Thinking of converting

[jots]

Thanks Jerry.
At Gethsemani last year, I went into the side chapel when I saw there was a rosary (meeting?class?session?) going on. I was pretty lost as to what was going on, and felt more than a little uncomfortable. But I did go home intrigued with the concept of using something concrete in my hands as a tool towards contemplation.

 

[zab]

You have to remember, too, that the rosary was being prayed centuries before the printing press was invented and people were able to have a printed Bible in their homes to read the scriptures. The rosary is an aid to remembering the mysteries of the Christian Faith by reflecting on the entire life of Jesus beginning with the Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to our Blessed Mother. And the prayers of the rosary are scriptual as well including the Hail Mary, the first part of which was the salutation of Elizabeth when Mary came to visit her before the birth of John the Baptist.

 

[Busymom1]

Jots,
There are a lot of people on these forums that have come from a Protestant background, including me. I came from a strong Protestant background too and had a strong faith. I had some of the very typical Protestant hang-ups including Mary, the Rosary, intercession of the saints, etc. I knew that if I was going to be Catholic then I had to do it with all my heart. I wasn’t going to be wishy-washy or a cafeteria Catholic who would pick and choose this or that.

I had many things to help me along my journey, but one of the biggest was reading some Scott Hahn books, which I see someone else also recommended. Not only is he a great theologian, but as a former Protestant minister, he writes in a way that Protestants can understand. Until you’ve been on both sides of the fence, sometimes you don’t realize that Protestants and Catholics can speak a semi-different language. What means one thing to a Protestant may mean something different to a Catholic and that can lead to misuderstandings. Kind of like going to Australia and finding that you both speak English and are fine with most of the things that are said, but then there are some terms that will throw you for loop. Sometimes you’ll find that when you sort through the terms and wording between Catholics and Protestants that we were really on the same page, just a totally different vocabulary. I also liked Scott Hahn because he had the same hang-ups that many Protestants have and he addresses them quite well. Also look for CD’s from Steve Ray, also a former Protestant. A CD of his conversion if very interesting.

So, my final advice… Get on Amazon, or another website right away and at least order “Rome, Sweet, Home” by Scott and Kimberly Hahn. As someone else above recommended, look into an RCIA program, but find a good one. Keep studying, keep praying, and keep seeking! May God bless.

 

[Adeodatus]

I hope this is the right place to post this…

was raised in a very strict Protestant sect and later in the Conservative Baptist church (also pretty strict). As an adult, I am seeking. I am the assistant to the pastor of our non-denominational community church, and ordained deacon in that church, and am also in formation with the Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey. The Cistercian charism has really drawn me in and been an enriching journey.
Lately I have been asking questions and have found myself concerned with discovering the most true New Testament church expression in this present time. Obviously I have been drawn towards Catholicism and the Orthodox church. But there are also things that don’t sit too comfortably with me. I am someone who probably would never end up praying the rosary for example. And I would like stay with the ingrained tradition of going directly to God with my prayers. I have a great respect for St Mary and St Benedict and many of the other Godly men and women (saints) of tradition. And the succession and tradition of the ancient churches feels so rich to me…like a real connection to the first Church and to Jesus.
Currently I am a member of a good, but flawed church. I was raised in good, but flawed churches. I feel like any church and tradition will likely not be a 100% perfect fit and will have flaws.
Can I become a Catholic and not fully immerse myself in traditions that I am not so convinced about?

Dear friend, I think you have received some good advice in the thread that I needn’t repeat. Like you, I was raised Protestant. I was a conservative Baptist. I was, and still am, a Bible-believing Christian. I pray directly to Jesus Christ our God, and to the Father and the Holy Spirit also. You don’t have to give any of that up if you join the Church.

Do you know the hymn “Give me that Old Time Religion”? This is it. This is the Church of the early Christians going back to the beginning. If you’re not convinced, check out the Letter (sometimes called the “First Letter”) of Clement to the Corinthians. Clement was the Bishop of Rome (Pope); he wrote to the Corinthians because they had removed their own bishop. Clement told them that they had no authority to do this; he cites the Apostolic Succession as the reason. He sends the letter with approved men from Rome to restore order to their church. That’s the Papacy in action. The date of authorship is about 97 A.D.

I also pray to the saints, and especially to the Virgin Mary, because they are alive in Christ and are our friends, praying for us. The “prayer of a righteous man availeth much”! These are the righteous, and their fervent and effectual prayers availeth much indeed, my friend.

As to the Hail Mary, I know it is not what you’re used to. But if you look at the text of it, I think you will find a great blessing. Behold:

Hail Mary, full of grace
the Lord is with thee
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus
Holy Mary
Mother of God
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Do you see? God is mentioned 3 times. It is a prayer of the Holy Trinity, and of the Incarnation. And that’s the whole point about Mary: to venerate her leads us to a higher and fuller appreciation for the Incarnation. That and she is our friend and our mother in the faith.

Now sometimes you will hear Catholics express this mystery poorly, or even wrongly. That should not discourage you from the authentic expression of the Christian faith.

I’m a convert. I say that if you belong to Jesus Christ, then you belong in the Church. Now, people will make it hard on you… including religious teachers and even clergy. I have to tell you up front that the Church is a mess right now. But it belongs to Jesus Christ. You will be blessed, and if you are a Bible-believing man on fire for the LORD then you will be a blessing as well.

Welcome home.

 

[wisdomseeker]

I hope this is the right place to post this…

was raised in a very strict Protestant sect and later in the Conservative Baptist church (also pretty strict). As an adult, I am seeking. I am the assistant to the pastor of our non-denominational community church, and ordained deacon in that church, and am also in formation with the Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey. The Cistercian charism has really drawn me in and been an enriching journey.
Lately I have been asking questions and have found myself concerned with discovering the most true New Testament church expression in this present time. Obviously I have been drawn towards Catholicism and the Orthodox church. But there are also things that don’t sit too comfortably with me. I am someone who probably would never end up praying the rosary for example. And I would like stay with the ingrained tradition of going directly to God with my prayers. I have a great respect for St Mary and St Benedict and many of the other Godly men and women (saints) of tradition. And the succession and tradition of the ancient churches feels so rich to me…like a real connection to the first Church and to Jesus.
Currently I am a member of a good, but flawed church. I was raised in good, but flawed churches. I feel like any church and tradition will likely not be a 100% perfect fit and will have flaws.
Can I become a Catholic and not fully immerse myself in traditions that I am not so convinced about?

i love this and i recomend to you. this is a good start on understanding the Church.

zuserver2.star.ucl.ac.uk/~vgg/rc/aplgtc/hahn/m3/4mrko.html

 

[KarenElissa]

Can I become a Catholic and not fully immerse myself in traditions that I am not so convinced about?

The short answer like others have said is you aren’t in any way required to practice things like praying the rosary, but you should believe that it is ok for others to do so.

It seems like the two things you mentioned are the biggest stumbling blocks for people who have come from Protestant churches. I have found personally though, that the more and longer you have been exposed to them, the less of an issue they are.

I was, like you, a bit wary at first, but now, three years later, I’m much less so. Is the rosary my favorite prayer or the one I pray all the time? Not at all, but there are times in which I am drawn to it and pray it. Same with the Saints. Are they my first instinct to pray to, or do I ask for their prayers consistently? No, but there are times when I do.

My advice is don’t worry too much. Just keep exploring and learning. A lot of this stuff will come with time. Also, a hint on RCIA, now is the time of year when many are starting up, so I would suggest looking around and getting hooked up with one within the next couple of weeks.

 

[jots]

The short answer like others have said is you aren’t in any way required to practice things like praying the rosary, but you should believe that it is ok for others to do so.

It seems like the two things you mentioned are the biggest stumbling blocks for people who have come from Protestant churches. I have found personally though, that the more and longer you have been exposed to them, the less of an issue they are.

I was, like you, a bit wary at first, but now, three years later, I’m much less so. Is the rosary my favorite prayer or the one I pray all the time? Not at all, but there are times in which I am drawn to it and pray it. Same with the Saints. Are they my first instinct to pray to, or do I ask for their prayers consistently? No, but there are times when I do.

My advice is don’t worry too much. Just keep exploring and learning. A lot of this stuff will come with time. Also, a hint on RCIA, now is the time of year when many are starting up, so I would suggest looking around and getting hooked up with one within the next couple of weeks.

thanks Karen

 

[jots]

Dear friend, I think you have received some good advice in the thread that I needn’t repeat. Like you, I was raised Protestant. I was a conservative Baptist. I was, and still am, a Bible-believing Christian. I pray directly to Jesus Christ our God, and to the Father and the Holy Spirit also. You don’t have to give any of that up if you join the Church.

Do you know the hymn “Give me that Old Time Religion”? This is it. This is the Church of the early Christians going back to the beginning. If you’re not convinced, check out the Letter (sometimes called the “First Letter”) of Clement to the Corinthians. Clement was the Bishop of Rome (Pope); he wrote to the Corinthians because they had removed their own bishop. Clement told them that they had no authority to do this; he cites the Apostolic Succession as the reason. He sends the letter with approved men from Rome to restore order to their church. That’s the Papacy in action. The date of authorship is about 97 A.D.

I also pray to the saints, and especially to the Virgin Mary, because they are alive in Christ and are our friends, praying for us. The “prayer of a righteous man availeth much”! These are the righteous, and their fervent and effectual prayers availeth much indeed, my friend.

As to the Hail Mary, I know it is not what you’re used to. But if you look at the text of it, I think you will find a great blessing. Behold:

Hail Mary, full of grace
the Lord is with thee
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus
Holy Mary
Mother of God
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Do you see? God is mentioned 3 times. It is a prayer of the Holy Trinity, and of the Incarnation. And that’s the whole point about Mary: to venerate her leads us to a higher and fuller appreciation for the Incarnation. That and she is our friend and our mother in the faith.

Now sometimes you will hear Catholics express this mystery poorly, or even wrongly. That should not discourage you from the authentic expression of the Christian faith.

I’m a convert. I say that if you belong to Jesus Christ, then you belong in the Church. Now, people will make it hard on you… including religious teachers and even clergy. I have to tell you up front that the Church is a mess right now. But it belongs to Jesus Christ. You will be blessed, and if you are a Bible-believing man on fire for the LORD then you will be a blessing as well.

Welcome home.

thank you.
thank you all for your thoughtful (name removed by moderator)ut.
peace

 

[excubitor]

I truly appreciate the gracious and thoughtful replies, thanks! My only real exposure to the Catholic Church has been through the monks and liturgy at the Abbey of Gethsemani… very rich indeed! In fact, coming back from retreat there and going back to my non-denom community church is sort of like drinking a Bud Light instead of a Guiness Extra Stout.
I absolutely believe that the tradition of 2000 years is really important. I know a lot of Protestants will say that “things were corrupted along the way”, etc. But that is true of anything that mere men are involved with. We make mistakes…that’s who we are. But at some point I think we need to rely on the Holy Spirit’s guidance of that tradition…His ability to get things “back on track” when they get off track. And I also am am aware that between 33 AD and the the time of the first real distribution of Bibles to literate folks, all we really had was tradition!
I think I will look into RCIA.

For some strange reason protestants believe that God preserved perfectly the scriptures through all these vast ages. In fact he used the Catholic church to perform this. So if God can preserve the scriptures using flawed men then why can he not preserve the apostolic traditions also. Of course there have been corrupted scriptures over the years. They eventually pass away and the true scripture remains. This is because of the miraculous guiding hand of God. The same can be said of the traditions of the church, occasionally distorted or corrupted traditions might find their way into the church for a certain length of time but then by the guiding hand of God these pass away and what remains is the purity of the apostolic tradition.
The truth of this is discovered by reading the traditions of the early church which are described in the vast array of documents which survive to this day from the patristic fathers and then comparing with the catholic traditions of today. I have done this and can assure you that the traditions and practices of the church fathers is Catholic. It is not protestant. Both in feel, practice and belief.

Unfortunately when the protestants stepped away from the Catholic church they lost apostolic authority which comes by apostolic succession. This is the pedigree of authority which links all the way back to the apostles. This power and authority is what keeps the church on track and prevents it from drifting away into heresy and novel practices. Which is why today the protestant churches look nothing like the first protestant churches. They have gradually deteriorated in practice and belief because they lack the governer of the Holy Spirit acting through the Sacred Tradition of the church.

Protestants have given tradition a bad name. But in fact the scriptures are a tradition. It is a sacred tradition for example to know which books of the scripture are divine and belong in the canon. Protestants say that “No the Holy Spirit tells us which books are true”. But how does the Holy Spirit tell us this? It is through the Sacred Traditions of the church that he tells us and we know it is true. Also the scriptures have an astonishing array of possible interpretations and can be twisted to suit a large range of agendas. Sacred Tradition however gives us the authoritative and correct interpretation of the scriptures which no Catholic, not even the Pope may deviate from. Therefore the scriptures bring unity to the catholic faith and yet bring disarray to the protestants.

 

[mary_bobo]

What would you suggest as a good way to do that?

If you are in my part of the SE mountains, I would be happy to help you find a good program so that you could investigate for yourself. PM me if you wish.

 

[OraLabora]

I’m a cradle Catholic and I forgot when was the last time I prayed the rosary. It just doesn’t do it for me.

Fortunately while a very rich and valid tradition in the Church, it isn’t obligatory.

I do however pray the Liturgy of the Hours. That’s where I learned a very real appreciation for the saints, through the hagiographic writings for the second reading of the Office of Readings and through the little blurb on each saint’s day describing the life of the saint being celebrated that day.

I think through learning about Catholicism, and taking up a devotion such as the Liturgy of the Hours, you will gain over time, an appreciation for things like the saints or the rosary. Remember, joining the Church is not the arrival at a destination but the beginning of a journey!

 

[excubitor]

I’m a cradle Catholic and I forgot when was the last time I prayed the rosary. It just doesn’t do it for me.

Fortunately while a very rich and valid tradition in the Church, it isn’t obligatory.

I do however pray the Liturgy of the Hours. That’s where I learned a very real appreciation for the saints, through the hagiographic writings for the second reading of the Office of Readings and through the little blurb on each saint’s day describing the life of the saint being celebrated that day.

I think through learning about Catholicism, and taking up a devotion such as the Liturgy of the Hours, you will gain over time, an appreciation for things like the saints or the rosary. Remember, joining the Church is not the arrival at a destination but the beginning of a journey!

As a convert I struggled with the rosary. However as a lifetime Christian you start to become attuned to the powerful effects of prayer and how it brings you closer to God, brings peace and confidence into your life and resolves problems which you are experiencing. In particular the power of prayer to overcome sin.

I have prayed every range of prayers and it is my belief that for layfolk the rosary is without question the most powerful of all prayers. I can only give my personal witness of the powerful transformation the prayer has brought into my life. I wonder whether I could have become a Catholic were it not for the Rosary and the intercession of Our Lady.

The rosary however is not something that you can do once or twice. You need to practice the prayer. The object should be that the prayer Hail Mary full of grace kind of moves from the forefront of your mind where you are struggling with the actual formation of the words towards it being part of your soul. I would say that it moves into the background but that is not quite right either so “part of your soul” seems to me the best way of putting it. Then the forefront of the mind is free to meditate on the mysteries. The mysteries are utterly essential to the rosary. By researching the mysteries and learning as much about them as we can we can make our meditations richer. Along with our meditations on the mysteries we can also direct our mind to specific intentions of prayer.

Intentions is a strange Catholic word, but it basically corresponds to all the items that a protestant would put on his prayer list. But rather than articulating all of those items I instead think on them while I am saying the Rosary.

This does not do away with personal prayer such a protestant would do. But personal prayer becomes more of an adjunct to the prayer of the church. The prayer of the church is the liturgy of the hours. The religious and priests quite properly pray this prayer. The problem with the Liturgy of the hours for layfolk is that it requires a great deal of education and reading to master it. Many layfolk simply don’t have the faculty for this and so the Rosary is a wonderful devotion which allows layfolk to join in with the prayer of the church which is the greatest of all prayers. I particularly like the Rosary because the Our Father is said many times. This is the greatest prayer ever devised and given to us by our Lord himself. When I pray the Liturgy of the Hours I seem to pray this prayer less than if I am praying the Rosary.

In fact prayer is a far greater and deeper part of the Catholic religion than it is in protestantism. Protestantism emphasises Bible Study to the detraction of prayer. And yet in the scriptures themselve there is far greater emphasis on prayer than there is on Bible Study. It’s a strange irony but as a Protestant I actually found prayer to be far more monotonous than as a Catholic. I would have my prayer list which I would work through and after a week or two it became incredibly monotonous. As a Catholic however there are the Psalms to pray if we pray the Divine Liturgy. Then there is the Little Office for the Blessed Virgin Mary which is much easier to handle than the Liturgy of the Hours. Then there is a vast array of set prayers which we can recite from the Church fathers. Then there is contemplative prayer. The Sacred Tradition of prayer in the Catholic faith is so rich and deep that it just makes my prayer life as a protestant seem like a shallow pond in comparison.

I would certainly recommend the Rosary to new converts. The first couple of times it feels really strange however the incredible power to overcome sin and transform your life could not possibly be a work of the devil. I used to be very dubious about how various Saints and Popes of the church would praise the virtues of devotion to Mary and in particular the Rosary. But now having experienced it for myself I can but join my praises of this devotion to theirs and urge all Catholics to get in touch with your Catholic heart by praying the Rosary. And I urge all converts to beseech Our Lady for her intercession by using the devotion which she herself gave to Saint Dominic.

 

[Robert_Burns]

I hope this is the right place to post this…

was raised in a very strict Protestant sect and later in the Conservative Baptist church (also pretty strict). As an adult, I am seeking. I am the assistant to the pastor of our non-denominational community church, and ordained deacon in that church, and am also in formation with the Lay Cistercians of Gethsemani Abbey. The Cistercian charism has really drawn me in and been an enriching journey.
Lately I have been asking questions and have found myself concerned with discovering the most true New Testament church expression in this present time. Obviously I have been drawn towards Catholicism and the Orthodox church. But there are also things that don’t sit too comfortably with me. I am someone who probably would never end up praying the rosary for example. And I would like stay with the ingrained tradition of going directly to God with my prayers. I have a great respect for St Mary and St Benedict and many of the other Godly men and women (saints) of tradition. And the succession and tradition of the ancient churches feels so rich to me…like a real connection to the first Church and to Jesus.
Currently I am a member of a good, but flawed church. I was raised in good, but flawed churches. I feel like any church and tradition will likely not be a 100% perfect fit and will have flaws.
Can I become a Catholic and not fully immerse myself in traditions that I am not so convinced about?

I think that the concepts of Marian Devotion can be rather advanced for those raised in a Protestant Church. All prayer is good. Praying to GOD is always good.

The idea behind Marian Devotion is in our approach to GOD. All prayer must have as it destination - GOD or it is sacreligious. So asking for Intercession is a humble approach to the Majesty of GOD. We hope , by approaching GOD in this manner , for two things to occur. One - that the Merits of the Saint ( In the case of the Blessed Virgin Mary , his Mother) will carry additional weight that wouldnt be necessarily the case if we approached in person. And two - that we demonstrate humility , much like the Publican in St Luke 18 that the humility so honors the majesty of GOD - the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

So really - take the time to fully understand the why rather than the methodology. Pray on it and meditate on it and Good luck in your journey. You are asking good questions.

May GOD Bless you.