I was raised primarily non-deminational most of my life. I went to a Bible Church, then some Evangelical Free chruch, then a Church of God, then a PCA.
While in the Church of God (not that that had any doctrinal significance to me) when I was about 15 or 16, we were doing a study of world religions in sunday school. Among the various ones were JW's, Mormons, Muslims, and of course Catholics. At that point in my life I was quite convinced that the Catholic was some pagan religion and that all Catholics would go to hell. The sunday school lessons on those religions were pretty cursory. I wanted to know more about some of those religions so that I could better "wittness" to them. The only way I knew to look into Catholicism was to watch "the Catholic channel" on TV (EWTN). I would normally watch it when noone else was around. Whenever I would watch it when someone was home (mainly just my mom and older sister) they'd ask why I was subjecting myself to that junk and what not.
At first I was looking for ways to bash the Church. But over time different doctrinal issues would be addressed and explained. After having it explained from knowledgable catholics (instead of non-catholics who knew little to nothing about what they were talking about) I started to see that the Catholic church wasn't quite what I was taught to believe about it. But at that point I hadn't come across what became the real heart of the matter for me. And that is the issue of authority (specifically apostolic succession of the bishops).
When the issue of authority was addressed, my view of the Church began to change again. At first I went from believing catholics to be heretics to believing that at least many of them were genuine christians, although wrong on certain issues. But now I had to come to terms with whether or not the Catholic Church really was the fullness of the Chruch founded by Christ. If the Catholic bishops can all trace their ordinations DIRECTLY to the 12 apostles, and thus to Christ himself, maybe it was me who was wrong about certain doctrines. And if nothing else, if those bishops really are the Christ-ordained leaders of His church, then it would be better to submit to their leadership, even if I couldn't see eye-to-eye on everything. So after much further prayer on the matter, I decided that joining the Church would be something I had to do. At that point I was 16.
I had some problems though (perhaps only in my mind). My family was entirely protestant, and mostly anti-Catholic at that. I was too young to have a driver's licence. If I was to go to church, it would be where my parents decided to go. If I voiced the fact that I wanted to join the Catholic church, I would surely be branded a non-christian by my family. So I decided to keep all that a secret until I graduated high school and moved out. In the mean time, though, we left the Chruch of God and started attending a Presbyterian church (PCA). It was there that I was first introduced to Reformed Theology (aka Calvinsm). I didn't like it at first. I didn't believe people who believed that were not Christians, but I couldn't see it as Biblical. However over time I began to see that many of the points they were making were quite Biblical. I got to the point where, although I didn't fully embrace it, I could thoroughly defend it in scripture.
It was at that point that I graduated high school. A month after that I joined the Navy. In boot camp I started attending the Catholic services on Sundays, as well as going to what was called "Catholic Compass", a boot camp version of RCIA (or something to that affect). I talked to the priest there about converting and I pretty set in my mind that I was going to join the Church. I eventually finished boot camp and got stationed in Charleston, SC for training in my field. I attended mass at the Chapel there for a while. I started looking into RCIA there. About that time Thanksgiving was coming around and my family was going to come to Charleston to spend the holiday with me. I had been telling my family that I hadn't got around to finding a church yet. Just too lazy on sunday mornings. I still couldn't get myself to tell them that I was joining the Church. So I started going to a local PCA right before they arrived. I also started to have some theological dilemas.
Having attended a PCA for several years, I had become familar with the ins and outs of Calvinism. I was also starting to see things in a Calvinistic way, at least when it came to the doctrines of grace (or the Five Points). I had still not really come across these types of issues in the Catholic church. I really didn't know what the Catholics believed about them. What I thought I knew was still what protestants had told me. Presbyterians love to cite Augustine for early church support for their doctrines. How he battled Pelagianism and won the day. How semi-pelagianism reared its head and how the church defeated that heresy. But they were under the impression that, although the Chruch at one time taught these things, it gave into humanism and changed its beliefs about those doctrines. And unfortunately, I believed them. I started questioning the validity of the Catholic faith. If the Catholic church really is what it says it is, then it would not have changed its position on these doctrines. As far as I was concerned, the Scriptures were very clear on the matter, as long as you could get past your own personal biases. So I decided that the Catholic Chruch couldn't be what it says it is. But in the back of my mind was always a "what if...". What if I was wrong? But that "what if" was very small and I almost didn't hear it.
So for the next couple of years I studied more and more about reformed theology, and theology in general. I became very convinced and adamant about Reformed theology. Although not an expert, I could engage in discussion or debate without feeling flustered or not having an answer for whatever point was being brought up. Such was the case for almost 3 years.
I discovered this site after being a member on a couple others just like it. I was in the reformed section (I think) one day when I came across a particular thread. It concered what the Catholic Church would say about the 5 points of Calvinism. Keep in mind that it was these five specific doctrines that took me away from the church a few years prior. I thought it would be an interesting read, so I checked it out. The thread sent you to a link. The link was on the site
www.cin.org/users/james/files/tulip.htm It is entitled "A Tiptoe Through Tulip". That page pretty much swept the rug from under my feet. I won't go into detail, but suffice it to say that I had done about a 135 degree turn (half way between 90 and 180). I later came across an article on the pope on that same site. It was there that I turned the rest of the 45 degrees to make the 180. I still had some stubborness though. In my mind were some "what about..."'s. What about purgatory? What about the canon of scripture? I read most of that site and any kind of myths that were still in my mind were dispelled. Any kind of misunderstandings I had were clarified. In a matter of a couple days I had become 100% re-convinced of the Catholic Church. I immediately started attending mass at the church in town here. The only thing was that I was getting ready to go out to sea again in a couple weeks. I talked to the priest. He gave me a few things: the catechism; a book called "We Believe", which was based on the catechism and used for intruction; and a rosary. While out to sea I read through both of the books. I got back from sea about a month ago and am attending RCIA.
I'll be out to sea for Easter, so I'll be taking first communion sometime before Easter, then I'll get confirmed sometime after I get back.
In brief summary, the authority of Christ was passed onto his apostles, and to their successors, then to their successors, etc. The Church is One, just as Christ prayed it would be. The church has an authority and unity that is found nowhere else. It is the true Church founded by Christ, and the only Church where I am truly at home.