Re: Catholic converts

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7_Sorrows

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I am not sure if this is the correct forum, but I am a Catholic convert and I wonder at times what cradle Catholics think about converts. Are we really ever fully accepted or are we viewed with some suspicion? Maybe the questions sounds strange, but I remember feeling like I had to prove myself after I converted and I will be honest that there are times I don’t feel accepted by other Catholics in my parish as someone who is fully Catholic, but a convert. Maybe I have been too sensitive about it. Anyhow, just wondering if any cradle Catholics out there could give me their opinion. Thanks.
 
7_Sorrows said:
I am not sure if this is the correct forum, but I am a Catholic convert and I wonder at times what cradle Catholics think about converts. Are we really ever fully accepted or are we viewed with some suspicion? Maybe the questions sounds strange, but I remember feeling like I had to prove myself after I converted and I will be honest that there are times I don’t feel accepted by other Catholics in my parish as someone who is fully Catholic, but a convert. Maybe I have been too sensitive about it. Anyhow, just wondering if any cradle Catholics out there could give me their opinion. Thanks.
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Hi 7 Sorrows,

I’m a cradle Catholic, and I think that converts are one of God’s greatest gift to His Church. Converts like you are proof of God’s divine providence. We, cradle Catholics, sometimes take our faith for granted, and converts have been instruments in setting us cradles ablaze with renewed faith. Personally, converts like Scott Hahn inspired me to take a deeper dive into my faith.

Maybe you’re missing the warm fuzzy feeling of your former ecclessial community. 🙂
 
choliks said:
Hi 7 Sorrows,

I’m a cradle Catholic, and I think that converts are one of God’s greatest gift to His Church. Converts like you are proof of God’s divine providence. We, cradle Catholics, sometimes take our faith for granted, and converts have been instruments in setting us cradles ablaze with renewed faith. Personally, converts like Scott Hahn inspired me to take a deeper dive into my faith.

Maybe you’re missing the warm fuzzy feeling of your former ecclessial community. 🙂
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I have heard some people who are critical of Scott Hahn make comments like who does that convert think he is, etc. But there will always be haters.

Personally, as a convert, I am really embraced as the baby in the family so to speak. The parishioners I know are very excited about my conversion and feel inspired by my new convert zeal. So, OP, I would say my experience has been good.
 
Individuals are all afflicted with the frailty of man, and you may be sensing some resistance to you from some individuals.

My experience is the opposite. After three years in RCIA, I am receiving the sacraments of initiation tomorrow night. I have been receiving words of encouragement from people I have not met, and there were more than a few people who came to Holy Thursday Mass because Father washed my feet.

We converts are doubly blessed. The Holy Spirit has guided us to accept Him and proclaim our faith AND we have the support, welcome and guidance of all of the catechists and parishioners who are representing Christ’s Church.

I pray that your journey will continue on a more positive note for you.
 
TrueLight said:
I have heard some people who are critical of Scott Hahn make comments like who does that convert think he is, etc. But there will always be haters.

Personally, as a convert, I am really embraced as the baby in the family so to speak. The parishioners I know are very excited about my conversion and feel inspired by my new convert zeal. So, OP, I would say my experience has been good.
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That’s sad. I guess their pride took a hit, because a convert, an “outsider” knows a lot more than them. Pride… tsk. tsk. tsk.

I may not have mentioned it, but I too was excited (as in really excited) with your journey into the Catholic Church. 🙂
 
choliks said:
That’s sad. I guess their pride took a hit, because a convert, an “outsider” knows a lot more than them. Pride… tsk. tsk. tsk.
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Yeah, I believe it’s something like that. Not to say I agree with everything he says, but he is an incredible bible scholar and I believe his testimony brings a lot of converts to the Church.
I may not have mentioned it, but I too was excited (as in really excited) with your journey into the Catholic Church. 🙂
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I appreciate all your support. 🙂
 
7_Sorrows said:
I am not sure if this is the correct forum, but I am a Catholic convert and I wonder at times what cradle Catholics think about converts. Are we really ever fully accepted or are we viewed with some suspicion? Maybe the questions sounds strange, but I remember feeling like I had to prove myself after I converted and I will be honest that there are times I don’t feel accepted by other Catholics in my parish as someone who is fully Catholic, but a convert. Maybe I have been too sensitive about it. Anyhow, just wondering if any cradle Catholics out there could give me their opinion. Thanks.
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I LOVE converts. But then, in a sense, I am one. Actually I refer to myself as a revert since I was raised in the faith but then was away from the Church for many years before returning in 2007.

Seriously, converts bring a great and wonderful vitality to the Church, specially converts who were previously very active in another Christian community.
It may be that “lifelong” (and possibly lukewarm) Catholics are put off by that vitality. 🤷

Peace
James
 
I am a convert and have never really experienced any feelings of being an outsider. After all, many people do not even know that i am a convert unless I tell them. However, I somewhat dislike the term “cradle Catholic” because it seems to imply some sort of superiority. I think the important part is to remember that we ALL are members of the Body of Christ.
 
Converts are pretty much the only proper Catholics around these neck of the woods.
 
I am a convert too and I feel that other catholics accept me the same way as cradle catholics.
I don’t know since when you are a catholic, but it could be that there is a gap between you and the ones from your parish because you do not have as much knowledge as them.
 
Well, I think that there are three things going on-people who were raised Catholic like to think they know everything by osmosis and don’t like the idea that people who have converted know more than they do; some people who were raised Catholic have experienced their Catholicism differently than some people who have converted; ethnicity.

Let me explain what I think about the last two, because its a little bit fuzzy. When I think of what’s important to be about the Catholic Church, one of the first things that springs to mind is the school system. My parents and grandparents all went to and taught at Catholic schools; to me a parish is not right if it doesn’t have a school, and when I imagine the ideal Catholic parish, its located in the heart of a city and plays another Catholic school for the city football championship every Thanksgiving. In other words, I imagine the idealized 1950’s Catholic parish, because that’s the image I learned. Some of us…this part is hard to explain, since “take for granted” is not the right word, since we appreciate the Mass, but idealize that part of it. This isn’t an absolute rule, but that sort of nostalgia is probably less common among converts than among people who were raised Catholic because that idealized urban Northeastern Catholic experience isn’t something they’d have been familiar with growing up. So its a little bit of a gap. And it spills over into other things-a lot of “cradle” Catholics have an instinctive respect for, say, Notre Dame or Boston College or Fordham that converts don’t because those aren’t magic names to them.

The other part is probably…well, bigotry isn’t the right word, but there is probably an instinctive thought by a lot of people in the United States that Smith and Johnson aren’t good Catholic names; Sosabowski and O’Hara and Ippolito are what you should be hearing.

So I think a good deal of it really boils down to nostalgia for the idealized world of Going My Way, and people come off as rude because they don’t realize it is hard to accept that what they experienced as a defining part of “growing up Catholic” is not an essential part of the religion. Just because you didn’t grow up in a neighborhood in Brooklyn and walk to Our Lady of Mount Carmel with all the other Italian boys and listen to the Dodgers on the radio (or listen to your grandfather telling you stories about that time) doesn’t make you a lesser Catholic.
 
7_Sorrows said:
I am not sure if this is the correct forum, but I am a Catholic convert and I wonder at times what cradle Catholics think about converts. Are we really ever fully accepted or are we viewed with some suspicion? Maybe the questions sounds strange, but I remember feeling like I had to prove myself after I converted and I will be honest that there are times I don’t feel accepted by other Catholics in my parish as someone who is fully Catholic, but a convert. Maybe I have been too sensitive about it. Anyhow, just wondering if any cradle Catholics out there could give me their opinion. Thanks.
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I think you are being overly sensitive.

I am a convert, too. I do not share your perceptions or experiences.
 
7_Sorrows said:
I am not sure if this is the correct forum, but I am a Catholic convert and I wonder at times what cradle Catholics think about converts. Are we really ever fully accepted or are we viewed with some suspicion? Maybe the questions sounds strange, but I remember feeling like I had to prove myself after I converted and I will be honest that there are times I don’t feel accepted by other Catholics in my parish as someone who is fully Catholic, but a convert. Maybe I have been too sensitive about it. Anyhow, just wondering if any cradle Catholics out there could give me their opinion. Thanks.
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I owe my faith to my convert mother. I am in awe of people who convert. God bless you all!
 
I’ve never felt looked down upon for being a convert, if anything, it has been the opposite experience. I’ve had more people express admiration that I’ve found this faith on my own, especially since I didn’t convert because of a spouse or anything. I think there are great things about both. Cradle Catholics have been part of the culture and traditions since birth and it is important that they help pass that on to us newbies. Converts often have the zeal and that can help reinvigorate others.
 
I think most practicing Catholics get excited and happy when they hear about converts. Just the other day I was doing an observation at my parish school when one of the teachers I have been with asked if I was Catholic. I said yes, actually a brand new Catholic, I’m a convert. Both teachers immediately got incredibly excited. Oh wow! Oh my gosh!!! That is so awesome!!! How cool is that!!! Then I said, I mean brand new, I just converted in November and they got even more excited. They said, oh that means you know more than us cradle Catholics!! Then the teacher shared with her class that I just became Catholic.

So I got nothing but positivity from them for sure.

Most Catholics think it’s really interesting and cool.
 
anp1215 said:
I think most practicing Catholics get excited and happy when they hear about converts. Just the other day I was doing an observation at my parish school when one of the teachers I have been with asked if I was Catholic. I said yes, actually a brand new Catholic, I’m a convert. Both teachers immediately got incredibly excited. Oh wow! Oh my gosh!!! That is so awesome!!! How cool is that!!! Then I said, I mean brand new, I just converted in November and they got even more excited. They said, oh that means you know more than us cradle Catholics!! Then the teacher shared with her class that I just became Catholic.

So I got nothing but positivity from them for sure.
**
Most Catholics think it’s really interesting and cool.**
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Yes, we do. I myself am fascinated with conversion stories. I never knew my mother had converted because she was engaged to a Catholic, and then he dumped her. I heard this from her family just a few years ago.

We love new Catholics!!!
 
The Catholic Church is the original cradle Catholic. Here is what she thinks of converts …

St Paul
St Augustine
St Elizabeth Ann Seton
St Teresa Benedicta
etc
 
Converts are Catholics by informed choice and I fully respect them for it. After going through the process of RCIA they are generally better informed, in my view, about the faith than many cradle Catholics who learned what they know at an early age - and hadn’t fully appreciated all that they were being taught.

One of the reasons that I got involved in RCIA was because I wanted to learn more about my own faith - I was astounded at how little I knew, despite the fact that I don’t miss Mass and am involved in various groups within the Church.

In short … respect!👍
 
As a soon to be convert 😃 I have received nothing but support. My Catholic friends (save one who has fallen away from the faith) have been super excited and supportive. One close friend thinks it’s really cool that I came to Catholicism “on my own” (guided by the Holy Spirit, of course). I do think new converts have a zeal and excitement for the Church but personally I am in awe of the cradle Catholics who take their faith so seriously and with such reverence.
 
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