They are well read and quite erudite. They have to be because most converts fought tooth and nail every argument that the Church proposes. It is only because they are overwhelmed by the truth that in the the end they have to bow to it.
This exacty describes the process of my conversion. The Lord blessed me with a cushy job which gave me hours of free time to research all of the Catholic/Protestant distinctives. I must have spent a thousand hours of research. My conversion is documented as I struggled with these issues on a number of forums all using this “excubitor” tag. I have literally written tens of thousands of words and scripture studies on these various forums. I have researched the history of the church including the various heresies, the Inquisition, the Crusades, the Apparitions of Mary, the miracles of the Saints, all of the Church fathers. Plus I have received personal instruction of the very highest standard from a priest of the Latin Rite in preparation of my reception into the Catholic faith.
It was exactly the sheer force of truth and scripture which compelled me to convert to the Catholic faith. From a young age after 25 years of diligent Bible Study and devotion to the truth I simply could not refute in any honest way the teachings of the Catholic church. I therefore converted at great personal cost, losing friends and family, turning my back on my old church which I loved and the people I loved and which I miss terribly still.
And yet despite these griefs I have not been received into the Catholic church like a long lost brother, but have had to deal with these prejudices of cradle catholics who regard me either with suspicion or else with puzzlement that I even bothered to convert in the first place. It’s incredible how woeful the local parish is. What a great blessing that there are some orthodox Catholics in union with the Pope still to be found in the FSSP and the rare-as-hen’s-teeth conservative OF mass, even if I do have to drive across town to find it.
And quite honestly that’s not good enough. The local bishop has a responsibility to provide me an orthodox and conservative parish in my local area. It is my dearest desire to be joined in union with my local parish, but my fledgling faith struggles with the belief in the Real Presence and I feel that it is imperative for the sake of my eternal soul to become established in this fundamental belief of Holy Mother Church. But the awareness of the Real Presence is not evident at my local parish. If the people there are aware of our Lord dwelling in the sanctuary then they show no evidence of it. In fact, on my rare visits to the local parish I get glared at if I genuflect as I pass the tabernacle because I am holding up the people rushing to get out.
By contrast the FSSP mass that I attend is extremely reverent towards the blessed host. Cradle catholics might be able to take the Real Presence for granted having grown up with the knowledge all their life. In fact it might be so obvious to them now that they no longer have to provide any physical evidence of their awareness of this fact and believe that they are grown beyond all that kind of outward display now. As for me though I am new and weak in the faith and I need to have these things reinforced by seeing my fellow Catholics show their adoration for the manifestation of our Lord in the Eucharist. I need the genuflections and the benedictions to really reinforce this little kernel of faith that the Holy Ghost has graced me with.