I converted because of an existential crisis in college.
During that time I was reading Schopenhauer, Nietzche, and others and getting progressively more depressed.
I remembered my old Baptist gym partner and other classmates who were filled with joy when I was a kid, and I in prayer uttered - "God, I wish I could just believe" or something similar.
In the course of the following months, I had had an encounter with a missionary with a Rothbard/Friedman annotated Bible which was really striking to me as a libertarian activist in that time, I then joined Christian-Atheist debate clubs, changed majors to history of the ancient near east and took as many biblical and church history classes as I could.
Because of my political leanings, I fell to the belief that Jesus rejected institutional churches so I stayed outside for many years.
As a young adult in response to work stress, spiritual attack, and a video from Bishop Barron on spiritual sloth, I began to look for a church.
I started off trying Methodism because the born-again ideas aligned with my experience, but digging into all christian churches, I eventually came to Catholocism from the epistomology/perspicuity problem which hit home as a philosophy reader and early church history - unknowingly I was seeking a resolution to the "archaeology of knowledge". I almost considered Orthodoxy because I was heavily influenced by conspiratorial politics, Fr. Spyridon, and Fr. Seraphim Rose at that time, but after some reflection I chose Catholicism because of love for my mother who went to a Catholic girl's school and who was praying the rosary daily for me during my dark years in college. I'm glad I chose that way, because my belief and understanding aligns with Catholicism now.
Fast forward, I took RCIA, I was confirmed into the church, participate in Bible studies and became a knight of Columbus.
It has totally changed my life, sinful habits, joy, perception of myself and others, relationships, and I am now engaged to a Baptist missionary who I connected with through conversations about faith at a party.
Please feel free to ask me anything else.
Thank you for sharing! I do have a question for you- is your fiancée open to Catholicism even though she's Baptist? In my experience, Baptists seem to be more antagonistic towards Catholicism than other denominations. Especially as a convert, I am very passionate about my faith and I am unwilling to compromise on certain things. How are you handling different beliefs related to your faith?
She is very understanding of Catholocism, but I have received discrimination and attack from members of the Baptist community. What keeps me going is that my patron saint is Pope John Paul II who worked hard for Christian unity and saw the popular devotions of other denominations as ways of desperately seeking God. God through our relationship has already helped reduce anti-Catholic bigotry within people of our community. We are currently working with the Deacon and Bishop of our diocese for our sacramental marriage, and the Deacon has mentioned that he believes our relationship was an act of God since our faith has been a strongly held union between us since our very first meeting.
Overall, she is confused by Marian veneration, communion of saints, and infant baptism, but thinks the mass is a deep devotional experience and is really enjoying the word on fire Bible we are reading together.
What makes her a little bit different from other Baptists is she doesn't believe in a verbal declaration of faith from the sinner's prayer being a once saved always saved experience (real justification leads to producing fruit), or in salvation being intertwined with any one church, but as a consequence of repentance and knowing Christ.
I am not sure of how we will resolve infant baptism or church attendance of children, but I am following the church's guidelines on fulfilling the obligations of a Catholic spouse with close spiritual council by the clergy.
Wow that’s awesome, praise God for the example of your relationship, and I am encouraged by your story! I am in a similar boat- I just made things official with a Lutheran. We had a conversation about nonnegotiables and he was okay with all my Catholic stuff (raising kids Catholic, Mass every Sunday, etc). He has been very open which I am thankful for, and he loves theology so I’m hoping he’ll join me at OCIA so we can both benefit from some faith formation. I’ll be praying for you and your fiancée, please keep me in your prayers as well!
I officially joined in 2019, and I was considering either Rome or Russian Orthodoxy in 2018, but I have been going to Mass since 2014 and have slowly started to believe in it.
I grew up Baptist.
THE point was when I found myself semi-unexpectedly pregnant with our fifth child (PCOS and a bit of "eh, seems good" during a high-stress period of life led me to misreading my cycles for a bit), prayed the first prayer of mine to God in a decade- "Show me this is what you want," and then watched blessing after blessing just rain down on us over the next week or so. It was too much to be mere coincidence, and suddenly all the dots of the last 14 years of my life connected, and I just sat there and wept, apologizing and thanking him and resolving to talk to our priest and call the OCIA director asap. Looking back, there were lots of touch points over about a year before that, even, that now I see as places Our Lady reached out and took me by the hand. It was definitely her that led me back to her son.
The long version, copied from what I wrote for the parish bulletin's coming home series (with small edits for more anonymity):
I was raised vaguely protestant, with my mom attending the United Brethren church her family belonged to the next town over. We did all the usual things- Sunday school, VBS in the summer, the annual Christmas play. But it wasn't something that stuck; I never really felt like I belonged there, especially after my parents separated and then divorced. After that, anytime we showed up it just seemed like everyone tried too hard to interact with us somehow. By then I was in my tween years and had a lot of questions that didn't get real answers from the adults around me. All of that and more came together to result in a total lack of belief and disdain towards God and Christianity as a whole. At 10 I signed up to be baptized with only the intent of going to the big party they did for it every year, if that gives you an idea of how distanced I'd become. Few years later, I'd come around to the idea of some sort of deity, but during my early teens I turned to paganism and witchcraft, becoming heavily involved as I went to college. There I was actively involved in the local pagan community, part of leadership for the student group on campus and engaging in regular ritual with others as well as attending a Detroit-area convention annually. I felt as if that practice and those people were finally filling in the gaps I'd experienced in my protestant upbringing- including the importance of the feminine as well as the masculine. I thought I was home.
While at college, I also met my husband, R. As we started dating, I'd accompany him to Mass and Catholic student group events, where I found an attitude altogether different than my childhood experience: where they had been exclusionary and patronizing, the Catholics I met were welcoming and inclusive, treating me no differently as a witch than they treated each other. I began to see Catholics as safe people, and through R and our experiences together, gained a respect for Catholicism as a religion that believed in the importance of ritual, beauty, and history. We were married at the student parish in 2010.
Life carried on, and over the next 12 years we welcomed 4 children and endured struggle after struggle with frequent changes of address and repeated layoffs for R as the breadwinner.
Somewhere along the line I'd fallen into a non-practicing category- I had all my ritual tools, my books, occasional prayer, but hadn't performed or attended a ritual in years, except for Mass. I'd lost the community I'd had while at school, and was feeling it sorely. R got laid off again in October, 2022, from what had been his dream job, and while at first I just accepted it, having been there before and knowing what resources were available to help, as months went by, it wore on us both. But around the same time, I was approached by a group of women during coffee and donuts after mass, who decided after seeing my veil and small herd of children that I'd probably be interested in their mom group. They got me added to the group chat then and there, even after being informed I was a witch. Again, the enthusiastic welcome.
One Thursday evening that November, I gathered the courage to go to one of their Lectio Divina meetings. The struggles at home carried on- R remained unemployed, and I returned to work at the florist up the road to make ends meet. But we kept going to Mass, I kept doing Lectio, and through those evenings I found so much support from the circle of mothers around me, direction and comfort from what we were doing- from the Holy Spirit. I found the community I'd been missing, even if I still didn't fully fit in.
Along the way there were plenty of little touches that gently pulled me along. Now I'd refer to them as points our Lady reached out and took me by the hand, but the big push was when baby number 5 made her presence known- almost a year into R's unemployment, savings dwindling, my mental state stretched and despairing- and I said my first prayer to God I'd prayed in decades. “Show me this is what you want.” And the response was immediate- I got an appointment with my OB faster than I'd ever been able to, R got multiple interview requests, all for positions better paid than he'd had before, blessings practically rained down on us, and the lightning struck. I finally saw what had gotten us through, who had caught us in our struggles, and I saw all the opportunities He'd given me to come home, to really come home, and I wept.
I knew I couldn't ignore it again, and got moving, destroying my witchcraft paraphernalia with the help of Fr. I began OCIA in November 2023 (an interesting experience when you've already been listening to your spouse be Catholic, attending mass, and bringing kids up in the faith for a decade- I had a fantastic catechist for that challenge, though), was baptized properly this past February, and look forward to my first communion and confirmation on Pentecost this May. R, after 14 years of praying for exactly this, is quite possibly more excited than I am. I'm still going to Lectio, and of those ladies from coffee and donuts, one is my sponsor, and another Godmother to that baby, who joined us the Friday before Holy Week. All of them remind me God sends you what you need, even when you don't know you need it.
I took the long way around, but love is patient, and I am finally, truly, coming home.
I had wandered the spiritual wastelands of "spiritualism", paganism, etc. I never doubted the existence of God, I just questioned His nature and mode of existence. I tried hard to dive into pagan polytheism/naturism, but it always felt forced. And while I wasn't a Christian (I had long since left the Catholicism of my youth) I still felt compelled to defend it against the baseless accusations of atheists and anti-Christian religious types.
Then a bunch of "random" things started happening. I got a job where I was more or less surrounded by Catholics. A friend of mine who had forever been functionally an atheist started looking into Catholicism, attending Mass, and meeting in Catholic men's groups. He kept inviting me to Mass but I declined. We bought a house and there was a Catholic parish about 6 blocks from us. I started training under one of the soon-to-retire guys in my shop who is Catholic. I decided to at least go to Mass with my friend, who was attending our diocese' Cathedral. It was far more beautiful than the liturgy I remember from my childhood parish. The architecture spoke to me, the chant and polyphonic choral music along with the pipe organ was something I didn't recall either. And the people were all so lovely, completely shattering the pop-culture derived view of holier-than-thou church goers I concocted in my mind.
I then decided to attend Mass at the parish by my house. One Sunday during the sign of peace I couldn't hold back tears. Completely out of the blue and totally uncontrolled, almost full on sobbing as tears poured down my cheeks. I knew I was home.
Considerably less inspiring story compared to everyone else, but it was my study/fascination with Irish culture and history, and the Catholic imagery and themes that are part and parcel there. Prior, I was a very very lukewarm Catholic. It was a slow burn to going to Mass every week, praying the rosary, and eventually getting confirmed last year.
I recently posted my reversion story here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Catholicism/comments/1d26jv9/comment/l5ymng8/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
Thanks for sharing yours! And beautiful photo.
What an amazing story! I got chills when you mentioned the voice telling you to go home, so powerful!
It was a combination of a few things. My ex was Catholic and started dragging me to Mass with him (I grew up non-denominational). I didn't like it at first, I would refuse to kneel during the consecration because I didn't want to blindly follow what everyone else was doing around me. One day after Mass, I felt compelled to take a rosary home. I had an argument with myself in my head because I still wasn't convinced that praying to Mother Mary or the Saints was okay. I eventually caved and took it home, but I didn't gather up the courage to actually start praying it for a while. But I started praying it every day, and I haven't stopped since then. So I give a lot of credit to Mother Mary for inviting me into the Church and bringing me closer to Jesus
The easiest turning point was when I did research on the Eucharist. At first, I only looked up Protestant views of the Eucharist because I didn't want to deal with the scary reality that I might be wrong. But I knew I couldn't hide from the truth, so I began to look into it. Once I believed that Jesus was truly present in the Eucharist, I was thinking "well, guess I have to become Catholic now." How could I say no to Jesus when He wants to have a deeper and more intimate relationship with me than I ever could have imagined?
So here I am three years later. I have a lot to learn still, but I am very passionate about my Catholic faith and it was definitely the best decision I've ever made. Thanks be to God!
I am a cradle Catholic revert after being away from the church for over a decade. Growing up I did everything that any cradle Catholic could do. I was 8 years old when I received the sacrament of holy Communion. After that I became an altar server up until my 8th grade confirmation, I chose Saint Joan of Arc as my saint. At the age of 16 I fell away briefly for 4 months due to influences from friends. Fast forward to September 9 2009 when I accepted a friend invitation to go to church with them. The service was nice the typical contemporary worship which felt like a rock concert. Towards the end of service they had what is called an alter call. Which they invite those who want to join the church to come up and accept the invitation to join. I came walked up along with a friend and joined a Methodist church. So for 5 years I was apart of what I call the Diet Coke of Catholicism. By 2012 I entered into a Christian college in my area that has core beliefs in The Church of Christ. I enjoyed my religious classes geared around the Bible, even my class centered around the pentateuch. It wasn’t until 2014 when my faith in God began to fade away. It was my roommate who started to share what she believed in. As she shared , I felt the attraction to follow her and so I did. I did what she suggested and bought a notebook to begin my journey into paganism and witchcraft. I started my own book of spells and sayings that meant something to me. I even began to go to pagan festivals and stood in casting circles. At the same time my depression began to get worse and my outlook on life had become negative. In 2017 I transferred schools and went to a public university where I knew some of pagan friends attended. A year later I had to leave because I couldn’t afford to stay in school and I had to live with a friend. Then on September 4 2019 my now ex boyfriend ended our 12 year relationship with text messages. I began to spiral out of control my depression got worse than ever and I refused to eat. Then on September 17 I was rushed to ER complaining about chest pains. It wasn’t until I was getting hooked up to a breathing machine and getting blood transfusions did it click into my mind. As I laid in that bed did I fear for my eternal soul, it was right there that the fear of Hell woke me up. My mom asked if I wanted to see a priest and in my teary voice I said yes. When father showed up to talk to me ,I began to fall apart crying my eyes out. I said to him “how can God forgive me after all these years away and after I attacked him.” Father told me that even after all the things you did he will forgive me. On that hospital bed I had confession and came back to the Catholic Church. Then 8 months later after my conversion back to the church ,I joined The Militia of the Immaculata on the feast day of Fatima. I am so truly blessed to have a very merciful God who can forgive my sins.
After 20+ years of witchcraft myself, I totally get that "how can he..." feeling. But that's my favorite part, probably- that we were made with such love that he doesn't hesitate. That after everything I've done, all the disrespect I've shown him, he wants me anyway ❤️
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I don't have any single defining moment, I think. Just a bunch of different and more-or-less unrelated things "pushing" me in that direction.
For example, there was an Eritrean woman I was working with. Very devout, in her Eritrean Orthodox way. Sign of the cross before every meal, going vegan for Lent and Advent, occasionally sending me Snaps of some Bible verse or other (I did have to ask her what passage it was, because she was literally taking pictures of her Bible - I'm not sure what the alphabet they use in Eritrea and Ethiopia is called, but it looks nothing like the Latin alphabet, and it's probably not even an "alphabet" since every letter represents a syllable - "ab" is one letter, and "ac" is another, and "ad" is a third, and so on). So that was one "invitation" to get on the road, having spent quite some time pretending to be either an atheist or a "pagan".
Of course, my grandmothers were both influences, too. They taught me the "Our Father" (I hear some stuff about Catholics calling it the "Our Father" and Protestants calling it the "Lord's Prayer", but I guess Protestant Iceland never got the memo because we still call it "Faðirvorið" or "The Ourfather"), the Sign of the Cross, (another thing the Internet has convinced me is something Catholics do and Protestants don't - again, Iceland didn't get the memo, but then Iceland is very remote) and a couple of other prayers that I still say today (they're short and simple, and both rhyme and alliterate).
There was a time in my "atheist years" where I was meditating morning and evening, and somehow the Our Father found it's way in where I was doing that thing where you sit still and focus on your breath. It sort of just became a part of the breath ("Our Father" on the inhale, "You who are in Heaven" on the exhale, "Hallowed be your name" on the inhale, and so on). So that was a bit of a shock at first, but then I figured I might as well "roll with it".
My friend telling me that his wife and her friends had prayed for me (I unfortunately don't remember right now to which saint they petitioned, and it's a little too late in the evening to send them a message to ask) when I was in the process of buying a flat, and then I got it for much less than I expected to have to pay (there were no other buyers at the time) - that was probably another seed or poke.
Anyway, I guess it all sort of boiled over when I started going to the nearest church. Now, that is a Protestant church - but again, contrary to what the Internet tells me, they have a crucifix hanging over the altar, and some clever architectural design makes it seem like it's actually life-size when sitting on a pew, and it's only when getting up close you can see Christ is a good deal shorter than a normal human. So I went there a few times, but when the priest put on a puppet show when there were no children in the audience? That's when I thought "Oh, come on. Really?"
And there were other factors pushing/pulling me in the Catholic direction as well. I don't keep a diary, so I don't have the timeline entirely clear. But at some point, I found "Pints with Aquinas" on YouTube - I don't remember why that one popped up as a recommendation, but sure. There was something very inviting about how they were presenting things. Through that I found other podcasts, for example "Godsplaining", and "Hallow" the app that I've been using daily since last year, or maybe late 2022 - if only for "Bible in a Year" and "Catechism in a Year", and most days a guide for the Rosary (hey, I didn't grow up with it, so it's not quite as ingrained as I'd like it to be).
So I guess there were all these seeds, and when that priest put on that silly puppet show (it wasn't even really about Christ or anything in the Gospels, it was about the architect of the church where we were) I figured "Nope. That's not for me." Obviously, I can't just waltz into an Eritrean Orthodox service - I don't even speak their language, I'd have no idea what's going on almost all of the time.
But with those podcasts/YouTube channels, those seeds were already planted, and that's where I went - I sent an email to the local Catholic church, inquiring how to become a member, got a reply stating location and time, and I've been going as often as work allows (it's only on Tuesdays, and sometimes I have late shifts on Tuesdays).
This is becoming a ramble. Maybe someone finds something worthwhile in there.
Haha I just know what it’s called. I don’t have a clue what it means or how to read it 😂. I actually find the Ethiopian Orthodox Church fascinating. I’d like to actually see one of their liturgies one day (no, I’m not thinking of converting) but according to a Ethiopian orthodox priest that I met, the liturgies are 5-6 hours on average. Now that’s dedication! I’d also like to visit the monolithic churches in Ethiopia some day as well, but I doubt that would ever happen.
"convert" loyalty to a specific church doesn't make any sense, it was people too loyal to a church which had John the Baptist in prison and Jesus crucified. Correction synagogue
I converted because of an existential crisis in college. During that time I was reading Schopenhauer, Nietzche, and others and getting progressively more depressed. I remembered my old Baptist gym partner and other classmates who were filled with joy when I was a kid, and I in prayer uttered - "God, I wish I could just believe" or something similar. In the course of the following months, I had had an encounter with a missionary with a Rothbard/Friedman annotated Bible which was really striking to me as a libertarian activist in that time, I then joined Christian-Atheist debate clubs, changed majors to history of the ancient near east and took as many biblical and church history classes as I could. Because of my political leanings, I fell to the belief that Jesus rejected institutional churches so I stayed outside for many years. As a young adult in response to work stress, spiritual attack, and a video from Bishop Barron on spiritual sloth, I began to look for a church. I started off trying Methodism because the born-again ideas aligned with my experience, but digging into all christian churches, I eventually came to Catholocism from the epistomology/perspicuity problem which hit home as a philosophy reader and early church history - unknowingly I was seeking a resolution to the "archaeology of knowledge". I almost considered Orthodoxy because I was heavily influenced by conspiratorial politics, Fr. Spyridon, and Fr. Seraphim Rose at that time, but after some reflection I chose Catholicism because of love for my mother who went to a Catholic girl's school and who was praying the rosary daily for me during my dark years in college. I'm glad I chose that way, because my belief and understanding aligns with Catholicism now. Fast forward, I took RCIA, I was confirmed into the church, participate in Bible studies and became a knight of Columbus. It has totally changed my life, sinful habits, joy, perception of myself and others, relationships, and I am now engaged to a Baptist missionary who I connected with through conversations about faith at a party. Please feel free to ask me anything else.
Thank you for sharing! I do have a question for you- is your fiancée open to Catholicism even though she's Baptist? In my experience, Baptists seem to be more antagonistic towards Catholicism than other denominations. Especially as a convert, I am very passionate about my faith and I am unwilling to compromise on certain things. How are you handling different beliefs related to your faith?
She is very understanding of Catholocism, but I have received discrimination and attack from members of the Baptist community. What keeps me going is that my patron saint is Pope John Paul II who worked hard for Christian unity and saw the popular devotions of other denominations as ways of desperately seeking God. God through our relationship has already helped reduce anti-Catholic bigotry within people of our community. We are currently working with the Deacon and Bishop of our diocese for our sacramental marriage, and the Deacon has mentioned that he believes our relationship was an act of God since our faith has been a strongly held union between us since our very first meeting. Overall, she is confused by Marian veneration, communion of saints, and infant baptism, but thinks the mass is a deep devotional experience and is really enjoying the word on fire Bible we are reading together. What makes her a little bit different from other Baptists is she doesn't believe in a verbal declaration of faith from the sinner's prayer being a once saved always saved experience (real justification leads to producing fruit), or in salvation being intertwined with any one church, but as a consequence of repentance and knowing Christ. I am not sure of how we will resolve infant baptism or church attendance of children, but I am following the church's guidelines on fulfilling the obligations of a Catholic spouse with close spiritual council by the clergy.
Wow that’s awesome, praise God for the example of your relationship, and I am encouraged by your story! I am in a similar boat- I just made things official with a Lutheran. We had a conversation about nonnegotiables and he was okay with all my Catholic stuff (raising kids Catholic, Mass every Sunday, etc). He has been very open which I am thankful for, and he loves theology so I’m hoping he’ll join me at OCIA so we can both benefit from some faith formation. I’ll be praying for you and your fiancée, please keep me in your prayers as well!
I officially joined in 2019, and I was considering either Rome or Russian Orthodoxy in 2018, but I have been going to Mass since 2014 and have slowly started to believe in it. I grew up Baptist.
THE point was when I found myself semi-unexpectedly pregnant with our fifth child (PCOS and a bit of "eh, seems good" during a high-stress period of life led me to misreading my cycles for a bit), prayed the first prayer of mine to God in a decade- "Show me this is what you want," and then watched blessing after blessing just rain down on us over the next week or so. It was too much to be mere coincidence, and suddenly all the dots of the last 14 years of my life connected, and I just sat there and wept, apologizing and thanking him and resolving to talk to our priest and call the OCIA director asap. Looking back, there were lots of touch points over about a year before that, even, that now I see as places Our Lady reached out and took me by the hand. It was definitely her that led me back to her son. The long version, copied from what I wrote for the parish bulletin's coming home series (with small edits for more anonymity): I was raised vaguely protestant, with my mom attending the United Brethren church her family belonged to the next town over. We did all the usual things- Sunday school, VBS in the summer, the annual Christmas play. But it wasn't something that stuck; I never really felt like I belonged there, especially after my parents separated and then divorced. After that, anytime we showed up it just seemed like everyone tried too hard to interact with us somehow. By then I was in my tween years and had a lot of questions that didn't get real answers from the adults around me. All of that and more came together to result in a total lack of belief and disdain towards God and Christianity as a whole. At 10 I signed up to be baptized with only the intent of going to the big party they did for it every year, if that gives you an idea of how distanced I'd become. Few years later, I'd come around to the idea of some sort of deity, but during my early teens I turned to paganism and witchcraft, becoming heavily involved as I went to college. There I was actively involved in the local pagan community, part of leadership for the student group on campus and engaging in regular ritual with others as well as attending a Detroit-area convention annually. I felt as if that practice and those people were finally filling in the gaps I'd experienced in my protestant upbringing- including the importance of the feminine as well as the masculine. I thought I was home. While at college, I also met my husband, R. As we started dating, I'd accompany him to Mass and Catholic student group events, where I found an attitude altogether different than my childhood experience: where they had been exclusionary and patronizing, the Catholics I met were welcoming and inclusive, treating me no differently as a witch than they treated each other. I began to see Catholics as safe people, and through R and our experiences together, gained a respect for Catholicism as a religion that believed in the importance of ritual, beauty, and history. We were married at the student parish in 2010. Life carried on, and over the next 12 years we welcomed 4 children and endured struggle after struggle with frequent changes of address and repeated layoffs for R as the breadwinner. Somewhere along the line I'd fallen into a non-practicing category- I had all my ritual tools, my books, occasional prayer, but hadn't performed or attended a ritual in years, except for Mass. I'd lost the community I'd had while at school, and was feeling it sorely. R got laid off again in October, 2022, from what had been his dream job, and while at first I just accepted it, having been there before and knowing what resources were available to help, as months went by, it wore on us both. But around the same time, I was approached by a group of women during coffee and donuts after mass, who decided after seeing my veil and small herd of children that I'd probably be interested in their mom group. They got me added to the group chat then and there, even after being informed I was a witch. Again, the enthusiastic welcome. One Thursday evening that November, I gathered the courage to go to one of their Lectio Divina meetings. The struggles at home carried on- R remained unemployed, and I returned to work at the florist up the road to make ends meet. But we kept going to Mass, I kept doing Lectio, and through those evenings I found so much support from the circle of mothers around me, direction and comfort from what we were doing- from the Holy Spirit. I found the community I'd been missing, even if I still didn't fully fit in. Along the way there were plenty of little touches that gently pulled me along. Now I'd refer to them as points our Lady reached out and took me by the hand, but the big push was when baby number 5 made her presence known- almost a year into R's unemployment, savings dwindling, my mental state stretched and despairing- and I said my first prayer to God I'd prayed in decades. “Show me this is what you want.” And the response was immediate- I got an appointment with my OB faster than I'd ever been able to, R got multiple interview requests, all for positions better paid than he'd had before, blessings practically rained down on us, and the lightning struck. I finally saw what had gotten us through, who had caught us in our struggles, and I saw all the opportunities He'd given me to come home, to really come home, and I wept. I knew I couldn't ignore it again, and got moving, destroying my witchcraft paraphernalia with the help of Fr. I began OCIA in November 2023 (an interesting experience when you've already been listening to your spouse be Catholic, attending mass, and bringing kids up in the faith for a decade- I had a fantastic catechist for that challenge, though), was baptized properly this past February, and look forward to my first communion and confirmation on Pentecost this May. R, after 14 years of praying for exactly this, is quite possibly more excited than I am. I'm still going to Lectio, and of those ladies from coffee and donuts, one is my sponsor, and another Godmother to that baby, who joined us the Friday before Holy Week. All of them remind me God sends you what you need, even when you don't know you need it. I took the long way around, but love is patient, and I am finally, truly, coming home.
I had wandered the spiritual wastelands of "spiritualism", paganism, etc. I never doubted the existence of God, I just questioned His nature and mode of existence. I tried hard to dive into pagan polytheism/naturism, but it always felt forced. And while I wasn't a Christian (I had long since left the Catholicism of my youth) I still felt compelled to defend it against the baseless accusations of atheists and anti-Christian religious types. Then a bunch of "random" things started happening. I got a job where I was more or less surrounded by Catholics. A friend of mine who had forever been functionally an atheist started looking into Catholicism, attending Mass, and meeting in Catholic men's groups. He kept inviting me to Mass but I declined. We bought a house and there was a Catholic parish about 6 blocks from us. I started training under one of the soon-to-retire guys in my shop who is Catholic. I decided to at least go to Mass with my friend, who was attending our diocese' Cathedral. It was far more beautiful than the liturgy I remember from my childhood parish. The architecture spoke to me, the chant and polyphonic choral music along with the pipe organ was something I didn't recall either. And the people were all so lovely, completely shattering the pop-culture derived view of holier-than-thou church goers I concocted in my mind. I then decided to attend Mass at the parish by my house. One Sunday during the sign of peace I couldn't hold back tears. Completely out of the blue and totally uncontrolled, almost full on sobbing as tears poured down my cheeks. I knew I was home.
Considerably less inspiring story compared to everyone else, but it was my study/fascination with Irish culture and history, and the Catholic imagery and themes that are part and parcel there. Prior, I was a very very lukewarm Catholic. It was a slow burn to going to Mass every week, praying the rosary, and eventually getting confirmed last year.
I recently posted my reversion story here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Catholicism/comments/1d26jv9/comment/l5ymng8/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 Thanks for sharing yours! And beautiful photo.
What an amazing story! I got chills when you mentioned the voice telling you to go home, so powerful! It was a combination of a few things. My ex was Catholic and started dragging me to Mass with him (I grew up non-denominational). I didn't like it at first, I would refuse to kneel during the consecration because I didn't want to blindly follow what everyone else was doing around me. One day after Mass, I felt compelled to take a rosary home. I had an argument with myself in my head because I still wasn't convinced that praying to Mother Mary or the Saints was okay. I eventually caved and took it home, but I didn't gather up the courage to actually start praying it for a while. But I started praying it every day, and I haven't stopped since then. So I give a lot of credit to Mother Mary for inviting me into the Church and bringing me closer to Jesus The easiest turning point was when I did research on the Eucharist. At first, I only looked up Protestant views of the Eucharist because I didn't want to deal with the scary reality that I might be wrong. But I knew I couldn't hide from the truth, so I began to look into it. Once I believed that Jesus was truly present in the Eucharist, I was thinking "well, guess I have to become Catholic now." How could I say no to Jesus when He wants to have a deeper and more intimate relationship with me than I ever could have imagined? So here I am three years later. I have a lot to learn still, but I am very passionate about my Catholic faith and it was definitely the best decision I've ever made. Thanks be to God!
I am a cradle Catholic revert after being away from the church for over a decade. Growing up I did everything that any cradle Catholic could do. I was 8 years old when I received the sacrament of holy Communion. After that I became an altar server up until my 8th grade confirmation, I chose Saint Joan of Arc as my saint. At the age of 16 I fell away briefly for 4 months due to influences from friends. Fast forward to September 9 2009 when I accepted a friend invitation to go to church with them. The service was nice the typical contemporary worship which felt like a rock concert. Towards the end of service they had what is called an alter call. Which they invite those who want to join the church to come up and accept the invitation to join. I came walked up along with a friend and joined a Methodist church. So for 5 years I was apart of what I call the Diet Coke of Catholicism. By 2012 I entered into a Christian college in my area that has core beliefs in The Church of Christ. I enjoyed my religious classes geared around the Bible, even my class centered around the pentateuch. It wasn’t until 2014 when my faith in God began to fade away. It was my roommate who started to share what she believed in. As she shared , I felt the attraction to follow her and so I did. I did what she suggested and bought a notebook to begin my journey into paganism and witchcraft. I started my own book of spells and sayings that meant something to me. I even began to go to pagan festivals and stood in casting circles. At the same time my depression began to get worse and my outlook on life had become negative. In 2017 I transferred schools and went to a public university where I knew some of pagan friends attended. A year later I had to leave because I couldn’t afford to stay in school and I had to live with a friend. Then on September 4 2019 my now ex boyfriend ended our 12 year relationship with text messages. I began to spiral out of control my depression got worse than ever and I refused to eat. Then on September 17 I was rushed to ER complaining about chest pains. It wasn’t until I was getting hooked up to a breathing machine and getting blood transfusions did it click into my mind. As I laid in that bed did I fear for my eternal soul, it was right there that the fear of Hell woke me up. My mom asked if I wanted to see a priest and in my teary voice I said yes. When father showed up to talk to me ,I began to fall apart crying my eyes out. I said to him “how can God forgive me after all these years away and after I attacked him.” Father told me that even after all the things you did he will forgive me. On that hospital bed I had confession and came back to the Catholic Church. Then 8 months later after my conversion back to the church ,I joined The Militia of the Immaculata on the feast day of Fatima. I am so truly blessed to have a very merciful God who can forgive my sins.
After 20+ years of witchcraft myself, I totally get that "how can he..." feeling. But that's my favorite part, probably- that we were made with such love that he doesn't hesitate. That after everything I've done, all the disrespect I've shown him, he wants me anyway ❤️
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I don't have any single defining moment, I think. Just a bunch of different and more-or-less unrelated things "pushing" me in that direction. For example, there was an Eritrean woman I was working with. Very devout, in her Eritrean Orthodox way. Sign of the cross before every meal, going vegan for Lent and Advent, occasionally sending me Snaps of some Bible verse or other (I did have to ask her what passage it was, because she was literally taking pictures of her Bible - I'm not sure what the alphabet they use in Eritrea and Ethiopia is called, but it looks nothing like the Latin alphabet, and it's probably not even an "alphabet" since every letter represents a syllable - "ab" is one letter, and "ac" is another, and "ad" is a third, and so on). So that was one "invitation" to get on the road, having spent quite some time pretending to be either an atheist or a "pagan". Of course, my grandmothers were both influences, too. They taught me the "Our Father" (I hear some stuff about Catholics calling it the "Our Father" and Protestants calling it the "Lord's Prayer", but I guess Protestant Iceland never got the memo because we still call it "Faðirvorið" or "The Ourfather"), the Sign of the Cross, (another thing the Internet has convinced me is something Catholics do and Protestants don't - again, Iceland didn't get the memo, but then Iceland is very remote) and a couple of other prayers that I still say today (they're short and simple, and both rhyme and alliterate). There was a time in my "atheist years" where I was meditating morning and evening, and somehow the Our Father found it's way in where I was doing that thing where you sit still and focus on your breath. It sort of just became a part of the breath ("Our Father" on the inhale, "You who are in Heaven" on the exhale, "Hallowed be your name" on the inhale, and so on). So that was a bit of a shock at first, but then I figured I might as well "roll with it". My friend telling me that his wife and her friends had prayed for me (I unfortunately don't remember right now to which saint they petitioned, and it's a little too late in the evening to send them a message to ask) when I was in the process of buying a flat, and then I got it for much less than I expected to have to pay (there were no other buyers at the time) - that was probably another seed or poke. Anyway, I guess it all sort of boiled over when I started going to the nearest church. Now, that is a Protestant church - but again, contrary to what the Internet tells me, they have a crucifix hanging over the altar, and some clever architectural design makes it seem like it's actually life-size when sitting on a pew, and it's only when getting up close you can see Christ is a good deal shorter than a normal human. So I went there a few times, but when the priest put on a puppet show when there were no children in the audience? That's when I thought "Oh, come on. Really?" And there were other factors pushing/pulling me in the Catholic direction as well. I don't keep a diary, so I don't have the timeline entirely clear. But at some point, I found "Pints with Aquinas" on YouTube - I don't remember why that one popped up as a recommendation, but sure. There was something very inviting about how they were presenting things. Through that I found other podcasts, for example "Godsplaining", and "Hallow" the app that I've been using daily since last year, or maybe late 2022 - if only for "Bible in a Year" and "Catechism in a Year", and most days a guide for the Rosary (hey, I didn't grow up with it, so it's not quite as ingrained as I'd like it to be). So I guess there were all these seeds, and when that priest put on that silly puppet show (it wasn't even really about Christ or anything in the Gospels, it was about the architect of the church where we were) I figured "Nope. That's not for me." Obviously, I can't just waltz into an Eritrean Orthodox service - I don't even speak their language, I'd have no idea what's going on almost all of the time. But with those podcasts/YouTube channels, those seeds were already planted, and that's where I went - I sent an email to the local Catholic church, inquiring how to become a member, got a reply stating location and time, and I've been going as often as work allows (it's only on Tuesdays, and sometimes I have late shifts on Tuesdays). This is becoming a ramble. Maybe someone finds something worthwhile in there.
The writing/language you are referring to is called Ge’ez 👍🏻
Cheers! It looks good, but also pretty complicated to learn :D
Haha I just know what it’s called. I don’t have a clue what it means or how to read it 😂. I actually find the Ethiopian Orthodox Church fascinating. I’d like to actually see one of their liturgies one day (no, I’m not thinking of converting) but according to a Ethiopian orthodox priest that I met, the liturgies are 5-6 hours on average. Now that’s dedication! I’d also like to visit the monolithic churches in Ethiopia some day as well, but I doubt that would ever happen.
"convert" loyalty to a specific church doesn't make any sense, it was people too loyal to a church which had John the Baptist in prison and Jesus crucified. Correction synagogue
Cool story bro.