Were you raised Catholic or a convert?

[Discerning13]

My family are atheist but I found Christianity when I was 10. I'm just curious whether people on here have a similar story

Edited June 6, 2015 by Discerning13

[Credo in Deum]

Revert.  I was born into a Catholic family but I didn't have any knowledge of the faith.  Left the Church when I was in my teens and didn't come back until I was 26 years old.  After playing in the pig croutons for too long, I had a conversion of heart, and my Father welcomed me back.  I owe my conversion to God's grace through the brown scapular and to the prayers religious and laity say for the conversion of sinners.  This was something which was made known to me one day during Eucharistic adoration and it was a powerful realization.  

Prayers do matter and they do change lives!

Edited June 7, 2015 by Credo in Deum

[Archaeology cat]

Raised Southern Baptist

[Nihil Obstat]

I was raised in a family of cultural Catholics who nonetheless - somehow - actually went to church weekly. So I am a bit of both. Raised in it, but chose later to take it seriously.

[IgnatiusofLoyola]

Not raised Catholic, not a convert (yet). 

[Ash Wednesday]

Cradle Catholic. Not a particularly strict or strong formation, though. Which was common for those of us who were kids in the 70s or 80s. The seed was planted, I was always a religious person but I really had to learn the fullness of faith on my own when I reached college.

[Benedictus]

No, not really religious at all. I had the most influence from my paternal grandmother really, but my mother was always against anything Catholic (even now). My father worshipped with the Anglicans fairly regularly for most of his life. I lived with families or boarding schools, so I picked up whatever they did or didn't do there. One family I lived with in the US that attended church the most were Unitarian Universalists, but some would say that that doesn't count as good religious formation I never bothered with anything Catholic regularly until my mid- late teens when I could go by myself, with God leading and walking with me every step of course

[Nihil Obstat]

I was raised in a family of cultural Catholics who nonetheless - somehow - actually went to church weekly. So I am a bit of both. Raised in it, but chose later to take it seriously.

​Credo's prop on this post was my 7000th. I will award him five props in return for being instrumental in this momentous achievement.

[Credo in Deum]

​Credo's prop on this post was my 7000th. I will award him five props in return for being instrumental in this momentous achievement.

You are a man of your word.  Anyway I was shocked to see so many from you. I thought someone hacked your account.  Glad to know all is well. Also congrats on your 7k jubilee!

[HopefulHeart]

Blessed to be raised Catholic, with strong faith formation since childhood.

[puellapaschalis]

One non-practising Catholic parent, the other non-practising non-Catholic Christian. I started taking things seriously in my early teens.

[beatitude]

A bit of both. I went to a Catholic school for the first three years of my education and made my First Confession and First Holy Communion at seven. We didn't go regularly to Mass as a family. I only really started to know and learn about my faith when I was in my teens and I decided I wanted to be confirmed. I used to go to church alone.

My parents have become much more religious over the years. Interestingly I think my discernment helped. At first when I started thinking about being a nun they were quite hostile to the idea, but over time they seemed to really get to like it and my dad even started making suggestions of which community to join (the Little Sisters of the Poor, because he always donates to them when he sees them out collecting and he doesn't know any others  ). Now they abstain from meat on Fridays, keep Lent, and do a lot of other things they didn't do when I was growing up. There are crucifixes and statues of Mary dotted around the house. My dad's faith seems to have been particularly strengthened by Pope Francis - sometimes I will ring him up and he will say excitedly, "Did you hear what the Pope said today?" If you'd told the fourteen-year-old or even the twenty-one-year-old me that one day my dad would be quoting the Holy Father to me over the phone, my mind would have boggled. I'm really happy about it. As a teenager I used to feel wistful that we weren't able to share the practice of faith, but now we can and it's lovely.

[Luigi]

Cradle Catholic. Solid Catholic formation throughout my life. 

Praise the Lord!

[NadaTeTurbe]

Raised at 100% atheist, and socialist. I don't know why I asked my parents "can I do cathechism ?" when I was around 10, but it was a good idea  I left the church, then come back, then left, then come back and now, I think I'm here for good. 

[NadaTeTurbe]

Btw, I just want to add that my parents have supported me in my religious life and decision. They always said "yes" to me. Before that, they had given me a religious culture : I knew by heart some prayer and the Shema Israel, I knew who were Jesus, Mary, and many Saints. At my first communion, my friends had expensive gift, and my parents just gave me a watch, a Bible and an icon, so my priest said they were the most catholic of all the atheist ! They also gave me so many great moral values, I could not have dream of a better education. I praise the Lord for giving me so wonderful parents, and I pray every day that they will meet God one day.