Your religious background?

[Ignatius]

I was actually far more orthodox than my parents who practiced with deviation on the matter of contraception. I was possibly less so than my grandparents since I never took up the rosary with such fervor (I used it often, multiple times a week but not daily as they did) but I fulfilled all the requirements and obeyed social teachings and assented to all matters of faith.

I was a cradle Catholic who remained in the faith up until…hrmm, twenty one although I had been “going through the motions” for about a year before then. I took it deathly seriously up until that point and only ceased practicing fully around twenty one.

I personally dislike the term however it is appropriate; while I continue to study it for my occupation I don’t believe in it.

So you draw a salary from The Church?

 

[mamagoose]

I was born and raised in the LDS faith, but my parents were very skeptical people and slowly my immediate family left the church though my adolescence. I was a literal agnostic. I did not “KNOW” if there was a God. Because of the LDS Church’s compulsion of “I KNOW the Church is true”, I really rejected the idea of knowledge.

I met and fell in love with a Catholic man. Our relationship started getting more serious, so I independently decided to learn more about his faith. I read “Catholicism for Dummies” but really didn’t get much out of it. I wanted to be able to learn face-to-face from someone, so I did inquiry at a wonderful parish in Sacramento. I spent about 2.5 years in RCIA before I made the plunge. I celebrated five sacraments in one year: Baptism, Confirmation, Communion, Confession, and Matrimony! It was a grace-filled year!

 

[Cake_or_Death]

So you draw a salary from The Church?

Good God no. I work for a secular university with a Religious Studies department (that is, religion studied as a phenomenon neither discounting nor supposing belief in the “truth” of the faith being studied). Very different from Theology.

Work for the Catholic Church? Me? Oh now that’s just made my day.

 

[adamhovey1988]

I’m interested in what has made others here interested in apologetics, and I suspect that it has a lot to do with their religious background, so I wanted to post a poll on the matter…

Did you always have the orthodox faith that you have today, passed on directly from your parents?

Were you a cradle Catholic who left and returned or who never really took the faith that seriously and as an adult found orthodox beliefs and embraced them?

Are you a Catholic who doesn’t embrace orthodoxy a la Catholic Answers?

Were you a convert to Catholicism from a Christian fundamentalist background?

From the Greek Orthodox Church?

From Atheism?

From mainstream Protestantism (Anglican, Lutheran, etc.)?

From non-mainstream Protestantism (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons)?

Are you not a Catholic, but thinking of becoming one?

Are you an ex-Catholic?

I was an Agnostic, then a Buddhist, I was Baptized, Confirmed, and received my first Communion at the age of 21. I am now 27. I struggle with my faith, but I will tell you, it has made it much easier to deal with depression.

 

[Fauken]

Born and raised in a non-practicing Baptist family, went church jumping in college (Catholic to Episcopalian to ELCA Lutheran to Methodist to LCMS Lutheran). I was literally thinking about the LCMS service I was going to attend the next morning when I was walking by the Catholic Church I first visited. It had scared me off at first, since I went from no liturgy at all to Mass with no preparation, but I think I was going to those other denominations for the previous year to get ready for Catholicism. The church lights drew me in, I’ve been doing research ever since then, and I’ll be starting RCIA this September!

 

[Sola_Catholicus]

I’m interested in what has made others here interested in apologetics, and I suspect that it has a lot to do with their religious background, so I wanted to post a poll on the matter…

Did you always have the orthodox faith that you have today, passed on directly from your parents?

Were you a cradle Catholic who left and returned or who never really took the faith that seriously and as an adult found orthodox beliefs and embraced them?

Are you a Catholic who doesn’t embrace orthodoxy a la Catholic Answers?

Were you a convert to Catholicism from a Christian fundamentalist background?

From the Greek Orthodox Church?

From Atheism?

From mainstream Protestantism (Anglican, Lutheran, etc.)?

From non-mainstream Protestantism (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons)?

Are you not a Catholic, but thinking of becoming one?

Are you an ex-Catholic?

My parents were nominal Catholics.

I was an atheist for about 8 years.

I came back to the One True Church of God and now am more devout than ever before.

 

[Sola_Catholicus]

I was an Agnostic, then a Buddhist, I was Baptized, Confirmed, and received my first Communion at the age of 21. I am now 27. I struggle with my faith, but I will tell you, it has made it much easier to deal with depression.

Hang in there my man. You will receive your reward. I was confirmed this year at age 31. Being Catholic is a beautiful thing.

 

[peter26]

I’m nominal protestant because I was raised that way. But I often go to Catholic Mass, say Catholic prayers, practice Marian devotion, believe in transubstantiation and believe in the Apostolic succession. I’m mulling over RCIA this Autumn.

 

[CrossofChrist]

From mainstream Protestantism, now Catholic.

P.S: why would someone vote the “not orthodox Catholic” one if their name will pop up! Not that I’m one b/c I’m a devout Catholic who believes with the Church, but if I weren’t I wouldn’t want my name publicized either

 

[adamhovey1988]

I’m nominal protestant because I was raised that way. But I often go to Catholic Mass, say Catholic prayers, practice Marian devotion, believe in transubstantiation and believe in the Apostolic succession. I’m mulling over RCIA this Autumn.

I think you should go for it. Pray it over if you are not already

 

[TarkanAttila]

More or less always Catholic. Kind of went blah and ignorant during high school - a Catholic Jesuit high school, no less! - but even then I was Catholic, moral, to-the-letter of the law (except when it inconvenienced me or I knew nothing and didn’t want to know).

Emotionally, I’m rather drained. Intellectually… well, I’m more convicted of Catholicism than of naturalism or neoliberalism. The books and articles I’ve read about Catholicism and Thomism make good sense. The atheists I’ve talked to have not. I would be very surprised if Catholicism was not objectively true. The Catholic narrative explains so much.

So, even though I might not feeel it, I am probably more convicted and willing to live the Faith than ever before. I am 24, BTW, and an altar server at the local Anglican Use Mass.