Questions For Those Who Converted To Catholicism

[Theosis3]

God be with all of you,

This is a personal question for those of you [b]who are converts[/b].

What made you convert to the Catholic Church? Did you ever consider the Eastern Orthodox Church? If so, why did you choose the Catholic Church over the Eastern Orthodox Church?

Thank you.

[LouisvilleFan]

First, the presence of the pope as the first among all bishops, completing the pattern of hierarchical structure seen everywhere else in the Church (father over the domestic church, priest over the parish, bishop over the diocese, archbishop uniting several dioceses, and finally pope uniting all bishops).

Second, which is kind of a corrolary to the first, is the Catholic Church's consistent stance on contraception, which is rooted in the first point because it's only by the pope's authority that we can say the Catholic Church is consistent. Within both Orthodox and Catholic Churches, there are priests and bishops who preach different stances, but Catholics can look above that fray of dissention to find a clear source of truth.

As biotechnology greatly advances in the coming decades, I think authoritative teaching on all the moral questions and dilemmas that are unthinkable today will require the pope's authority far more urgently than the Church has ever needed before.

[Lord Philip]

[quote name='Theosis3' post='1718776' date='Dec 4 2008, 12:06 PM']God be with all of you,

This is a personal question for those of you [b]who are converts[/b].

What made you convert to the Catholic Church? Did you ever consider the Eastern Orthodox Church? If so, why did you choose the Catholic Church over the Eastern Orthodox Church?

Thank you.[/quote]

I said "no" because I am a Western Christian. I think the pinnacle moment of my conversion was reading, for the first time, St. Ignatius of Antioch tell Christians to obey their bishop. My bishop is his Excellency Allen Vigneron of Oakland, CA. He is Roman Catholic. I obey him.

Furthermore, the arguments for the primacy of the See of Rome are too strong, and reading St. Irenaeus say that all Churches must be subject to the Church in Rome made the case even stronger.

I love and respect our Eastern brothers, and I think the Western Church has a lot to learn from them, especially liturgically.

Praying daily for unity,

Philip

[jeffpugh]

I did not consider the Orthodox Church nor the Eastern Catholics because I was not aware of the "Eastern Flavour" when I was leaving Anglicanism.

[BG45]

I didn't consider it (my vote still counts as I'm in RCIA yes?). The Pope as stated before should not be a first amongst equals, it doesn't mesh with the hierarchy as laid out in a large number of sources.

[cheryl]

[quote name='Theosis3' post='1718776' date='Dec 4 2008, 03:06 PM']God be with all of you,

This is a personal question for those of you [b]who are converts[/b].

What made you convert to the Catholic Church? Did you ever consider the Eastern Orthodox Church? If so, why did you choose the Catholic Church over the Eastern Orthodox Church?

Thank you.[/quote]

Mary. Prior to almost becoming Eastern Orthodox, the western Marian apparitions played a great part in enlivening my faith. To put it rather bluntly, I felt as if I was reborn. The spiritual confusion and fear of loosing my salvation, which had so crippled me before, fell away. My love for Christ increased, almost everything theological fell into place. I believe I was given a great grace. The graces of joy, cheerfulness, simplicity and child-like spirituality. Due to certain circumstances, I had begun to move away from the R. Catholic Church, and began moving closer to Eastern Orthodoxy. I tried to hang on to my belief in Mary's appearance at say, Lourdes, Fatima ect. But eventually, as I progressed closer to E. Orthodoxy, I had to let go of them and in so doing, have lost the insights, graces ect. I was once given. The still have not returned, but I remember how it was. The graces I enjoyed before are no longer my reality. Oh, how I wish it were! But even though I no longer experience the joy and clarity I had before, because I remember what it was like to possess it, I have tried to return back to the apparitions, and subsequently back to R. Catholicism.

And, as another poster mentioned, the bishop of Rome is our bishop. I couldn't make a flying leap over an historically legit See, to embrace E. Orthodoxy and still maintain a fervent faith in the authority and infallibility of the Catholic Church at large (including E. Orthodoxy). I might as well, have chosen one of the protestant churches, because even granting the catholicity of the E. Orthodox Churches, my choice would still be based on my likes and dislikes (I'd need a doctrinal reason to make such a jump) rather than on submission to Christ via the bishop under whose jurisdiction we fall.

[Madame Vengier]

No. I had never heard of it at the time.

[homeschoolmom]

No, because the thing that convinced me of Catholicism was papal authority.

[mortify]

I'm a revert to Catholicism though initially I was strongly bent on becoming Orthodox.

The biggest reason for me becoming Catholic is the Papacy. As much as the East appeals to me the Papacy remains too formidable a Reality to deny.

[philothea]

Well, technically yes, because I considered (at least cursorily) all faiths before making a commitment to one. Didn't seem right to do otherwise.

Eastern Orthodoxy was eliminated for a few reasons, but primarily because at the time they didn't seem to have any kind of evangelism going on. If there was a way to become Orthodox, I'd never heard of it. How could you be the One True Religion and keep it to yourself? I only knew one Orthodox person, and he was non-religious, but culturally "Greek Orthodox" (so they celebrated Easter on a different day). He was from Greece.

Also, the Papacy was one of the biggest indicators of the truth of Catholicism, to me.

[Archaeology cat]

Can't say that I did. One reason being that I wasn't really exposed to Eastern Christianity. My cousins are Latin Rite Catholic, as are all the other Catholics I've met in person. I know a culturally Greek Orthodox person, but didn't meet her until after I'd converted, and she hasn't told me much about Orthodoxy. As for what finally led me to conversion, it was the Eucharist. Though I think Petrine primacy makes a lot of sense.

[Resurrexi]

The Eastern Orthodox Church is very seducing to me. Having such a desire for liturgy properly done and such an abhorrence for liturgical abuse, the Eastern Orthodoxy seems like a liturgical paradise when compared to most of Latin Catholicism today. In addition to that, the sad thing is that a lot of the breaks from tradition (e.g. the use of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion in ordinary circumstances) have spread, like a cancer, to parts of the other Eastern lung of the Church. Even so, however, I believe in what God has revealed though His Church, which [i]subsists in[/i] and [i]is[/i] the Catholic Church, and I have hope that He will eventually lead her out of this major period of crisis (possibly the largest she's ever had), and since Summorum Pontificum the future's actually looked pretty bright.

Edited December 5, 2008 by Resurrexi

[mortify]

The East's liturgy isn't as pure as one would think, just ask an Old Believer.

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='mortify' post='1720510' date='Dec 5 2008, 09:22 PM']The East's liturgy isn't as pure as one would think, just ask an Old Believer.[/quote]

Obviously, but from the outside it appears that way.

[bonkers]

[quote name='Theosis3' post='1718776' date='Dec 4 2008, 02:06 PM']God be with all of you,

This is a personal question for those of you [b]who are converts[/b].

What made you convert to the Catholic Church? Did you ever consider the Eastern Orthodox Church? If so, why did you choose the Catholic Church over the Eastern Orthodox Church?

Thank you.[/quote]

When I originally chose Catholicism, I chose it because I felt a call to the Catholic Church, and not any other variant of Catholicism. Given its universal and mainstream presence, it felt like the logical choice at the time.