Questions for Catholics who were once Mormon

[JohnCarroll]

Hello
I noticed in the survrey that 5% ( four people really) of those posting were once Mormon. I would like to hear , what made you become a Catholic?

 

[Robert57]

I did not leave Mormonism for another religion, rather I left because I discovered it is not what it claims to be.

I became very skptical, for a short time, of concrete religious claims by churches. My wife and I were both teen converts to the LDS church, but she had been raised a Catholic and wanted to start our new journey by reexploring the Catholic Church. I heartily agreed for her and the kids’ sake, but I knew I would never commit or submit to another authoritative religion again.

I view my conversion to the Catholic Church as God’s grace. But here are some of the visible reasons:

2 priests and a family ministry couple: all very supportive of our situation, all prayerful for our spiritual journey. Answering our questions. But not trying to convert us. They left that to God.

The discovery of the writings of the early church fathers and comparing them with the Catholic Church.

The overwelmingly beautiful concept of the historical orthodox Christian God compared to the limited Mormon God.

If Christ is really God, then which Christianity do I follow? My studies of sola scriptura and sola fide convinced me that Protestantism is not complete and, to some degree, in error.

Comparison of the claims of primacy by the Bishop of Rome to the Orthodox churches.

The deep tradition of using philosophy and reason to discover the Word of God. Example: My awakenig and conviction of the Catholic teachings on abortion (I had held on to the Mormon position.) This really hit me and I realized there was a depth in Catholic philosphy to explain faith anf morals I had never experienced.

The Real Presence of the eucharist!

The meditative tradition. The family ministry couple taught me the Rosary which I found very healing. I began weekly eucharistic adoration before I difinitely decided to be confirmed into the church.

The prayers of my good wife and others.

I’m sure I’m missing a few other places on my journey, but these are most of the significant ones.

Thanks for asking.

 

[darcee]

I too did not leave the Mormon Church for the Catholic.

I spent over 8 years very involved in the LDS Church. I too had trouble with some of the doctrine, but mostly my trouble was with the fact that I never had a strong testimony. Yet the teaching positions I found myself in strongly encouraged me to “Bare your testimony at the close of the lesson” when I admitted that this was difficult as I did not feel I had a strong testimony I was told that the more often I bore my testimony the stronger it would become. Basically I was strongly encouraged ever week to lie to my youthful students…

The temple ceremony was not a spiritual experience for me. I found myself questioning even more, but since I was now married in the LDS church I found it even more difficult to socially leave it.

I found the social aspects of the LDS church to be very sustaining and gratifying. You can walk into a new ward in the Mormon universe and be instantly welcomed. You will find yourself with a “calling” (a church assigned job like teaching Sunday school or working with the youth), Home and visiting teachers (men and women assinged to meet with you monthly at your home and share the faith.) and a slew of activities to go to in a week or so. In the Catholic church you can go for weeks and no one will notice you are new. I think this is a failing. When whole communities were Catholic it might have worked differently, but the way things are today it is to easy to be lost.

When my ex-husband was dis-fellowshipped and we moved my social connection was severed. This allowed me to start thinking about the LDS teachings without having to deal with the painful possibility of being shunned from my community… since I was already cut off from them. When I started addressing those questions honestly I found that I could never be LDS again.

What brought me to the Catholic faith was totally unrelated. But I will say that one of the thoughts that I had at my first mass was that “Wonder Bread and water are poor substitutes for the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.”

-D

 

[Tmaque]

There’s a trend here. I also did not leave the LDS church for the Catholic church. I left the LDS faith after many years, after a mission, after baptizing nineteen and bringing them into the church. I left because I could no longer ignore reason. I could no longer ignore the facts in front of my eyes. The evidence against the authenticity of the LDS church is overwhelming. It is simply not what it claims to be.

Faith does not trump reason. For many years I thought it did, I thought to believe you had to ignore common sense. I was wrong. After fifteen years of agnosticism I found the Catholic faith by following reason. Faith plays a part to be sure, but it doesn’t demand to be the sole means of belief. Mormonism teaches you otherwise.