Why did you convert to the Catholic faith?

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I’ve read recently that a lot of people post that they converted from being Protestant to Catholic? What lead you to to the Catholic faith?
 
Honestly, my husband led me to the church. When we started getting serious we decided we needed to be members of the same church. He went to mine a few times and really didn’t like it. I started going to Mass with him and found I really did like it. I studied and I prayed and I went through RCIA.
 
“When G. K. Chesterton was asked why he became a Catholic, his short answer was: ‘To get rid of my sins.’”

I can identify with G. K. 😃

As to what has brought me to the Catholic Church: Honesty.
 
For me it was reading the Bible and the early church fathers like Justin, Irenaeus and Tertullian, etc. And lots of prayer.
Jaypeeto2
 
I have found that this question can be honestly answered by me in dozens of different ways. So many people played a role… I’ll only name two:
  1. CS Lewis: Catholics often wonder why he never became Catholic. I don’t know why, but I know that if he were Catholic, Protestants wouldn’t read his books. And when they do read his books, what they encounter is something so close to Catholicism, and yet “safe”. That was my experience, though I didn’t know it. When I read him, I found a Christian I could relate to, and whose style was so rich and full. Once I had read all his books, I went looking for something else like it, but could not find it in Protestantism. At the time, I thought my preference was for older more classic writers, but I realize now that I was hungering for the fullness of the faith (which classic writers such as Bunyan, Calvin, Edwards, and Warfield could not provide). Then I discovered Chesterton and the race was on…
  2. Hilaire Belloc: When I discovered Chesterton, I recognized the same flair I had in Lewis. But I was, for a time, able to separate him from Catholicism. Belloc stopped that. I, completely randomly, stumbled upon his book (on-line), The Great Heresies. There I read about this Church that had squelched all these heresies, and rightly so. The Church has stopped arianism, islam (but not forever), albigensianism, and a whole slew of other ones in between. The Church had been right to snuff them out… But the Church had also repudiated Protestantism. Could it be possible (or likely) that the Church had been right to counter these various movements over and over again, only to be wrong (coincidentally) when it came to the group to which I belonged? I remember very clearly the shock of feeling like I was on the outside looking in. Once I had seen that, it was only a matter of time until the rest fell into place.
 
My husband and I both converted from Calvinism (believe it or not!) because of Church authority. We were tired of the constant disagreements between Protestant “authorities” over essential spiritual matters. And that’s why I’ll never, ever go back. 🙂
 
Because of the testimony of sacred scripture.

I’ve sat in meetings where we have voted on how passages should be interpreted. Believe you me, you can get some scary results depending on who shows up.
 
I read the early church fathers and then the Catechism. Once I realized that the Catholic Church is the Church that Jesus founded, I just had to come home. 🙂

Jeff Schwehm
www.catholicxjw.com
 
Born Catholic but have had “disagreements”. Those were eradicated by logical thinking. Fides et Ratio, as John Paul II put it. Maybe more of Ratio than of Fides in my case.
 
I’d always had a strong belief in God, but I had never been baptized, and never knew much about the Bible, or church history. My husband’s family is Catholic. And after many years, we started attending weekly again. I felt really drawn to know it better. I really felt that I needed it. Also, my children were getting older, asking questions. And I felt a lot of anger whenever I’d see another story bashing Christians. I figured these were all signs leading me. Then I joined RCIA, learned the history of the church and the Bible, and the reality of the Eucharist, and I was hooked.
 
Raised an Athiest…starting to reject my father’s teaching, I began searching for churches…and I went to many a church, with anyone who would take me.

The first time I set foot in a Catholic Church…I was home, and I didn’t even understand the teachings at all, I just felt “this is it”

I was called.
 
John_Henry said:
1) CS Lewis: Catholics often wonder why he never became Catholic. I don’t know why, but I know that if he were Catholic, Protestants wouldn’t read his books. And when they do read his books, what they encounter is something so close to Catholicism, and yet “safe”. .
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Yes, I think that was part of God’s plan for Lewis. Catholics would read him though he was Protestant, but Protestants wouldn’t read him if he were Catholic, and God wanted people to read Lewis.
 
I can’t speak for myself, as I am a cradle Catholic. However, I can tell you about my Mom’s conversion.

When my Mom was 19, she wanted to join a church but didn’t know which one to join. She had been (nominally) raised Protestant. Every person she asked claimed his denomination was the correct one. Having nowhere else to turn, she went to the Bible.

And there, of course, she found Matthew 16:18. She told me later that she realized then that the Catholic Church had been founded by Jesus, and all the others by mere men. Why would she want to belong to one of the others when she could belong to the one God founded?

However, before she could complete her RCIA classes, she fell into a coma. The doctor was certain she was going to die. Her roommate, when asked by the hospital what her religion was, had told them she was studying to be Catholic. The next day a priest came in and baptized her, then gave her Annointing of the Sick. She came out of the coma a couple days later.

As it turns out, I owe my life to that passage from Matthew. You see, a few years later, there was this young man who was looking for a nice Catholic girl to marry . . . and discovered my Mom at a service for Our Lady of Perpetual Help. They had four kids and ended up celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary shortly before my Dad passed away.
 
I was raised as an Episcopalian, although my father’s family were all Catholic. So I “rubbed elbows” with them growing up. We had a standing joke that Episcopalians were Catholics who had flunked Latin in school. Was away from the church for MANY years. Started dating a Catholic woman who asked me to go to Mass with her. I did, and I felt at home. This was after Vatican II and I felt as if I belonged. I had always had the opinion that the Catholic faith was the one Jesus founded and all the others were by mortals. Also, my mother converted when I was in the Navy. She has blessed me with her devotion to the Miraculous Medal, which I wear today.
 
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John_Henry:
I have found that this question can be honestly answered by me in dozens of different ways. So many people played a role… I’ll only name two:
  1. CS Lewis: Catholics often wonder why he never became Catholic. I don’t know why, but I know that if he were Catholic, Protestants wouldn’t read his books. And when they do read his books, what they encounter is something so close to Catholicism,
I vaguely remember reading quite recently in something Tolkien related that C.S did become a convert to catholicism…just chipping in:o
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I just happen to pass a church one afternoon and wondered what it was like. I fell in love with the ritual and solemnity and reverence. I found what had been missing in my protestant denomination.
 
This is a WONDERFUL thread! No flaming, no fighting; just simple testimony to the beauty and truth of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Keep the stories coming. (If I have time I’ll write my re-vert story after work).

Thanks to all who have posted!

Greg
 
Raised as nothing by a single parent. 😦 She was divorced and remarried. My best friend and her family were Catholic:D and I converted in Sr High School.:bounce: The “funny” part was I just always felt at home in a Catholic Church and like an “out-sider” in every other church.
 
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