The Typical Convert

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Because I live in Utah and spend most my free time studying philosophy my case is not typical. Most the converts to Catholicism I have met or associated with come from Atheism or Mormonism. Two of my old professors are converts, one former atheist and one former Mormon.

I am especially drawn to those who seem to have converted for themselves, having to face the difficulties that may lie ahead with family and friends. I am sure there are many wonderful and devout converts who converted to the faith of their spouse, but I am always left wondering if such a motivation creates an incentive to convert that clouds impartial consideration of all options.
 
Raised in secular home and considered myself atheist for 41 years before my conversion in 2003.

I now teach 5th grade CCD and am a lector in my parish.😉

I am also one of a growing number of converts who want to see Altar Rails and receiving on the tongue (which I do) return as the standard, also more Latin prayers.👍
 
I was Baptist, then a confused seeker, then a Zen/Tao/Vedanta deist/pantheist, then trinitarian Pentecostal, and now Anglo-Catholic. (That was not in rapid succession but over the course of 40+ years.) But I don’t really expect to come any closer to Catholicism then that, though never say never.
 
I converted from the Methodist Church. My Grandfather and Uncle were/are ministers. My aunts always used to say insulting things about Catholics. My wife is Catholic before I converted. When they would say things she would just ignore them. I too tried to prove to my wife that Catholics were nutty. I lost that debate and am grateful for that.
 
Looking at this from the outside – a Lutheran perspective – I am most familiar with the stories of Lutheran clergy who have converted. Arguably the most well known, I think, is Father Richard John Neuhaus, but there have been a number of others who, after intense struggles, decided that the Catholic Church was where they belonged. For some, their conversions were followed by formation to enter the Catholic priesthood. Perhaps the most poignant stories are of female clergy finding themselves drawn to Catholicism even they knew it meant giving up the vocation to which they had been called as Lutherans.

I suppose none of these is a “typical” convert, but their stories are interesting to me because they reflect the faith journeys of fellow Lutherans.
 
gcnuss said:
Looking at this from the outside – a Lutheran perspective – I am most familiar with the stories of Lutheran clergy who have converted. Arguably the most well known, I think, is Father Richard John Neuhaus, but there have been a number of others who, after intense struggles, decided that the Catholic Church was where they belonged. For some, their conversions were followed by formation to enter the Catholic priesthood. Perhaps the most poignant stories are of female clergy finding themselves drawn to Catholicism even they knew it meant giving up the vocation to which they had been called as Lutherans.

I suppose none of these is a “typical” convert, but their stories are interesting to me because they reflect the faith journeys of fellow Lutherans.
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And of course this works both ways—a friend of mine is an ordained Lutheran pastor and a former Catholic priest. But you’re right, lots of intriguing stories.
 
I can’t speak towards a large-scale movement… I only know that every person is different. I was raised Baptist from roughly birth to age 18, lost my faith throughout most of college, went to an Episcopal church for a little while (mostly to sing, and not for faith purposes… though the faith purposes sort of came to me), and then finally felt called to consider the Catholic faith in February (and I am so glad that I followed that tug that God put in my heart).

I don’t know about other converts here, but I grew up around a lot of Anti-Catholic rhetoric, which after doing my own personal research has proven to be either completely untrue or just a gross misinterpretation. Learning the truth about the faith really made me much more comfortable with my decision.
 
Eilrahc said:
Within the US, what denominations / backgrounds do many converts to Catholicism usually hail from? I’ve read that a lot of Evangelicals are converting in large numbers. Any thoughts? Let’s hear some statistics.

Keep in mind, I’m referring to converts who are devout Catholics… not the ones who convert for the wrong reasons.
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What wrong reasons?
 
Anna_Scott said:
What wrong reasons?
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Sometimes people convert for reasons of convenience, such as in order to get their children into a good school, or to become more employable, or in order to marry in the Catholic Church.
 
jmcrae said:
Sometimes people convert for reasons of convenience, such as in order to get their children into a good school, or to become more employable, or in order to marry in the Catholic Church.
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Hi, old friend, 👋

I know that some people convert, because a fiance is Catholic or a spouse; but I hadn’t considered the other reasons.

Anna
 
I have been trying to show the glory of Catholicism to my Protestant friends. Many of them dislike Catholicism as a religion of work-based salvation; they see Catholicism as of no difference from other religions that require humans work to justify themselves or to please God, which they think is ugly and evil. Instead, they believe that Christ’s religion is completely unique in the sense that Christ’s death must set people absolutely free, so that justification is totally not affected by human works.

It is a total denial of humanity as God’s creation, but it doesn’t bother them too much since they believe that humans are already evil.

What we should try to do is to encourage them to re-read New Testaments, especially the four Gospels, where Jesus Christ spent a lot of time talking about what people should do in order to follow Him and receive eternal life. In fact, Jesus Christ says, “if you love Me, keep My Commandments”. So clearly there is something we should do to be recognized as loving Jesus Christ. And what if we do not love Jesus Christ by not keeping the Commandments? 1 Cor 16:22 “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed.”

If Protestants say Christ’s commandments are unable to reach by humans (since we are imperfect) but only by Christ himself:
  1. It’s illogical. If Christ wants us to love him by obeying His Commandments, and if only Christ can obey those Commandments, then the result is Christ loves Christ.
  2. 1 John 5:13 “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”
  3. Christ’s Commandments are different from the “Law”, which is set up by the Father. The logic is that by obeying Christ’s Commandments we are accepted by Christ, just as Christ having observed Father’s Law completely and being accepted by the Father. John 15:10 “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” It is very very very important for us to know this logic; with it you can triumph over a major part of Protestantism (faith alone, Christ alone, clothed righteousness). Therefore, the “Law” from the Paul’s famous “justified by faith apart from works of the Law” refers to Father’s Law, which Christ fulfilled for us. Paul is trying to convince Jews to not to try to obey Father’s Law by their own but turn to Christ. But faith only initializes the process of conversion; work is necessary to compete it (James 2:22).
  4. True Christians need to obey Commandments besides having faith in Jesus Christ. For example: Rev 14:12 “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.”
  5. Genesis 15:6 Abraham “believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness”. Many Protestants understand it as Abraham being counted righteous by faith (alone). NO! What it says, in fact, is that Abraham’s faith is counted as his righteousness. It doesn’t say whether Abraham as a whole is righteous; in fact, he is not. That’s why later he still kept turning away from God but was further justified by works when he offers his son for sacrifice (James 2:21). We see that both faith and works can be counted to one as his/her righteousness. And to be safely accepted by God one needs the righteousness of both kinds.
  6. Eph 2:8-9 “By grace you are saved through faith, and it is the gift of God, not a result of works …” Please clarify to your Protestants friends that Catholics believe that grace is a free gift of God independent of human works. However, that’s not the end of the story, because we are responsible for turning that grace into salvation. Eph 2:10 “works … so that we should walk in them”. Simply ask Protestants what “should” means here, and why “should” instead of “would”.
I am sure these are enough as some fresh-airs for a majority of Protestants. Please tell me how you guys think. Thank you and God bless! 🙂
 
Okay, then for you former Protestants here… what were you like during your Protestant years? How religious were you folks?

As for me, I was hardly religious during my Protestant years. And yeah, I was quite indifferent about other faiths. But discovering Catholicism really changed that.
 
I am just a simple guy who was Lutheran… grew up Lutheran and some how became Catholic. Not because it was cool!

I kept looking out the window and saw this Church. St Mary’s Catholic Church. And, it was foggy and ethereal and imagined monks walking silently into it… and thought… if I was mink… it would be do, cool…

Ok. I did see the Catholic Church. That’s right. I did see it. (I still think there are minks going into that Church when I am not looking.

I just prayed (or petitoned) St. Mary and it worked. So, I wanted to explore that area. So, I made an apointment to see the local priest. He was impressed with my theological knowledge and asked me what I wanted to do? I knew what I wanted to do… IF this was going to happen, I wanted to know everything about Catholism. So, I did my research and… bing, bang, boom… confirmed and joined the Catholic Church… and, have become more into the denomination than ever I thought could be…

OK. Maybe I am not the typical convert. even the priest was like? Lutheran becoming Catholic? Well he thought I was ready and the district Bishop welcomed me in.

When a convert from Protestantism becomes Catholic, there certainly must be something that converts them. I mean those like me who ACTUALLY become Catholic… not just going to a Catholic Church, but actually becoming Catholic in demination and faith.

Other than honoring Mary, I guess the best way to descibe it is like this? The “Catholic” (universal) Church is old. Over 1800 years old. Not just 500 years old. There must be something in all those years that makes this denomination, right? It has survived and has become a world wide faith. even though the Protestant areas are just as prevailant, still the faith still has roots from the time of Christ. It must mean something?

Maybe I am thinking this way. Should I shorten my horizons? Should I only see things within a Protestant viewpoint when Christainity is much older than that? Don’t I deserve to see things in a completely full perspective and take it in as such? Don’t I deserve to see this through in ALL it’s aspects? Shouldn’t I take it all in and make up my own mind what denomination is right for me?

If I allow myself to just see Christianity in only a limited perspective, do I really benefit from it? Christianiuty is much older than 500 years. It goes back to the time of Christ. Which means that the “Church” (universal… now called Catholic which means universal) is something important to explore and understand in it’s fullness. So, should I limit myself.

I guess I just didn’t want to be limited. Christianity is not an either or thing. It’s an all encompassing thing which means I deserve to see it in all it’s light. And, becoming a “protestant” limits me… into a narrow viewpoint. I deserve to see things in all perspectives…
 
I was a non-denominational looking for the right church. I stumbled into Catholicism after doing a google search on some ridiculous stuff that turned out to be from the Chick tracts. I read this, which lead me to read a lot of other tracts on this website. I was convicted.

God’s timing is great. Just as I was trying to nerve myself up to tell my husband that I had to become Catholic, he came to me and told me the same thing. And when I went to my local parish to ask, it was just in time to get into RCIA!
 
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