What I Was Before I Became a Catholic
Grew up in Calvinistic Society in South Africa. Our family stems from Huguenot from France and very Protestant. Married a non-practicing Catholic from Germany and moved here where I came into contact with Catholics.
Why I Converted to Catholicism
A new friend in Germany took me with to Mass, to Bible Study Groups, Prayer Groups for Catholics. After a period of 6 months I realised that the Catholic Rituals, Prayers in the Church are nothing that I was warned about so many years ago in South Africa. They were talking about the "Roman Danger". The Catholic Faith is perfect, pure, and I could not find anything that I could criticise. Then in 1987 I read Salz der Erde [Salt of the Earth], written by Peter Seewald and Cardinal Ratzinger. I was convinced that this is it.
How I Converted to Catholicism
I was then attending a Bible Study Group at our local Kapuziner Convent and discussed with a priest my intentions. He set the ball rolling and I went to see the head of the church here in my town. After a long conversation and various documentation were obtained, I was taken up into the Catholic Church in a very moving ceremony.
By then I knew most everything in the Church, their rituals, their feasts. My own process was aided by the Holy Spirit, marvelous Catholic friends and today I have come home.
Advice
- Enjoy your church, your faith and build yourself up through a personal relationship with the Lord, study your Bible.
- The one obstacle I came across was my own intellectual mind that kept me from making this decision. I took point for point, discussed it with a priest until there were no more obstacles. Except my family, and a friend who thought I am going wrong, but I am 60 years old and if I don't know my own mind by now, I never will.
