To all Members of the Tiber Swim Team - Why Did you Convert?

[Keren]

1. To know the TRUTH.
2. To know that my most awful sin was really forgiven.
3. So I would know what Jesus really wanted me to believe and do.
4. To receive Jesus as fully as possible in the Sacraments.
5. I read the early Church Fathers and discovered that the early Church was Catholic, not Protestant. “To be deep in history is to cease to be Protestant.”

There are many other reasons, but those are the most important ones.

Keren
Tiber Swim Team, Class of 2002

 

[dolphinlove]

I was a lapsed catholic for quite a few years.
I partied a LOT, drank a lot, didnt do hard drugs however.
In the early 00’s, i went through a stage of having an affair with a married man which ended up with me becoming pregnant.
He begged me to have an abortion so i did, after that, i hit rock bottom. I began to have panic attacks, i almost got to the point i was agroaphobia.
It was at this point, i new i believed in God all these years, i was just never serious about it, it was sort of always something in the back of my head.
So at my lowest point, i started to pray, pray and pray big time!
I got the guts to finally go to church one day, but i lapsed into a panic attack everytime i got there, but one day, i noticed a pamphlet down the back of the church about abortion, and a retreat that helps people deal with it. I picked it up and read it, it was project rachel.
Well soon after that, i went home, had a full blown panic attack and was admitted to hospital, it was at this stage one of the doctors gave me advice to seek councilling through the hospital, so i did, that was step one to my recovery. I then rang and enquired about project rachel, i booked myself in, got myself there. And mind you, everywhere i went, i had massive panic attacks, on my way there, nothing… God’s miracles was starting for me in a BIG way.
I went there, and after that weekend, i swore i would not do anything wrong again and worship Jesus and do his works. That one weekend changed my life forever, and it made me believe i was not alone and most of all, i was forgiven.
I am still ashamed of what i did, i hold onto that shame so i know i wont make those mistakes again, but i know God has forgiven me, thanks to Jesus, and that feeling inside, well words cant describe really.
I like to tell my story so people will know that Jesus does love and care for you, and he forgives you for the worst of sins. But most of all, how he loves us and will do anything to help us if we just ask him!
God bless
Dolphinlove

 

[KarenElissa]

There were three fairly major things that led to my conversion.

First, I went to Mass. Even now, I’m not entirely sure why I went, mostly out of curiosity. But I went and it was the most amazing thing! I was totally in love with this style of worship. At that point, I didn’t really think about being Catholic, but maybe some other Protestant group that was more liturgical.

Second, reading history. Since I was curious, I started reading through Christian history. I knew that the Catholic Church claimed that it was the continuation of the first church, so I was curious how that worked out in history. The more I read, the more I began to see how true this is.

Third, I became convinced that the Catholic Church is the fullness of truth. The more I read and thought and prayed, the more I became convinced that the Church has the most truth. Once I was convinced of this, I knew I had to be Catholic.

I’ve only been Catholic for a bit over a month now, but each day I’m more and more thankful! And I’m more and more convinced of the truth of the Catholic Church.

 

[KarenElissa]

I’m still struggling with Mary and will continue to pray about this. The Catholic devotion to Mary is something I have difficulty understanding although I am convinced it is a cornerstone.

I understand the struggles with Mary, I struggled with similar things. One thing I’ve discovered is that while there is a lot more focus on Mary in the Catholic Church than in Protestant Churches, it isn’t near as much as I thought. It also does seem to be true that devotion to Mary is aimed at leading us to Jesus.

What I did is just start trying things out. I decided that practically ignoring Mary as I did as a Protestant, wasn’t going to help things any, so I decided to try praying one decade of the Rosary every night. It was hard at first. I didn’t “get” much out of it while I was learning the prayers. But slowly it got better and I was able to meditate more as I was praying. I have also found Mary slowly creeping into my life and I’m becoming a lot more comfortable with it all.