Conversion Story from JW to Catholic

[catholicxjw]

Hi Gang:

Here is another powerful demonstration of God's grace. Read the Conversion Story of Serena Conn at the link below:

[url="http://www.catholicxjw.com/marymagdalen.html"]http://www.catholicxjw.com/marymagdalen.html[/url]

Jeff Schwehm
www.catholicxjw.com

[Didacus]

"My only concern about being in the Catholic Church is that, with 2,000 years of history behind it,
I will die before I have had a chance to learn everything she has to teach me. "

My sentiments as well. I feel so frustrated sometimes because people criticize the church, and yet how can they possibly criticize something they do not fully understand? And it is not possible for anyone (except hte Holy See?) to really understand everything in the Cahtolic church...

Very good post - thank you.

[jezic]

k that was awesome.

a good story, though the jehovah's witnesses have always scared me a lot. That might be living in Christian ND or something, but they did. I always wanted to talk to one though. People talk about how they don't leave and talk about the Bible. I decided that i would let them talk, if i got to.

[Honour]

[quote name='Didacus' date='Jun 28 2005, 11:21 AM']"My only concern about being in the Catholic Church is that, with 2,000 years of history behind it,
I will die before I have had a chance to learn everything she has to teach me.  "

My sentiments as well.  I feel so frustrated sometimes because people criticize the church, and yet how can they possibly criticize something they do not fully understand?  And it is not possible for anyone (except hte Holy See?) to really understand everything in the Cahtolic church...

Very good post - thank you.
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Sorry for hijack but...
Holy See = pope? yes?
Pope gets it all? Every pope all the time? or theoretically some popes past, present or future, if God required it of them, for only the time God required it?
I am intrigued.

[homeschoolmom]

You know, I was going to comment on that statement, too. I don't think that the Holy See understands everything in the Church (after all, they declare a lot of things to be a mystery ). But I would say that what they do understand, they understand correctly.

[Didacus]

[quote name='Honour' date='Jun 28 2005, 05:18 PM']Sorry for hijack but...
Holy See = pope? yes?
Pope gets it all? Every pope all the time? or theoretically some popes past, present or future, if God required it of them, for only the time God required it?
I am intrigued.
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Holy See is a term used to designate the Pope and he highest and closest advisers... the Curia i think they call them.

No, I do not beleive the pope is nowadays considered singularly infaillible, but the Holy See, when acting within their powers, can act infaillibly and declare it to be so.

I am uncertain how the term Holy see came to exist... maybe another, more knowledgeable person can fill in some details for us?

god bless... and keep the faith!

[zabbazooey]

Okay, I'm going to tell my conversion story. The condensed version, anyways.

My parents had always raised me to make my own decision about religion when I was older. I was always curious about Jesus Christ, God, the Bible, Mary, and Christianity in general. I was very young and had no idea what to believe about Jesus or God. I remember my friend gave me the Book of Mormon and my Aunt gave me a Bible. My parents immediately took these away from me, telling me it was baloney, and that I wasn't allowed to read the Bible. I remember I cried because I was jealous that my friends had the privilege of worshipping Jesus and I didn't. I had a quote that was printed from John 3:16 stapled on to my wall, and my parents instantly tore it down.

From an early age, I remember I loved Jesus. Me and my cousin would sit in her treehouse and she would teach me about Christianity (she was 2 years younger than me!) and we would talk about how we wanted to build a church so that we could tell more people about Jesus and how He died for us.

My parents suppressed any sort of religious inkling I had about God, so they could make the "responsible" decision and let me decide for myself later. When I got a little older, I started wanting to dabble in Pagan religions like Wicca, and in 5th grade, I decided there was no God. I was an atheist.

In 9th grade, my entire life went downhill. My parents were getting divorced, I started doing drugs and drinking, I started cutting myself, and I was getting abused by my boyfriend at the time. I was in a constant downward spiral, and I finally ended up in the mental ward of a hospital for 2 weeks before I had my wake-up call.

In summer 2003, I started attending Protestant services with my Aunt (the same one who gave me the Bible). I recall it just didn't feel quite right something inside of me wanted more, longed for a stronger connection to God. In July 2003, I came home. I went to 10:30 am Mass with my future godmother one Sunday, and I felt complete. It was like everything in my life now had some higher purpose, and I loved every second of Mass. I went every Sunday and in September 2003, I joined RCIA at the age of fifteen. My parents said I was old enough to decide for myself, but they insisted that Roman Catholicism was a cult. I was so happy that they gave me permission! I was received into the Roman Catholic Church on April 10th, 2004. I received the sacraments of Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation. For my confirmation name, I picked St. Joan of Arc because she was a strong fighter like me, who always fought for Jesus. She reminded me a lot of myself, and besides, I love to speak french!

So there you have it. There was a while when I did not feel close to the Catholic Church, maybe I had some doubts, but I am now closer to God than I have ever been in my entire life, and I am loving every second of it. I am in love with Jesus and Mary. To all of you who are converting or who want to convert, let me just say: Welcome Home! :jesus:

[avemaria40]

[quote name='zabbazooey' date='Jul 15 2005, 04:06 AM']Okay, I'm going to tell my conversion story. The condensed version, anyways.

My parents had always raised me to make my own decision about religion when I was older. I was always curious about Jesus Christ, God, the Bible, Mary, and Christianity in general. I was very young and had no idea what to believe about Jesus or God. I remember my friend gave me the Book of Mormon and my Aunt gave me a Bible. My parents immediately took these away from me, telling me it was baloney, and that I wasn't allowed to read the Bible. I remember I cried because I was jealous that my friends had the privilege of worshipping Jesus and I didn't. I had a quote that was printed from John 3:16 stapled on to my wall, and my parents instantly tore it down.

From an early age, I remember I loved Jesus. Me and my cousin would sit in her treehouse and she would teach me about Christianity (she was 2 years younger than me!) and we would talk about how we wanted to build a church so that we could tell more people about Jesus and how He died for us.

My parents suppressed any sort of religious inkling I had about God, so they could make the "responsible" decision and let me decide for myself later. When I got a little older, I started wanting to dabble in Pagan religions like Wicca, and in 5th grade, I decided there was no God. I was an atheist.

In 9th grade, my entire life went downhill. My parents were getting divorced, I started doing drugs and drinking, I started cutting myself, and I was getting abused by my boyfriend at the time. I was in a constant downward spiral, and I finally ended up in the mental ward of a hospital for 2 weeks before I had my wake-up call.

In summer 2003, I started attending Protestant services with my Aunt (the same one who gave me the Bible). I recall it just didn't feel quite right something inside of me wanted more, longed for a stronger connection to God. In July 2003, I came home. I went to 10:30 am Mass with my future godmother one Sunday, and I felt complete. It was like everything in my life now had some higher purpose, and I loved every second of Mass. I went every Sunday and in September 2003, I joined RCIA at the age of fifteen. My parents said I was old enough to decide for myself, but they insisted that Roman Catholicism was a cult. I was so happy that they gave me permission! I was received into the Roman Catholic Church on April 10th, 2004. I received the sacraments of Baptism, First Communion, and Confirmation. For my confirmation name, I picked St. Joan of Arc because she was a strong fighter like me, who always fought for Jesus. She reminded me a lot of myself, and besides, I love to speak french! 

So there you have it. There was a while when I did not feel close to the Catholic Church, maybe I had some doubts, but I am now closer to God than I have ever been in my entire life, and I am loving every second of it. I am in love with Jesus and Mary. To all of you who are converting or who want to convert, let me just say: Welcome Home!  :jesus:
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Wow, that is awesome!! My story is pretty similar to yours in that my parents let me choose my religion, i was 15 when i became Catholic, and i also picked Joan of Arc as my confirmation name. Oh and i was also received on April 10 2004. wow, that's really cool:)

[zabbazooey]

[quote name='avemaria40' date='Jul 15 2005, 09:55 PM']Wow, that is awesome!!  My story is pretty similar to yours in that my parents let me choose my religion, i was 15 when i became Catholic, and i also picked Joan of Arc as my confirmation name.  Oh and i was also received on April 10 2004.  wow, that's really cool:)
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That's cool!! What a coincidence! Yeah I'm just now getting into the big stuff like confession, adoration, volunteering. It took me a while to feel comfortable enough with myself to do that kind of stuff.

[Noel's angel]

that is a wonderful story!

[homeschoolmom]

[quote name='zabbazooey' date='Jul 16 2005, 03:39 PM']That's cool!! What a coincidence!
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I was also received on April 10, 2004. But my name was Joanna (after Joanna the Myrrhbearer from the Bible and also because that is the feminine for John, my favorite desciple... and ALSO because that would have been my son's name if he'd been a daughter...)