Hey...glad you are back...trust you are felling better. (seriously...I am)
Regarding the article and others like it. I stand by my statement that I rarely hear catholics refer to themselves as Christian. I rarely read in these accounts how one came to Christ. I do read a lot of "I went to the catholic church and the music was good, the stained glass was pretty and I knew I was home." All that tells me is that you like the music and the architecture. It doesn't indicate you've come to have faith in Christ.
I posted my story on my home page. I never remember not knowing who Jesus was, and my life in Him continued to grow, even when I was away from the Church, because I believed in Him and loved Him so strongly.
As Catholics, we're taught that Jesus founded our Church with Peter as His Vicar, and that other denominations disagreed over the years and left, but still believe in Jesus. It's analogous to the way we are in secular life: wherever our ancestors came from, we are still Americans, but tend to identify by our descent. I was born here and love my country, but if you ask me to describe myself, I'm Italian! We're all Americans but tend to describe ourselves by our differences, perhaps more often than by our commonality. Same with faith: we're all Christians, but if I say in forum I'm a Christian, I'm told that my God, my Jesus, are not the same as those of non-Catholics. Of course Catholics are Christians, but say it in forum and well, that's one more thing that makes folks argue and say things that are not always befitting Christians.
I can't say I've never been sarcastic, or gotten frustrated and spoken my mind discourteously. I don't want to mock other people's beliefs, because over the years I've learned that a person's faith in God may be the only thing, the thread, by which that person is hanging on at that point, and mocking it may hurt them, despite the "tough-skin" meme. I wouldn't want to hurt someone that way. I pray I never have.
I hope I've stated this well- not to point fingers, but so that the issue is better understood, because I've seen it asked before. Thanks for listening, and God bless you all!
Please keep me in prayer, if you will! - Thanks,
Grateful2God