Why did you convert to Catholicism?

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Converts to Catholicism: I’m just wondering what made you convert to Catholicism.

1)Was it influenced by friends/family? 2)Was it something about your old religion? 3)…etc?

Thanks:D

PS: my friend’s thinking of converting, she’d like to know why others converted.
 
jazzy_987 said:
Converts to Catholicism: I’m just wondering what made you convert to Catholicism.

1)Was it influenced by friends/family? 2)Was it something about your old religion? 3)…etc?

Thanks:D

PS: my friend’s thinking of converting, she’d like to know why others converted.
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If you aren’t a convert, but are considering it, please tell why too.
 
I converted because Jesus founded the Catholic Church and I will follow Him anywhere. Jesus gave His authority to men who passed it on and on. I want to be in the Church that has the authority of Christ and that is the Catholic Church.
 
At my Lutheran church, they had a Cathechism of the Catholic Church in the library. I was bored and on a complete lark I opened it up and started reading what the Church actually teaches as opposed to what everyone says they teach. Each time I read an explanation of a teaching, I realized I didn’t have a problem with it.

That of course is the very simplified account of my conversion, but that is what got the ball rolling. 🙂
 
Considering it. I am enrolled in RCIA coming this fall, but the first month is a “come and see” month. I am attending mass on a regular basis on Sundays.

Why?

The first issue was Sola Scriptura. It sounds great in theory, but it is not practiced, because no one can truly practice it. All churches use traditions to establish doctrines, even if it is a traditional interpretation of scripture, those traditions become beyond questioning, even if on scriptural grounds. What person in the reformed tradition would question the Westminster Confession? To be part of that church, you must interpret scripture in light of the Confession, but that confession is rooted in “sola scriptura” right? Well the Arminians would disagree with you, as would the Lutherans, Wesleyans, and Free Will Baptists.

Sola Scriptura is not a sound doctrine.

The second issue flows from the first, but is seperate, and that is the issue of authority. When I applied for credentials with my denomination, I brought up that I differed on two minor points of doctrine with my church. That was a problem for them, not me. Yet, I was told I had to submit to their interpretation of scripture, not my own. Well, if we are both using the Bible alone, your interpretation is as good as mine. Why should I follow yours? The catholic church can provide much more satisfactory answers to authority questions than any protestant groups.

There are other reasons, but those are the main two. The reason I can’t say that I am 100 percent sure about converting, is that while I reject Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide still makes a lot of sense to me. Luther’s understanding of whether one can lose salvation and assurance, makes the most sense to me…we remain saved and in God’s grace as long as we keep our faith in Christ. We all fall and sin at times, but remained saved if we keep believing in Christ, and we fall away when we cease to believe.

I am dissatisfied with my Baptist upbringing (I reject OSAS as unscriptural) and the Pentecostal faith I had since my teens (a heck of a lot more reasons) and feel drawn to litergical worship. I find Wesley’s acceptance of some church tradition but rejection of other points to be arbitrary (same is true of the Anglicans). Also, the Methodist church seems to have a hard time defining its beliefs on hard issues. So Baptist, Pentecostal, Anglican, and Methodist are all out for me. I believe that God can do miracles today, so the reformed tradition is out (I also reject Calvinism) Presbyterian is out for me. What else is left?
 
we ended up putting our kids in a catholic school. We began noticing things about catholicism that seemed “right” to us. we were becoming concerned that our religion at that time (LDS) might be wrong. so we began serious study, we then decided to go through RCIA. somewhere in that process we gained an intellectual knowledge and a spiritual knowledge that the Catholic church was put here by God and that we needed to be in it. So here we are!🙂
 
I’m signed up in the fall for RCIA, too, after many years of discussion and discovery.

I never was raised with a church, in fact, I’m unbaptized. However, in 10th grade, I was really introduced to the Catholic church by my humanities class. We were studying the early church as a part of history, and I was absolutely amazed at the imagery, architecture, love, and devotion that people offered up to God. I learned a lot about the early church through the bible (that was in our humanities book), and eventually about the Catholic church as it is now (after all the schisms and reformations left it). That class planted a seed.

All but one of my friends went to different churches, and I attended with them… trying to find God in it. And I can honestly say that I couldn’t stand any of them. But, then I went to the Catholic church in a neighboring town with a friend, and I was just… overwhelmed? It was a “teen mass” but everyone, all these people that I knew who were loud, obnoxious, and barely had any respect were silent and full of reverence and awe. That helped.

Eventually, I went to church with my friends for a while before going to church with my boyfriend and his family. I just love his/my parish! His mother is the RCIA teacher there, so we’ll see how this fall goes. 😛

[Sorry for this being so long]
 
Because when I started really getting serious about being a Christian, I started studying my bible. Then I learned that the Catholic Church is the one who created the canon of the bible! The Catholic Church was the ONE Church started by Jesus Himself, with an unbroken line back to Him. NO other church can claim that. With more study, every question I had was answered by the Catholic Church, when I was just left with more questions by all the protestant churches.
I didn’t set out to be Catholic, but once I learned what it really is, (the ONE true Church of Christ), I had no choice. That was the only way to follow Jesus, not my own ideas. And my relationship with Jesus is so much closer and more intimate now that I am Catholic, I wouldn’t go back for anything in the world. Why should I? I can receive Jesus body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist every time I go to mass. What could be better than that? 😃
 
I was not brought up religious, but since I understood the concept I had always believed in some sort of God. But when it came to finding a religion to go with that belief, I was in the position of not having many biases loaded on me by people I know, so I was able to look at it objectively.

Catholicism was my first port of call as it is the largest and oldest denomonation of the largest religion. Some said that this is not a reason to take a religion more seriously, but I always found those in tiny sects claiming exclusive truth to be very arrogant. The primacy of the size of Catholicism also seemed to fit in with Our Lord’s promise to be with the Church until the end of time.

During my conversion, I also came to accept Catholic teachings - such as Marian devotion, transubstantiation, apostolic succession and papal infallibility - on their own terms, but they can of course be found covered conclusively elsewhere on these forums.:signofcross:
 
I converted from Atheism. Because of this I feel I was able to consider the issue of religion objectively and without bias. After realising that EVERY single piece of historical evidence supports the RCC it was an easy decision.
 
When I was a 1 to 3 year old, my mom took my family to a Unity church. My dad, being ex-catholic (well, he fell away because he couldn’t get an annulment or something…), started taking me to a catholic church. When I was 4, my parents got a divorce, and I went to a catholic church half the time and the other half what spent either at a Unity church or a Christian Science church. So compared to Unity and Christian science (sorry if any Unity or Christian Science members take offense to this), the Catholic church was pretty normal and it seemed perfect for me. I lived with my mom until freshman year, and I have been going to a catholic church ever since then, getting confirmed sophomore year. Here I am now, preparing to go to Franciscan Univ. of Steubenville to learn Theology, or Pre-theologate (sp) and then enter the seminary. 👍
 
I initially went because my (then) future wife was Catholic, and at first I was very irreverent about the Church and the Mass. The more I discovered, though, the more it opened up whole new levels of understanding that I had never even considered. The Catholic Church Is so extraordinary! You can study it for years and only have uncovered a small portion of what there is to learn. A lot of people go to Mass every Sunday, then never think about the Church until the next week, but there is so much more to the Church than Mass every week. If you really dig in and try to understand what the Mass is, the Church will give you more than you can ever give to it. I had never even heard the word “mass” until college, and now I can’t imagine any other way of life.:highprayer:
 
My story is similar to Scottgun’s. I grew up Methodist and I still have great affection for them. in college, I became enamored with spiritism and some unhealthy practices while still recognizing the God was in charge. This might seem a contradiction but it is too complicated to explain properly here. Anyway, afterward, I had two epiphany moments that resulted in the absolute surety that I was already Catholic in my beliefs and lacked only the formality. I didn’t swim the Tiber, I danced across it, THanks be to God!

Nowadays, I am an RCIA team leader and have heard hundreds of conversion stories. Each one, like the ones posted here, reveals the saving love of God and I am both humbled and awed by that reality.
 
My initial studies of Catholicism resulted from reading the Nicene Creed for the first time. I wanted to find out where this “one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church” was today. I began to watch EWTN regularly and study Catholic teachings. For the last four months I have been reading and studying an average of four hours a day. Rome Sweet Home was a big book for me. I have read quite a few other good Catholic books since then. I began to realize how sola scriptura and sola fide are not biblical and are man-made ideas that came out of the Reformation, something the earliest Christians would surely have rejected. These two Bible verses were also huge for me:

John 6:53-58, 66-67

“So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.’ After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Will you also go away?’”

1 Corinthians 11:27

“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.”

Those two verses are about as straight-forward as it gets. I have been going to Mass for about the last four months and I know that I am on the right path.
 
I guess the thing that really started my conversion process is that there were many questions I had that my Southern Baptist background could not answer. I basically left all organized religion, and though I still had a strong belief in God, I just couldn’t find anything that really felt “right”. In my searching, I had basically ignored the Catholic Church, because being raised baptist, I thought Catholics were “weird” and worshipped Mary and the saints and all that. The man that I am now married to is the one that really introduced me to the RCC. We had been friends for a while, and one night after work we were talking and the conversation turned to religion. For over 4 hours, he just explained things to me. I realized that all the “weirdness” about the Church was not true, and started investigating further. I did a ton of reading and praying and reflecting. There was not a single question I could come up with that the Church didn’t have an answer for. Once you see the Truth, there’s no way around it… you have to just embrace everything and never look back! Even though it was very difficult and filled with a lot of discouragement from family and friends, my conversion is the best thing that has ever happened to me!! 👍
 
SemperFidelis said:
My initial studies of Catholicism resulted from reading the Nicene Creed for the first time. I wanted to find out where this “one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church” was today. I began to watch EWTN regularly and study Catholic teachings. For the last four months I have been reading and studying an average of four hours a day. Rome Sweet Home was a big book for me. I have read quite a few other good Catholic books since then. I began to realize how sola scriptura and sola fide are not biblical and are man-made ideas that came out of the Reformation, something the earliest Christians would surely have rejected. These two Bible verses were also huge for me:

John 6:53-58, 66-67

“So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.’ After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him. Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Will you also go away?’”

1 Corinthians 11:27

“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.”

Those two verses are about as straight-forward as it gets. I have been going to Mass for about the last four months and I know that I am on the right path.
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God bless you on your journey!
yes, the verses you posted are very obvious and powerful.
You are absolutely on the right path.
 
Matthew 28: 18-20: <18 Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age. " > History proves the Church He was talking to became known as the Catholic Church with the See of St. Peter in Rome - He did not say He would support schism or reform or protest , He said He would be with THIS Church until the End. I do NOT believe in Bible Alone (Sola Scriptura), I DO believe in God’s Word alone. 2Thessalonians 2:15: <15 Therefore, brothers, stand firm and*** hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours.*** > Matthew 4:4: <4 He said in reply, “It is written: ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.’” > God’s Word is Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church as directed by the Holy Spirit. I believe in Apostolic authority and succession and the Real Presence in the Eucharist. which is why I am a Roman Catholic Christian.
Ravyn
 
I’m considering converting.

The first thing that drew me was the liturgy. It seemed very focused on God and on worship. And I like the idea of worshiping with my whole body, I like the standing and sitting and kneeling and the crossing myself, all that.

I also like how it is so diverse yet at the same time so unified. I go to my own Methodist church and pretty much everyone is white and middle to upper class. And I go the the Catholic church, which isn’t that far from my own, and it is much more racially and economically diverse. Yet at the same time the worship in all Catholic churches are similar enough. I went to mass in Bolivia a couple of times and even though I didn’t know the responses in Spanish, I could still say them in English and actively participate in worship.

I think the biggest thing I’m not sure of is the whole pope thing. I can kind of understand the whole Peter thing, and I understand the development of doctrine and such, but I don’t really understand how we got from Peter to the modern Pope. I’m still trying to sort that out.

And I’ll also admit to being a little bit scared. Scared of how my friends at my current church will react and how to explain it all to them and scared because it seems like a MUCH bigger deal that joining a Protestant church. At my current church I just had to promise to support them with my prayers, my presence, my gifts, and my service, all things I was already doing. Converting to the Catholic church seems like a much bigger and more permanent thing.
 
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