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My 500-Year Journey from Scotland to Rome

“I had been drawn to the Catholic Church for years but still was not completely sure it was biblically faithful. Would it disappoint us as the Protestant church had? I didn’t know where home was for a Christian who just wanted to love and follow Jesus faithfully and truthfully. While many people are drawn to the Church through reading the Church Fathers and history, I needed to see and touch historical and holy sites. In 2018, I received a generous grant allowing me to journey across Europe to visit the foundations of our faith… The last day of our pilgrimage culminated in taking the Scavi Tour under the altar of St. Peter’s Basilica to see the actual bones of St. Peter. This moving experience confirmed I had found the biblical New Testament Church I had longed to know…”

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Journey Home episode

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Toward the Celestial City

Dr. Frank Hermann |
Calvinist, Conversion Stories | One Comment

Browsing the religion section of the local used bookstore, I caught sight of a peculiar volume, the black and red ink on the spine contrasting sharply against the drab surroundings. “Now, there’s an oxymoron!” I thought to myself as I reflected on the book’s title, which read Catholic and Christian. Intrigued by the apparent paradox, I reluctantly grasped the book from the shelf and began reading, beginning with the ornate back cover. The author was a certain Dr. Alan Schreck, a professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville. His objective was simple—to clarify Catholic doctrine for the many Catholic and non-Catholic Christians who misunderstand it. At $4.50 the paperback seemed a bargain I couldn’t afford to ignore. Little did I know that this meager investment would pave the foundation for my journey home to the Catholic Church.

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Confessions of a Protestant Pew Potato

Tim Cooper |
Conversion Stories, Evangelical, Nazarene | One Comment

Oh, no, I thought to myself, here we go again. Some latecomers had forced us to move into the middle of the pew. There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of the pew in a Catholic church if you’re a Protestant “pew potato.”

You’ve heard of a couch potato? I was a pew potato. I plunked down in my pew every week but didn’t participate a whole lot, other than singing a hymn I recognized or shaking hands with my neighbors during the sign of peace.

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The Eucharist Will Satisfy the Longing Heart

Brent Stubbs |
Assemblies of God, Baptist, Conversion Stories, Pentecostal | 7 Comments

As I try to recount my journey into the Catholic Church, I feel as if I could write from so many different perspectives: history, the sacraments, the saints, Mary, or contraception. All of these words characterize, in part, my reasons for becoming Catholic. I feel like each represent a small book I could write. In this story though I want to connect how I believe my particular Protestant tradition prepared the way for my entrance into the Church. I pray it will encourage many more to fulfill the prayer of Christ “that all of them may be one as I and the Father are one” (John 17:21).

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From Confusion to the Order of Truth

Clyde Pearce | Conversion Stories, Mormon | 8 Comments

My pathway home to the Catholic Church required an all-terrain vehicle to negotiate the steep, rocky, tortuous roads including dead ends, cul-de-sacs, and detours. Unlike many of the Journey Home stories, I was not trained in theology or doctrine. I attended no seminary, Bible college, or religious institute. But a great deal of informal education in those areas plus years of lay ministry led me to the Catholic Church. And it all started early.

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History Led Me Out, History Led Me In

Beverly White |
Conversion Stories, History, Mormon | 9 Comments

I stood on the edge of America, sand under my feet and the warm water from the Atlantic Ocean washing over my toes. On the horizon I could see them: early morning thunderheads. All lined up and towering into the sky–some closer, some farther away–but all beautiful and majestic; standing like sentinels ready to fight an unseen enemy and seemingly ready to protect. As I watched, some of these thunderheads developed into giants, with the telltale anvil head shape. While others, shaded from the sun by the larger clouds, simply died off, giving no rain to the earth. This made me think of the parable Jesus told about the seeds scattered along the roadside. Some of these storms had taken root, but in shallow ground. After starting out quite hopeful and impressive, they died out in the shadows of those who were fulfilling their cyclic duties of sea to rain, rain to sea–their roots were not deep enough. I could certainly relate.

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Surprised by Truth – and Beyond

Kevin Lowry |
Conversion Stories, Presbyterian & Reformed | 6 Comments

I grew up in a small town near Toronto, Canada, the son of a Presbyterian minister. My parents are wonderful people – and in my opinion, they’re living saints. While studying theology at a Baptist seminary in the 1960’s, my dad heard so much anti-Catholic rhetoric that he decided to take a Knights of Columbus correspondence course to hear the other side of the story. Partly as a result of that course, he ended up leaving the Baptists to enroll in a Presbyterian seminary. This was one of his first steps toward an appreciation of Catholicism.

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It’s Time to Come Home – Conversion Story of Shannon Kurtz

Shannon Kurtz |
Conversion Stories, Evangelical, Reverts to the Catholic Faith | 7 Comments

My return to the Catholic Church after twenty years away as an Evangelical Protestant was my heart’s response to Jesus, as He drew me back into full communion with His Church and complete union with Him in the Holy Eucharist.

I was baptized Shannon Mary Kelly, oldest of six children of an Irish-Catholic family in Bay City, Michigan. I made my First Confession and First Communion when I was eight years old. I remember how very close to Jesus I felt as I received Holy Communion for the first time.

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