I was baptized Catholic and raised Catholic. I went to Cornall University, and possibly because of the environment, my faith became luke warm.
I started attending born again Christian meetings. I met some beautiful people who had truly been saved. These people were simply happy that Christ had entered their lives and had saved them from the sins that they were engaging in. They had really turned their lives around.
However, there was also a lot of ignorance about Catholicism there as well. Probably about a fourth of the born again Christians that I met had converted that ignorance into hatred of Catholicism. There was no reasoning with the ignorant, they didn't want to know that what they'd heard about Catholics was simply not true. Many of these Protestants, in fact, based their faith on their hatred of Catholicism - not on their love of Christ.
When the leadership of the born-again ministry also engaged in this ignorance, I decided that I couldn't continue to participate in a group that was promoting lies. I returned to active participation in the Catholic church and have discovered that just as many, if not more, people that have been saved through the Catholic church.
I've studied my Protestant friends and neighbors. They have a fire for Jesus that I appreciate--more so than my Catholic friends.
I've concluded that this comes from the nature of Protestantism. These are people who are truly searching for Christ. They are active in their faith and eagerly share the treasure they've discovered. There is life among them. They are a growing thing in the days of spring.
Most Catholics I've found are like people who inherit the treasure and take it for granted.
I think many of us need to have a crisis of faith to force us into research to find our roots again. Some parishes are starting to revive but many are simply "there". There is much work for us to do to revive the American Catholic Church.