An Evangelical Christian becomes Catholic

On April 11, 2009, during the Easter Vigil I was confirmed as a Catholic and received my first communion as a Catholic. I fear that many friends who serve in Evangelical/Protestant churches will find this decision strange. This is an attempt to explain my decision.

In August I started going to a class called Formation Toward Christian Ministry (FTCM) with my Catholic boyfriend. I wanted to know more about what he believed. He also attended church with me at the Vineyard several times, and went to Alpha with me there as well (which he thoroughly enjoyed). I wasn’t even considering becoming Catholic – I just wanted to know more about Catholicism because it was so important to my boyfriend. I knew from talking to him that he had had what I, as an evangelical, believed was a true conversion experience. FTCM was an interesting experience from the beginning. One week everything I heard in those two hours matched up to what I already believed; the next everything would seem foreign. The people sitting across the table with me and at all the tables around me resembled people I’ve been in churches with for 25 years. They wanted a deeper relationship with God and they wanted others to know the good news that Jesus had died for them. I begin doing some reading on my own, including a book called Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic. This book so answered most of my questions, especially about communion (also known in the Catholic Church as the Eucharist), that I was ready to become Catholic there and then. I can’t really put it into words; I just knew I was reading truth. Communion has been special to me for awhile – most especially for the short time I attended a Presbyterian church that had communion every week. This church didn’t teach trans-substantiation or consubstantiation, but it did teach that communion was a “means of grace” and introduced the idea of mystery.

Mystery is a big idea in the Catholic Church. We are encouraged to meditate on the Mysteries – mostly the mystery of God coming in the flesh and what He accomplished. Indeed, Jesus (his incarnation, life, death, burial and resurrection) is the centerpiece of everything the Catholic Church does and is. We believe that Jesus is truly present in communion, not just as a symbol, but truly present. Catholics don’t use the word trans-substantiation as much as the Real Presence. In a mysterious way, He is present in the elements. Many people say Catholics are sacrificing Jesus over and over again because of this belief. The truth is that Catholics believe that in a mysterious way we are present at Jesus’ death and resurrection every time we celebrate the Eucharist. Again, it is a mystery we can profit from.Catholicism has added a level to my experience with God that has been missing. My relationship with Him is more about Him and less about me than it ever has been. I am discovering the early Church Fathers from when there was only one church. I read their prayers and find myself praying along. I used to feel that it was somehow “cheating” to pray someone else’s words. Funny, I often prayed someone else’s words when I sang and wasn’t surprised to sense God’s presence. I find deep spirituality paired with deep scholarship. I find the freedom to be exactly who God created me to me. It’s like coming home – with all the sweetness I’ve experienced in my Christian life and service, but somehow more humbled and real. I find grace in this Church I’ve always thought taught salvation by works.

I would be lying if I said that there weren’t parts of Catholicism that I find difficult to accept, but I can live with these differences to hold the riches I’ve found. I know that I haven’t adequately explained this so that my friends can accept this without question, yet this is exactly what I ask of them. I’m not asking anyone to join me, just to accept that this Christian path is the one for me.

Easter Vigil was amazing. It was a beautiful service. The readings chronicled salvation history, five people were baptized – leaving their old lives behind, and topping it off was seeing my father take communion! It meant so much to me that he was there. I didn’t think he’d take communion, since I know that although he is not a practicing Catholic he takes communion very seriously. I’ve never seen him take communion, even though I’ve been to Mass with him as a kid at my grandmother’s church. I was excited to be receiving communion myself; but seeing my father take communion was an answer to prayer.I wish that I felt my friends from other churches I have been a part of would be happy for me, but I don’t. I guess I’m thinking about what I would have thought a year ago if one of them had told me they were becoming Catholic. I trust that our God is bigger than any of us. I do know that I could not have become a Catholic in pre-Vatican II days. The more I learn about Vatican II the more I am encouraged and amazed by that mighty work of God that is still being put into practice in the Church.

I have so much more to say, but I can't put it all into words yet.