I’m a cradle, brought initially to the Church by my parents. As an adult, I gradually drifted off into being a sinner, a “cultural Catholic” and a Chreaster. I got tired of my sins, my mom got sick, I made a pilgrimage to Italy and saw the Pope, I started to drift back.
My mom died and Pope Francis declared the Year of Mercy, trying to encourage people to come back to church, so those two things gave me a big push. I started confessing every month and going to Mass every Sunday. I did another pilgrimage to Spain and also drove around visiting churches with Holy Doors to get indulgences for my relatives. I discovered I enjoyed church and prayer a lot more than some of the bad stuff I’d previously been doing. Jesus is a pretty drama-free friend.
Then one night I was up late reading about Paste Pio and hell and got scared I wasn’t doing enough for the souls of my deceased loved ones, or for my own, so I got really into it and joined some prayer forums, bought a Rugged Rosary and started seriously trying to pray and attend Mass a lot. The rest is history.