What drew you to or back to Catholicism?

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Marilena

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I was baptized a Catholic in 1966. I went to church with my mom
for some parts of my life. I only went sporadically throughout my
teenage years. Then, in 1987, I married a man (not JW) and we
were happy for about 2 years. I knew his parents were JW’s
when we met. I was not interested in the religion at that time.
In 1989, we moved to a small town in southern BC. His parents
were not critical of my Catholicism at that time, as they did not
know my family were Catholics. They found out about a year or
so later. They ridiculed us, and made fun of what they thought
was our heritage. My ex jokingly called my mother an indian,
even though she is not. The father and brother of this ex picked up on his bad joke and started making fun of my mother. ( not
constantly ) and it hurt pretty badly to say the least. I thought
to myself, " why not become one of them and maybe the
ridiculing will stop? ( that joke was on me ) So, in 1996 after
over a year of studying with them, i became a witness. It
wasn’t truly in my heart. But, I became one because I
thought it would make peace between me, and his parents
and brother. ( yeah right ) All the while, I was still celebrating Christmas once in a while, and still celebrating birthdays, mothers day ext. I even got my mom a really nice Rosary
once! I had snuck over to the Catholic church one day and
asked the priest for one ) When I got it home, my ex mother
in law came over, and she seen the Rosary on the counter,
and she left faster than you could blink. I was always a
Catholic in my heart and soul. What drew me back was my beloved mother. After the separation, I stayed with her for a
few months, and her example she set for me drew me back gradually.It was last year that I fully returned to the church.
I felt like it was coming home! My mom is a Traditional
Catholic, and her absolute devotion and faith set an example
for me to follow. I told her a few years after I left the JW’s that she was right all along! I never should have got involved with them, and it was a very painful experience to say the least.
I told mom how much her faith meant to me! i want to know
if anyone has had a similar experience about returning to the church if they’d like to share it. There may be that someone
out there might be in a similar situation, and needs help.
I would be most happy to help anyone who needs it, or just
wants to talk about their experience. If you want to share your experience, please do so! God bless every single person out there who has returned home! Welcome back!

your faithful sister,

Marilena
 
Marilena,

Thank you for sharing your story. I am so sorry you had to go through the hardship of becoming a JW & then leaving… I know what that’s like because I was a JW for several years and left about 12 years ago. Like you, I’m so thankful that I’m out but I think a cult like that can really mess with your brain and for years I had a very hard time trusting that any religion was right. Until I became Catholic. 🙂

What drew me to the Chruch was the fact that for 1,500 years… all Christians were Catholic. I also read a great deal about Martin Luther which convinced me that although the Church had problems at the time - it was not his initial intention to form a new religion. I also wondered why even the earliest of churches that broke away from the Catholic Church continued to hold to the truths about many things (Mary being one of them - and the real pressence in the Eucharist, and for hundreds of years - no birth control) but now it’s like the Catholic Church stands alone. We’ve not changed and they all have. I think since Martin Luther split off… it’s been like a game of “telephone” (that game that kids play) and all these thousands of splits later, the original message has become so distorted it doesn’t even resemble the Early Church. I don’t think for a second that this was the way God intended it to be… everyone making it up as they go along.

God Bless you!
CM
 
Thanks for posting this! This means alot to me! I was speaking
with my husband last night about the same subject you brought
up here. Catholic belief has not changed. JW’s have changed
their religion many times over. They predicted 1975 would be the
end of all things, and when that didn’t happen, they changed.
In 1988, they “discovered” that people who were not baptized
could not be disassociated. They never publicly admit that they
are wrong, they only say " new light has come upon us". They
did the same thing with their magazine that used to say that
about the generation of 1914. They no longer say that. The
Catholic church has not changed its belief in over 2,000 years.
nor will they in my opinion. God does not change, Jesus does
not change. The Truth does not change either. Neither have
we. Why should we? The Bible says " know the truth and the
truth will set you free" Indeed! it has set me free, and my
husband free! We are no longer trapped in false beliefs!
Becoming a Catholic again has set me free, and it is the TRUTH.
As I described, it was wonderful wonderful to come home after
such a long abscence! God bless you, and thanks for your
shared expereince! ( please forgive the long lines that are
out of whack here in my posts, my keyboard is toast,
and the back button doesn’t always want to let me make
it look proper! )
 
For what undoubtedly seemed to be good reasons at the time, I went from the Church to worshipping with the Anglicans.

Soon, I was up to my ears in the revisionist attempts to “change” (ie abandon) the Christian faith that were rampant in that denomination. Not all my Anglican friends were taking it lying down, and I fought with them.

What brought me back home was seeing that no part of the Catholic faith was an “optional extra”; every part was important; and without the whole of the faith, one cannot hold on to any of the parts should they come under attack. Feeling a bit like an idiot, I came back home – to a welcome well beyond what I deserved.

Blessings,

Gerry
 
Wow I hope I don’t drift from le eglise. Par ce que, me et amor Jesu! YAY JESU!
 
Church’s teachings on moral theology attract me more than any other aspects
 
i was baptized catholic in 1984 01986 somewhere around there. i always went to church with my parents. so i’ve been catholic all my life and am not going to change religions at all.
 
I was baptized Catholic but was never really brought to church. As I grew older I began to ignore/dismiss the teachings of the church and the church itself. Then a few years later, as I matured, my grandmother started taking me to church and I realized how crazy I had been. What really brought me back though, was the comfort I discovered from sitting in church by myself or during mass and listening to the readings. And I am so glad that I did return because Catholicism has provided me with an enormous amount of comfort and happiness.
 
I was born and raised Catholic; I got involved in the music ministry, CCD, leader of confirmation retreats, and the youth group at my parish. I got married, and let the world get in the way of my faith, so I was a nominal Catholic at best. After a divorce, and being a single mom, battling bi-polar disorder, and depression with one of my sons, I began singing at a non-denominational Christian gospel choir. I attended a few services, and came to the realization that even tho’ I felt good singing uplifting, rousing songs of praise and worship, something was amiss in their services. So I started attending Mass again on a weekly basis - paid attention to the Gospel readings, picked up my Bible and found Catholic Answers. I’m happy to say that once again, I’ve found the fullness of the Truth in the Catholic Church, with a stronger faith than I’ve ever had before! 👍

God Bless!
 
My cousin’s influence, guided by the Holy Spirit, drew me back to the Catholic Church and I’m here to stay. For me there’s no peace without the Sacraments and the guidance of the Church.
 
My wife’s father Ray. He never saw me as a Catholic, except from Heaven, but to honor him at confrimation I choose St Raymond of Penafort. He was very pious and humble and very pragmatic, while loving Mary. Its a long sordid story but I always feared my dog would knock over the statue of Mary that the Legion of Mary had that was at his house for awhile and that is how I started to pray again.
 
❤️ Hi all,I listened to a Priest giveing a speech once ,he said that just because we are catholics don’t mean that we are going to be in heaven.That even a person that is of other faiths or with out faith may make it heaven before us.Because at the moment of truth all will be known.That makes sense to me.This drew me back into my faith “The CAtholic Church”.I’ve visited with many different churches ,yet only the Catholic Church has shown me that it teaches the compassion ,totally ,that Christ wants for us to give to one another,things seen and unseen with faith,that can only come from the heart.The Catholic Church is the only Church that i 've personally seen that don’t pick and choose what it wants to say or learn,it takes what is there in the bible and goes with it and don’t play around with the words till it fits its own purpose.So with that i have more faith .Hope all i am saying makes sense.Love,Peace,freshwater 🙂
 
I am a convert ( Easter Vigil '99). I began searching because my Southern Baptist background said Catholics were not Christians and were going to hell. The history did it for me. I believe everything the Church teaches, even though I may not like it, because the Church has the fullness of truth.

I could get really detailed, but I am trying to make this short.

Marilena, you should seek out lisa2. She has posted over on the non-Catholics forum in some JW threads. She was a JW, but has been disfellowshipped. She said her family hasn’t spoken to her in 17 years. She is pretty depressed… 😦

Is there some kind of support group for ex JW’s?

Oh, and visit catholicxjw.com (I hope this is right).
 
Thanks for the post. if Lisa wants to contact me about support groups, or just PM me she can feel free to do so. Thanks for the post.

Marilena
 
Heb.5

8] Although he was a Son, he learned** obedience** through what he suffered;

My heart left the church even though my body never did. Suffering brought me to my knees and opened my eyes to see how my pride led me away from Christ teachings revealed through His Church.
 
I am a cradle catholic, and I was mostly regular in attending Mass with my wife for the first 40 years of my life. She is also catholic and we have been married almost 20 years.

I was not as regular during my college years, but I still attended Mass occassionally. However, I lived a pretty secular life, and I did not really understand any of the teachings of the church much less the bible. I just knew that I typically felt better after I went to Mass.

Then literally at my fathers death bed, I held his hand as he was being given last rights, and final confession. I confessed with him, but this time I wanted to change my life. He died an hour later - but I thought I was reborn. I wrote him a letter for the visitation to call it the best gift of my life.

I was on fire, and for the first 6 months after my fathers death, I read ever popular Christian book I could get my hands on, it sure was inspiring, but then it started getting very condradictory. I was contemplating leaving the church, but my dear wife was adamant that we needed to stick to our roots. But she could not answer my theological questions. Then I started reading about the Life of Padre Pio, and thought, this holy saint, must have it right, then I read Scott Hahn’s conversion story. I was like wow, I had no idea! - and since for the last 2.5 years I have studied much only to be convinced more and more of the truth of His church.

I now try to go to Mass daily, and feel very unworthy of his love, but I know of the truth of His church. I feel very blessed and still feel like I have so far to go.
 
Though I’ve not seen most of the posts… but let me tell you my story… may sound silly or not I leave it ot u… BTw, promise not to laugh…

When I was a kid, I attended catholic school. There we, were taught prayers by the brothers and catholic teachers. Every morning, we would be in the assembly line b4 class and the principal would lead the prayers, usually a hail mary. Then he would have a sermon on a current issue. and how we can react to it. This was in primary school. I knew a catholic girl from a nearby convent and we took the same school bus, a distant relative of mine, pretty, I also like her. It was from there, I came interested in catholicism… in my teens . I also began attending church and read the mass booklet and I began to like it…

I can’t remember who introduce the parish priest to me is it my classmate or I went to search my own… but anyway, I took religious instructions. from one good french priest… without my parents consent. during the course of my instructions, my grandma pased away. Any way, my dad came to know about. and stopped me from the instructions. He threatned to disown me if I became catholic. Reason, being that he’s a buddhist or taoist and we children had to follow… So I stopped. Then I went to another parish and met a missioary priest from america… who gave me cathecism and was very good. However, he could was here only for a short while and the instructions had to stop as he had to go back to US.

When I was drafted into the army, there was a catholic church nearby my camp. Again, It was another french priest. He would teach me on my off days. Actually, I already knew the cathecism… this was to more or less refresh my memory. My dad was adamant to me being a catholic. The priest did ask me to get consent from my parents, but I told me to go ahead and get me baptized. Anyway, I have a standby godpa from my school. He was a school mate, quite religious, and when I told him I wanted to convert and ask him to be my godpa, he readily said yes… mind you, he’s younger than me… So I got baptized and confirmed against my parents will… I told them after I got baptized. (cheeky me!).

After I finished my army, I came to my parish near my home and was introduced to the Legion of mary by my parish preist, another french priest. You see, there were many french priest who ewere sent by thier order to south east asia as missionaries during the 19th century. Most of them are very strict but actually they are ok. They just want us to be faithful to christ’s teaching. I dreaded going to confession with the french priest as one would get a good lecture in the box… Now it is not too bad…

But I left my faith after marriage for almost 8 yrs and eventually came back as I was facing some problems . Evetually, I came back and went back to the sacrament of penance and felt very happy to be back. I now regularly attend mass as often as I can and trying to read and meditate the scriptures.
 
Well, in summary, I reverted back into Catholicism because I was quite uncomfortable in the Christianity I was in. I just couldn’t believe the whole “Divine Health” doctrine in which if one got sick, it meant that the person did not have faith! Not enough faith indeed!! If the earliest of saints got sick, then I hardly think that faith has anything to do with bacterial infections!

Also it was the biblical comparison and how sola scriptura is not even biblical, or scriptural!! I just came back through study and pondering, and giving Catholicism another try in my life.

And it has given me so many blessings ever since!
 
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