Tell us your Story

[lordjules]

Not really a topic that I could put this under. Really should be a general topic I think but just thought I’d ask those of you who care to right in what your faith journey has been.

I was born in to a non-Catholic home. Mother was a church goer, Dad not. I had to go to whatever church my mother went to until I was 16 (my mother is Irish so you can imagine how much guilt played in that!)

In my mid 20’s I gave my life to Jesus as they say. Shortly after that I went to do a course at a short-term missionary school called Youth With a Mission. I went on to do some missionary trips to France and Russia.

I returned to my home base and did odd jobs for a couple of years and then returned to YWAM to do an introduction to Biblical Counselling school in Lausanne in Switzerland. After this I did my practical phase in Hollywood, USA but there were no experienced counsellors so I ended up helping to look after a home for street children. After 6 months of this I became totally burnt out and returned home, vowing that I would never do missionary work again.

Several years later I met my first wife. I had been going to an Anglican Church but as she went to a Baptist church I went to that instead. They were better able to tolerate my rebelliousness (I found out subsequently that I’m a 4 on the Enneagram).

We got married and things went relatively well for the first 4 years and then her past came back to haunt her and we ended up getting divorced. I tried to fight it but what can you do when the person you love is not interested in reconciliation.

I then went on an overland trip from Cairo to Cape Town to try to overcome my sense of worthlessness. On the trip I met my current wife - a lovely Catholic girl and full of fire! We have been married for over ten years now and live in South Africa.

I started going back to Church but after the birth of our second child, a severely disabled autistic boy whom we love very much, I couldn’t take the stock answers to the problem of pain any more and started to drift away. I started going to an Anglican church which I found suited my character much better.

Being interested in theology I started going to RCIA classes and that’s where I am now and am highly likely to convert to Roman Catholicism. One thing I would say however is that I do not regret my ‘Protestant’ (a word I hate as it’s so violent) past any more than I hated Catholic’s before starting to become one.

My vision? Well I would dearly like to see more work between the two Churches to accommodate one another.

 

[lordjules]

Back in the day Irish and Jewish mother’s were well known for their guilt

 

[lordjules]

Thanks Cecilia. How about letting us know your story. I’m hoping we can build up a collection of people’s spiritual journey without people feeling the need to comment. A respite from the flame wars in other fora here.

 

[lordjules]

Hi Eric Hyom and gabrielmercy. Care to share your faith journey with us?

 

[CelticWarlord]

thought I’d ask those of you who care to right in what your faith journey has been.

I loved God as far back as I can remember and have been talking with Him ever since I was a toddler. Several life-changing events happened in my early teens. The movie, The Ten Commandments, fueled a deep desire to know the Old Testament. 3 hours of assorted Christian radio every evening occupied much of my time. A personal conviction to abide by a code of conduct filled me with the desire to remain celibate till marriage, never drink until I was of age, and respect my parents and neighbors. At age 17 I wound up becoming attached to the one of the worst possible churches, a cult known as The Worldwide Church of God. I stayed with this group from 1974-96. But I was a rebel within the group and stayed on the very fringe of acceptable behaviour as they dictated it.

In 1995 my wife and kids and I attended a Billy Graham Crusade here in our city. This changed my life again as his message of Christian love was not one I had ever heard in my 22 years of church attendance. Within a year I left the old church, my wife a year after that, and began attending Baptist, Presbyterian and Anglican services. I read every book by popular authors like Graham, Charles Colson, Max Lucado and many others. By 2001, though, I was frustrated in that the most basic questions as to why we live on the earth and what the point of it all was had not been answered to any degree of satisfaction so I began looking outside of the Christian sphere and eventually found some semblance of solace in a lengthy study of near death experiences. This along with some astonishing personal experiences and answers to prayerful questions led me back to Christianity, though this time into a realm of it I knew nothing about; Catholicism.

Around 2010 I saw another angle to a long held hobby; the study of medieval cathedrals and monasteries. It was the history of the church I was introduced to via this fascination with architecture. From there I went on several personal retreats to a nearby abbey, started attending Mass during the week, and even wrote a number of articles which were printed in a weekly Catholic newspaper published at the aforementioned monastery.

Today my journey involves regular attendance at Mass, stopping in at this forum as often as I can, listening to Catholic radio when working at my desk, and reading Catholic literature. I am not ready for RCIA and, after four years of going to Mass have not yet introduced myself to anyone other than one fellow who approached me after an outdoor Rosary. I am a very, very private and withdrawn person so this is likely going to be as close as I get to the church in any sort of formal way.

Gotta run. Thanks for bringing this topic up.

 

[His_helpmeet]

I was raised Catholic and baptized at 17 days old. My parents were active in our local church community and we kids took part in children’s Masses, choir, sacramental preparation, and teen programs. My mom and I became RE teachers at our local school. (Living in a small community we did not have a Catholic school, but the local elementary allowed volunteers to come in for one period a week to teach RE. There was a choice of Catholic, Bible Time (non-denominational Protestant), or study hall. My stepdaughter’s elementary school has the same program, except that students not enrolled in RE take the Safe & Caring Schools and Communities program.)

My husband is a Catholic convert. His parents became Jehovah’s Witnesses when he was young but stopped going when he was a teen. Eventually his discernment led him to the Catholic faith. He became Catholic some years before we got together.

We say that we have the best of both worlds - the zeal of a convert coupled with the experience of a cradle Catholic. For example, Hubby has almost no experience with CCD/RE for children. (JWs don’t have such programs.) I have taken primary responsibility for educating DSD about the faith. But Hubby is very supportive of this and helps me.