Click on the Title to view the Testimonies and Conversion Stories

 

Saw the Light : from Jew to Catholic

While I have not converted as of yet, I am now beginning RCIA so I can join my new found faith. Having been born and raised jewish, one might think that my decision was difficult. But, one day, I heard a calling from Jesus and realized that he had a mission for me. Since, I believe that catholicism is an extension of judiasm, I am following my life into a new chapter. I eagerly await next Easter when I can receive he lord for the first time. I am learning every day, and have fallen in love with Jesus, and the Catholic Church. I also believe that Jesus has a plan for me, and that is to bring other Jews home to Him.

 

Handshaker : An anti-Catholic comes home with a hand from Pope John Paul II

Like many people, my conversion story is long. It took place from my teen years through the age of 38. I had wasted my late teens and early adulthood chasing drugs, money, and an entertainment career. I considered myself ‘Religious’ but never gave God any time. Also, I was proudly anti-Catholic but for the life of me, now I cannot think of any reason why.

After many years of frustration trying to live according to my own will, I gave up. It was 2004…

‘ But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door and pray to your father in secret. And your father who sees in secret will repay you. In praying, do not babble like the pagans who think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your father knows what you need before you ask him.’

The night everything seemed to change was like this bible verse. I was in bed late at night thinking about what God wanted from me. Everyday I heard God asking. "What about me… It’s time to come home now and follow me." I was frustrated and crying and praying to the lord on this night. I told God that from now on he was first, then I would be the best father and husband I could be, and after that I didn’t care. I gave up control of my life that night. Life went on and I continued praying and asking God to help me find a church. I began to research every Christian denomination I could find. (other than the Catholic faith..) I became confused by the differences in all of them. I had spent most of my life thinking they were all about the same. Not one of them could be traced authentically back to Christ. Under what authority other than their own, were these Churches founded?? How was I supposed to know where God wanted me to be??

In October 2005 my wife’s parents were coming in from California. Her mother is a devout Catholic. I happened to see an ad for an exhibition being held downtown called "St.Peter and the Vatican." I knew she would love to see it and so I bought tickets for the whole family. Little did I know it was God calling me to this event..I thought it was going to be some kind of Church propaganda display.

The St. Peter display was a wonderful collection. Many items had never left the Vatican before. The whole display was set up as a history of the church from the time of the apostles through the Papacy of John Paul ll. I ended up drifting off by myself and I was the last one to get to the end. At the very end there was a bronze cast of the Pope’s hands for people to pray on. I grabbed the hands and prayed to this great man to tell God to lead me to his church. Later that night in front of family and without any pre-thought I blurted out "I am going to become a Catholic." They were shocked to say the least.

I contacted my local Parish to inquire how one becomes Catholic. It was explained to me that I was to enroll in RCIA, however I was to late for the current year and would have to wait nearly a full year to begin the next class. I was upset and devastated. I wanted to follow God’s call… NOW!! In hindsight I see my first real test from God as to whether I was going to trust him or not.

I spent the next year attending Mass and learning about Catholicism. I realize now what a wonderful time in my life this was. I finally entered into the RCIA program in 2006 and came into full communion with God’s Church Easter 2007.    AMEN

 

Northern Seeker : 'Full heart' conversion of a lukewarm christian through ACTS

I was baptized in the Episcopal church and, when young, my family attended church only sporadically. I once asked my mother why we didn’t go to church each week like my Catholic cousins and was told ‘at our church, we don’t have to.’ That lukewarm approach would follow me for much of my life. I did occasionally attend Mass in my teen years with Catholic friends. Over time I felt drawn to Catholic church and figured I would one day become Catholic.

I met and married a lovely Catholic woman and I made plans to convert. The Catholic priest providing pre-marriage counseling asked that I wait a while after the wedding, thinking I was perhaps being pressured or coerced. I was not. I felt ready.

I went through the RCIA program and learned much. One serious negative; my RCIA sponsor (who was also one of the RCIA leaders) gave me bad teaching. When I asked her about the real presence in the Eucharist, she told me that the host was merely symbolic. This left me confused for many years. I became involved in the local Catholic church with my wife; in the pre-marriage & baptism ministries. We attended Mass most weeks but was not overly concerned with missing Mass occasionally.

When we relocated to San Antonio from the north lands some years ago, we found many people in the local Catholic community to be very active and devoted to their faith. However, for a while, I sat on the sidelines as we dealt with the effects of the relocation on our teenage children. Even though we attended Mass weekly, I still felt lukewarm and not in a close relationship with God. My faith life was a bit like driving a car on a cold winter morning up north; labored cranking of the engine… slow sputtering start… running warm for a period while so long as you’re moving… but once you stop, you quickly turn cold. A lukewarm practicing Catholic; focused more on work and getting ahead.

After selling part ownership in a business and putting away a retirement nest egg, I thought I had finally arrived. But inside I felt empty. I started seeking answers for this emptiness; to give direction to and meaning in my life. While I had turned down previous invitations to attend an ACTS retreat through our Catholic church, I now knew I was ready (and being called). ACTS stands for Adoration, Community, Theology, & Service.

I can’t describe in words how profoundly that ACTS retreat impacted my life. I experienced the close presence of God and heard him speak to my soul. The ACTS retreat ranks among the very greatest experiences in my life along with my wedding and birth of children. My life will never be the same. I have found tremendous joy in growing in faith and serving others. I have found that I am the one who gets the most when I serve others. The biblical teaching ‘it is better to give than receive’ is true, but perhaps a better way of saying this is ‘it is through giving that we truly receive.’

Through the ACTS experience and aftermath, I realized how one can be Catholic in name but not Catholic in heart. My hope and prayer is that you don’t procrastinate in seeking Him; go on an ACTS retreat and let the Holy Spirit perform surgery on your heart. You too will never again be the same.

 

RH-man : Conversion of the heart while attending second Mass

I was recently reflecting on my faith journey over the last few years. I converted to Catholicism in 2006 with my wife. I was raised in the Baptist church until I stopped attending as a 15 year old and had no relationship with God until I experienced a powerful personal conversion in late 2005 while attending my second mass. My 23 years in the ‘spiritual wilderness’ were challenging in that my life revolved around only work and then after my marriage, family and work. God was always watching over me during these years, but I didn’t have a relationship with Him and I certainly didn’t pray to Him until after my conversion and surrender to His will.

Before I began my RCIA classes in the Fall of 2006, I studied the Catholic faith in earnest. I tend to intellectualize everything and my first thoughts were to learn everything I could about our faith. I quickly realized there was more to our wonderful Faith than knowledge, history and tradition! I then began to focus on being the best Catholic I could be and started on my true faith journey, versus simply immersing myself in books. One of the biggest obstacles for me in those days was my lack of prayer life. I knew I needed to pray, but I couldn’t ever remember sincerely praying about anything. I was struggling with the typical male challenge of asking for help, especially asking God for help! Who was I to bother Him with my petty problems?

I went to one of our Deacons, shared my prayer challenges with him and asked for guidance. He looked at me with some amusement and said I was approaching prayer in the wrong way. ‘Don’t worry about asking for help just yet,’ he said. Simply go to the Lord with thanks and be grateful for the blessings in my life. Eventually, I learned to ask God for help and guidance, but my prayer life started by offering thanks to Him. The light bulb went off and I finally got it! I now understood that my faith journey would never grow unless I had an active prayer life.

I am confident that there will be more and evolving stages of prayer growth for me if I am humble and focused on deepening my relationship with Christ. St. Teresa of Avila wrote frequently on the stages of prayer, especially in her book The Interior Castle. I hope to reach the contemplative and mystical prayer life she describes in her works and pray that Jesus will lead me there.

Brothers and sisters, I certainly don’t have all the answers and I am no expert on prayer. I simply want to share with you as someone who struggles with the same issues and obstacles, that my prayer life and my faith journey have grown together. I didn’t have any kind of prayer life just three years ago and now I couldn’t imagine living a life without one. To me prayer is anytime that I turn my attention to God and away from myself alone. It can be accomplished in a variety of ways and acts. Feeling worthy or inspired is not a great barometer for measuring our prayer life. Praying for the desire for prayer is worthwhile and a good start.

 

KellyGirl : Trip to Fatima prompted listening to God's call

I was baptized as a baby in the Lutheran church. I remember attending on a semi-regular basis with my mother until I was seven or so. It was a few more years until I set foot in the church and at that time it was to attend Confirmation classes. My parents would drop my brother and me off and pick us up at the church for the next few years until we got confirmed.

Shortly after that I left home to join the military at the age of 17. Over the next few years I attended a couple of different Pentecostal churches and then just fell away. After my first child was born I began attending a nondenominational charismatic church. My husband also attended for a while. We had our oldest son ‘dedicated’ there. Then we moved because of the military. At our new location we began attending an Assemblies of God Church and there we had our second son ‘dedicated.’ We were probably there a year and then stopped attending church altogether. We got a salvation message every week but no real substantive spiritual food.

About the time we stopped attending that church and I was yearning for that spiritual food is the first recollection I have of feeling called to the Catholic Church. That was 13 years ago. I ignored that call but did not forget it. I did not attend church for another nine years. I was exposed to the church every day because of my job and I maintained a continued fascination and desire to be a part of the Catholic Church. But I did not act on it.

While we were in Europe my husband and I went to Rome and I went with a Junior High Youth group to Fatima. I could feel the draw of the Catholic Church strongly during both of those trips. Within a month of returning to the states I came in contact with a priest who invited me to mass at the church I have been attending for the last four years. It is a catholic (small c) communion that is valid but illicit in the eyes of Rome. They have been a real church family to me and I have truly experienced spiritual growth there. My sons were baptized there and they and I were confirmed together in that first year there. At that point, I felt I was catholic enough.

I entered RCIA this year with the intention of participating in a faith formation program because I wanted to know more about my faith but was too lazy or lacked the time management skills to embark on a campaign of self study. When I entered RCIA I did not know that I was responding to God’s call to the Catholic Church. However, we have been meeting for two months now and I am absolutely convinced that instead of my stated reasons, I entered RCIA in response to God’s call.

 

Saint Seeker : Conversion with the help of the Saints

I have not been a devout Catholic, but I do pray in good or bad times alike, and, when i need the intercession of the specific Saint, who’s job it typically is to intercede in certain, specific matters, I will call on them. And I will pray the novena with all my might.

on various occasions I can say that St. Anthony has helped me find lost objects and items, including two lost animals! In very miraculous, and virtually impossible ways.

But when I needed an impossible prayer to be answered I called on St. Rita, who has carried out miraculous prayers on my behalf, I am convinced that she recently was mainly responsible for my obtainment of work even under very difficult and hopeless circumstances. Alleluia for your kind intercession on my behalf, St. Rita — and the same goes for St. Joseph, St. Cayetano and San Martin. San Raphael, angelic being, thank you all for your prayers.

I am a believer! Amen.

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