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Letters From Home

Over the past ten years particularly of active discernment, I have done a good bit of homework working through my own difficulties with the Catholic Church, which is all necessary and appropriate for one to do. But I have also come to realize, in our day and age we easily choose and fashion our faith according to that which we agree with. If I am not cautious, I design a faith or an understanding of the faith to my personal sensibilities alone. The problem is I can remain the sole arbiter of my faith expression. While faith fully invites and indeed demands engagement of one’s intellect and the will, in the end faith requires us to yield our will to something that is, if we are honest, vastly mysterious. Surety must always be characterized by humility. We must give up our own authority and place it not merely in our understanding of God, but in God Himself.

In the end, one must decide not whether or not they believe in Catholicism but, rather, is the Catholic Church true? Historically, I naturally focused on the former question, but in recent years I have striven to focus on the latter…

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I Was An Evangelical Minister Minding My Own Business

Deacon Joe Allison |
Conversion Stories, Evangelical, Reverts to the Catholic Faith, Uncategorized | 36 Comments

During Christmas vacation in December of 1997, my wife and I were spending the holidays with her family. At one of my sister-in-law’s homes I found a book sitting on the coffee table called Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic about a fundamentalist/evangelical Christian who had become Catholic. I thought it was a joke book. I had never heard of anyone who became Catholic. In fact, all the Catholics I knew were now Protestants. While there had been times when I was younger that I would have described myself as anti-Catholic, I had long since gotten over that. I no longer saw the Catholic Church as evil, only irrelevant.

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“…but God meant it for good.”

Deacon Rick Bauer |
Church of Christ, Conversion Stories, Military, Reverts to the Catholic Faith | No Comments

I was baptized and confirmed in a nominally Catholic home. My dad’s 30-year career in the U.S. military and the diplomatic service led us overseas among many moves as our 6-child family grew up, spending years in Panama, Cuba, and Colombia. Despite a Jesuit education into high school, by the time we returned to Washington, D.C. in the late 1960s, I was a high school student growing rapidly disillusioned with my faith and with the Catholic Church.

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A Glorious Journey

Fr. Paul Chaim Benedicta Schenck |
Anglican & Episcopalian, Conversion Stories, Jewish | 8 Comments

I chose to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church when it became apparent to me that I no longer could confess the Creed, in which I made the claim to believe in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and not be in communion with the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of St. Peter, and Pastor of the universal Church.

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And The Truth Will Set You Free: How I Was Reconciled to the Catholic Church

Kathleen M. Gavlas |
Anglican & Episcopalian, Assemblies of God, Conversion Stories, Pentecostal | 8 Comments

I have to begin my conversion story by relating something of my family life. My father worked for the government as an air traffic controller. They transferred him wherever they wished even though he had a family. So, we moved from state to state when I was a little girl. My youngest brother and I were born in Minnesota, our home state. I was born in 1948 in Minnesota and baptized October 31 that same year in Selma, Alabama, which tells how often we moved. My other brother and sister were each born in a different Southern state. Because of our constant moving, establishing a stable spiritual home was quite difficult for us.

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Crossing the Tiber

Steve Ray |
Baptist, Conversion Stories, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

At this very moment in our lives a long-time Evangelical friend and pastor announced to us, “Steve, my wife and I have decided to join the Catholic Church.” Janet and I were stunned. I immediately blurted out, “Al, that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard; you are way too smart to be a Catholic!”

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Taking Courage: How God Drew Me into the Light of His Church

Alicia Smith |
Agnostic, Anglican & Episcopalian, Atheist/Agnostic, Conversion Stories, Military | 14 Comments

“Learning about Catholicism, after being schooled by Protestants, I felt like I had only been allowed to view little random pieces of incredible artwork. It is only now that I understand the pieces were a single, beautiful masterpiece.” After a rocky childhood, Alicia joined the US Navy, which brought about stability and order in her life. Life in the Navy prepared her for life in an unexpected place: the Catholic Church.

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