Catholic Discussion Ping!
A very interesting list of why non-Catholics convert to Catholicism. Any other comments??
experienced a disenchantment
Peter as the "rock" upon which the church would be built,
Tradition of the Roman Catholic Church
Sola Scriptura leads necessarily to an "incipient subjectivism" since without Tradition, each man becomes his own authority and interpreter of Scripture. the rather obvious fact that Scripture is not necessarily self-explanatory; it can be twisted by the unscrupulous to support any theological position (2 Peter 3:16).
everything the Catholic Church teaches today was taught in germinal form in the apostolic era.
[The Mass]It is immense. It is full of glory. It is unsupportedly bright. But not only this: it is present in the Mass. ... But it is only in the liturgy...that the whole drama is unfurled and the scrim of temporality is pierced,
the liturgy, for the most part, is the same no matter which Catholic church a parishioner attends. The Catholic can worship at most any Catholic Church and discover there basically the same order of worship, the same symbolism, and the same ritual.
in the Mass the opportunity to worship God emotionally as well as intellectually.
the Eucharist became the all-controlling, essential pursuit of his life.
beauty and symbolism of Roman Catholic churches. a permeating `divine presence' (even when no worship was in progress).
literally became enlightened while visiting a local Catholic church.
express the deepest admiration for the current pontiff, Pope John Paul II, claiming that he is one of the reasons why many Neocatholics have converted to Rome. when John Paul II allowed Anglo-Catholic, Episcopalian, and Eastern Orthodox priests who were already married to become Roman Catholic priests, she had no reason to wait to become a Roman Catholic.
God personally confirmed the truth of Catholicism to him and communicated to him the role he was to play in the Roman Catholic Church.
the at-homeness they feel with Catholicism. For them, Rome is their final resting place, a place where they claim to have achieved a sense of cognitive rest.
The art, the architecture, its antiquity, the beauty of the liturgy...the social conscience of the Church, its prophetic role in our modern world, the lives of the saints, the mystery, the presence of Christ, the sheer universality
Historicity (a big thing with me.)
The church fathers, both in what they said and how the church the earliest of them describe being much more catholic than my protestant upbringing would have wanted me to believe.
The example of some wonderful saintly people across the spectrum of church history.
Not having known that Anglican orders had been declared invalid, I thought I could just be Anglo-Catholic without the Magisterium and the Holy Father. When the Episcopal church ordained Vicky Gene, I knew that they were no longer Christian; thus, the Anglican claim to be part of the historical Church couldn't be true, or they would never have made such a mistake. Where, then, does Truth lie? In the Roman Catholic Church and the authority of the Holy Father. It was only after I had converted that I found out that Anglican orders had been declared invalid back in the late 19th century!
The other thing that propelled me quickly across the Tiber is the Church's uncompromising stance for Life. I saw that most dramatically in the witness of Fr. Frank Pavone and the Schindler family during the dreadful Terri Schiavo episode. The Schindlers' grace, fortitude, courage, and charity were so obvious during their ordeal, and I knew that they were able to get through it only by the special graces they had received from Jesus through the Church. They were a powerful witness!