Hear the stories of Catholic converts from an Anglican/Episcopalian background and learn what led them to embrace the Catholic Church.
“I think any thinking Anglican will find himself asking some very, very difficult questions. Because of course the Anglican Church takes the notion of apostolicity seriously and takes history seriously and sacrament. But where do they get those sacraments? Where does that episcopacy come from?”
– Thomas Howard, Author of Evangelical Is Not Enough
A FEW GREAT VIDEOS
Msgr Graham Leonard: An Anglican Bishop who became Catholic
Former Anglican Bishop of London shares his story on The Journey Home
Following Newman to Rome
Former Episcopal priest Andrew Petiprin shares how John Henry Newman influenced his journey to the Catholic faith.
Br. Bonaventure Chapman, O.P. 5:29
“We all went to Oxford as Episcopalians, and we left as Catholics.”
A FEW GREAT WRITTEN STORIES
From High Church to the True Church
Emily Woodham
C.S. Lewis, one of the greatest Christian apologists, turned to Jesus because of a late-night conversation with his friends, J.R.R. Tolkien and Hugo Dyson. Scholars debate the exact timing, but the influence of that evening is undeniable. A conversation with friends changed his life. Of course, Anglicans are quick to point out that Lewis chose the Anglican Communion and not the Catholic Church. If Anglicanism was good enough for Lewis, then why should anyone bother with the rules and regulations of Catholicism?
On Whose Authority?
Fr. Ray Ryland
“How can you go into that darkness, once you have known the light?” In deep anguish, my mother-in-law asked my wife and me this question when we told her we were going to enter the Catholic Church. There was a time when the thought of becoming Catholics would have caused us even greater distress than our news caused her. Now, however, we were near the end of a sixteen-year pilgrimage. We could finally see the Tiber ahead, and we were eager to cross. For many years, we had known ourselves as seekers. Now we realized we were pilgrims. The difference? Pilgrims know where they are going.
Towards Unity
Fr. Jurgen Liias
My first confessor was a monk of the Episcopal community of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, Father Carleton Jones. Our monthly meetings introduced me to Anglo-Catholic worship and spirituality. My many years of spiritual direction with Carleton ended abruptly with his sudden announcement that he was becoming a Roman Catholic. I remember vividly the words of the letter he sent to me explaining his decision: “I have come to the conclusion that the unity of the Church is not finally something to be strived for but rather a gift already from the Lord to His Church in the Petrine office.”
More Inspiration for the Journey
Explore the full archive of conversion stories from former Anglicans & Episcopalians.
Explore Full Archive
RECOMMENDED BOOKS & OTHER RESOURCES FOR ANGLICANS & EPISCOPALIANS
Apologia pro Via Sua
by John Henry Newman
John Henry Newman, one of the towering figures of the early Victorian Church of England, caused shock and outrage in equal measure when he announced his espousal of Roman Catholicism in 1845. His Apologia, written nearly twenty years later in response to a scurrilous public attack by Charles Kingsley, is a superbly crafted response to those who criticized his actions and questioned his motives, and traces his spiritual development since boyhood, his close involvement in the high church Tractarian Movement and his agonizing decision to reject the church he had been born into.
Autobiography
by G.K. Chesterton
Chesterton was one of the most stimulating and well-loved writers of the 20th century. His 100 books, and hundreds of essays and columns on a great variety of themes have made G.K. Chesterton the most widely quoted writer of modern times. Here is Chesterton in his own words, in a book he preferred not to write, but did so near the end of his life after much insistence by friends and admirers. It is a stimulating, exciting, tremendously interesting book. It is a draught—indeed, several draughts one after the other—of human and literary champagne.”
Lead Kindly Light: My Journey to Rome
by Thomas Howard
Through his prolific and highly regarded writing, Thomas Howard’s name is familiar to Protestants and Catholics alike, but many have never heard the story of his conversion to Catholicism. With grace, charm, and wit, Dr. Howard describes his journey from Evangelicalism to Anglicanism, and finally, to the Church of Rome. In a world saturated with fashionable unbelief, Howard’s testimony inspires and informs. Fr. Richard Neuhaus calls it “a marvelously engaging remembrance.