Well, I'm Catholic now

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As one who has followed your posts off and on for a few years, congratulations! I was hoping you would end up in Orthodoxy, and I’ll hold out hope that you still will, but Rome is a great stop on the road, if nothing else. I was there for 20 some years.
 
Expatreprocedit said:
As one who has followed your posts off and on for a few years, congratulations! I was hoping you would end up in Orthodoxy, and I’ll hold out hope that you still will, but Rome is a great stop on the road, if nothing else. I was there for 20 some years.
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A Catholic priest I studied with in grad school discouraged me from becoming Catholic because he thought I would eventually become Orthodox.

I think I’ve excluded that option (as an alternative to Rome–I love Eastern Christianity and hope for reunion with at least a large section of Orthodoxy in my lifetime). But of course one can’t control one’s future self, and my record so far is very flip-floppy. So I guess I can’t guarnatee anything.

Insofar as I can control these things, though, I’m firmly committed to remaining in union with Rome.
 
Contarini said:
Sorry to all the Catholics for foisting myself on them. I really tried not to embarrass y’all, but you’re stuck with me as of a couple of hours ago.

God bless and good night. Christ is risen!

Edwin
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Congratulations Edwin.👍

Perhaps you could share your “testimony” a bit on why you converted?

PnP
 
Porknpie said:
Congratulations Edwin.👍

Perhaps you could share your “testimony” a bit on why you converted?

PnP
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I believe I shared this earlier in the thread. You will find a number of posts on my blog that reflect my thinking over the years–this one, posted right after the other one, is my take on Protestant history written originally for Christianity Today (they never published it).

I’m working on another post now called “How Mere Christianity Made Me a Catholic.” I’ll link to it when I have it up.
 
Contarini said:
I believe I shared this earlier in the thread. You will find a number of posts on my blog that reflect my thinking over the years–this one, posted right after the other one, is my take on Protestant history written originally for Christianity Today (they never published it).

I’m working on another post now called “How Mere Christianity Made Me a Catholic.” I’ll link to it when I have it up.
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So you have been Catholic almost a month now

How does it feel? I mean do you feel like you are “home” as they say?
 
Lenten_ashes said:
So you have been Catholic almost a month now

How does it feel? I mean do you feel like you are “home” as they say?
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Sometimes. I was euphoric at first. But the feelings come and go. Sometimes I panic and think, “What on earth did I do?” I’ve been thinking about it for so long that it’s hard to believe I really did it.

Edwin
 
Contarini said:
Sometimes. I was euphoric at first. But the feelings come and go. Sometimes I panic and think, “What on earth did I do?” I’ve been thinking about it for so long that it’s hard to believe I really did it.

Edwin
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LOL!
I hope and pray your faith grows as you get involved with your community. It becomes more difficult the closer you become to the faithful. You may be asking yourself that question more as time goes on, not less. 😛

Peace!!!
 
Contarini said:
Sometimes. I was euphoric at first. But the feelings come and go. Sometimes I panic and think, “What on earth did I do?” I’ve been thinking about it for so long that it’s hard to believe I really did it.

Edwin
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Nobody asked me but I would say it feels like being Christian. Edit: I mean, not that we’re like Christians, of course; we are Christians.

As to whether your faith will grow … well, I would guess that it never stopped growing.
 
Contarini said:
Sometimes. I was euphoric at first. But the feelings come and go. Sometimes I panic and think, “What on earth did I do?” I’ve been thinking about it for so long that it’s hard to believe I really did it.

Edwin
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The closer you want to get to God, the more the Devil will attack you.
 
Contarini said:
Sometimes. I was euphoric at first. But the feelings come and go. Sometimes I panic and think, “What on earth did I do?” I’ve been thinking about it for so long that it’s hard to believe I really did it.

Edwin
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Me too. When I converted weird stuff started happening around here. A massive tree just falls through my car on a nice sunny day… Other stuff starts failing all of a sudden, needing to be replaced.

Was wondering is this some sort of initiation into Catholicism as I know we are big on suffering over here :rotfl:

Anyway, made it through the ‘storm’ and glad to be home. I hope you continue to draw closer to Him through this beautiful faith of ours. 🙂
 
Lenten_ashes said:
Me too. When I converted weird stuff started happening around here. A massive tree just falls through my car on a nice sunny day… Other stuff starts failing all of a sudden, needing to be replaced.

Was wondering is this some sort of initiation into Catholicism as I know we are big on suffering over here :rotfl:

Anyway, made it through the ‘storm’ and glad to be home. I hope you continue to draw closer to Him through this beautiful faith of ours. 🙂
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That happened to me and some fellow parishioners just before we made a life-changing retreat (Christ Renews his Parish). I lost my job a week before the retreat (I had decided I was too busy to go on the reatreat). One had a house-fire (She had decided she couldn’t go on the retreat because her husband was scheduled to work and there was no one to watch the kids, but because of the fire, he was put on leave for the week-end). Another’s car blew up. And so on. Satan was working his hardest.

All of these mishaps allowed us to attend the retreat. God will use what he will!
 
Contarini said:
Sometimes. I was euphoric at first. But the feelings come and go. Sometimes I panic and think, “What on earth did I do?” I’ve been thinking about it for so long that it’s hard to believe I really did it.

Edwin
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I didn’t go through that stage–probably because I didn’t come from a settled Protestant background with reasonable people guiding my spiritual life. I came from a wild Pentecostal sect that used cult techniques to cow people into obedience.

I briefly returned to the ECUSA, but couldn’t “rest” there. I sought further and, reluctantly at first, was reconciled to the Church. Once I’d done that, I determined that I needed to “rest in my mother’s arms” instead of question everything, again and again.

Like Saul, after he was blinded on the road to Damascus, we need to let others take us by the hand and lead us where we never thought we would go, trusting that God will fulfill all our needs in the Church he so closely identified with himself when he said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 🙂
 
qui_est_ce said:
That happened to me and some fellow parishioners just before we made a life-changing retreat (Christ Renews his Parish). I lost my job a week before the retreat (I had decided I was too busy to go on the reatreat). One had a house-fire (She had decided she couldn’t go on the retreat because her husband was scheduled to work and there was no one to watch the kids, but because of the fire, he was put on leave for the week-end). Another’s car blew up. And so on. Satan was working his hardest.

All of these mishaps allowed us to attend the retreat. God will use what he will!
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Dang!!! No retreats for me!!! Just kidding…🙂 I’m sorry to hear all that stuff happened to you guys.

I was warned about this from a Church counselor. She said in particular, if you start praying the rosary for people to get saved, expect bad stuff, many attacks - and man oh man was she right.
 
Contarini said:
Sorry to all the Catholics for foisting myself on them. I really tried not to embarrass y’all, but you’re stuck with me as of a couple of hours ago.

God bless and good night. Christ is risen!

Edwin
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Wow this is awesome… I followed and read many of you r posts. I’m so happy and I’m certainly not embarrased.

God is so GOOOD!👍
 
Contarini said:
I believe I shared this earlier in the thread. You will find a number of posts on my blog that reflect my thinking over the years–this one, posted right after the other one, is my take on Protestant history written originally for Christianity Today (they never published it).

I’m working on another post now called “How Mere Christianity Made Me a Catholic.” I’ll link to it when I have it up.
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Thanks Edwin. I read through the links very quickly. Will re-read them again over the weekend.

I noticed you ran into Tim Gray. Not a bad Catholic to run into. 🙂 Did you let him know of your entering the Church? I’m familiar with him through the Augustine Institute and will likely see him this Summer. For those reading this post who don’t know him, I highly recommend the book below. I’ve given it away to a couple of non-Catholics in the past.

Walking With God: A Journey Through the Bible
 
Lenten_ashes said:
Dang!!! No retreats for me!!! Just kidding…🙂 I’m sorry to hear all that stuff happened to you guys.

I was warned about this from a Church counselor. She said in particular, if you start praying the rosary for people to get saved, expect bad stuff, many attacks - and man oh man was she right.
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I think it’s a matter of saying yes instead of coming up with excuses to say no. I’m grateful God gave me a sign and I heeded it!
 
Porknpie said:
Thanks Edwin. I read through the links very quickly. Will re-read them again over the weekend.

I noticed you ran into Tim Gray. Not a bad Catholic to run into. 🙂 Did you let him know of your entering the Church? I’m familiar with him through the Augustine Institute and will likely see him this Summer. For those reading this post who don’t know him, I highly recommend the book below. I’ve given it away to a couple of non-Catholics in the past.

Walking With God: A Journey Through the Bible
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I should. I haven’t been in touch with him for years. I did let Matt Levering know through his wife Joy, who is on Facebook.

Tim was the single person most responsible for catalyzing my intellectual/aesthetic interest in Catholicism into an active interest in converting. I do owe it to him to let him know that I finally did it.

Edwin
 
Contarini said:
I should. I haven’t been in touch with him for years. I did let Matt Levering know through his wife Joy, who is on Facebook.

Tim was the single person most responsible for catalyzing my intellectual/aesthetic interest in Catholicism into an active interest in converting. I do owe it to him to let him know that I finally did it.

Edwin
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Well you’ll make good coffee conversation in June! Seem to remember him liking the A.I. coffee shop. :coffeeread: Here’s a quick video of him and Dr Mark Giszczak. Mark is excellent and I’ve had him several times H. For those interested, here’s a short video of him and Dr. Gray together talking about Sacred Tradition (from the Symbolon series)

For sure let him know. I’m quite confident that he’ll be thrilled.
 
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