studied Islam and Buddism. I also got deeply into the New Age Movement in my 30’s. It was actually the New Age Movement which brought me to our Lady.

I read two to three books a week on average. So I visit many, many bookstores. One day while in a book store, I saw this book about the apparitions of Mary…Now I knew NOTHING about Mary, or the apparitions, and besides, I was studying (at that point) reincarnation, and so Mary seemed pretty mundane to me. Well, every bookstore I went in, it seemed I ran into this one particular book. This went on for months on end. Finally one day, in frustration, after again running into this book, I seriously looked up to the sky and said, “OK, fine, if you WANT me to buy this book, then the VERY next bookstore I go into this book will be on sale.”

You know what happened…it no longer surprises me. The same day, I went to another bookstore, and upon entering, was a WHOLE display of this book, and they were ALL on sale. TALK about God hitting you on the head to get your attention. So I bought the book. It took me all of about six hours to read the entire book.

When I finished, I wanted more. More information, more news about what apparitions were going on now. So I thought to myself, that I would just call the local Catholic priest and ask about it. He invited me over immediately, gave me a family sized Catholic Bible. A Rosary, (I had told him I was interested in learning about it), and a small library in booklets. By the time I finished them, (except for the Bible), I was convinced that I needed to look into Catholicism. I wanted to find out what the first generation after the Apostles were taught. So I started reading the Fathers. It took all of about two months for me to decide that I needed to be Catholic. I converted that year, along with my daughter and my son. I have never looked back.

I spent half of my life searching for truth, feeling lost, knowing I wasn’t ‘saved’ as I had never had that ‘epitome’ that so many fundamentalist Christians insist is the sign of salvation. I hope I spend the next half of my life bringing the faith to those who can use the information. I figure if I can only touch ONE soul during my entire lifetime, then I have accomplished something to be very proud of.

Catholic by the Grace of God, and the direct intervention of the Holy Mother.

Gracie
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Wow! Great story! Good for you and God bless you and your children.

BTW, what’s the title of the book that was on sale?
 
Such amazing and beautiful conversion stories! How I admire you all!

Weddy, what a precious and miraculous gift you were given to see the glorious face of Our Lord in the Euchrist. I have received a special unexplainable miracle and one day I will tell it.

The journey into the Catholic Church is the most spectacular journey that exists. Our Heavenly Father certainly graced all of you with His Love. I was born Catholic and every day I thank God for allowing me this Grace. My real admiration is for those who knew they weren’t home and searched and studied and are now our most cherished members of the Catholic Church.👍:yup::clapping::dancing::tiphat::love::blessyou:

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I put all my trust in You
 
The title of the book is “Visions of Mary” by Peter Eicher.

God Bless,

Gracie
 
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weddy:
I was born & raised a Baptist,in ,by and for the Baptist church, I felt that there was always something missing, like accountability & consistancy.
became inteested in the Catholic Church after hearing lots of slanderous remarks (pretty nasty bashing),something I was not raised with,so I started to study Catholic Doctrines (i.e. the catachism),combined w/ a pastor who thought he could prove me wrong on any issue(from the pulpit).

The final triggers came from st. pauls writings @ “partaking of the body” & a private revelation (I saw Christ on the host at consecration twice)
it took me 2 yrs to go through RCIA & came into full communion Easter 2005

I thank GOD I found my way home
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Could you elaborate on seeing Jesus? That sounds like an awesome story, and I’d really like to hear it.😃
 
I converted in August 2004. I was what I would call very anticatholic, and had all the normal misconceptions about the Church. I even hid my husbands rosaries and holy, anything that was Catholic or that could make us look like we were a Catholic family went into a drawer or the back of a closet. Anyway in late 03 I started reading things about the Catholic faith. Now keep in mind that up to this point I didn’t want to know anything about that cult. One night I was at my computer and something said you can start learning. I had made a promise when I married my husband that the kids would know his faith and I did want to keep that promise. I didn’t promise to raise them in the faith. Anyway my mother-in-law gave me some books, I found relevant radio, and read everything I could get my hands on. Had some pretty spicey debates with my mother. I had no plans on converting, just learning, but once I started learning I couldn’t not convert. I had some pretty definite signs from the Holyspirit from prayers.
Now we are a firm Catholic family, no watered down stuff for us, and no one even knows I am a convert. We even had our priest for supper and his jaw dropped to the floor when we told him. I love the richness of the Faith and all the truth. This is of course the condensed version.
 
I was raised Methodist but during my highschool years I became more Charismatic/Pentecostal. After college I joined the army and decided I wanted to be an army chaplain. I realized I couldn’t honestly teach what my Pentecostal and Health and Wealth church taught back home. An Eastern Orthodox aquaintance challenged me to read early church writings. I didn’t at that time, but I respected them more. Reading C.S. Lewis introduced me to a more orthodox Christianity than I was used to. Lewis introduced me to Chesterton who made even more sense. I always questioned what my former pastors taught. Often they made unreasonable arguments. Lewis and Chesterton are good for someone who want faith and reason. I read The Imitation of Christ and that floored me. In Health and Wealth churches you worship God for the goodies God provides. Yet, here was A’Kempis giving his all to God. I was touched by Catholic piety. I started to feel the tug of Catholicism.

One huge blow to my defense was learning that Chesterton was Catholic. For about nine months I told my family and co-workers that I wouldn’t be surprised if I became Catholic. In June 2001 I decided I wanted it enough to attend mass and study the Church. Every objection I ever had to Catholicism was answered. Ironically, obections I had to my other churches were answered also. The scriptural gymnastics of balancing my former beliefs with the Bible were no longer needed. I found out why Peter said “those who repent and are BAPTIZED will be saved.” That used to bother me. I found out why Paul said we participate in the body and blood of Christ, and we are not to partake if we are in sin. That really used to bug me. The more I studied the more I realized it takes selective amnesia to be a non-Catholic.

In Catholicism everything fit together. All Scripture fit together. No more back flips. Worship is for God not for reward.
 
I am currently in the process of converting from the LDS church.

As a child, we attended several churches, Assemblies of God and Baptist cheif among them, before I joined the LDS church at 14, but I have always had a special place for the Catholic church.

Even as a child I could not understand why we didn’t have Priests, Nuns and Rosarys 😃

When I joined the LDS church, I knew even then that there were aspects of the doctrine that I didn’t agree with, but after attending several churches I also knew that I was never going to find a church in which I agree 100% with. There are even aspects of the RCC that I disagree with to be honest.

Recently though, the aspects of the doctrine that I disagree with in the LDS church began to outweigh the aspects of the doctrine that I did agree with, and since the LDS church is starting to tighten up so-to-speak, I felt it was time to begin inquiring at other churches.

I knew though that I didn’t want to go back to the Baptist church, and in fact, most of the evangelical churches are just too (please forgive the term) “Cartoonish” for me. I just can’t see myself standing in a crowd with my hands in the air singing “lord I praise your name on high”. I was looking for something much more traditional.

I then began looking at the Episcipal church, breifly, but then I began looking into the RCC and realized that this is where I should have looked first. I love it but I can’t tell you in words precisely why. It just feels like home. 🙂

God Bless.
 
Hi,

I would like to offer you my own personal testimony so you can see where I’m comin’ from and WHY I returned to Catholicism.

I am a cradle Catholic and a “revert” to the faith after being gone for about 34 years. I had left the Church at about age 17 because I was on drugs and then “got saved” at a Campus Life Bible study that was run by a very cool minister. I had always gone to church but never really taken it seriously or read the Bible, even though it was in the house and other members of my family read it. The lack was not in the church (I see that now) but within me. I began to read the Bible for the first time in my life…(the epistle of St. James) and it really hit home. I have always believed in God, but I saw that that was not enough. I did alright for a couple of years, got married and we moved here to Florida, where I stayed out of establishment churches because I figured they were all messed up and did my thing as a “Jesus freak”, witnessing on the streets and handing out Christian underground papers and tracts, and “witnessing” to anyone who would listen.

Eventually I and my little family joined a Baptist church because the preacher convinced me that we believed the same things and he liked my no fear witnessing. That was fine until I admitted that I figured that the gifts of the Holy Spirit did not end with the death of the last apostle. That ended my path to being a Baptist minister so we joined a local Assembly of God where we stayed for many years in spite of some really unscriptural and uncharitable things they did. I became a deacon there, but finally we left after they pulled some really lame stuff and blew me off when I pointed out that what they were doing was unscriptural. My letter telling them why we were leaving was 10 pages long.

I intended to find another church, but we never did and so we remained out of any church for many years.

About 5 years ago I hit a real crisis and decided to turn back to the Lord. I found that Jesus meant every word of the parable of the prodigal son. I began to read the Bible again and got a New American Bible which is about like the NIV except this one has all the books (which I liked even though at the time I was still a Protestant). This particular edition was fairly big, with a bright green paperback cover that said “The Catholic Bible” in big orange letters. I went diddy-bopping into a meeting one day with that in hand and wasn’t in there a hot minute when some guy jumped my case.

“Are you Catholic?’ he asked me. “Well…yeah”, says I, (since technically I was). “You Catholics worship Mary.” “Say what?” I responded. “You Catholics worship Mary. You pray to her.” “Look, I know I been outta the church for a long time, and we do pray to her but we DON”T worship her and no Catholic that knows his ear from his elbow would ever even SAY such a crazy thing. We worship God alone. End of story, Dude.”

He persisted so severely that I finally told him that I’d get some books, check it out and get back to him with what I found out, and that if he was right then I would never enter a Catholic Church ever again.

I found a great book by a priest named Father Oscar Lukefahr of Catholic Home Study Service and read it carefully and prayerfully. I was happy to find that not only were the Catholics right and that they do not worship anyone but Almighty God, but that their doctrines about Mary are soundly based upon the Bible and that the early Christians believed the very same things. Even the three pillars of the Reformation ( Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli) believed the same things about Mary that Catholics do today. In the end I went back to church and met another Catholic guy, who like myself was returning to the faith as well. We studied and talked and found ourselves having to dig up real answers for people we knew who didn’t like the Catholic Church.

cont’d
 
I continued to study Catholic teaching and discovered that a great deal of what I had been taught about the Bible and Christianity was wrong. I found that non-Catholics ignore and “read around” Bible passages that support Catholic teaching and that they completely ignore the history of Christianity prior to the 1500s. Now I know what I believe and why and I will never change, though I promise every non-Catholic that I dialog with that if they can prove that the Catholics are wrong that I’ll be in their church with them every Sunday from now on. No one even comes close…

Now I participate at Mass as often as I can, pray the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet almost every day, abstain from meat on most Fridays (just out of devotion to God), and of course read and study my Bible, as well as other Catholic writings. I am Catholic because I know and believe with all my heart and soul that the Catholic Church IS the New Testament church and I believe that the Eucharist is everything that the church teaches it is, the same as the early church did…all the way back to the last supper and the 6th chapter of the Gospel of St. John. I believe it’s really the body and blood of our risen Lord because St. Paul said that if you take communion while living in sin that you become guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, and that wouldn’t be possible if His body and blood weren’t really present in the form of bread and wine…just like the last supper. It is the most powerful miracle in all of Christianity, and I love it.

My Christian life is stronger than ever before, my prayer life is powerful, and I have great answers to my prayers like never before. I have always been a soul winner and that has not changed at all. God has used me to win some people that I sure couldn’t have won on my own. Some were very anti-Catholic and now are very MUCH Catholic and very happy and forthright about their faith. It’s really very humbling…I feel like a raggedy (unworthy) Styrofoam cup at a feast, filled with the very finest wine.

So… God Love ya, That’s it. I’m nothing special. There are thousands of people like me who are returning to the faith each week and many more who are finding their way into it as well. It’s been here for over 2,000 years…it won’t die off or go away, and the very gates of hell have not prevailed (and will not prevail) against it. Jesus promised and he has kept that promise in spite of the human failings of individual members of His one true church.

This is the real thing. The fullness of truth, and the most beautiful Christianity you can possibly imagine. Nothing outside the Catholic Church even comes close. I cry tears of humble joy during the consecration at Mass because I am so wrapped up in worship of my risen Lord and Savior. I don’t care who notices or what they might think. I’m more concerned with making sure that Jesus hears me when I say, “My Lord and my God.”

Pax tecum,
 
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Catholics4Life:
Would anyone who is a convert to the Catholic Church like to share what convinced you to convert? Maybe even your conversion story? Thanks in advance and God bless you all.
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Let’s see … what convinced me to convert? It was a combination of a lapsed Catholic wife who came back to the Church and the fact that I was running out of places to go.

I was born and raised Episcopalian and was actually a missionary in the Episcopal Church (yes, they do have missionaries) in Liberia in 1985. A few years after I got back, the Episcopal Church went on one of its regular anti-apartheid campaigns and I wrote to the Presiding Bishop about it. I told him about the atrocities that were happening in the rest of Africa and I asked him what he expected to replace apartheid in South Africa and what assurance he could give that South Africa would not go the way of Zimbabwe and various other countries in Africa. He wrote me back essentially denying that any of the atrocities in sub-Saharan Africa were happening. That was the day I left the Episcopal Church.

That same day a pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses came to the door. Between one thing and another, they held Bible studies in our home for three months and we went to their annual Lord’s Supper (they celebrate it once a year, and virtually nobody partakes). After three months I asked if I could lead the evening’s study. My subject was an exhaustive list of every place in the New Testament in which people worship Jesus or call Him God. The next week the JW’s came back and informed us that they would not be spending any more time studying the Bible with us.

Our family joined the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church. It was good, but then a personality conflict developed between the pastor and a family member and we were pretty much invited to leave. My wife was invited to a Southern Baptist church, walked the aisle, and “got saved.” Since I didn’t really have anywhere else to go, I followed her and we both got rebaptized. I had “accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior” when I was fourteen and had been “walking with God” ever since, so I knew the Baptist language.

After a few years among the Baptists, my wife decided that she missed the sacraments. She came back to Rome and started attending the local Catholic church. I stayed with the Baptist church because I was of use there. I did have to go by the Catholic church to get our marriage sacramentalized. A year later, we were moving and I would have to change churches anyway, so I went ahead and went through an accelerated RCIA and was accepted into the Church a month later.

Our primary stumbling block against entering the Catholic Church several years before we did was the question of artificial birth control. During my accelerated RCIA, the priest assigned me as penance to find a copy of Humanae Vitae and read it. This was in the days before the widespread use of the Internet; it was surprisingly difficult to find a copy. I read it; I was convinced by it; and I highly recommend it to anybody who is looking into the subject.

So here I am. I have been baptized twice, confirmed twice, and married three times to the same woman (once in Liberia, once before a judge, and once in the Catholic Church). I have been Episcopalian, Lutheran, Southern Baptist, and Catholic, with a strong dose of Judaism in my college years and enough of the Jehovah’s Witnesses to cause them trouble.

Once during my Protestant years I said “Every church has got some false doctrines; the trick is to find the one with the mistakes you can live with.” I repudiate that statement: in the Catholic Church, I have found the One True Faith. I stood in front of a congregation and declared for all to hear, “I believe everything that the Catholic Church teaches to be true and correct,” and I will stand behind that statement.
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