Conversion Stories

[Veritas]

I use to feel jealous of converts. In spite of the pain, difficulty, obstacles, etc. to being received into the Church, there is this sense of joy at "coming home". As a cradle Catholic and almost a revert, I've had many "metanioas" over the years, but not that overwhelming emotion that many converts experience.

Then I read or was told by someone, that being a cradle Catholic is much like the story of the Prodigal Son in the gospels. The child that left seems to have the better deal because the Father makes such a fuss over his prodigal son coming home. But the son who never left feels cheated because the Father didn't put on such a fabulous feast for him. The Father however, tells this son, "you have always had this available anytime you wanted it". So, in a way, the Eucharist represents the "feast" that Protestants haven't had but Catholics could have anytime they wanted. I think when it's always there, you have a tendancy to take it for granted. I try to remind myself regularly what a privliedge it is to receive Christ in the Eucharist.

 

[garydench]

wow. It's wonderful to see that I won't be alone in my conversion. I'll be officially received into the Church at the Easter Vigil on April 10th. My parents were at first against the idea (they have this strange concept that every should be a good Protestant Anglo-Saxon and they cling to their beloved Church of England) but I sure they will accept in time. I've always preferred the Catholic mass since the sermons I was used were always sin... blah blah ... hell blah blah. I don't think I have had as much spiritual fulfilment in years.

 

[catholicboy]

I guess you could say I converted. When I was young, we went to a nondenominational church because my mom was Catholic and my dad was Baptist. Later on, when I was about 10, my parents split up and I started going to both the Catholic and Baptist church. After a series of events, I was baptised Catholic when I was 10-11. At first, I didn't like a lot of things about the Church. I thought things like not eating meat on Friday's for Lent was rediculous and wasn't going to send me to hell. During my junior year of high school (also confirmation year) I decided that if I was going to stay Catholic, I had some things I needed to get answered. So I talked to my priest every week, I went on the net, I watched EWTN, I did everything I could to get answers...

Well, I am sooooooo glad I am Catholic now. I am doing a lot of apologetics, helping out with youth ministry and just doing what I can to bring more and more people to Christ's Church.

God bless you all!

Aaron

 

[chilehed]

I'm a convert. Raised Methodist, fell away hard in high school and came back via evangelical protestantism. Stumbled on EWTN radio one day in traffic, and decided to read the early church fathers to prove to myself that they were presbyterians!

I gave myself a year to figure it out, and joined CF to listen and learn. Within a month I knew the battle was lost, 5 months was spent dragging my emotions in line with my will, and now I'll be entering at the Easter Vigil, HALLELUIAH! I'm absolutely torqued about this. My family thinks I'm nuts.

I'm continually stunned by the riches of grace and wisdom that our Lord showers on us through His Church, and I can't express how grateful I am to have been brought here.

EUCHARIST, EUCHARIST, EUCHARIST!!!

 

[BjBarnett]

So whos a convert?
what did you convert from?
Why did you convert?

Im in the process of coverting. I was formally Baptist and Im converting because when I went to mass for the first time i felt God touch me in such an incredible way left an unforgetable mark on me

 

[bigsierra]

I went to the Church of God, in my early years. My family started attending The Church of the Nazarene, when I was in my teens, but never came to God, because, I couldn't come to terms with the ability to lose sonship over "a" sin. I was looking at sin with a "reformed" bent as opposed to the Nazarene definition. I thought the "objective" view of sin was most accurate. Anyway, I became a Christian, when I was in college and my parents would come pick me up from KU to go back to their church. I wasn't exactly sure what I believed about that whole issue of Justification and OSAS. I just decided to not worry about it and trust in the grace of God.

Seven or eight years ago, I discovered RC Sproul and through his, Chosen by God series on video, decided I agreed with how doctrinally, I could almost fit all the pieces together. The ones I couldn't fit in place didn't seem all that important anyway, in light of most things working. So, I decided Presbyterian was where I should be. They seemed to have the "objective" view of sin and mans sinfulness.

Anyway, for a good portion of the seven or eight years, I hadn't been to concerned about my Christianity. I had all the pieces in place, in my mind, and thought I knew my postion in Gods eyes. I didn't have any major (major in my eyes) sins.

God started dealing with me and I was doing a bit of evangelism, and realized I was having some problems with Reformed approach. Some of it seemed strained. I really didn't feel comfortable saying "God loves everyone" or explaining all my beliefs. I kind of held that those were mostly for mature believers.

I started looking at some other thoughts that seemed to fit. I already knew what Wesleyans believe. RC Sproul had perked my interest in the Early Church Fathers. I looked into the Catholic Church and liked what I was seeing in the Catechism. It seemed similar to the Wesleyan theology in a lot of ways. Actually, in most ways. Both have a focus on holiness. Looking back, I probably would have come to Christ at a younger age, if Wesleyans had the doctrine of Purgatory. I also started seeing that I wasn't living a very Christian life and those things I thought were covered might have kept me out of the Kingdom eternally. OSAS is pretty scarey theology to me these days.

My parents and my sister and her husband all attend College Church, which I'm happy for. It's a great church. This has been a bit difficult for them. My mom is a bit anti-Catholic. Hopefully at some point, they can see how close together the two doctrines really are.

Church of God -> Nazarene -> Conversion -> Nazarene -> End Time Non-Denom Church -> Presbyterian (PCA) -> Catholic which finally feels like home.

I'm converting because I want to be where God wants me. I've had a radical education thanks to OBOB. It evident that God is moving in the lives of folks here as well a folks I've met locally. I believe this to be the Church Jesus created 2k years ago.

 

[BAChristian]

So whos a convert?

what did you convert from?

Nazarene

Why did you convert?

http://www.convertedjourney.com

Start in September in my archives, browse around my posts, and read for a little bit...

Im in the process of coverting. I was formally Baptist and Im converting because when I went to mass for the first time i felt God touch me in such an incredible way left an unforgetable mark on me

May God continue to bless you!

 

[Dominus Fidelis]

I was raised a Methodist but didn't really buy into the whole religion thing. When I grew up I married a Catholic girl who wouldn't forsake her faith...so I had to promise to raise my kids Catholic to marry her. I decided to look into Catholicism so that my kids wouldn't be confused by a divided faith in the house, and I was pleasantly suprised to find the truth in Catholicism.

 

[Angelus00]

Raised pentacostal. Met my husband (Catholic). While we planned our wedding, we discussed which parish to marry in. I lived in one parish, he another. I didn't like the "architecture" (truth) of the church in his parish. So one day, driving along thinking about it, I found myself in the parking lot of a church. NOT my local one; NOT his either. Went in and (really and truly) I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard a voice say, "Welcome home." We were married there and have been there ever since (with a few jaunts around the country with the military). I entered the Church before our first anniversary. My REAL faith journey started about 10 tens after my entry into the Church.

 

[AdJesumPerMariam]

I was baptized Catholic as a baby. My mom & dad divorced, and my mom left the Church. Was first raised Luthern, then Nazarene, Baptist, then Assembly of God. I have felt something missing in my life for the past 3 years, so started reading. I wanted to find the church closest to the truth. With lots of help here, @ OBOB, I am finally working on coming home!

 

[DivineFiliation]

I wasn't exactly sure what I believed about that whole issue of Justification and OSAS. I just decided to not worry about it and trust in the grace of God.

I started looking at some other thoughts that seemed to fit. I already knew what Wesleyans believe. RC Sproul had perked my interest in the Early Church Fathers. I looked into the Catholic Church and liked what I was seeing in the Catechism. It seemed similar to the Wesleyan theology in a lot of ways. Actually, in most ways. Both have a focus on holiness. Looking back, I probably would have come to Christ at a younger age, if Wesleyans had the doctrine of Purgatory. I also started seeing that I wasn't living a very Christian life and those things I thought were covered might have kept me out of the Kingdom eternally. OSAS is pretty scarey theology to me these days.

#1. What is OSAS?

#2. I was thinking of leaving the Catholic church in college and was attending a Wesleyan church. I enjoyed the services (although missed the Eucharist) until one day a young man got up on the stage (their alter, it's a stage lol) and started smashing pop music CD's. Part of the congregation started to stand up and clap. I thought it was strange. I also was uncomfortable when people would come up front and the pastor would go around and talk and pray with them... the pastor would announce what so and so was praying for and for all of the congregation to pray for that as well... I think I'm mature enough for that now and would be comfortable with it, but I wasn't comfortable with it at the time.

I've really enjoyed reading everyone's posts. IMO, it seems most converts usually have a better grasp on Catholicism than most Catholics - probably because they had to do more research and studying to ease their hearts and minds. God bless all of you (and us cradle Catholics as well lol).

 

[Filia Mariae]

I was raised in a somewhat religiously scizophrenic home .

Sometimes we went to a Catholic church, sometimes Presbyterian with my grandparents, a couple times we went to this Unitarian church (don't get me started...), then my mother decided to start going to an Episcopal church. We went there for about 10 years. It was a nice congregation with a kind pastor, but in terms of doctrine I learned absolutely nothing. I think my entire religious education could be summed up in Jesus loves you, love your neighbor, be a nice person.

I absolutely hated going to church as a kid and thought it was painfully boring. The odd thing was that I loved going to Catholic Mass with my cousins. There was something mysteriously warm and welcoming about their church (can't imagine what it was ...)

I always had this attraction to all things Catholic. I loved incense, stained glass, candles, Our Lady, the saints, and of course Our Lord. My mother always thought I just liked the smells and bells.

In high school I learned a little bit about theology and I knew where I was supposed to be, but as a teenager I was too afraid to do it. In college, I had a brief flirtation with evangelicalism after getting involved with Campus Crusade for Christ. I've heard that Crusade is very anti-Catholic in some places, but it wasn't at this campus. It was very definately evangelical in style, but not anti-Catholic. There was good music and people on fire for Christ.

I did like Crusade, and felt very much on fire for Jesus when I was there, but the lack of intellectual engagement with the faith left me unsatisfied in the long term. Through all this, I kept going to Mass because there was some mysterious draw (still bet you can't guess what it was ).

The richness of Catholicism was a major attraction to me- the literature, architecture, artwork, deepness of the theology, roots in the Church Fathers and Scripture, Tradition, etc.

By the time I graduated from college, I knew I was saying no to God by not becoming a Catholic. I was terrified though, for what will seem like stupid reasons to some. I know some people have faced total family rejection and loss of ministry by becoming Catholic. I didn't have those problems.

But I didn't have any friends who were deeply religious and I knew they would think I was bizarre, even the ones who were Catholic. My parents also just thought I was ood I think. Of course, now that they see that I am serious about my faith, they are irritated by it, more so than they initially were.

Anyway, I eventually realized that it wasn't my choice of whether or not this was something I wanted to do. This was something I had to do because it was the only place where I would find the fullness of truth and the only place Jesus wanted me. I came home a couple years ago.

 

[Glynnw]

I was Baptist and married a Catholic girl, then attended the Catholic Church for 30 years. I had thought about converting, but was never pushed to that point until I was very ill and my wife went to visit St. Therese's Relic on tour in our city and placed a paper with a prayer that I would recover. She returned home and placed the paper on my pillow. When I woke there was a strong smell of roses in the room and we did not have any flower's around. St. Therese's favorite flower is the rose. After that time I started to slowly improve. This started me to thinking, but did not quite understand what had happened. Then along came the Passion movie. When I left the movie I thought of Christ's pain and I also thought of St. Therese agony in her death. I was deeply moved, but the next thing that happened caused the conversion. My sister, who is Baptist knew that the movie had deeply move both myself and my wife. She called to see if my wife had been moved to become a Christian. I was deeply hurt and I knew at that point there was no place for me in the Baptist church. I decided to convert at that moment. I am signed up for RCIA classes to begin in August and will becoming into the Catholic Church Easter. That is the only time most churches allow new converts to come into the church, so if you want to get into the classes please see a priest and he will get you in the classes. I have been waiting since last Easter since that is when I decided. It has been a long wait but I do so look forward to it. There are many on the board who are converting and I pray for special help in their studies in RCIA.
Try and get the book Rome Sweet Rome, by Scott Hahn. This is a very good conversion story and it will answer a lot of your questions. I got it at Barnes and Noble.

May God Bless You, GlynnW

 

[Jay2004]

Born and raised Catholic, went to a Catholic school from 5 year old kindergarten through to grade 11...


There have been times that I swayed from the church, but never too far.


I have been to masses of other churches. I find they are lacking something, maybe substance, tradition or the holy spirit (not sure).

I get attacked for being catholic by some Protestants about (idol worship, mary, praying to saint, etc...). A Baptist even dared me to read the bible (I already had and do), but went along with her for her sake. She decided to read along with me, and started questioning her faith, rather than have me think that Catholicism was wrong. (which she herself was out to prove to me).

The Catholic church is the true church, and thats the bottom line, because Jesus Said So...

 

[Pink Angel]

I am a convert from the Baptist religion.

It took about a year after Swoosh introduced the truth about the Catholic church. I had grown in a home with parents who "knew the truth of the Catholics" So all my life I had been fed lies. When Swoosh started talking to me about i got angry.(i am one who likes to be right=P ) I mean we almost broke up over this matter, but he would not give up on me. We argued all night abotu it and we both shed tears and yelled, hung up on each other and so much more.

Well months past and we stilled talked about it but never got mad. =) IT was just recently signs of the Baptist religion being incorrect started to pop out, GOd was deffinantly at work. One sign was when i went on a mission trip with my youth group, most have read it, but if you havent heres the link:
http://christianforums.com/t107928

SO that is an interesting story. Then i had gone to church camp and GOd really opend my eyes, the speakers were horrible! They contradicted each other left and right! I wish i could remember some of the things they said, but alot of it made me so mad that i made myself forget it. God really opend my eyes there. THen ironically when i came home from the camp, my youth pastor was speaking that Sunday and he talked about the "church" and the first thing he said in his sermon was...

"The First Church was not Baptist, it didnt have Baptist on the sign for the church"

and right then i KNEW where my home was . Unfortunantly he did not go on to say what WAS the first church, just to say that Baptist were not first. Everyday i thank Swoosh and God, Swoosh for talkign for GOd, and his Patience , and GOd for showing me the truth. Because now i am home

Pink Angel

 

[LadyDJ]

So whos a convert?
what did you convert from?
Why did you convert?

If going from non/skeptical belief to being Catholic counts as converting...then I can count myself a convert

As to why I converted...when my marriage ended and I had to face the reality of single parenthood...I felt scared and empty, like I'd been all used up. And in my desire to do the best I could for my daughters and hoping they would never know those sorts of bleak feelings I called a Catholic church and arranged to talk to someone about having the girls baptised and how I could raise them in the faith. When it was pointed out to me that raising Catholic children would be somewhat difficult as a non-Catholic, that I might want to at least look into it before making a decision like this by taking the RCIA classes...and who knows, as it was pointed out to me...maybe since I didn't have a good record of listening to God in my life, just maybe he reached me through my kids.

And why Catholic, previous negative encounters with other religions had contributed to my life-long anti-religion, agnostic stance, but in spite of that, I had always had a fascination with the Catholic Church. And like someone else here said, the history, the art, the traditions, etc. So for me, it was really the only option or choice that felt right, it was like the desire was just waiting for me to recognize it and allow it to happen.

 

[Michelina]

If going from non/skeptical belief to being Catholic counts as converting...then I can count myself a convert... As to why I converted...when my marriage ended and I had to face the reality of single parenthood...I felt scared and empty, like I'd been all used up. And in my desire to do the best I could for my daughters and hoping they would never know those sorts of bleak feelings I called a Catholic church and arranged to talk to someone about having the girls baptised and how I could raise them in the faith. When it was pointed out to me that raising Catholic children would be somewhat difficult as a non-Catholic, that I might want to at least look into it before making a decision like this by taking the RCIA classes...and who knows, as it was pointed out to me...maybe since I didn't have a good record of listening to God in my life, just maybe he reached me through my kids.

And why Catholic, previous negative encounters with other religions had contributed to my life-long anti-religion, agnostic stance, but in spite of that, I had always had a fascination with the Catholic Church. And like someone else here said, the history, the art, the traditions, etc. So for me, it was really the only option or choice that felt right, it was like the desire was just waiting for me to recognize it and allow it to happen.

"And why Catholic, previous negative encounters with other religions had contributed to my life-long anti-religion, agnostic stance, but in spite of that, I had always had a fascination with the Catholic Church."

Fantastic Grace! It's a spiritual thing, Lady DJ, kinda like meeting Jesus in Israel when He walked on earth and, without knowing anything about Him, knowing that there was someting about Him that was fascinating. When I was growing up in NYC, I had a lot of Jewish friends, many of whom used to ask questions about Catholicism. We would compare notes on what Judaism and Catholicism taught. (Sometimes I knew more about Judaism than they did! One of them didn't even know Jesus was a Jew!!!) But, anyway, I used to ask them why they were so curious about Catholicism. I don't think any of them really knew the answer.

Maybe it's a moth-and-light phenomenon.

 

[LadyDJ]

Moth and light phenomenon seems as good an explanation as any...I certainly never could figure out my fascination and now an explanation isn't important to me...it's just part of who I am (and for the record, my girls and I are the only Catholics in the family).

 

[movin_on_up]

Born and raised Catholic, I was a quiet rebel who decided I was an atheist from age 14 to 30. I had a born-again experience during a very crushing time in my life in an Assembly of God church, and considered myself A/G since 1990. I studied to be an A/G pastor. Lots of rough experiences followed and we haven't belonged to a church for almost 2 years now.

I grew tired of the infighting within denominations and decided to check out the OBOB boards here. The Holy Spirit began working on me to "come home" to my Catholic faith esp as there are so many resources that I can read here. I'm now reading about the Catholic beliefs through an adult's eyes rather than a child.

I've told my family that I want to return to Catholicism and my parents are thrilled. My mother gave me her great-grandmother's rosary before we left for Italy.

I haven't told my protestant friends who are vehemently anti-Catholic; I just don't want to justify this decision with Bible verse after Bible verse..I want to be led by the Lord and I want this to be a personal experience before putting myself out there for criticism. (Weariness of criticism comes from the time I acted as a lay pastor -- rough time there).

Anyway, that's where I stand -- attending Mass at the Chapel at the Naval base in Naples and leaning on the Lord through this transition time. I'm not yet studying for confirmation.

Kathy

 

[Lifesaver]

I am a convert from atheism, though I was an agnostic for some two or three years before converting to Catholicism.