Why convert from Orthodox to Catholic?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Nacho45
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
N

Nacho45

Guest
I am wondering if there are any converts to the Catholic Church from the Orthodox Church. I was hoping some would share their story, the reasons for the change and what was the moment they knew they needed to become Catholic. Thanks!
 
can’t help/share about this…but I am however seriously looking at the Orthodox Church…maybe someone can help disuade me…
 
Probably not quite what you’re looking for here, but I have a co-worker/friend who converted to the Catholic Church from Greek Orthodoxy (she even gave me the honor of being her sponsor). Her main reason, however, I think, had to do with the fact that the Orthodox church she was attending tried to force her (yes, FORCE – as in chasing her down the aisle yelling!) to receive Communion, but did not offer a gluten-free option. She has severe celiac disease and can be made very, very ill by even a taste of the Precious Blood in which a gluten-containing Host has been intincted. I told her about gluten-free Hosts in the Catholic Church, and she signed up for RCIA right away.

She told me later that Catholic teaching resonated more with her, too, but I think it was the gluten issue that was her biggest draw.
 
Not exactly. I am a cradle Catholic that married an anti-Catholic protestant. After years of Bible study in various ‘denominations’ and seeking truth we gave up protestantism and started inquiring into Orthodoxy, by default because of anti-Catholic spouse. After a few years of serious inquiry what that did was bring me closer to my Roman Catholic roots.

Lets see if I can explain why I have chosen to reject Orthodoxy and go back to my Roman roots. Biggest obstacle for me in the Orthodox church was encountering Orthodox inquirers/converts/cradles who were very anti-Catholic. I did not expect that. Protestants have rejected Catholicism historically, they do not know true Catholic teachings. Yet ex-protestants I have found in Orthodox parishes have embraced ‘Catholic’ teachings simply because now they are labeled ‘Orthodox’.

I am finding lots of references in my Catholic CCC specifically about our eastern brothers not in communion (Eastern Orthodoxy vs Eastern Catholic) that have a more loving, big brother to little brother tone. In the Orthodox teachings its more like an estrangement. A little brother who hates his big brother…just because. I dont think this hatred, animosity, disdain whatever you want to call it, is what Christ wants us to hold on to.
 
Casilda said:
I am finding lots of references in my Catholic CCC specifically about our eastern brothers not in communion (Eastern Orthodoxy vs Eastern Catholic) that have a more loving, big brother to little brother tone. In the Orthodox teachings its more like an estrangement. A little brother who hates his big brother…just because. I dont think this hatred, animosity, disdain whatever you want to call it, is what Christ wants us to hold on to.
Click to expand...
Your calling Catholics the big brother, while calling the Orthodox the little brother is a bit condescending, don’t you think?
 
For me switching to the Byzantine church when I was a child was not much of a drastic change. Many things were similar and at the time I really did not think about it.

Now that I am older I found that I love a lot of what Orthodoxy has: icons, incense, Mount Athos, the monastic writings (especially the Arena by Bishop Ignatius), how mass is sung, the Jesus prayer, children can receive communion, and many other customs.

However, I have access to all of that being Byzantine Catholic. I gain access to Catholic customs as well: more monastic/Saint writings (especially Padre Pio), the rosary, and so on. I also get the added bonus of contributing to the reunification of the Church as a whole.

For me this is important because I feel that Christ would never want a broken Church. A lot of the reasons for the Schism are now very old (Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire are long gone). Now add a society that is progressively becoming more pagan and the Church being divided means we are weak and ineffectual at maintaining Christian values. I understand it is easy to become touchy about theological issues (like the rarely used papal infallibility) but in the end I try to be practical and worry about the survival of Christendom in an age were we try eclipse God with anything else.

At its core Orthodox and Catholics (especially Byzantine) are very similar. The few areas of difference, in my view, do not justify two separate Churches competing for membership while being equally assaulted by secular society and the evil-one. I firmly believe that united in Christ we stand and divided over lesser things we fall.

Just my :twocents:

P.S. I understand both parties feel the other broke away but in the end looking at the history I feel it was a power struggle mirroring the state of the Roman Empire at the time.
Given how history played out (ottomans took out Byzantine, and Communists gave Russia a bad time) is this still really an issue for us? Would it not be more effective to pool resources against common foes (humanism, secularism, consumerism, communism, atheism, New Age, the Demonic, etc)?

God Bless:compcoff:
 
Nacho45 said:
I am wondering if there are any converts to the Catholic Church from the Orthodox Church. I was hoping some would share their story, the reasons for the change and what was the moment they knew they needed to become Catholic. Thanks!
Click to expand...
I’m not Catholic yet, so I don’t know if I’ll be much help to you or not. I’m Greek Orthodox. To put it simply, I’ve never felt welcomed in the Orthodox Church. Now, realize that my family has no trace of Greek in them, at all. When some of the parishioners at different parishes ask me, “Are you Greek?” and I say no, the way they reacted, it was as if I’d been trespassing their property. I’m not saying all Greeks or all Orthodox are like this, as this is just my own experience, and will never say all are alike. But, I feel so much more welcome in the Catholic Church. So, at home. The parishioners and the Priest at the Church I went to over the summer were so welcoming and accepting of me, even though I was of a different faith and hadn’t even brought up the subject until a few weeks before I left, as summer was about to end. Since then, I understand the Mass and Sacraments in the Catholic Church much more than I have ever understood the Orthodox Sacraments/Liturgy, even though the Sacraments are almost identical. Catholicism is what makes sense to me, and what I know is right. Will my parents and Orthodox Priest be thrilled? Probably not, but what I have thought about, relating to if I’m asked why I’m leaving religion, or God, I’m really not. I am only merging over to where my beliefs lie.
 
Pope St. John Paul the Great said that the East and the west are the “two Lungs of the Church”
 
When I converted to the Catholic Church I decided against the Orthodox because there is a Pope in the Catholic Church for me to be obedient to (I have a problem with obedience) and because the Orthodox were so very ethnic - me not being of their ethnicity.
 
awsiukiewicz said:
can’t help/share about this…but I am however seriously looking at the Orthodox Church…maybe someone can help disuade me…
Click to expand...
Examine carefully what draws you away from Catholicism. Do your deep beliefs really differ from what the Catholic Church teaches and you really find that Orthodox theology suits your beliefs better? Check out this:
ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/ortho_cath.html

Or do you just have a problem with the externals - you think that the Orthodox liturgy is more reverent, the rituals are more impressive, the discipline of fasting is more rigorous, priests and laypeople are dressed according to a certain tradition? If this is the case, you may want to think again. Neither the validity of the Mass, nor your relationship with God depends on such things.
 
vames said:
Examine carefully what draws you away from Catholicism. Do your deep beliefs really differ from what the Catholic Church teaches and you really find that Orthodox theology suits your beliefs better? Check out this:
ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/ortho_cath.html

Or do you just have a problem with the externals - you think that the Orthodox liturgy is more reverent, the rituals are more impressive, the discipline of fasting is more rigorous, priests and laypeople are dressed according to a certain tradition? If this is the case, you may want to think again. Neither the validity of the Mass, nor your relationship with God depends on such things.
Click to expand...
I am Catholic but statements like these are completely alien to me. “Validity” is not everything! Is it important? Of course. Is it the only thing that matters? Of course not!

The physical world matters: Art matters. Poetry matters. Music matters. These things help us worship God in a reverent way…

A sloppy Mass means that you gave God your ugliest. Some of the really bad ones I have seen have even been sacrilegious.

To the OP: One of my best friends changed to the Catholic communion from the Orthodox. He grew up in Russia and Orthodoxy to him was “The KGB-church”. He has a much more balanced view on it now though.

For me personally the universal aspect of Catholicism is what keeps me here…

PS.
I think you would get more replies in the “Eastern Catholicism Forum”/DS
 
awsiukiewicz said:
can’t help/share about this…but I am however seriously looking at the Orthodox Church…maybe someone can help disuade me…
Click to expand...
The Orthodox is a schismatic part of the Catholic Church but you would be in a different situation to those brought up Orthodox. You would be turning your back on the Church and that would be heresy (i.e. rejecting the Pope as the head of Christ’s Church on earth).
 
I am “bumping” this thread in the hopes some who did not see it originally would be able and willing to share.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top