Rome Sweet Home: A possible convert, thanks to this book

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MikhaelJohnPaul

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Greetings to all of you, my brothers and sisters in Christ.

I’m a Confessional Lutheran, but I’ve just finished reading Rome Sweet Home, and it has given me a lot to ponder. I may end up converting. 😃
 
It is a great book, it was instrumental in my conversion.

God bless!
 
I really appreciated Rome Sweet Home. It helped me think about some of the challenges that my protestant friends dealt with in relation to my faith. I admire the faith and courage of the Hahn family and appreciate their honesty as they describe their journey to Catholicism.
May God be with you always in your travels.
Amen.
 
It’s a great book. I read it and told my wife about it, and she ended up asking me to read the second half of the book aloud to her.
 
MikhaelJohnPaul said:
Greetings to all of you, my brothers and sisters in Christ.

I’m a Confessional Lutheran, but I’ve just finished reading Rome Sweet Home, and it has given me a lot to ponder. I may end up converting. 😃
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You’re almost home my friend! 😃
 
MikhaelJohnPaul said:
Greetings to all of you, my brothers and sisters in Christ.

I’m a Confessional Lutheran, but I’ve just finished reading Rome Sweet Home, and it has given me a lot to ponder. I may end up converting. 😃
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My wife was raised by a Pentecostal minister and this book was very helpful for her. I am a lifelong Catholic and I also found this book to be amazing. It is one of my favorite books of all time on any subject.

Christ be with you on your journey.
 
That book helped guide my conversion to Catholicism from Protestantism.

I will pray for you!!
 
thephilosopher6 said:
You’re almost home my friend! 😃
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Perhaps. I’m not quite ready to leave my roots yet. I have the open-mindedness of Scott and the reservations of Kimberly. Even as a Confessional Lutheran, I love the Catholic Tradition and the Church herself, but I do have many things to work out. Like Kimberly, I can definitely see this ending up in years of research and contemplation (although she often ran from the research), but I highly doubt I will experience a Dark Night of the Soul being as I am much more receptive to the Church than she was. As was said many times in the book, I must follow my conscience to the best of my ability, and make the decision one way or another with my whole heart. Honestly speaking, it’s the history of corruption and undeniably evil popes of the past that is my biggest stumbling block; not my only stumbling block, but the biggest.
 
MikhaelJohnPaul said:
Honestly speaking, it’s the history of corruption and undeniably evil popes of the past that is my biggest stumbling block; not my only stumbling block, but the biggest.
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This was a huge issue for me too! Looking back I remember two things that helped me move past this.

One was when I heard a story on the radio (I’m pretty sure it was on the radio) of a priest who was working with a man who was considering converting to Catholicism, but wouldn’t fully commit until he visited the Vatican and saw some of the relics there. At this time there was a lot of turmoil in Rome and internally the priest was hesitant for this man to go into that environment and encounter some attitudes that could direct him away from the faith. After the man left the priest was convinced that he would never come back.

Later, the man came back and said he was ready to officially join. When the priest asked why the man said something to the effect of “If the church can still survive through all of the horrible things it has been through, it has to be the real church of Christ.”

This leads me to my second thing that helped me, Matthew 16 18-19:

And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Jesus established Peter as the leader of his church. He also mentioned that the gates of hell shall not prevail. This (and prayer) helped me see that even through all of the horrible scandals and sinful Popes, God’s Church is still standing. It won’t go away. I just knew that if men had not destroyed this Church, it must be true.
 
An atheist who converted brought up a good point.

All these scandals never caused the church to crumble. There were bad people in the church, but the teachings of the church remained the same. At the time when people broke away from the church, many people agreed with the church about abortion etc. But then after a while, they began to change their minds. It seemed like they would agree with the popular/politically correct opinion, but the Catholic church remained firm.

Also, it was difficult to get your hands on a bible back then. How were they Christians? The mass and Eucharist.

And I’m sure you know many people have their own interpretations of the bible. Which one is right? I would think god would have established a church with infallible teachings to guide Christians.

I do recommend you to research all of this by yourself though. It would make you a lot stronger in your faith
 
I read the book after I converted. it was a good book. I really liked The Lamb’s Supper.
 
Neither encouraging nor deterring your conversion, I think it would be a good idea for you to meet with your Lutheran pastor about your concerns before you think too deeply on your own, especially based on the testimony of one book (kindest regards and respect for Scott Hahn).

I have given this same counsel to Catholics who’ve sought to convert to Lutheranism; first meet with your priest about your concerns first. Nobody wants a convert who is easily swayed. Often, these sorts of searches can end up increasing our appreciation for other faiths, while strengthening the one we’ve held all along.
 
steido01 said:
Neither encouraging nor deterring your conversion, I think it would be a good idea for you to meet with your Lutheran pastor about your concerns before you think too deeply on your own, especially based on the testimony of one book (kindest regards and respect for Scott Hahn).

I have given this same counsel to Catholics who’ve sought to convert to Lutheranism; first meet with your priest about your concerns first. Nobody wants a convert who is easily swayed. Often, these sorts of searches can end up increasing our appreciation for other faiths, while strengthening the one we’ve held all along.
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Hello!

Thank you for your concern, my dear brother in Christ. I refer you to post #9 above. This would not be something I did soon, nor would it be something I took lightly. The best explanation is that the book made me see things differently and opened up something in my heart, making me eager to research.
 
MikhaelJohnPaul said:
Greetings to all of you, my brothers and sisters in Christ.

I’m a Confessional Lutheran, but I’ve just finished reading Rome Sweet Home, and it has given me a lot to ponder. I may end up converting. 😃
Click to expand...
It was the book that finally tipped the scales for my wife.
 
This book changed my life too. As a life-long Catholic, I never heard anybody talking about the Church like this. I first heard it on CD and was so mezmerized, I got my first speeding ticket!

I also recommend Surprised by the Truth, compiled by Tim Staples. In addition, I recommend listing to Catholic Answers Live and Called to Communion by Dr. David Anders.

ewtn.com/radio/schedule.asp

Conversion is a life long process.

God bless you on your journey.
 
MikhaelJohnPaul said:
Perhaps. I’m not quite ready to leave my roots yet. I have the open-mindedness of Scott and the reservations of Kimberly. Even as a Confessional Lutheran, I love the Catholic Tradition and the Church herself, but I do have many things to work out. Like Kimberly, I can definitely see this ending up in years of research and contemplation (although she often ran from the research), but I highly doubt I will experience a Dark Night of the Soul being as I am much more receptive to the Church than she was. As was said many times in the book, I must follow my conscience to the best of my ability, and make the decision one way or another with my whole heart. Honestly speaking, it’s the history of corruption and undeniably evil popes of the past that is my biggest stumbling block; not my only stumbling block, but the biggest.
Click to expand...
Well, we have had 266 popes in 2,000 years; and of those, probably 8 to 10 were the “bad” popes. That’s only a handful when you put it in perspective. Most were good, decent men, and many were saintly, even heroic. The Holy Spirit preserved the Church even through the rough times of the corrupt popes. Check out this article on the Bad Popes by Dave Armstrong; it has some interesting facts and links for further reading.
 
EnglishTeacher said:
Well, we have had 266 popes in 2,000 years; and of those, probably 8 to 10 were the “bad” popes. That’s only a handful when you put it in perspective. Most were good, decent men, and many were saintly, even heroic. The Holy Spirit preserved the Church even through the rough times of the corrupt popes. Check out this article on the Bad Popes by Dave Armstrong; it has some interesting facts and links for further reading.
Click to expand...
Was Martin Luther without sin? None of us is without sin. Even Peter denied Jesus! Yet Jesus gave him the keys.

St. Paul was great persecutor of Christians. He made “murderous threats” and had St. Stephen stoned to death. And yet God chose him to spread the faith all the way to Rome!
 
I was a complete heathen until I met this young lady back in 1965. I fell in love and married her in 1966. It was a Catholic wedding. She was Catholic. So for four years I went to Mass with her, during the early days of pre-Vatican II transformation. I remember the 1965 missal and then one day it really changed. But I was not to be denied. I felt called to be Catholic so strongly that I begged our priest to Baptize me. I took a leap of Faith that has lasted me for 46 years.

A number of years ago, I made the switch to the TLM and have fallen even more deeply in love with the church.

May God Bless you on your journey. :signofcross:
 
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