Posted on 12/07/2012 9:52:23 AM PST by NKP_Vet
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I was raised a Lutheran,but my daughter is the Director of Admissions at Lowell Catholic High School.
Usually because you’re born into it, like me. I never figured on what basis you’d pick one as an adult. Seems rather arbitrary, failing a road to Damascus moment.
well I know a few people who have converted from other christian faiths when they married someone who is catholic
I find that the converts are sometimes better at making it to mass than the cradle catholics
A common theme I have heard from converts is that the Universality of the Church is what attracted them. If something was wrong for one person it was wrong for all, regardless of status, wealth or position on the globe.
Wrong for the Pope in Rome, wrong for Joe Ditchdigger in Des Moines.
Conversely in many Protestant denominations, the worst sins tended to vary from town to town, church to church, and pastor to pastor (often influenced by the beliefs of the wealthiest families who were supporting that church)
In recent years I am afraid we have blown this, due to the inconsistent response of the various Bishops on issues like their response to the Obamacare Mandate. Or on serving Communion to Catholic politicians who are pro-abortion.
We came into the Catholic Church in 2005, after 20 years in solid Evangelical churches. The Lord nudged me, hard! I came in kicking and screaming, but we have never looked back. We are also so tremendously appreciative of our Protestant background; we are so solidly versed in the Bible and in knowing the Lord.
Hi Buckeye,
Every single Catholic bishop in the US condemned the Obamacare mandate, every single one.
There are some other issues where the bishops might not be as strong as they should be, but I must say, having all 200 or so bishops opposed to Obamacare due to the HHS contraception mandate is a pretty good score on that issue.
To me it was that the Catholic Church does NOT decide ‘theology by committee,’ I call it; what it stands for does not change, regardless of community pressure or whims of the current age.
Marriage conversion is a practical measure. That answers nothing as to how one spiritually, philosophically, or however you want to phrase it, chooses.
As for converts versus those born into it, converts are by definition people who want to be there, or at some point choose to be there. Others, even the ones who end up liking it, are initially forced.
certainly conversion as a result of marriage is practical but that does not mean it is not a spiritual or philosophical decision as well..after all conversion because of marriage is not required to have a marriage sanctioned by the catholic church
my father is episcopalian and never converted to my mother’s catholicism and for him not to was just as spiritual as it was practical. I just don’t think that you can remove the spiritual nature of the choice just because it may also be a practical one...especially if one considers that perhaps the convert started dating the catholic for spiritual reasons
Sure, the Bishops condemned it but talk is cheap.
The Church has done nothing, NOTHING, to hold anyone accountable.
When you lay down with dogs you get fles.
My father-in-law, raised a Protestant, was brought to Catholic faith through my mother-in-law. She told him she wouldn’t marry him if he didn’t enter the Church. He took a year to think about it, traveling the country, reading, praying, exploring. He came to truly believe in the truth of Catholic faith. And then married my mother-in-law. And had my wife!
But he was a man of deep, to-the-bone integrity, and only came into the Church because he became unalterably convinced of its truth.
He was a very, very devout Catholic.
There is no question that God can draw people to His Church through many means, including through romantic love.
sitetest
Sorry, I can’t come home. I reserve my prayer for God alone, so I’m not welcome back.
“that does not mean it is not a spiritual or philosophical decision as well’
No, it doesn’t. But that leaves what the non-practical basis was undisclosed, which makes it useless for my purposes.
“I just don’t think that you can remove the spiritual nature of the choice just because it may also be a practical one”
Your going off in the wrong direction. I brought up the fact that conversions seem to me arbitrary, by which I meant spiritually arbitrary. Failing a revelation, that is. Then someone brought up marriage, which may or may not have a spiritual element but is definitely practical. My point wad that it leaves the part important to religion, the how do you know it’s the Truth part, mysterious. I said nothing about there being no spiritual element to marriage conversion.
“He came to truly believe in the truth of Catholic faith...he became unalterably convinced of its truth”
Okay, but what I want to know is how. I’m not naturally inclined toward religion, so maybe it’s just me. I never knew how that worked.
That’s nice that all 200 Bishops agreed to oppose the mandate.
If you were a not particularly politically aware Catholic attending my Church you might never have known that. We were told for 2 weeks before the election that “you can go to the Parish website to access a link to a video produced by the Conference of Catholic Bishops regarding their position on issues surrounding the election”.
I doubt even 1/2 of 1% of those present bothered to do so.
Pretty much the same story at surrounding Churches as well. Sounds to me like somebody got to our Bishop and convinced him not to antagonize the Union members in his pews or the local Democrat politicians.
it seems that rather than pose a question and see where the answer leads you, you feel the need to control the direction of the conversation.
sometimes when we let things go a bit differently than we intended we open our minds a bit
1) catholic marriages always have a spiritual component :) 2. it just may be that sometimes what attracts someone to someone else might just be their catholic faith. so romantic love and hence marriage is a valid answer to your question of spiritual conversion and the drawing together of two people in catholic marriage is indeed a beautiful and spiritually mysterious thing:)
“I never figured on what basis you’d pick one as an adult.”
Couple reasons.
1. Apostolic Succession. The Church has been in existence since Christ walked the earth, and the Bishop of Rome is in unbroken succesion with St. Peter.
2. Universality. The same principles, the same mass, worldwide is very attractive.
3. The stance of the Church on the primary issues of the day, abortion, gay marriage, contraception, male priests.
4. The Church heirarchy. Not voting on doctrine. Having an acknowledged head of world wide church. Authority of the magisterium.
5. Focus is on Christ in the mass, not the priest or the pastor. You don’t go to church to hear a wonderful sermon, you go to receive Christ.
I was talking to my SIL just yesterday and she told me that my brother has been attending an RCIA class and is going to become Catholic. You could have knocked me over with a feather!
I am a Catholic convert and his Son-in-law is a cradle Catholic, he and his wife have always attended the Methodist church. I don’t think my SIL is happy about it but I told her when God calls it is hard to ignore Him.
I didn’t wake up one day and go “Gee, I’d like to be a Catholic.” It was a long process and I didn’t see all the miracles and interventions until I looked back.
Man has failed the Catholic Church but God hasn’t. The Truth still hasn’t changed as much as they have tried to change it for their convenience.
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