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NWR: How did you get to the Church?

scrunchythiefscrunchythief member
First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
edited July 2014 in Catholic Weddings
I thought I'd see if we can get some conversation going here. I love hearing about how people came to Jesus and His Church, so if you'd like to share, I'd love to listen:)

 I was born Catholic and raised in a kind of mixed faith home (Mom's Catholic, Dad's Jewish). I was baptized, received communion and confirmed (age 12 in my diocese). We also celebrated major Jewish holidays with my Dad's family, but I never considered myself really Jewish and have never been to temple, apart from my cousins' bar mitzvahs. Then, soon after confirmation, my Mom stopped taking us to church for two or three years and I didn't really seek it out on my own as a teenager. We started going again in high school, but I didn't really believe a lot of what the church taught.

 Then, in college, my grandpa recommended that I check out the Newman club. Best advice ever:) After a while, a lot of prayer and a lot of debates (they had an Apologetics club), I decided to trust more in Jesus and His Church's teachings. My husband and I met around that same time and kind of went through that process together, which is awesome, looking back on it.

ETA:  TK ate my paragraphs:(
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Re: NWR: How did you get to the Church?

  • mrsmorales2bemrsmorales2be mod
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    Such a long story for me - born and raised Southern Baptist, Pentecostal influence from the stepmom. No one in my family is Catholic. I didn't even KNOW any Catholics until High School.  Christ and His Church have always been there, though. 

    I've always been in church, but I can look back through my spiritual life to see how Christ was calling me to His Church from an early age. I can remember walking with my grandma when I was 4 or 5 and being fascinated with the small rural parish church in her small town, and thinking that Jesus must live there!  I now believe I was sensing the Real Presence.  It was the first movements of grace calling me home.

    I went to Rome when I was 14 - we went to the Vatican.  I insisted on going to St. Peter's on Sunday - that was my first Mass.  I'll never know how much that trip truly affected me.

    As a teenager, I remember being frustrated at learning that books were left out of the Protestant canon of scripture and relegated to apocryphal status.  I bought a "Catholic Bible" and hid it from my parents.  Even before getting deep in history, I wanted to know the truth.

    My Jr. and Sr. years of HS were spent at a boarding school for advanced math and science.  My roommate was Catholic, and we went to Mass.  I had tons of questions, of course - many she couldn't answer, but she gently answered my questions and encouraged my seeking as only another child can. 

    I started RCIA in college, but withdrew during inquiry primarily due to concerns of "what would my family think??".  I wasn't spiritually mature enough to own my faith.  Every year during Lent, though, I always felt so convicted for remaining separated from the Church.  I spent years as a catechist in both the Pentecostal and Baptist church.  I knew that I had problems with what I was teaching.  I had problems with the lack of authority, the rewriting of history, the "anything goes" mentality of interpretation of scripture...but it still took years for me to finally make the decision to come home. 

    When I FINALLY came into the Church, I didn't come in through RCIA.  I was received and Confirmed on Pentecost, which is still one of my favorite feast days.  It was very much a homecoming for me - I found in the Church everything I never knew I was missing. 

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  • scrunchythiefscrunchythief member
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    @flantastic, your work sounds awesome!  I love studying the faith too and will talk off anyone's ear about it who will let me.  I've actually been considering pursuing teaching theology myself, though I kind of don't know too much about where to start.  I'm signing up to teach CCD this fall though, so I'm hoping that will give me an idea of a direction.

    @mrsmora    les2be, I'm so glad you made it home:)  I didn't even know you could enter without RCIA.  How does that work?  The feast of Pentecost is one of my favorites too, mostly because of my time spent at my college's charismatic prayer group.  
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  • IrishPirate60IrishPirate60 member
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    I was baptized at our neighborhood parish when I was 10 days old. Went to some Catholic grade school. Catholic college, majored in theology because I wanted to understand what those charismatics were experiencing. Went on to teach high school religion, became a parish worker in religious ed and liturgy, then became a prison chaplain. Now I work at the county jail as a chaplain, work on the parish liturgy commission, and count myself lucky to have both work and parish that I love.
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  • mrsmorales2bemrsmorales2be mod
    First Answer First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper

    @scrunchythief, in certain circumstances, those who are already baptized and are well catechized are better served through being individually received after a period of discernment and perhaps some private instruction with their priest.  In my case, my priest gave me some recommended reading and I was already attending daily Mass, so it was a natural progression. 

    Good luck with teaching CCD!  I love teaching!  I've taught just about every grade in RE - my favorite class is the middle grades sacraments class - preparing older children for baptism/first communion if they need to be "caught up".  Guess it makes sense, since I didn't receive the sacraments at the "normal" age, either!  :)

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  • scrunchythiefscrunchythief member
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    mrsmorales2be said:

    @scrunchythief, in certain circumstances, those who are already baptized and are well catechized are better served through being individually received after a period of discernment and perhaps some private instruction with their priest.  In my case, my priest gave me some recommended reading and I was already attending daily Mass, so it was a natural progression. 

    Good luck with teaching CCD!  I love teaching!  I've taught just about every grade in RE - my favorite class is the middle grades sacraments class - preparing older children for baptism/first communion if they need to be "caught up".  Guess it makes sense, since I didn't receive the sacraments at the "normal" age, either!  :)

    l That's so cool;  I'll have to keep that in the back of my mind to suggest if I ever meet anyone in a similar position.  

    Thanks, I'm pretty excited.  I think I'd     like to work with older kids since I love discussion formats, but I trust I'll get sent wherever I'm needed:)

    S    lightly off topic, have you ever read any Scott Hahn books?  I love everything of his I've read and I'm in the middle of Rome Sweet Home now.  You reminded me of him because he basically became Catholic through going to daily Mass (among other things).  
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  • mrsmorales2bemrsmorales2be mod
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    I've actually not read Dr. Scott Hahn's books, but I know they're a good resource for people coming into the Church.  I'd definitely recommend them, as well as Peter Kreeft.  Steve Ray has a great book about his conversion story - his testimony is awesome.  We had the privilege of having him and his lovely wife this Lent for our parish mission. 

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  • scrunchythiefscrunchythief member
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    Oh my gosh, I LOVE Peter Kreeft!!  I want to be him when I grow up...lol, kinda.  Forgive my fan-girling.  He came and spoke at my college and then I read his Back to Virtue and it seriously changed how I approach growing in faith.  I considered going for a master's in couseling at BC just to try to crash his classes.  

    *deep breath*

    Anyways, I'd high    ly suggest reading a few Scott Hahn books, especially The Lamb's Supper.  They're short and easy to understand but deep and rich in meaning:)
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  • agapecarrieagapecarrie member
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    Dr. Peter Kreeft taught one of my classes at the TOB institute. "Philosophy of JPII". Incredible class, but what was even more nuts-- he could keep up 2 chess games at once. (of of them against 2 people). And he's good at ping pong.
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  • mrsmorales2bemrsmorales2be mod
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    I can't keep up with ONE chess game against someone who plays as terribly as I do!  How does someone play two at once?  Some people are just wicked smart!

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  • scrunchythiefscrunchythief member
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    edited August 2014
    l My uncle is a chess master and he said he once saw a grand master play 8 people at once!! Boggles my mind.  I'm a decent player b/c my uncle makes me play every time I visit:)

    ETF typo.
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  • JMS62415JMS62415 member
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    I'm a cradle Catholic, confirmed at 16, and attended the Newman Center throughout college. I love my faith. 
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
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    Baptized Methodist, confirmed Presbyterian, didn't attend church again really till I was 19.. went to a non-denominational church.. got married, again didn't attend church. Went through a nasty divorce. Moved home found god while attending the same non-denominational church. Met FI he's a craddle catholic. I started attending mass with him. Wanted to learn more so I attended the classes the church had I always get the RCRA and RCIA classes mixed up :)  Joined the church in Jan.
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  • chocolateygabschocolateygabs member
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    Congratulations @RachelLee83!  Welcome!

     

    I am a cradle Catholic, born and raised. I too attended a Newman Center on campus, joined the Church Choir, and have been going to Church by myself for years before I met DH. I like the idea that we all have our ups and downs in our faith because it calls for renewal and reflection.  Planning our ceremony was very important to us, and I am glad we chose readings that will help us further reflect on our marriage as time goes by. 

    DH was baptized Catholic, but for whatever reason they stopped going to church after they moved when he was in 5th grade.  He went to a Catholic university, and he had been interested in going and really enjoyed his required Theology classes. His extreme social anxiety kept him from going by himself, though.

     When we started dating, I successfully had the religion conversation with him and he became my Church buddy.  He decided to become Confirmed two years ago, and I was his sponsor.  :)

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