Conversion
As you can probably surmise from the set up of my blog site, I am a Catholic. I have been Catholic all my life. Despite my lifelong commitment to Catholicism, I have attended and visited various Protestant churches and services throughout my life.
As a young girl, I remember attending Pentecostal services in Queens. I would go several times a week with my mom and a close friend of hers. I also attended service at a Brooklyn Pentecostal church with my sister and her friend. In my twenties, I attended several Baptist services with my mother-in-law. I was always moved by the spirit and enthusiasm of the services at these churches.
Throughout the years, in my ignorance of the Catholic faith, I sought “something more.” Sometimes I felt that “something more” was elsewhere. I often experienced contradiction in my thinking. I remember returning, after being “away” from the Church for a few months, and as I walked in I got that warm fuzzy feeling inside. I would get so upset at myself for being away so long. I felt such a comfort being back. It truly felt like home.
Then there were times when I felt I wasn’t “getting anything.” That’s when I felt most compelled to try something else. Somehow, someway, the Holy Spirit worked out the contradiction. I specifically remember thinking one day: “why would you try something else or attempt to learn something new when you don’t even know enough about your own?”
I am fully aware of the fact that THAT thought did not come from me. From that day forward, I have continued to study my faith, to understand the many different facets of its richness and for me there is nothing “more.” This “study” journey started over 20 years ago and I’ve just started to scratch the surface. I cannot stress enough, the importance of being INFORMED.
This was my argument to my niece some years ago when she announced that she was an atheist. This is the same person who had received all the sacraments. She often came with me to church and attended Lenten missions, bible studies, etc. When I asked her why, she replied that she read several convincing books written by atheists. How many have you read that were written by Catholics, I asked? She refused to answer. Uninformed and misinformed and she chose atheism.
It is only by being well informed that intelligent choices can be made. Being well informed is what allows us to live our faith to the fullest. What does it mean to live our faith to the fullest? It means enriching our faith through prayer and study which results in our truly understanding why we do the things we do. Living our faith to the fullest means being consistent to our practice and obedient to the Word. It means experiencing a peace that comes with knowing the TRUTH and sharing that TRUTH. The fullest expression of our living our faith is being transformed in such a way that we see our connection to ALL of creation.
There are many things that the Catholic church is criticized for. For one, it has had its fair share of scandal. But much of the criticism has to do with how Catholics practice their faith. The criticism is usually handed down from person to person without a full understanding of why Catholics do the things they do. Protestants have their arguments, atheists have their arguments, Jews have their arguments, etc.
As I was doing some study online, I came across a video of a Protestant pastor speaking on his conversion. This led me to research other converts and what I found was quite interesting and informative. The common thread in all conversions – through their study, through their delving deeper, these converts came to understand the Catholic faith and accepted it, in their words, as the one true faith. They all refer to the documents of the early Church fathers, scripture’s connection to Catholicism and the writings of Cardinal John Henry Newman who was also a convert.
Here I share several links. Some are videos and some are just reading material. I would encourage you to read and listen. I’m not looking to convert anyone, I just want to inform everyone.
Sometimes we tend to believe things “just because” without asking the questions or seeking the answers. Listen and read with an open heart. I hope this information sheds some light on what you believe, whatever that may be. God bless you!
Dr. Peter Kreeft’s Conversion from Protestant Calvinism – interesting to hear how the Holy Spirit was moving in his life for quite some time.
Former Presbyterian Scott Hahn Converts to Catholicism – great speaker and author – his book Rome Sweet Home is on the Recommended Reading page. In this video he talks about how he was an “anti-Catholic”, studying and became a Catholic much to his own surprise.
Pentecostal Pastor Alex Jones Converts to Catholicism – Alex Jones makes some interesting correlations between what Pentecostals believe and how similar those things are to the things they criticize Catholics for.
Baptist Pastor Converts to Catholicism – Pastor Ken describes his journey. Expresses how he was “smitten” by the beauty of Catholicism, his connection to Scott Hahn and his way of thinking and his craving for answers to questions he had of his Baptist faith.
A Convert from Judaism Describes His Faith Odyssey – another interesting story of the prompting of the Holy Spirit. The convert describes his mission since his conversion. Good stuff!
Atheist Converts to Catholicism – a video of Leah Libresco’s conversion story – a conversion of a young atheist who grew up with two atheist parents on Long Island.
Atheist Convert: Jennifer Fulwiler – here she expresses why she’s Catholic. An easy read and some parts are quite humorous.
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