Why did I become a Catholic? The internet and friends played a big role.

There were several internet related sources that contributed to my conversion.
1)  Fellowship with faithful Catholic friends on the internet who were passionate in their pursuit of God and were willing to talk about God and life.
2)  Their availability at all hours of the day or night (there were kindred minds and hearts awake).  We didn't have to go anywhere to meet, didn't have to spend money other than having an internet connection and a computer, didn't have to get the house cleaned up for visitors and we could be sitting in our pajamas at our computers, chatting in chat rooms and posting on forums.
3)  The Eternal Word Television Network with its myriad of quality programs and resources running 24/7, 365 days a year with solid Christian and Catholic teaching.
4)  The Journey Home program with Marcus Grodi as a host.  Marcus is a Protestant clergy convert himself and started a ministry to help fellow clergy and lay persons on their journey to the Catholic Church.  Each week he has one or more guests who share how they became Catholics often at great personal cost to themselves and how it has helped them in their relationship with God.

I also had some friends in SE Colorado who were Catholics or who were on the journey.  And some of my Methodist brothers also had Catholic spiritual leanings and we read books on the spiritual life and prayer written by Catholics.  So I was finding myself supported and blessed in my relationship with the Lord by what I was learning even as we experienced very trying times. 

I had a friend in SE Colorado who was raised Catholic, left the Catholic Church when he grew up, had a conversion experience and became a fundamentalist/evangelical, very anti-Catholic Christian.  After some years of my sharing what I was discovering in my journey, he suddenly returned to the Catholic Church a few weeks before his death and was well cared for by Catholics during his last illness of a couple of weeks when he was in the hospital.  I had never seen him with such peace.

And yet I did not really experience walking with Jesus in the sacramental way of life until I actually became a Catholic in January, 2010.  More on that later, although I have given you a glimpse in my most recent post before this one.

Some of you who know me may be thinking, "But, Howard, what about all those strange, unbiblical Catholic doctrines?"  Well, there are actually a couple of issues there.

One issue is that what are often presented as alleged Catholic doctrines among Protestants are actually distortions having little similarity with the actual teachings of the Catholic Church, the Straw Man Syndrome that I mentioned in a previous post. 

Sometimes these distortions come from Catholics themselves (clergy and laity alike) and former Catholics who have a faulty understanding of the teaching.  Try sampling the views of members of any Christian group and you will find some pretty far out variations. Other distortions have been passed down from generation to generation, often growing over time.

If you want to know what the actual teachings of the Catholic Church are, here is the link to the Catechism.  http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church/epub/index.cfm

Then, secondly, there are the Scriptures I never saw or understood before because I was reading with my Protestant glasses on, like not seeing Mary as the woman of Revelation 12 and the mother of all Christians (even those who don't recognize her as such) in Revelation 12.  Some of the posts I have in the works will deal with more examples of this issue.

But why am I writing these posts?

Well, in part to answer the question why did I become a Catholic.

But the most important reason is that I have found rivers of grace that I do not want to keep to myself.  Jesus said "I came so they might have life and have it more abundantly."  I am experiencing His life more abundantly and so I want you to know how that has come to pass.  I also hope and pray that God may use my story to draw each of you closer to His heart of love.