Conversion Stories

[Rhamiel]

God bless you my dear sister in Christ

you mentioned your oldest daughters confirmation, how many children do you have?

 

[~Jennifer~]

God bless you my dear sister in Christ

you mentioned your oldest daughters confirmation, how many children do you have?

Hi Rhamiel, my oldest daughter is 16 (this is a very long story)

 

[Colin]

Wonderful conversion stories.

AMEN to that .

I am a Christian , initiated into the Catholic Church when I was a baby .
It's great and encouraging to read these testimonies of so many entering into the fullness of the truth .

I am not a great fan of EWTN but each week I watch "Journey Home" , when Marcus Grodi speaks with people who have become members of the Church . Their testimonies are inspiring .

God bless you all and when you receive Jesus in his totality in the Eucharist remember us all who contribute to CF .

 

[Virgil the Roman]

Mary can't forgive sins, a priest can't forgive sins, only God can forgive your sins, Go streight to Him

God forgives sins through the ministry of his Priest; wherefore Christ said unto the Apostles:

He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father hath sent me, I also send you. 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. 23 Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.

Christ gave his Holy Apostles and their successors the apostolic bishops and priests of his Holy Catholic Church the power to act in his name and by the Holy Ghost, whom they have received from our Saviour Jesus directly, the power to forgive sins by the same Holy Ghost.

We have never denied that it is God who forgives sins; however, we follow rightly and correctly that he gave the Holy Apostles and their successors the bishops and priests of our Saviour's Holy Catholic Church the authority to forgive sins in his name and by the Blessed Trinity.

I highly suggest you repent of your heresy; and in humility enter into our Saviour's Holy Catholic Church and receive the Holy sacrament of Penance.
In the words of our God through his Holy Scripture:

Do penance therefore for this thy wickedness; and pray to God, that perhaps this thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee.

Also, he was not "asking Mary to forgive him of his sins;" for she has not any power nor the authority to do so. He merely asked her to forgive him for ignoring in his life. One would ask forgiveness of one's own Mother for ignoring her; likewise we as Christians ought to ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to forgive our ignoring her [note: I'm not asking her to "forgive any sins:" ONLY for us to ask forgiveness of the Blessed Virgin Mary for us ignoring her: who is the HOLY and BLESSED MOTHER of GOD.]

 

[xTx]

Am not fully a Catholic. Read all sorts of posts about the Catholics. But, I hope to God, that He will lead me to the right church. And, in my heart I think I know. Reinforced in a Catholic retreat.

From my research work, I read the history of the popes of the Catholic church and the Catholic church is able to trace from Saint Peter all the way to the current pope. Explaining that some were anti-popes and did not hide the fact that there were popes who were really terrible as Christians.

In short, in the end, the Catholic church now is doing good. Except for some bad apples. It is doing good. I do not understand why non-Christian Catholics have to keep bringing up the past which happened in the 14 or 15th century. The church is no longer like in those days of corruption.

Reasons why I am interested in the Catholic church

1) The Catholic church has not told me a single lie. Sad to say, from my experience, a lot of non-Catholic Christians have issues with the Catholic church. Example, Mary. A lot of it is a wrong understanding.

For example, they think that the Catholic church teaches people to prayer to Mary. I disagree, I was taught by my Catholic friend to ask Mary to prayer for me. So, I never prayed to Mary nor did I make Mary my Goddess. I never prayed in Mary's name.

I was only taught this beautiful prayer - Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Mary lead me to believe in Jesus (I am atheist) (was). I told this in the Christian Forum in another area, and was bashed. Was not nice. Some Catholics came to my rescue.

Certain quarters started using innuendos to describe me coming out and declaring where I am coming from.

The way they reacted made me feel like I had just exposed my skeleton in the closet.

I respect Mary as Jesus's mother. Non-Catholic Christians want to hush that up. Why all the focus on Mary? Must focus on Jesus. Ok, Jesus is my focus.

Jesus loves His mother. And, I do too. I respect Jesus as King. Mary is Queen, mother of the King of Kings. I do not like it when non-Catholic Christians refer to Mary as 'that woman'. If someone called my Mom (may she rest in peace) 'that women' (a) there will definitely be a shouting match (2) slamming of door in the person's face (c) I will ask God to forgive me after that and to make the person more respectful of my Mom.

2) Another thing is I love the Catholic mass. The bible goes first in the entrance and last the priest. Who said the Catholics do not read bibles? Recently, the Catholic church celebrated a Sunday focusing on the bible. Can't recall what it was called.

I love the Catholic mass because it has the whole Christian story summarised into 1 hour.

And, thirdly, I love how the Catholic priests preach. They never ever talk about themselves but about the bible reading to explain it better to us.

Forthly, I love how the Catholics behave in the mass. Very respectful of what is going on. I love it. We are in the midst of the King of Kings present in the Eucharist.

The crazy crazy Charistmatic people I met all behave so well in mass. I love it when the bell is rung and the whole church as one, kneel. That is awesome.

5 - I love kneeling in front of the Alter where the Eucharist is. The King of Kings is there, God Himself.

6 - There is unity in the Catholic church. I went travelling. I went to a place that did not speak English and they did exactly the same thing. I could follow what was going on. I emailed ahead, the priest gave me a translation of the sermon and bible readings in English.

7 - I have never heard the Catholic church talk bad about any church.

8 - The money collected is transparently given out. I help sometimes with the poor. I can see the money being put to good use.

9 - It is not easy to become a Catholic. You have to attend RCIA. I dropped out. Not because I do not agree with the teaching, but because of laziness.

Thank you for reading. I told myself not to expose myself to more attacks. But, what is the point of being quiet about your faith. If I am going to get serious, I better start getting used to people attacking.

 

[Michie]

Am not fully a Catholic. Read all sorts of posts about the Catholics. But, I hope to God, that He will lead me to the right church. And, in my heart I think I know. Reinforced in a Catholic retreat.

From my research work, I read the history of the popes of the Catholic church and the Catholic church is able to trace from Saint Peter all the way to the current pope. Explaining that some were anti-popes and did not hide the fact that there were popes who were really terrible as Christians.

In short, in the end, the Catholic church now is doing good. Except for some bad apples. It is doing good. I do not understand why non-Christian Catholics have to keep bringing up the past which happened in the 14 or 15th century. The church is no longer like in those days of corruption.

Reasons why I am interested in the Catholic church

1) The Catholic church has not told me a single lie. Sad to say, from my experience, a lot of non-Catholic Christians have issues with the Catholic church. Example, Mary. A lot of it is a wrong understanding.

For example, they think that the Catholic church teaches people to prayer to Mary. I disagree, I was taught by my Catholic friend to ask Mary to prayer for me. So, I never prayed to Mary nor did I make Mary my Goddess. I never prayed in Mary's name.

I was only taught this beautiful prayer - Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Mary lead me to believe in Jesus (I am atheist) (was). I told this in the Christian Forum in another area, and was bashed. Was not nice. Some Catholics came to my rescue.

Certain quarters started using innuendos to describe me coming out and declaring where I am coming from.

The way they reacted made me feel like I had just exposed my skeleton in the closet.

I respect Mary as Jesus's mother. Non-Catholic Christians want to hush that up. Why all the focus on Mary? Must focus on Jesus. Ok, Jesus is my focus.

Jesus loves His mother. And, I do too. I respect Jesus as King. Mary is Queen, mother of the King of Kings. I do not like it when non-Catholic Christians refer to Mary as 'that woman'. If someone called my Mom (may she rest in peace) 'that women' (a) there will definitely be a shouting match (2) slamming of door in the person's face (c) I will ask God to forgive me after that and to make the person more respectful of my Mom.

2) Another thing is I love the Catholic mass. The bible goes first in the entrance and last the priest. Who said the Catholics do not read bibles? Recently, the Catholic church celebrated a Sunday focusing on the bible. Can't recall what it was called.

I love the Catholic mass because it has the whole Christian story summarised into 1 hour.

And, thirdly, I love how the Catholic priests preach. They never ever talk about themselves but about the bible reading to explain it better to us.

Forthly, I love how the Catholics behave in the mass. Very respectful of what is going on. I love it. We are in the midst of the King of Kings present in the Eucharist.

The crazy crazy Charistmatic people I met all behave so well in mass. I love it when the bell is rung and the whole church as one, kneel. That is awesome.

5 - I love kneeling in front of the Alter where the Eucharist is. The King of Kings is there, God Himself.

6 - There is unity in the Catholic church. I went travelling. I went to a place that did not speak English and they did exactly the same thing. I could follow what was going on. I emailed ahead, the priest gave me a translation of the sermon and bible readings in English.

7 - I have never heard the Catholic church talk bad about any church.

8 - The money collected is transparently given out. I help sometimes with the poor. I can see the money being put to good use.

9 - It is not easy to become a Catholic. You have to attend RCIA. I dropped out. Not because I do not agree with the teaching, but because of laziness.

Thank you for reading. I told myself not to expose myself to more attacks. But, what is the point of being quiet about your faith. If I am going to get serious, I better start getting used to people attacking.

God bless you & keep you always!

 

[xTx]

God bless you & keep you always!

Thanks Michie.

 

[Virgil the Roman]

Am not fully a Catholic. Read all sorts of posts about the Catholics. But, I hope to God, that He will lead me to the right church. And, in my heart I think I know. Reinforced in a Catholic retreat.

From my research work, I read the history of the popes of the Catholic church and the Catholic church is able to trace from Saint Peter all the way to the current pope. Explaining that some were anti-popes and did not hide the fact that there were popes who were really terrible as Christians.

In short, in the end, the Catholic church now is doing good. Except for some bad apples. It is doing good. I do not understand why non-Christian Catholics have to keep bringing up the past which happened in the 14 or 15th century. The church is no longer like in those days of corruption.

Reasons why I am interested in the Catholic church

1) The Catholic church has not told me a single lie. Sad to say, from my experience, a lot of non-Catholic Christians have issues with the Catholic church. Example, Mary. A lot of it is a wrong understanding.

For example, they think that the Catholic church teaches people to prayer to Mary. I disagree, I was taught by my Catholic friend to ask Mary to prayer for me. So, I never prayed to Mary nor did I make Mary my Goddess. I never prayed in Mary's name.

I was only taught this beautiful prayer - Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Mary lead me to believe in Jesus (I am atheist) (was). I told this in the Christian Forum in another area, and was bashed. Was not nice. Some Catholics came to my rescue.

Certain quarters started using innuendos to describe me coming out and declaring where I am coming from.

The way they reacted made me feel like I had just exposed my skeleton in the closet.

I respect Mary as Jesus's mother. Non-Catholic Christians want to hush that up. Why all the focus on Mary? Must focus on Jesus. Ok, Jesus is my focus.

Jesus loves His mother. And, I do too. I respect Jesus as King. Mary is Queen, mother of the King of Kings. I do not like it when non-Catholic Christians refer to Mary as 'that woman'. If someone called my Mom (may she rest in peace) 'that women' (a) there will definitely be a shouting match (2) slamming of door in the person's face (c) I will ask God to forgive me after that and to make the person more respectful of my Mom.

2) Another thing is I love the Catholic mass. The bible goes first in the entrance and last the priest. Who said the Catholics do not read bibles? Recently, the Catholic church celebrated a Sunday focusing on the bible. Can't recall what it was called.

I love the Catholic mass because it has the whole Christian story summarised into 1 hour.

And, thirdly, I love how the Catholic priests preach. They never ever talk about themselves but about the bible reading to explain it better to us.

Forthly, I love how the Catholics behave in the mass. Very respectful of what is going on. I love it. We are in the midst of the King of Kings present in the Eucharist.

The crazy crazy Charistmatic people I met all behave so well in mass. I love it when the bell is rung and the whole church as one, kneel. That is awesome.

5 - I love kneeling in front of the Alter where the Eucharist is. The King of Kings is there, God Himself.

6 - There is unity in the Catholic church. I went travelling. I went to a place that did not speak English and they did exactly the same thing. I could follow what was going on. I emailed ahead, the priest gave me a translation of the sermon and bible readings in English.

7 - I have never heard the Catholic church talk bad about any church.

8 - The money collected is transparently given out. I help sometimes with the poor. I can see the money being put to good use.

9 - It is not easy to become a Catholic. You have to attend RCIA. I dropped out. Not because I do not agree with the teaching, but because of laziness.

Thank you for reading. I told myself not to expose myself to more attacks. But, what is the point of being quiet about your faith. If I am going to get serious, I better start getting used to people attacking.

May God bless you and grant you many years!

 

[yourstrulyjulie]

that sounds so like my current church
i'm technically presby.. but going to church there does nothing for me anymore. I've started going to catholic church more often, and I feel so much more like I'm supposed to in church now
I really want to convert, but I am away at college now, and I have no way of getting to a catholic church every week to do rcia, so I'm just going to have to wait a while or at least till I have a car on campus :/

plus presbyterians now allow gay and lesbian pastors as long as they are celibate? does anyone else see severe problems with this?

feel like I should give an update, 2 years later
I am now in RCIA and will become catholic this easter. This was made possible by transfer from a christian college to a secular university, oh the irony!

also update on the Presbyterians, and the last straw for me pretty much:
you can now be a gay NON-celibate pastor as long as in a committed relationship. Great example to set for the congregation. Also, apparently 40% of Presbyterian pastors believe Christianity isn't the only religion that leads to salvation. I
'm sick of having the beliefs of the church changed on a whim just to please as many people as possible. I love the quote "if you stand for nothing you will fall for anything"
I love the unity of the Catholic church and how they don't change beliefs just for outreach purposes.

edit: I don't think that vote actually passed.. but considering how close they were to passing it and that they even considered it at all, as well as trying to pass allowing gay marriage in the church, goes against the bible so much, which is what they're supposedly all about, while claiming Catholics don't even read the Bible.

 

[Davidnic]

Love and hate are both passions, if people express that kind of passion in their hatred as with this guy here it is likely that they love the Church.

Indeed, the opposite of love is not hate but apathy. There is definitely no apathy.

 

[JacktheCatholic]

Do you think you are a prophet?

Does the Gift of Prophecy count?

 

[JacktheCatholic]

feel like I should give an update, 2 years later
I am now in RCIA and will become catholic this easter. This was made possible by transfer from a christian college to a secular university, oh the irony!

also update on the Presbyterians, and the last straw for me pretty much:
you can now be a gay NON-celibate pastor as long as in a committed relationship. Great example to set for the congregation. Also, apparently 40% of Presbyterian pastors believe Christianity isn't the only religion that leads to salvation. I
'm sick of having the beliefs of the church changed on a whim just to please as many people as possible. I love the quote "if you stand for nothing you will fall for anything"
I love the unity of the Catholic church and how they don't change beliefs just for outreach purposes.

edit: I don't think that vote actually passed.. but considering how close they were to passing it and that they even considered it at all, as well as trying to pass allowing gay marriage in the church, goes against the bible so much, which is what they're supposedly all about, while claiming Catholics don't even read the Bible.

Great news!

 

[Dark_Lite]

Thread re-opened after cleanup.

 

[Cain Spencer]

I was a methodist, once upon a time...

 

[LauraNoelleS]

My whole Family is Pentecostal. I attended two semesters of bible college and was very strongly involved. I met my husband last year, and we got married Sept 1st. My husband was also very protestant, and involved. Within the last year or two my Brother and Grandma decided to change over to becoming Catholic. This was a huge change for them. I started to do research to understand them, and why they had made their very unexpected choices. My husband and I will be attending RCIA starting next Monday! Thank you Jesus for bringing us home! Please pray for us Brother's and Sister's. There will be a lot of opposition. But we have faith.

 

[Rhamiel]

welcome to the forum
God bless you, your husband, and the rest of your family

 

[LauraNoelleS]

welcome to the forum
God bless you, your husband, and the rest of your family

Thank you very much. May the Lord shine upon you and those you love as well!

It has been hard but we will make it through.

 

[Alicia_M]

Out of interest, is there anybody here that has converted to Catholicism?

Whew, my conversion story has taken me thus far into my early thirties. The entire family's been Protestant for generations as far as I know. Some of the friends I had in high school were Catholic, so I attended Mass with them once or twice.

The Shepherd's crook really began to nudge me after I began a solitary bible study during a very difficult point in my life. My prayer life became more active simultaneously - the Lord's prayer morphed into something particularly meaningful. I discovered the importance of baptism, wasn't sure if the baptism I had as a child in the Methodist church was proper, so I set out to make "sure" by submersion. As all of this occured, I frequented CF...The Catholic community here was fantastic, recognizing my sincerity and patiently answering my questions.

My marrige was crumbling as I began learning about sacraments - these bolstered me. I prayed for a work to be done in our family unit. Those prayers were heard, even though it's taken a number of years. I began to have a feeling of contentment - something unusual for me, and most undeserved, but I'm being directed home nonetheless.

Oddly enough, even though I'd never been taught avenues of Catholic worship, I practiced the forms (in a sense). My biblical studies revealed the truth over apostolic succession and the authority given to it by God: tradition, infant baptism, purgatory. The Eucharist developed into a huge question mark. I just could not understand why Protestants did not practice this, especially since the Lord himself asked us to do it in rememberance of Him. Something went tragically wrong with scripture only, I thought.

The next isn't something I want to use as a finger-pointing mechanism, but without it - it wouldn't be true... My daughters were attending the local Baptist church, I wasn't particularly thrilled about it but decided the kids needed to learn about God...when they started going just for the fun activities, I became worried. My conscience prickled me. After they brought home a "bible" which only included a New Testament, it was too much. Next thing I know, my little ones are asking when they can be baptized. I suddenly recall at that moment (and I'm paraphrasing): unless one has faith like a little child, they cannot receive the Kingdom of Heaven. The nudge was quickly replaced by the rod, so to speak. Ha.

Needless to say, a phone call to the local priest has started the process. A letter's coming regarding RCIA, and Mass starts for the children and I on Sunday. Will my husband convert? I can't answer that. All I can do is ask in prayer and live accordingly.

 

[Virgil the Roman]

Prays for you and your husband, Laura Noelle.

And for you and yours, Mrs. Alicia M.

 

[Alicia_M]

Prays for you and your husband, Laura Noelle.

And for you and yours, Mrs. Alicia M.

Many thanks