Why convert to catholicism

The re-Conversion of St. Peter John 21 : 1 - Peter encounters the risen Jesus after denying him 3 times on the beach. The process of conversion is not that complicated. Well, it should directly impact how we evangelize others. Here are 4 takeaways from this. We have to remember that the almighty God of the universe desires conversion more than we ever could.

With the perfect heart of a father, he pursues and works to draw all people to himself. He is always present to everyone he is omnipresent, so he has to be with everyone at all times. Even many Catholics have not had an initial conversion to Jesus. JPII said this:. This can happen through Christian witness of life, the proclamation of the Kerygma simple Gospel message , Sacraments, personal prayer, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, etc. We ought not limit an encounter of God to a program or place.

But when we invite others into a relationship with Jesus, we need to be explicit about what we are doing. If you read the book of Acts of the Apostles, you will see all conversions are preceded by an explicit proclamation of the Gospel followed by an explicit plan of action - repent, believe, and if necessary be baptized. We too need to be explicit and bold.

As Paul said,. Here is a VERY niche tweet: for the past year I have been feeling VERY insecure about becoming catholic bc every other catholic convert is super smart and converted after reading church fathers or something else and I just kinda yeeted myself into the baptismal font u know. No one is going to relate to my Catholic imposter-syndrome.

To my surprise, the next day when I checked Twitter, more than 1, people had interacted with the tweet. In the days that followed, I received responses from Catholics all over the world expressing similar sentiments of insecurity in their knowledge and understanding of church teaching.

I also received many recommendations of how I might learn more about the church, stories of conversions and reversions, and defenses of the faith. These responses were overwhelming, and I could not figure out why so many Catholics wanted to reach out to talk to me about my conversion. We live in a time where the Catholic Church always seems to be tied up in scandal.

Well-known Catholics with podcasts, radio shows and large social media followings tend to use their academic background to defend the church. But Catholics who do not hold degrees in theology can find it difficult to explain why they hold onto faith.

So, why am I Catholic? I still have not read any of the church fathers, and I do not even own a copy of the Catechism. If I am being honest, I think the only explanation for my Catholicism is that the Holy Spirit called me to it. When I started my R. I could not learn everything a theologian or historian would know about the church in my eight months of R. But I had learned enough to know that I could trust the church and that her teachings are true.

If God knows every aspect of my being, he knows that I go with my gut and make decisions with my heart. If someone had tried to convert me with readings from philosophers and historians, I probably would never have joined R.

The intellectual path to faith works for some but not for everyone. While some are called to holiness through working in ministry or studying the teachings of the church, we are all given our own paths to sainthood, and we are all needed in the church. The day of my baptism, my R. We had a rehearsal for the Easter vigil Mass where we practiced carrying the gifts up the marble floors of the long nave and receiving the sacraments. The sunlight was beaming through the stained glass windows and reflecting on the gold-plated stations of the cross, making the chapel feel warm and inviting.

But the actual vigil Mass began outside in the dark April evening. I sat in the first row of the chapel with family and friends of all faith backgrounds, including my non-Catholic parents, who had come to support me. Yet I still felt alone and scared. The church felt cold. Then the lights came on and the choir began to sing, and I was overcome with a feeling of peace.

Even though we had practiced the liturgy of baptism in the morning, when we got to the back of Madonna Della Strada in front of the large baptismal font, I almost stepped in too early. Luckily, a Jesuit scholastic grabbed me by the collar and pulled me back. He encouraged me to get in the font once the water had been properly blessed. I saw the water, and I just wanted to jump on in. Reilly Cosgrove is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago and a current doctoral candidate in occupational therapy at Creighton University.

Reilly, you answered the question about why when you wrote "the Holy Spirit called me to it. Your journey of discovery of what faith in Christ means will continue for the rest of your life.

Reilly- what a joy to read your story as it mirrors my own. I started to receive instruction aged 19 and was received aged So I hope you will experience the joy that I have over 50 years and maybe do a degree in theology later - I did in my retirement. Reilly, alii from the small island nation of Palau.

The Coming Home Network is a great resource for that. I was honestly shocked to see how very many converts there have been from Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, and many other denominations.

I felt comforted by their stories and invigorated to see that the Catholic Church regularly draws people in. That day, I wrote to an old high school friend who I knew had converted to Catholicism.

When I messaged her, I realized she and I had actually discussed Catholicism previously, way back in ! So perhaps the seed of my interest in the Church truly started then. They talked about Tolkien! Protestants disillusioned with Protestantism! It may have been this article which sparked my first thoughts about Catholicism. I began reading lots of conversion stories and then some theological stuff—nothing too deep or heavy.

Mostly, I started with the things that were most basic: how did I know the Catholic Church was the true, original church and not one of the many Protestant denominations? That question lead me to where I am today. I want to share some of the things I have discovered that turned me more and more towards the Church. Some discoveries and where you can find more research about each one follow. Jesus declared that Peter was the rock of His Church and gave Him and the apostles authority.

This authority has been handed down through an unbroken line of successors to the present day Church. Love that. In this way, you can trace the Catholic Church back to Jesus; essentially back to the year Comparatively, each of the Protestant denominations had their beginnings more than years later. The teachings of the Catholic Church are maintained and evidenced by the Church Fathers.

Where do all of our beliefs come from? The Bible as we know it was not in existence when Jesus walked the earth, so how did his disciples learn? Oral tradition. They heard what He taught them and then passed it down to the next generation. Did you know there are tons and tons of writings by the early Church Fathers? They were those who learned directly from the apostles and down through the ages.

Their writings are phenomenal and show the consistency of Catholic belief right from the very beginning until the present day.

One of my biggest obstacles for considering becoming Catholic was understanding and dismantling these ideas. They are the hallmarks of Protestantism, sola fide and sola scriptura.

Basically, Protestants believe that everything we need to know about faith, God, and salvation can be found in the Bible. Scripture alone. This means that there is no need for any external forces or tradition. In fact it says much to suggest the opposite. As for sola fide: the idea of faith alone suggests that it is only our faith in Jesus that saves us.

There is nothing we can do to gain or earn salvation. Actually, Catholics quite agree with this when it comes to our justification. And we have to do something to participate in the process, right? You have to do the accepting. This is much the Catholic thought, on its most basic basic level, because there are other elements of living a moral life and progressing towards Holiness and towards eternity. This statement from the Council of Trent says it a bit better:. This point kind of veers off from the point above.

Biblical interpretations can run the gamut hello, cults so who is the voice of truth? Even if we assert that the Holy Spirit is leading us into discernment and truth, how does it follow that Christians are lead to so many different conclusions? In short, how have so many different interpretations of things in the Bible come to be? How do you explain the thousands upon thousands of denominations, divided by doctrinal differences that most often come down to differing Biblical interpretation?

To me, the idea of the Magisterium makes SO much sense. This makes sense because it promotes a unity of belief. It also is completely logical given that Bibles and literacy were not readily available until the invention of the printing press in What did people DO before that?

This clearly supports not only a need for an interpreting body and an authority, but also a need for Tradition! Christ wanted their to be one visible, true Church in unity. God did not want division among His people, and that is why he instituted not just scriptures but a Church for the people to belong to.

Protestantism is missing out by not recognizing saints. These people—real people, just like you and me—are fantastic models of holiness. Their lives and stories are nothing short of incredible.

They give us so much to admire and to imitate, and they continually point us toward Jesus and strengthen us along the way. At this point, you might have a lot of questions. And maybe even some objections. As Fulton Sheen states so eloquently:. To put it plainly, people who hate Catholicism tend to know very little about what it actually entails.

There are a ton of misconceptions and myths about the Catholic Church, and I used to subscribe to many of them myself! But as I studied and researched, the truth of each one became clear. For the record, no one is worshipping Mary in the Catholic Church! Overall, I have found the Church to be loving, faithful, and Christ-focused. And in many ways, more Christian than the Protestant Churches of my past. But Catholics place a great deal of importance on doing good works…in other words, being a light in the darkness of the world.

This is one of the strongest points for my desire to convert to Catholicism. Catholics are all about feeding the poor, healing the sick, helping the downtrodden….

I have felt, throughout my time learning about Catholicism, that this Faith demands more of the person. It demands that your heart truly change, and that you actively work towards holiness and goodness. Mary and the Saints are such a blessing. They are our friends, our family. They are asking for their intercession. Asking for them to pray on their behalf and bring their entreaties to God.

And after all, the prayers of the righteous availeth much James How much more powerful could the intercession of a Saint or the Blessed Mother be?! Why confess to a Priest? Speaking of intercessors….