Were You a Cradle Catholic or a Convert?
Cradle Catholic
How Old Were You When You Left the Catholic Church?
I never left. I attended church, but the Spirit was not in me.
How Old Were You When You Returned to Catholicism?
I was 47 when the "light" came on.
Why I Left the Catholic Church
I never physically left the Catholic Church. The problem for me was that I was in the Church, but the Church was not in me. I always knew what God wanted me to do, but I did what I wanted to do.
I had deceived myself into believing that Sundays belonged to God, but the week belonged to me. I continued attending Mass. I visited other churches but never as a substitute for the Mass.
Why I Returned to Catholicism
When I was 47, 18 years ago, the Lord led me to a Bible study. It was there that the light come on.
What made me get serious about my faith was a "message" that God gave me which said, "I'm tired of you playing with Me. This is your last opportunity to return to Me, OR ELSE." It was the "or else" that was chilling. I had received a Catholic education for all but one of my 12 years of school, but I was clueless spiritually.
I have been in constant prayer for God to accept me back into His fold. I pray that I can return to the sacraments. I have not received Communion for 38 years. I am asking for your prayers. Thank you.
Advice
- Stevie Wonder has a line in a song that says, "If you believe in things you don't understand, you'll suffer." I believe that praying to God to open your eyes, joining a Bible study, reading the Catechism, and learning about your faith will provide you with the tools necessary to build your faith. CATHOLICISM IS THE TRUE RELIGION.
- There are 168 hrs in a week. If all the faith-building you receive is two hours on Sunday, it is unlikely you will grow your faith. Don't wait on others. Build your faith first. Then you can be a beacon in others' lives.
Scott P. Richert, Catholicism Guide, says:
Thank you, Joe. There are a number of things in Joe's story that many of us can identify with. Especially in this day and age, we are constantly distracted from the Catholic Faith, and we may have awakened one day to find that we had slipped away from the Church, even while we continued, on the surface, to be practicing Catholics.
Recognizing the problem can help us overcome it. Every day is a struggle to keep our faith foremost in our lives. But if we don't even think about the need to struggle, we'll never get anywhere.
The two chief tools in that struggle are prayer and the sacraments. We can read the Bible day in and day out, but unless we turn to God in prayer, and unless we avail ourselves of the channels of grace that Christ Himself instituted, we may find ourselves treading water (at best). We should never keep ourselves from the sacraments; even if the circumstances of our life mean that we cannot receive Communion, we can still take part in the Sacrament of Confession. And through that sacrament, we may be fully reconciled to Christ and His Church.
