Here's the long story of how I became a Catholic Christian.
A long time ago in a small town, I was a member of the Methodist Church. I was a convert to that denomination from my Father's denomination, which was Baptist.... but that part of the story just gets longer. So there I was a good young Methodist lady. I remember having a conversation with the Pastor about the "apocryphal books" from the Catholic bible. AND there it is, the big moment that every thing started. Why would "we, the Methodists" be gleaning information off another bible?
I was a bit more timid then, and I am sure I did not ask the question to the Good Pastor, but that is exactly where the story got it's wheels.
One, two, skip a few years, and now I am in college. I am a card carrying member of the First United Methodist Church with a special group of Wesleyan minded friends who referred me to a summer internship in a different small town. This particular Pastor is very vocal about the canonized books of the bible that I have never seen. So, I drove myself to Hastings and bought a Catholic Bible and read those books for myself. Emboldened, I asked this preacher to tell me why he spoke about these books in private among, myself and his other close students, and not from the pulpit, and this is what really put the nail in the coffin, so to speak; he said to me "There are some people who are ready for meat, and some who need milk." Very metaphorical, I know, but I knew what he meant, and I did not care for the sound of it.
So, finishing up my internship for the summer, I began taking up company with a boy I knew from school who was Catholic. He had interesting things to say was completely non-judgmental of my questions and curiosities. He started inviting me along to mass with him, and I, ever so hesitantly went. There's a whole other love story in here, where I fall in love with this boy and he with me, but that adds an extra page. (I can tell you some other time). We began to go to mass every Sunday morning, and he went with me to church at the Methodist Church after mass. Those were long mornings, but I was really able to see the similarities (some) and differences (many).
I struggled with two really strong points. The first was the REAL presence of God at the "Eucharist" and the Holy Communion I was so accustomed to in my previous church. The second was the huge claims that the Catholics make about Mary, the mother of Jesus.
I knew another man, an older non-traditional student who liked to audit my literature classes. We shared notes and compared critiques of professors. I knew him to be Catholic and I knew his son to be what I considered quite fanatical. So one day, I brought up my issues regarding my so-called conversion. (I knew I was being called toward it, but I really was trying to go kicking and screaming.) I told him what my problems were and he was so calm. He said some of the most soothing words to me that I shall never ever forget. First, he told me that he had converted, too! How refreshing I thought, that everybody isn't born into this, but others, like me, choose it. Then he explained that he had some issues too with the Mother Mary teachings, and frankly if you are called to be Catholic, those issues will resolve themselves at an appropriate time. And then, he recommended a book.
Let me pause here, and say how funny it is, that God converted my heart on such an academic level to begin with. Yes, I was a student at the time, but I was a horrible student. I made poor grades and gave most of my attention to my social and spiritual life. I am still such an emotional being. Logic is not where I place most of my decision making, but logic sold me on the Catholic church, and academia is where I found all that logic.
So, back to this book. He recommended "Surprised by Truth 2." It's a "Chicken Soup" for the Catholic Soul, of sorts. He told me there was a great conversion story of a Methodist woman in the book, that might help me very much. I bought that book and went on a road trip with my favorite Catholic boy, to Taos, NM. I read the book all the way there and all the way back. The Methodist woman's story was not the one that I connected with. In fact I do not remember it at all, but a Mormon conversion story captured my attention. His story got really good to me when he goes digging for the "indestructible church" and finds that Total Apostasy (the idea that Jesus Church, built on Peter completely failed and had to be restored by Joseph Smith) was a total crock. I don't recall if he spelled it out for me, or if I put it all together on my own. But in an old Buick car, on the way from Taos, NM to Canyon, TX I realized that if Peter failed then all of Jesus's efforts were a complete fraud. And if Peter didn't fail, then John Wesley, the founder of my church must be wrong. That's a pretty simple math equation to me. It's probability. Jesus is < likely to be wrong than some other guy.
And from there on out, my heart was Catholic.
I married my favorite Catholic boy the same semester I graduated from my university in 2005. I had counseled with our presiding Priest about converting at another time when I had more attention to give to the Right of Christian Initiation for Adults. He agreed with me that it would be prudent to take the classes when more attention could be given, and in the fall of 2006 I signed up for RCIA. I took my first Eucharist on Easter Sunday of 2007.
I enjoyed teaching classes on the Right of Christian Initiation for younger Adults with my husband and later we began to teach courses on Infant Baptism. I absorbed all the Catholic knowledge I could and was constantly reading any encyclical from any Pope from any era that I could lay hands on. I found that everywhere I had a question, there was either a biblical teaching or a Tradition teaching.
It was a few years later, in 2010, after the birth of our daughter that I had a real "heart" conversion. I connected with the Church on a real emotional level almost instantly after she was born. I wanted a Priest to meet her, I wanted baptism for her, and I began to fall in love with the fact that Jesus had laid everything out for our family to thrive in love and faith, before I even knew I needed it.
This conversion was not a cake walk. So many people questioned me, people who knew me to be very independent accused me of "converting for my husband." Many thought it was a mistake. But the logic was not a lie. And here I am on the other side of my heart converting with me, I know there is not another faith in the world that could have answered my questions or carried me through the blessings and losses our family experienced. And that is why I am Catholic, and the story grows all the time as I continue loving our Lord and pursuing His will through His Church.
