On Becoming a Catholic: A Letter to a Protestant

magisterium, Vatican

I am finally writing to you to let you know, brother, that I finally have my addiction under control. This  brings me to the most significant change which has taken place in my life, my conversion to Catholicism.

I understand this subject is met with certain misconceptions. Our grandparents, our father, and all his siblings left the Catholic church when they came to this country, they came to a new nation, leaving everything behind that reminded them of poverty in a farming village. The Catholic church was rarely mentioned to us when we were growing up, and when it was, seldom was it presented in a positive way.

I didn’t “become Catholic” because I work part-time for the priest. I work for the church, because I need a part-time job, especially to compensate for those days when I can not work in the woods due to harsh weather. Six months passed before I even went to a church “service”; six months passed before the priest talked to me about “religion,” and only then because I asked him a few questions.

Conversations With Jesus

My conversion began when I became convinced that the living Christ is present in His Church and in every tabernacle of the world. I did not arrive at this conclusion because it was explained to me, nor because it is an essential truth of Catholic doctrine, nor was I influenced by conversations with the parish priest. I came to this conclusion because of “conversations with Jesus.” These “conversations” only took place when I was inside the Church quietly praying or reading sacred scripture for an extended period of time.

Before I experienced these “conversations,” two other events occurred. First, came the realization that Jesus was literally in the Church. I felt His Presence, no words, no sounds, just a profound awareness that “someone else” was nearby. Exactly where  I didn’t know, but definitely nearby. Of course, at the time, I had no idea who or what I was experiencing, except that I felt the closeness of another person, yet  I was alone in the church when this occurred. I knew that I was alone because I searched every inch of that church– more than once–from the basement to the bell in the steeple. I know it sounds strange but my whole conversion is based on these antecedent events.

Peace

The second event goes hand-in-hand with the first. Admittedly I was surprised by these feelings of a strong presence, but  I was not afraid. With the awareness of another person also came peace, a profound peace. A peace that found its way through every crack and crevice in my soul, a delightful peace that I knew came from “the presence” and from “outside” of me. When I got tired of searching and was willing to accept that  I was experiencing a real and good thing, I increased my time in prayer, and that’s when the conversations with Jesus began.

The peace and the Presence usually lasted for as long as I stayed in the Church, but the “conversations” were short. Jesus didn’t speak to me in words; it was more like  “thought impressions,” that is, new thoughts, different thoughts, thoughts with resolution and purpose, thoughts that when followed yielded positive results.

Being With Christ

This experience of being with Christ was the catalyst which moved me to embrace the Catholic Church.  A parable from the New Testament may shed some light on the strength of my convictions: “

The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field (Matthew 13:44).

Exploring Doctrine

After my conversion, I began to explore doctrine in order to increase the understanding of my new Faith, even though I readily accepted all that the Church taught since I could not place any doubt in Christ nor in my profound awareness that the Catholic Church is His Church. So when I was told in the course of my instruction ” that the Catholic Church was created by Jesus,” it was easy for me to accept. Jesus founded a church with the  Apostles, and that same Church with the same doctrine exists today, and there is objective evidence to support these facts. Firstly, we have the promise made by Jesus that He will “build” His church and  it will last until the end of time:  

And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build my church,  and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16: 17-18). 

Secondly, it is a historical fact that the only church in the world which can trace itself back to Jesus is the Holy Catholic Church.

Rooted in Jesus

Let me simplify this argument.  Select any Protestant denomination, Methodist, Baptist, Evangelical, etc. and seek its origin. History will disclose a person,  a time in history,  and a place of origin and none of it leads back to Christ. Furthermore, before the reformation, no Protestant church existed.  but since then they have continued to divide and multiply, so that today we have hundreds of protestant Christian denominations, each one with a different beginning, but none beginning with Christ.

One distracting argument in reference to the words of Christ is “who is the Rock?”  The Catholics say Peter, and the Protestants insist that the Rock is Christ. In reference to Jesus establishing a church, it doesn’t make any difference “who is the Rock,” because in either case, it is Jesus who is creating the Church.

The Catholic Church

If I were talking to you right now instead of writing this letter,  I’m sure that you would respond by saying;:

the problem with the Catholic church is not its origin,  but its development and transformation. It is commonly believed in most Protestant circles that the Catholic  church during the dark ages became irretrievably corrupt and by the time of Martin Luther it was too corrupt to change and the only way to correct it was to leave it and start a new church, which is exactly what Martin Luther did.

That argument reminds me of the parable of the darnel:

The Kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off.  When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner’s servants went to him and said, ‘Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from ?’‘Some enemy has done this,’ he answered. And the servants said, ‘Do you want us to go and weed it out ?’ But he said, ‘No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow til the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burned, then gather the wheat into the barn.’ (Matthew 13: 24-30).

God’s perfection is found in the Church triumphant, the sacred sacraments, and the communion of saints. The Militant Church, here on earth, has always had its challenges, and its imperfections are the result of our free will. Evil is not caused by God but from our own choices. But Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, promised us that the “gates of hell will not prevail.” (Matthew 16:17-18). Therefore, we have God as the master builder and his promise that the church is protected from evil, thus it shall never sink to the depths of “irretrievable corruption,” and any “evil” that should enter  God’s church is only temporary and shall be eradicated by the holy will of its members and the power of the Holy Spirit. If Martin Luther and the other “reformers” had placed their focus, trust, and faith in the words of Jesus, the “reformation,” I’m sure, would have taken another direction.

In conclusion, I  hope that in time you and your family can accept my conversion and that someday you will see it for what it is; namely, the best thing that has ever happened in my life.

JM,

Richard

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4 thoughts on “On Becoming a Catholic: A Letter to a Protestant”

  1. Pingback: Answering Readers' Comments - Catholic Stand

  2. The field in the parable doesn’t represent the church, it represents the whole world. The wheat is the church, collectively, and the weeds are the church’s enemies in the world. What Jesus promises is a cleansing of the world for the sake of the church. The parable is not about the internal problems of the church.

  3. I always felt so alone as I yearned for a deeper relationship with our Lord. As a protestant, no matter how full the church or who I sat next to, I was alone. One of the many striking things to me after becoming Catholic was to feel His real presence. I could be completely ‘alone’ in the church and yet never feel alone. I felt His presence too. Thank you for sharing Richard.

  4. This article is an an amazing account of your journey to your Catholic faith. As I was reading it I felt I was there with you through this journey. Please write more and I look forward to learning more of your experiences!

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