Oddly enough even though I grew up in New York in a heavily Catholic area, I only converted to the faith after I moved to Marietta, Georgia, just on the outskirts of Atlanta.

I had been searching for God for a number of years while in college. I had looked into Reform Judaism and "New Age" spirituality. I had even looked at African based religions like Santeria, Lucumi and Ifa. After a while I had lost interest in these different faiths, but the interest in Santeria had left me with a question about the saints. I had realized early on that the way a saint is represented in Santeria is quite different from the actual saint. For example, Santa Barbara is often connected with a deity called Shango, but this is because she is shown holding a sword. But Santa Barbara was killed by the sword, unlike Shango who was killing with a double headed ax.

The other thing that had bothered me was that people had different interpretations of phenomena, but there was no one to say what was valid and what was not.

I entered into my first RCIA class in October 2001. I decided that if I became Catholic, it would be because I accepted it in its orthodoxy, not in a heterodox manner, which unfortunately is common. There were a lot of things that I truly had to be converted to seeing, such as the Eucharist, and views on abortion, etc, because I thought of myself as "liberal". I've had many little "conversions" during the RCIA process, but the one about abortion was the one that really kept me "on course". When I read the Church's defense against abortion, I was so impressed by its logic, and commitment to life that it beckoned me to learn more.

I also knew that some things could not be proven, but I could only either accept or reject them on faith. I decided to let grace come in and accept those things that could not be proven, because I couldn't prove that it wasn't true.

I was also quite happy that Sola Scriptura was never a part of Catholic teaching!! I never understood when people said, "All you have to do is read the Bible and know Jesus." I had always thought that was dumb, and had turned me off from Christianity for a long time. I was and continue to be impressed by the theological development of the Church, and reaffirms for me the belief that the Catholic Church is truly the church founded by Jesus Christ.

I became Catholic at age 32 on Easter 2002. There are many people I give credit for my conversion, including an ex-roommate who dare I say, is nominally Catholic and would challenge me on Catholic beliefs. It pushed me to learn more and more and "stick with it", which he had told me I wouldn't do. Another person who influenced me was a friend of mine who is an ex-monk but faithful to the Church and the Magisterium. He had given me a copy of the C.C.C. a long time before I had even thought about converting, because I had asked about it one time. I still had it, when I was going through my RCIA classes and so it was very handy.

Yours in Christ,
Matthew

I, Chris, converted on my 20th birthday, March 25th 1989. My baptism, confirmation, and first communion took place at St. Patrick's Church in Natick, MA.

My conversion was more of a completion than an event. For several years prior to my conversion I was gradually moving towards the faith. I even identified myself as Catholic on a few occasions before I became Catholic. When I joined the Army I identified myself as Roman Catholic before (about 6 months before) actually starting RCIA. I grew up Pentecostal and for a short time, I thought I might be demon possessed (note this is literal I actually thought I might be) for having such crazy thoughts that Christ was truly present in the Eucharist. I believe that I got this belief directly from God. He taught me in my Scriptural inquiries the things of the Church. I converted largely on what I found in Scripture and the conviction that the Catholic Church was the only one that I could find that was "truly Biblical". My wife (who was Protestant) converted to the Catholic faith in 2004, and she converted largely on seeing what I believed and coming to a realization of the truth of it.