What type of churches did you go to before your conversion to the Catholic Church?

[Delta1]

Grew up secular/non-religious. I was Episcopalian for several years before finally entering the Catholic Church this past Easter The Episcopal Church started to get too liberal for me, plus I wanted to be part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

-Delta1

 

[JohnVIII]

Mormon, then Anglican, then Eastern Orthodox, then Roman Catholic, then back to Eastern Orthodox.

 

[Georgia]

An independent, KJV-only, full-immersion, Fundamentalist, Scofield Bible using, Baptist church

 

[7_Sorrows]

An independent, KJV-only, full-immersion, Fundamentalist, Scofield Bible using, Baptist church

just out of curiosity, what brought you to the Catholic church from such a strong Baptist background? my best friend is an Independent Baptist and i accept that, but at times i try to plant seeds and share how great it is to be part of the Catholic church.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Grew up secular/non-religious. I was Episcopalian for several years before finally entering the Catholic Church this past Easter The Episcopal Church started to get too liberal for me, plus I wanted to be part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

-Delta1

i also came from the episcopal church. i didn’t attend any church from 18 to 40. then began experimenting with non-denominational and still being an episcopalian. at least the episcopal church taught me to realize the importance of Holy Communion, but i also realized that the Episcopal church was not the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic church and i did not have the fullness of faith and, i agree, it was getting too liberal. so in 2008,
i converted and am so happy that i did!!!

 

[Georgia]

just out of curiosity, what brought you to the Catholic church from such a strong Baptist background? my best friend is an Independent Baptist and i accept that, but at times i try to plant seeds and share how great it is to be part of the Catholic church.

It’s interesting, coming from that background, but I always felt the pull to the Eucharist. The Bible makes it very clear that it isn’t a mere symbol, but that is what we were taught at my church.

When we had communion once each month, there were the readings and the sermons about improperly participating would make a person guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ. That bothered me every time. If this were a mere symbol, how in the world could that make one guilty of the actual Body and Blood of Christ?

There were other things too, like Peter’s role in the Church, the establishment of a visible church on Earth, and the authority of the people determining faith issues. Our church often had joint events with another a few miles down the road. We had strong disagreements on baptism of all things, but there was no authority on whom to appeal, We could sling verses all day, but that proved nothing.

My home town has a beautiful Catholic church, but I never went inside. Oh, I wanted to go there. I was a little too intimidated with so much I didn’t understand.

When I started dating the woman to whom I am now married, I went into a Catholic church for the first time. I was home! BTW, I was no kid at the time; I was in my thirties.

With my built-in biases against the Catholic faith, I was skeptical and I resisted the internal pull for some time, but I started reading books, starting with Karl Keating’s "Catholicism and Fundamentalism: and went to others. After quite a bit of reading and finding nothing in my background that could convincingly argue with the facts I found, I made arrangements with a priest who is now a great friend of my family. I crossed the Tiber and only hope I can bring more with me. The great gift of the Eucharist makes the trip seem so very small.

 

[Izdaari]

you have been on a real journey! what a background. i predict someday the Holy Spirit will bring you to the Catholic church.

Thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers!

But you might not realize that for a Protestant, especially one of ecumenical mindset, those church changes were not such a big deal. To me, all that really mattered was that the church was Christian (and in that I was only looking within the Protestant range; I knew Catholicism and Orthodoxy existed, and I did consider them Christian, but was completely unfamiliar with their traditions, so they were not for me – not necessarily wrong, but not within my cultural comfort zone).

None of those changes was occasioned by a change of belief on my part, but by moving to a different locale and having to find a new local church to attend, always looking for what seemed to be the best one in the neighborhood. I didn’t care much at all about denominational distinctives, only that it was broadly orthodox enough for my satisfaction. Being able to confess the Apostles’ Creed was sufficient; I mean just the content, not whether they actually believed in using creeds.

Those were not in my mind changes of religion, but simply finding a new local congregation of the same church, the Christian church. I guess it would be like moving from Antioch to Ephesus in Paul’s time, or changing parishes for a Catholic.

But now I find myself actually considering changing denominations because my beliefs have changed over the years. I have always been within the non-liturgical side of Protestantism, and more on the conservative evangelical side. Now I’m thinking I would be a better fit for a liturgical mainline church, perhaps Episcopalian or Lutheran. That isn’t all the way to Catholicism, but it is in the general direction.

 

[Khumbu]

Mormon. Went through RCIA this past year. Have yet to be baptized due to family sensitivities I am still working through.

 

[Brywan]

Born into a Protestant home but non-affiliated with any denomination.

Attended Baptist Church as young child.

Moved. Attended Presbyterian Church in elementary school.

Moved. Attended Protestant Church led by military chaplain. He was a Lutheran and took me throught the Lutheran Catechism. Baptised and confirmed by him. But he established my membership with the National Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C.

Moved. Started attending Methodist Church. Became a Methodist.

Went to college. Became “saved” at a Leighton Ford (he’s an associate of Billy Graham) Crusade.

Attended a non-denominational evangelical church.

Joined staff of Campus Crusade for Christ.

Moved. Attended evangelical type churches.

Left staff, came back home. Started attending Methodist Church again.

Left the Methodist Church in a messy, painful congregational split–long story I won’t go into…(had nothing to do with Methodism, per se)

Started attending an evangelical church again.

Started to feel like it was becoming a “mega-church” didn’t like the direction the church was moving in…lots of others didn’t either…started attending an evangelical free church.

Also experimented with home churches here and there.

Started to study Orthodoxy and Catholicism.

Resisted mightily…

Became Catholic, Roman rite…

Praise God. I’m home!!!

 

[jesuspsr]

Mormon. Went through RCIA this past year. Have yet to be baptized due to family sensitivities I am still working through.

Welcome home, I’ll be praying for you and your family.

God bless

jesus g

 

[7_Sorrows]

It’s interesting, coming from that background, but I always felt the pull to the Eucharist. The Bible makes it very clear that it isn’t a mere symbol, but that is what we were taught at my church.

When we had communion once each month, there were the readings and the sermons about improperly participating would make a person guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ. That bothered me every time. If this were a mere symbol, how in the world could that make one guilty of the actual Body and Blood of Christ?

There were other things too, like Peter’s role in the Church, the establishment of a visible church on Earth, and the authority of the people determining faith issues. Our church often had joint events with another a few miles down the road. We had strong disagreements on baptism of all things, but there was no authority on whom to appeal, We could sling verses all day, but that proved nothing.

My home town has a beautiful Catholic church, but I never went inside. Oh, I wanted to go there. I was a little too intimidated with so much I didn’t understand.

When I started dating the woman to whom I am now married, I went into a Catholic church for the first time. I was home! BTW, I was no kid at the time; I was in my thirties.

With my built-in biases against the Catholic faith, I was skeptical and I resisted the internal pull for some time, but I started reading books, starting with Karl Keating’s "Catholicism and Fundamentalism: and went to others. After quite a bit of reading and finding nothing in my background that could convincingly argue with the facts I found, I made arrangements with a priest who is now a great friend of my family. I crossed the Tiber and only hope I can bring more with me. The great gift of the Eucharist makes the trip seem so very small.

thank you for your explanations. my friend became a baptist when she married her husband, but she was a very strong Christian from childhood. i think she might be more receptive to learning more of the Catholic faith, but might be afraid to show any interest because of her husband. they have been having some issues at their church, and she sounds displeased, but they live in a small town and i don’t even know if there is a Catholic church there. “born again” seems to be the only doctrine that counts for them.
anyhow, i am glad that you did so much research and are home in the Catholic church.
i agree, the Eucharist is a great gift.

 

[7_Sorrows]

Thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers!

But you might not realize that for a Protestant, especially one of ecumenical mindset, those church changes were not such a big deal. To me, all that really mattered was that the church was Christian (and in that I was only looking within the Protestant range; I knew Catholicism and Orthodoxy existed, and I did consider them Christian, but was completely unfamiliar with their traditions, so they were not for me – not necessarily wrong, but not within my cultural comfort zone).

None of those changes was occasioned by a change of belief on my part, but by moving to a different locale and having to find a new local church to attend, always looking for what seemed to be the best one in the neighborhood. I didn’t care much at all about denominational distinctives, only that it was broadly orthodox enough for my satisfaction. Being able to confess the Apostles’ Creed was sufficient; I mean just the content, not whether they actually believed in using creeds.

Those were not in my mind changes of religion, but simply finding a new local congregation of the same church, the Christian church. I guess it would be like moving from Antioch to Ephesus in Paul’s time, or changing parishes for a Catholic.

But now I find myself actually considering changing denominations because my beliefs have changed over the years. I have always been within the non-liturgical side of Protestantism, and more on the conservative evangelical side. Now I’m thinking I would be a better fit for a liturgical mainline church, perhaps Episcopalian or Lutheran. That isn’t all the way to Catholicism, but it is in the general direction.

i would suggest an anglican or episcopal. i believe they are the closest to the Catholic.
if you try the episcopal, be careful and make sure it is a conservative church and not too liberal. i liked the episcopal church, but as my faith matured i realized that i needed to be in the Catholic church.

 

[Daizies]

Well, lets see…
When I was very young my parents took us to an Assemblies of God church, a Victory Christian Fellowship, and probably others I don’t remember.
Then we attended a Baptist Church (Baptist Union of Western Canada) for many years.
Then I didn’t go to church for a while.
Then Assemblies of God.
Baptist Again.
Non-Denominational (while attending non-denom. Bible School)
Then a Life Links Church (oneness Pentecostal if I remember rightly)
Then I moved to another city and church shopped. I tried: Baptist, Victory, United, non-denom., Alliance, Assembly of God, Pentecostal, and was in a cult for a while (thank God I got out of that one), and probably one or two others I forgot.
I finally, eventually, settled in a Pentecostal Church (Pentecostal Assemblies Of Canada) for a while.
Then I quit going to church and practiced a form of solo paganism.
Long story, but I went back to the Baptist Church, and alternated that with a Life Links Church.
Finally, at long last I came home to the Catholic Church. - Best decision of my life

 

[CalCatholic]

I was baptized Lutheran as a baby, grew up with no religion in the home. I was agnostic for 47 years, then began investigating Christianity and came into the Catholic Church in 2005.

 

[Marsha_Adams]

Born Seventh Day Adventist in June of 1950.
Baptized Catholic January 1981.

I have recently entered that phase of life where I have been Catholic longer than I was Adventist. :extrahappy:

 

[Miriam1947]

Born Seventh Day Adventist in June of 1950.
Baptized Catholic January 1981.

I have recently entered that phase of life where I have been Catholic longer than I was Adventist. :extrahappy:

Good for you! Congratulations.

I am going to have to live very long in order to be Catholic longer than Protestant.

 

[Izdaari]

i would suggest an anglican or episcopal. i believe they are the closest to the Catholic.
if you try the episcopal, be careful and make sure it is a conservative church and not too liberal. i liked the episcopal church, but as my faith matured i realized that i needed to be in the Catholic church.

I have visited a number of Episcopal churches, and mostly I liked them. I came back to being a Christian from agnosticism over 30 years ago, largely due to the writings of C.S. Lewis, an Anglican, and today I’m a big fan of N.T. Wright and Alister McGrath, both Anglican theologians.

So far as conservative vs. liberal, that’s kind of a balancing act: what would suit me best would be a church that is conservative in core theology (the kind of stuff covered in the creeds), but more liberal in social matters and not political at all. From what I’ve seen so far, the Episcopal church is more liberal than I would like, but Anglicans in America (those who take pains to differentiate themselves from Episcopalians) are too conservative. I don’t necessarily expect to get exactly what I want in that, and probably will have to settle.

 

[7_Sorrows]

I have visited a number of Episcopal churches, and mostly I liked them. I came back to being a Christian from agnosticism over 30 years ago, largely due to the writings of C.S. Lewis, an Anglican, and today I’m a big fan of N.T. Wright and Alister McGrath, both Anglican theologians.

So far as conservative vs. liberal, that’s kind of a balancing act: what would suit me best would be a church that is conservative in core theology (the kind of stuff covered in the creeds), but more liberal in social matters and not political at all. From what I’ve seen so far, the Episcopal church is more liberal than I would like, but Anglicans in America (those who take pains to differentiate themselves from Episcopalians) are too conservative. I don’t necessarily expect to get exactly what I want in that, and probably will have to settle.

good luck!!

 

[CompSciGuy]

I am not Catholic, though I don’t rule out the possibility that I might be some day… but if that were to happen, I think I would clash heavily with the traditionalist faction.

You’re not the only one! Don’t let it get you down. This is the reason I try to avoid the “Liturgy and Sacraments” section of this forum. Sometimes I’ll see the title of the latest post in that section and I’ll just go off like a firecracker.

Contrary to what some people may believe, there really is room for everyone in the Catholic Church, including traditionalists, charismatics, and everything in-between.

 

[Izdaari]

You’re not the only one! Don’t let it get you down. This is the reason I try to avoid the “Liturgy and Sacraments” section of this forum. Sometimes I’ll see the title of the latest post in that section and I’ll just go off like a firecracker.

Contrary to what some people may believe, there really is room for everyone in the Catholic Church, including traditionalists, charismatics, and everything in-between.

Even a socially liberal, politically libertarian charismatic. who likes Galatians a lot more than James?