Steve Ray Conversion Story

Dr. Peter Kreeft's conversion story from Protestantism to Catholicism.

Convert G K Chesterton: Why am I a Catholic?

Convert: 'Everthing about the Catholic Church is beautiful.

“As my friends would ask me, ‘George, what did you find in the Catholic Church?’ my answer is always the same: sheer beauty! It’s beautiful. Her saints. Her faith. Her liturgy… Her devotions. Everything about her is beautiful.’ – Deacon George Butterfield

37,000+ to Become Catholic at Easter Vigil Mass in the USA

No match for much publicized "conversions" in the fake Iglesia Ni Cristo® 1914.

Image source: Google Images - Fr. Broom

News Source: Catholic News World

WASHINGTON— Dioceses across the country will be welcoming thousands of people into the Catholic Church at Easter Vigil Masses on the evening of April 20th. As the culmination of the Easter Triduum, the Vigil celebrates the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. While people can become Catholic at any time of the year, the Easter Vigil is a particularly appropriate moment for adult catechumens to be baptized and for already-baptized Christians to be received into full communion with the Catholic Church. Parishes welcome these new Catholics through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA).

Many of the dioceses across the nation have reported their numbers of people who intend to become Catholic on Saturday to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Based on these reports, more than 37,000 people are expected to be welcomed into the Church at Easter Vigil Masses.

Still Catholic Converts are Rising Despite Scandals

"I will build MY CHURCH" says the Lord Jesus Christ, the FOUNDER of the CATHOLIC CHURCH ~ the real, only CHURCH OF CHRIST on earth. A Church not founded by fallen men and women. A Church that has been tested in the past 2000 years. The Devil is trying hard to infiltrate His Church but these evil men and women who are IN His Church will be exposed in fulfillment of His promise that "the gates of hell shall not prevail"! (Mt. 16:16-18)

Despite scandals, over 1,000 British to become Catholic at Easter

Catechumens and candidates at the Rite of Election (Diocese of Westminster / Flick)

WESTMINSTER, England, March 19, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Despite the clerical abuse and cover-up scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church, over 1,000 people in England and Wales are expected to join the Church this Easter.

The UK’s Tablet reported last week that 419 catechumens (converts awaiting baptism) and candidates (baptized Christians seeking to be received into the Church) participated in the Rite of Election in Westminster Cathedral in London on March 9 and 10. Representing the largest group of converts, they came from 93 parishes. In Birmingham, 181 candidates and catechumens participated in their diocesan Rite of Election. In Nottingham, there were 151; in Portsmouth, 115; in the Diocese of East Anglia, 62; in Clifton, 47; in Lancaster, 32; and in Middlesbrough, 23.

In addition to these English figures, 37 prospective Catholics took part in the Rites of Election held in Cardiff, Wales.

At Westminster Cathedral in London, Cardinal Vincent Nichols addressed the 200 catechumens and 219 candidates, saying: “These ceremonies are among the largest gatherings of people from parishes across the diocese who join me in giving thanks for the great work that God is carrying out in your lives.”

“We give thanks to God for the ways in which our parishes and diocesan family will be enriched by you, and we promise to continue to support you and your families with our prayers and the example of Christian life that you experience in our parish communities,” he continued.

In St. John’s Cathedral in Norwich, 30 catechumens and 32 candidates from across the Diocese of East Anglia gathered for their Rites of Election on Sunday, March 10.

In his homily, Bishop Alan Hopes told the prospective Catholics, “Today is a celebration of your hope and trust in Jesus Christ, to whom you turn for salvation. Today you are being elected, chosen, called to salvation. The Church rejoices with you as she numbers you amongst all those who have been called and chosen.”

“During Lent, together with the whole Church, you are being called to turn to the Lord. You are being called to deepen your commitment to Him and so grow in holiness. You are being called to become saints of God,” Hopes continued.

“This call is not just for special people, but for everyone. We are all called to become like Jesus Christ.”

The Catholic Church in Scotland, which is overseen by the Scottish Bishops’ Conference, expects to welcome dozens more into the fold this Easter. According to Peter Kearney, the director of Scotland’s Catholic Media Office, this year there are 57 catechumens and candidates for the Diocese of Glasgow and 22 for the Diocese of Motherwell.

The other Scottish dioceses had not yet responded to a request for information by press time.

Cristina's Conversion Story: From Hinduism to Catholicism

Patheos: What I Wish I’d Known About Catholics (And Why I Became One Once I Did)

Source: Patheos

Posted in February 13, 2017 by K. Albert Little

Photo Credit: Karol Franks.

I‘m a Catholic, but I didn’t begin as one.

I began my faith journey at the age of fifteen when, with the help of a good friend, I decided to become a Christian; an Evangelical Protestant, although I didn’t know the particular brand name at the time. And I meant well. I found a local Pentecostal church populated by a group of devout young Christian who welcomed me unequivocally. We were a motley crew. I fit right in.

Then in university, at a time when so many Christians lose their faith and their identity, I plugged into an incredible campus ministry. There I met lifelong friends, grew a great deal both emotionally and spiritually, and met my beautiful wife. (It was evident, she’d say, that I still had a lot of maturing to do.)

But the trajectory of my faith life would take a subtle but noticeably fork in the road one day when an Evangelical pastor asked me what’s more important, the Bible or tradition.

I didn’t have an answer, and that stumped me.

And when I dug for answers, I was even more stumped, and unsatisfied. This began a long journey of searching, prayer, and unexpected discoveries.

A journey which culminated at Easter, two years ago, when I entered full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

When that Evangelical pastor asked me about the Bible and tradition I knew very little about either, as it turns out, and my research eventually led me to look into Catholicism and its historical claims.

What I thought I knew about Catholics, as an Evangelical, was a lot.

Turns out I was wrong about almost everything.

I’m became Catholic because of what I’ve learned.

St. Francis de Sales is a favourite saint of mine. In the 16th century, as the Reformation split apart the Christian Church in Europe he wrote, preached, and worked tirelessly to explain the Catholic faith, and bring Protestants back into the fold.

He was incredibly successful and something in his mission of cordially explaining his faith resonates deeply with me.

To paraphrase St. Francis de Sales to the early Protestants: If you’d known what the Catholic Church really taught you’d never have left.

In my case, if I’d known what the Catholic Church really taught I’d have become Catholic a long, long time ago.

Catholics Don’t Worship Mary

The Catholic Church doesn’t teach the worship of Mary. Worship (and adoration) are for God alone.

As an Evangelical I thought that Catholics worshipped Mary alongside her son, Jesus. There are plenty of churches named in her honour, Catholics seemed obsessed with statues of the Virgin, and the Rosary, of all things, seemed to be nothing more than vain repetition and worship directed towards Jesus’s mother.

The reality, I’ve learned, is much different.

Catholics don’t worship Mary but, because of her special role in salvation history, she is venerated. How is that different? In Catholic theology, which, remember, was the theology of the whole Christian Church for 1,500 years, we ask Mary to pray for us.

Like Mary’s request to Jesus at the wedding at Cana, Catholics believe that Mary has the ear of Jesus in a special way. This is also reflected in biblical typology—the same kind of exegesis that Jesus used to explain His role in salvation to the apostles on the road to Emmaus. In the same way I can ask my best friend—a living, breathing Christian—to pray for my intentions, the Catholic Church teaches that Mary can be asked for prayer in the same way.

When Catholics say they pray, “to Mary,” they don’t mean that Mary will answer our prayers. This understanding of “pray” is more a difficulty of the English language.

When we “pray to” Mary, we ask for her to pray for us, to Christ.

Jesus answers all prayers. We ask Mary to pray on our behalf.

Catholics Don’t Worship the Saints

In the same way, the Catholic Church believes that holy men and women (more women than men, for the record) are, presently, in the presence of God.

We call these people saints and, like the Virgin Mary, we can ask for their prayers.

As pictured in Revelation, the prayers of the saints gathered around the altar float up like incense before God. That’s why, since the very beginning of the Christian Church, there has been a strong belief in ability of the dead to pray for us—and the practice of us asking them for their prayers.

This is why the earliest Christian Churches were built on sites where holy men and women were martyred like the churches honouring Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Rome.

The beautiful theology of the Catholic Church says that the Church, as a body of believers, is made up of all past, present, and future Christians. We’re all one and the same and just because I pass away doesn’t mean I cease to be a part of that active body. Jesus conquered death as so does His Church.

The saints, as Christians, continue their role in the body, only now in the presence of God.

Jesus is Present in the Eucharist

For all the different branches and denominations of Protestantism I’ve learned that no one takes Jesus’s words more seriously than the Catholic Church.

When Jesus said, “This is my body; this is my blood,” the Catholic Church—and the whole of Christianity for 1,500 years—takes Him at His word.

Incredibly, the Catholic theology of transubstantiation says that when the priest consecrates the elements (the bread and the wine) they become the actual body and blood of Jesus through a mysterious, miraculous process. The fact that we can’t see, touch, or taste these elements are real flesh and blood is part of the miracle.

This bold claim is backed up not only by a thousand and a half years of Church history but by solid exegesis of the gospels.

Jesus, from Bethlehem (which means “the house of bread”), who was laid into a manger (which is a feeding trough) when He was born is the actual manna from Heaven.

If I had known that I can actually receive Jesus in the Eucharist I would’ve stormed the doors of my local Catholic Church a decade ago.

There’s Only One Mass

What strikes me as even more incredible is the Catholic theology of the act of the Eucharist itself: There’s only one.

Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross was once and for all, final, and this is something that all Protestants can get behind. The brilliant, beauty of the Mass and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic elements, however, is that it links us up with all of Christian history—past, present, and future.

Jesus only died once.

When the priest prayers the Eucharistic Prayers and says, “This is my body; this is my blood,” we are, as a church community, reliving the Last Supper and Jesus’s death on the cross.

We are linking up, together, with all of the other Christians who have ever, and will ever, celebrate the Eucharist.

And we’re linking up with the saints, angels, the Virgin Mary, and God Himself in Heaven as we see this same celebration taking place in Revelation.

As a Catholic, then, when I go to Mass I am experiencing something universal: Jesus’s death re-presented before my eyes.

A genuine tearing of the veil which allows us modern Catholics to reach back into the very time of the very Last Supper itself.

The Priest Acts as Jesus

In a similar way, I never understood the importance of the priest in Catholic theology. As a young Evangelical the priest, like Mary and the saints, seemed to stand in the way of my personal relationship with Jesus.

But I had it all wrong.

The priest, as understood by Catholic theology, acts as Christ. The priest is a stand-in, if you will.

In the Mass, the priests acts in the place of Jesus, as he consecrates the bread and the wine. In the blessing of people, in Baptism, in prayer, and in the healing of the sick the priest, based on the authority that Jesus gives His apostles in the New Testament, is acting in His place.

Where Jesus is not tangibly, physically with us, the priest is here in His place.

In confession, the priest, based on the direct charge from Jesus, “whoever’s sins you forgive they are forgiven,” represents Christ in forgiving our sins for us.

We don’t have to imagine God among us: there He is.

And His presence is an incredible blessing and grace.

God Gave Us a Real, Tangible Church

Perhaps the greatest, most incredible thing I’ve learned, and wish that I knew a long, long time ago, is that Jesus left us with a real, tangible Church.

As an Evangelical, I thought of the Church as a non-physical, spiritual union of Christians all over the world. But this isn’t how Jesus meant it, I’m convinced.

Because this isn’t the Church as conceived by the apostles, the fathers of the Church (who were taught by the apostles), and all Christians for more than fifteen hundred years.

As I become Catholic perhaps the greatest gift I’m to receive is union with a real, tangible Church founded by Christ.

A Church with bishops and priests who can trace their authority, historically, all the way back to the apostles. Authority that we see manifest in the New Testament as the ability to forgive sins, drive out demons, and define an understanding of doctrine. These authoritative charges, according to the Catholic Church, remain with today’s bishops and priests through Apostolic Succession.

That’s why when the priest says, “You’re forgiven,” he means it. Because Christ said he’d have that power.

Rather than having to “feel” or “know” it on our own, God gave us the beauty and the blessing of a physical, tangible Church to be His hands and feet on earth.

I don’t need to pray and ask for God to give me a sense of His grace, although I certainly could, and do. But in the Eucharist, in confession, and in the knowledge that God gave us the Church, we can be certain of His grace. This, in my experience, has been the most powerful aspect of the Catholic Church—and something I wish I knew years ago.

The most beautiful gift that Jesus gave us, beyond His sacrificial offering, was the establishment of a Church to proclaim, celebrate, and safeguard truth.

There’s a lot—a lot!—I wish I’d known about the Catholic Church a long time ago.

And one that fateful day which set the course of my faith life in an entirely new direction I could’ve never anticipated that a question about the Bible and tradition would’ve led me here.

But here we are, and there’s nowhere I’d rather be.

In the Catholic Church I’ve found an incredible, unimaginable home. It’s miles from anything I’d ever known before and, once I learned about what Catholics really believed there’s nothing I could’ve done to avoid becoming one myself!

This article was originally published on my personal blog before the Easter Vigil, 2015.

Hindus Converted for Christ

Nepalese Dalits abandon Hindu faith en masse. They believe in Jesus who will save them
Christopher Sharma

Photo Source: Church Militant

In Surkhet district tens of thousands humiliated for caste reasons ask to be baptized. The decision was taken during a secret meeting with 200 representatives. Hindu prohibition makes their lives impossible. The fact is symptomatic of a more general phenomenon. In Nepal there is a law against discrimination, but police do not intervene and complaints are never taken into account.

NEPAL Kathmandu (AsiaNews) - The Dalits have decided to organize a secret meeting to pray for Jesus to save them. Conversions and renunciations of the Hindu faith are occurring in the Surkhet district of western Nepal. The Dalits are marginalized because of their caste belonging. And they are tired of suffering serious discrimination and threats.

Sanu Nepali, 21, was beaten by some senior caste members on Wednesday, July 5. They accused him of bathing in public drinking water, polluting it physically and above all "spiritually." He ended up in the hospital.

Two months ago, a nine-year-old Dalit boy, Bhim Bahadur, was brutally beaten with perhaps only because he dared to enter the kitchen of a family of a higher caste of his, in the village of Barahatal, in the same district.

It is estimated that about 50,000 Dalits in Surkhet District, who were victims of serious discrimination, have decided to leave the Hindu faith and embrace the message of Christianity. The decision was taken in the meeting with a large number of representatives.

Lal Babu BK, one of the participants said, "We were more than 200. We have come together to convert to Christianity to save ourselves. We have all practiced Hindu faith for generations since it was mandatory, but today the country is secularized and Hindu faith can not save us. Those who torment and who humiliate us are Hindus like us. By being named untouchables we are judged from the bottom down. We can not even touch lower caste people, can not enter their homes, we can not touch public drinking water and can not have access to public places. So what is this belief? Are we certain in this faith? We concluded 'no' and decided to convert to Christianity. " "We are in danger everywhere," he added, "and we are discriminated at any time, so we ask for the grace of Jesus because we have seen that there is no discrimination in Christianity. We believe that Jesus can protect us." "The decision is made even if we have not yet contacted the Christian priest who can baptize us," concluded Lal Babu BK, "we will do it and we hope the priest will welcome us."

Sudip Pathak, a human rights activist, commented: "People are free to take all necessary protection measures when they are threatened and the state can not protect them."

Binod Pahadi, a Dalit and former parliamentary activist, said: "It is not only the question of the district of Surkhet, but it is symptomatic of the situation in the whole country. There is a law against discrimination and for equality, but in practice there is a strong oppression of low caste people. "

Jayasara, mother of Bhim Bahadur BK, said: "We made this decision from the moment we had no alternatives to save us."

A few months ago, a similar case had occurred in the capital of Kathmandu. Kamala Nepali, a Dalit woman was violently beaten for having touched the water taps in Chandeshwori in Tokha Municipality in Kathmandu. Shanta KC, the woman who beat her has never been punished.

There are legal provisions against such discrimination, but when victims present their complaints, they are not heard.

Police Officer Bhattarai, involved in this case said, "Victims can not produce evidence and we can not punish anyone in the absence of evidence."

However, there are thousands of people who are victims of such aberrations in Nepal.

Buong Pentecostal Congregation, Umanib sa Tunay na Iglesia ni Cristo!

Source: FrancisMary.org

Entire Pentecostal Congregation In Arizona Including Pastor & Wife Converts To Catholicism

The phrase “Swimming the Tiber” has been used to describe Protestants coming into the Catholic Church. But a group of Pentecostals in Arizona are coming “home to Rome” through Constantinople, leaving their Assembly of God church for the Byzantine Catholic Church.

Joshua Mangels, a pastor at a Tucson Assembly of God church, felt in his heart a growing desire to join the Catholic Church, which culminated with his resignation of his position at the church in September and entering the catechumenate a month later at a local Byzantine Catholic parish. Along with him and his family came several in his flock, all taking the plunge together into the Church.

Mangels’ first experience with Catholicism was as a teenager in South Seattle. He was in a crisis of faith at the time, he said, “running with the neighborhood kids,” and while playing basketball, an elderly Catholic woman named Karen asked him to help her with a Bible study she was running at the community center.

“It renewed my faith in God, and instead of running in the neighborhood, I went back to church and felt the call to reach souls and evangelize,” Mangels recalled.

He entered ministry, eventually taking a position in Tucson as a pastor at an Assembly of God church. Although he loved ministry, he said, he began to get “frustrated with the changing winds of doctrine and the fads and pressures of church marketing.”

On his way home from a conference of pastors that left him feeling disappointed, he began listening to a Catholic apostolate a friend had pointed out to him. The preaching was on mortal sins, Mangels said, and although he didn’t know the speaker was Catholic, he was impressed.

“It was like a drink of fresh water,” he said, as he listened to the teaching of the Church Fathers and Church history that he had never before encountered.

“I listened to this for two and a half hours as I drove home, and when I got back, my wife asked me how the conference was, and I said, ‘It was terrible, but you have to listen to this.’”

Conversion of the Heart and Mind

That began their journey of looking into the Catholic Church. Mangels began looking into other Assembly of God pastors who had entered the Church and explored early Christian teaching. He ordered a set of the writings of the Church Fathers, too.

“When I read the Church Fathers, that’s when the sacraments began to open up to me, and I began to see how central the Eucharist was to the early Church,” he said. He realized that “if the Eucharist was commanded by Christ, I want to receive the Lord.”

He and his wife, Teresa, would stay up for hours in the evening, reading about Catholicism and talking about what they had learned.

“Early on, my wife and I would make these handshake agreements not to read any more Catholic literature or watch any more apostolate preaching, as the loss of my job and housing was imminent if we continued,” Mangels recalled. “Once we even put all our books in the back of the garage and agreed ‘no Catholic talk’ for two weeks.

“But we ended up staying up night after night discussing the Fathers, sacraments, the early Church and everything else.”

In July, he began teaching his congregation on Wednesday nights about the early Church, going over St. Polycarp, St. Justin Martyr, the Didache and other parts of early Christianity. For several young adults in the congregation, these lessons catalyzed their own discernment of joining the Catholic Church.

Rebecca McCloskey, a former member at Mangels’ Assembly of God congregation, told the Register that she had earlier begun investigating Catholicism and that the Wednesday night classes furthered this desire in her heart. She remembered her surprise in listening to him preach and how much it lined up with what she was learning about the Catholic faith.

“I was thinking,” she said, “Doesn’t my pastor know what he’s teaching?”

Lisa Gray, another member of the congregation, who was pursuing becoming a credentialed pastor herself, remembers how, after Mangels mentioned there were 40,000 Protestant denominations, she thought, “If there’s 40,000 denominations, are we part of the problem or part of the solution?”

“I loved pastoring; I loved preaching. I was preaching camp meetings and revivals: I was having the time of my life, but I was Catholic in my heart,” Mangels said. And the pressure began to build to make a life-changing decision.

In September, he told his congregation that he would be resigning as pastor and entering the catechumenate of the Catholic Church with his family.

Looking to the East

While the Mangels family had decided to become Catholic, they had not decided where to start. The organizer of a pro-life rally they went to suggested they speak to Father Bob Rankin, the pastor of St. Melany’s Byzantine Catholic Church.

They met for breakfast, Father Rankin said.

“He was trying to wrap his mind around becoming Catholic, and the first priest he meets doesn’t belong to the Roman rite,” the priest told the Register. “I used sugar packets on the table to explain dogmatic theology and ecclesiology.”

Father Rankin explained that, despite the superficial differences between a Pentecostal style of worship and Divine Liturgy, “they came to the right church for the type of spirituality they had.”

“They come from that Pentecostal background, so they have that experience of conversion and giving their lives to Christ. They wanted a liturgy that was demonstrative, and in the Eastern liturgy, it’s zesty, adorational: You’re meant to experience God; you’re meant to break into tears.”

McCloskey agreed, saying that Divine Liturgy “feels like heaven on earth.”

Teresa Mangels also had a similar experience. She told the Register that she is overwhelmed that Christ “would give us his real Body and Blood — every liturgy I’m in tears, and these little children will come up and ask me if I’m okay. I’m just so happy.”

Father Rankin said that his new catechumens bring an admirable zeal to his church. While he does get fired up during the homily, he wasn’t used to hearing his parishioners say “Amen” during his preaching. He also appreciates how devoted the catechumens are to stewardship.

“The first thing they kept asking is: ‘When do we get our envelopes?’” Father Rankin said. “I’ve had people here 20 years who haven’t asked that.”

Easter Triumph, Easter Joy

Bishop Gerald Dino, emeritus bishop of the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Phoenix, told the Register that he was “thrilled to be given the honor” of receiving the catechumens into the Church at St. Melany, and in that way “fulfill the word of Jesus to make disciples of all nations.”

The Mangelses and the other members of their former congregation are looking forward to their new experience of Easter joy. McCloskey said that in comparison to previous celebrations of Easter, “We’ll really be reliving the Crucifixion and Resurrection. It’ll be completely different from anything I’ve experienced before.”

“I cannot express my anticipation of receiving the Eucharist,” Josh said. “I am looking forward to the Pascha season and a season of rejoicing, as Lent has been especially solemn.”

Teresa said this Easter will be one they will “never forget.”

“This will be one of the best years of our lives, because of all the things [Jesus has] brought us through up to this point,” she said.

“Now, we’re really entering into his passion, and it’s just beautiful and amazing: I’ve waited my whole life to partake of the Lord’s Body, which I didn’t even know.”

Harvard Law Professor Umanib na po sa Tunay na Iglesia!

“Brilliant,” “Influential” Harvard Law Professor Converts to Catholicism

by ChurchPOP Editor -

Harvard law professor Adrian Vermeule was recently received into the Catholic Church, reports Princeton law professor Robert George, himself also Catholic, on Facebook.

Here’s George’s post:

The post says:

“One of our nation’s most brilliant and influential legal scholars, Professor Adrian Vermeule of Harvard Law School, has been received into the Catholic Church. How the Church, weakened and wounded as she is at this historical moment (with the worst of her wounds being self-inflicted), continues to attract such extraordinary men and women is, to me, well . . . a miracle.”

Vermeule is in the center of the picture, flanked by a few priests and another person. The priest on the far right was identified by Facebook commenters as Fr. Brian E. Daley, S.J., professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. Another commenter said the location appeared to be “outside Corby Hall at Notre Dame.”

Vermeule earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard in 1990 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1993. He served as a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who passed away earlier this year and was public about his Catholic faith.

He then taught at the University of Chicago for a few years until joining the Harvard Law School faculty in 2006. And just earlier this year, he was named the Ralph S. Tyler, Jr. Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School.

Comments on George’s posts were very positive.

“Congratulations Prof. Adrian Vermeule! Welcome to the Catholic family, we share in your joy!” one commenter wrote. “I am speechless!” said another.

Miss USA: Dating Muslim Umanib na sa Tunay na Iglesia

Salamat sa Diyos! Tara na! Dito na po tayo sa TUNAY na Iglesia na TATAG mismo ni Cristo!

Mula sa ChurchPOP

When Rima Fakih was crowned Miss USA in 2010, she was believed to have been the first Muslim winner. But since then, she has come to Christ: in the last few weeks she converted to Catholicism in preparation for her upcoming marriage to her Catholic fiance.

Fakih is set to marry Wassim Salibi, who is a Maronite Catholic, later this month in Lebanon where she grew up. The Maronite Catholic Church is one of 23 Eastern Catholic Churches that, while maintaining their Eastern traditions, are in full communion with the Pope.

Fakih has said in interviews that her family was nominally Muslim growing up and that she attended Catholic schools. However, she says she started to take her Muslim faith more seriously in college.

She’s also not the first in her family to convert. “My brother-in-law is Christian,” she told the Huffington Post in 2010, “and he (and my sister) baptised their two sons. I have an uncle who converted to Christianity, and he’s a priest now.”

MARIO JOSEPH- Dating Muslims ngayon ay kaanib na ng tunay na Iglesia ni Cristo- ang IGLESIA KATOLIKA!

From Darkness to Light YouTube

As a Muslim imam, Mario Joseph was well-versed in the Koran and in the teachings of the Islamic religion. In fact, it was precisely the Koran that brought him to an encounter with Jesus Christ and with the truth of the Catholic faith. But his conversion did not come without difficulties; as a consequence, he has undergone grave persecution. How has he attained his intense love toward the Church, the Cross and Heaven? He himself tells us in this week's impacting episode of Changing Tracks.

Tatang Larry Mallari: Dating INC® ni Manalo ngayo'y nasa tunay na Iglesia ni Cristo-ang Iglesia Katolika!

Dr. Wesley Vincent Ph.D. - Bagong Kaanib ng Iglesia ni Cristo

Isa na namang kwento ng pagbabalik-loob sa Iglesia ng isang Protestante. Dati-rati siya'y "Bible-Only" Christian ang paniniwala niya ngunit sa pamamagitan ng masusing pagsusuri sa katotohanang katangian ng tunay na Iglesia ni Cristo ay napatunayan niyang ang Santa Iglesia Katolika ay Biblical at ang kanyang itinuturo ay taliwas sa paniniwala ng mga Protestante. Sa awa at tulong ng Banal na Espiritu ay naibalik na sa tunay na Iglesia si Dr. Wesley Vincent, Ph.D. at ng kanyang pamilya.

A Bible-Believer Becomes Catholic by Believing the Bible – Conversion Story of Wesley Vincent Ph.D.

Source: CHNetwork.org

Our devout, fundamentalist-evangelical family of six children attended Sunday School, Sunday morning and evening worship services, Wednesday evening prayer meeting, and choir rehearsal after prayer meeting — even when traveling. My parents alternately took us to Nazarene and Baptist congregations. Nazarenes taught Arminian doctrine; that sinning resulted in loss of salvation. Baptists taught “once saved – always saved – safe and secure for eternity.” As early as grade school I became aware that different denominations taught contradictory doctrines, yet logic dictates that only one can be correct. Fundamentalist-evangelical pastors taught the precepts: (1) the Bible is the only authority; (2) salvation is by faith alone; and (3) the requirement to live according to biblical morality while simultaneously believing that our actions (works) had nothing to do with salvation. Fundamentalists erected legalistic barriers around immoral behavior in order to avoid any occasion for temptation.

I never remember not believing in Jesus Christ, though our family had faith, we were not happy. There was, however, one bright spot in my childhood: Bible Club.

The late Allan Emery, Jr. and his wife, Marian, held Bible Club in their living room for 50 to 90 teenagers every Thursday night. Allan was President and Chief Operating Officer of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. These loving Christians made everyone feel special and welcome at Bible Club — Protestant, Catholic, or un-churched. On alternate weekends, twelve teens were taken to Whisperwood, their New Hampshire farm, for weekend retreats. The strict rule was no more than two weekends, per teen, each year. One year, because the Emerys knew about each teen’s home life, every weekend they found a way to “need” one more boy. I was that fortunate boy. The Emery’s personal commitment led me to view them as being “Christ to me.” Bible Club was a godsend where my first happy memories were formed and where I met, courted, and (in 1975) married Paula (the perfect girlfriend) in the Emery’s flower garden.

Innate desires

Besides Bible Club, two other childhood factors influenced my faith journey. I had an intense yearning to participate in communion, but to receive communion in my childhood church required being twelve years of age, baptized, and a member. After communion one Sunday, at about age eight, I discovered that the communion trays of Matzo crackers and cups of grape juice were left unattended in the kitchen. On subsequent communion Sundays, after the ushers returned from disposing of the trays, I would ask to use the restroom and proceed to reverently serve myself communion. When our family moved to a new congregation, communion was infrequent. Later, as a busy student at Wheaton College, the congregation I attended never seemed to have communion, yet my deep desire for communion never faded.

Besides a desire for communion, I was drawn to the story of Christ’s birth and the Ave Maria (my mother’s favorite music). Our beautiful (Catholic) Advent Calendar was a treasured Christmas tradition; however, because my mother was the choir director in all the congregations we attended, and my father was a deacon, we children were advised never to discuss these topics with other members. None of the congregations we attended were open to ecumenism with other Protestant denominations and utterly rejected the Catholic Church. The serene image of Mary brought a sense of peace to me, especially as a child in an unhappy family. Interestingly, the Emerys were the only Protestants I knew who openly recognized Catholics as Christians. Although Paula, who was Catholic, joined me in Protestant congregations, the Emerys never encouraged her to leave the Catholic Church.

A jigsaw of interpretation

Living with many mutually contradictory doctrines made understanding the faith similar to trying to complete a complex puzzle from a combination of different jigsaw puzzles stirred together. As a teen I viewed the contradictions with perplexity. For example, altar calls in the Nazarene congregations (when only members were present) made sense based on the Arminian doctrine of the possibility of losing one’s salvation. However, in the “once saved – always saved – safe and secure for eternity” Baptist congregations, altar calls to members seemed utterly absurd. In one congregation, this only impacted one mentally feeble woman who tearfully went forward each time and “finally accepted Jesus — again.” As an adult, maintaining the theological tension between contradictory biblical interpretations eventually led to a minimalistic faith. That is, the acceptance of Jesus was the only necessary aspect of the faith; nothing else mattered. So after college, since both Paula and I were employed at different evangelical agencies with weekly chapel services led by pastors and missionaries, we readily substituted the chapel services for Sunday attendance. But there persisted a desire to find a church that taught all of what we knew Scripture taught.

In 1979, a move to a small New England town resulted in a limited choice of congregations. Two of the local congregations were so theologically liberal that the pastors were more likely to quote sentimental poems than Scripture. One fundamentalist congregation was pastored by a high school graduate whose exegesis was agonizingly embarrassing. Another congregation was so unreceptive to newcomers that not a single member of the congregation, or the pastor, greeted us.

Discounting the Catholic church in town, Paula and I hesitantly visited the remaining small Episcopal chapel. The beauty of the liturgy and the opportunity to receive communion at every service was such a blessing that that congregation became our spiritual home. Two years later, in 1981, we moved again for graduate school and attended a large, active, Episcopal congregation with dynamic liturgy, powerful sermons, and some of the best music we have ever enjoyed. Yet, sadly, it was in that congregation where it became evident that, while the words were biblical, a double-speak was at play. The realization that something was amiss occurred after learning that the rector’s “wife” was actually still married to an ex-parishioner. Gradually, it became evident the evangelical and biblical language was actually code for left-leaning political messages.

Without describing every issue, my Protestant experience confirmed that there was no congregation in which I could trust that all (or only) biblical truth was being taught. Certainly, much truth was taught at all the congregations we attended, but never was “all truth” (Jn 16:12) taught. In fact, it took only a few sermons to identify some false, unbiblical doctrine being proffered. It became increasingly evident that every pastor and member — not the Bible — was his or her own final authority. Utter discouragement with the contradictory theological doctrines led us to live our faith on our own for more than two decades. During that time many evangelical clients came to my practice specifically because I am listed with insurance companies as a Christian psychologist. Often, what these clients believed and practiced was foreign to what I previously knew to be evangelicalism. This made it apparent that evangelicalism had changed radically during those two decades. Many aspects of moral living were also conspicuously absent.

“Correcting” Scripture

These experiences made it obvious that the “once saved – always saved – safe and secure for eternity” doctrine was “a different gospel” (Gal 1:6-7). The carefully guarded and entrenched belief regarding their prerogative to a personal, private interpretation of Scripture insulated these individuals from recognizing the fallacy of their beliefs and practices. I came to recognize that the schismatic nature of Protestant denominations is likely due to this non-biblical and faulty assurance that individual believers are guaranteed to be led into “all truth” (Jn 16:12). Yet, as I later discovered, Scripture is clear that only the Apostles, individually (Jn 16:12), and “God’s household, which [is] the Church of the Living God, the pillar and bulwark of truth” (1 Tim 3:15) were given any assurance of acquiring “all truth.”

Ang Pagbabalik-loob ni Najib, isang dating Orthodox naging kaanib na ngayon ng tunay na Iglesia ni Cristo

Narito ang isang napakagandang kwento ng pagbabalik-loob ni Najib, isang dating Orthodox mula sa Lebanon at ngayo'y magiting na tagapagtanggol ng tunay na Iglesia ni Cristo. Salamat sa COMING HOME NETWORK sa kwentong ito na nagpatatag sa ating pananampalatayang Katoliko!

In the Middle of a Triangle – Conversion Story of Najib Nasr
 
I was baptized Greek Orthodox (after my father) in Lebanon, where I lived the first 60 years of my life. My mother was an Evangelical Christian on account of the American missionaries who came to Lebanon in the early nineteenth century. I read the New Testament once in my teens and thought I knew everything. I ended up living somewhat in ignorance for decades.

I lived a secular existence, going to church only on feast days. I was in the choir at the Evangelical church, but only in the summertime when we would be at our summer place in the mountains overlooking Beirut. That was as far as it went on the religious side. I did lead a chaste life, though, guided by my memory of what I had retained of the Word of God.

My father was an Arabic and history teacher at a boarding school who was home on weekends. My mother was a music teacher and was in Saudi Arabia at the time, tutoring the daughter of the crown prince. The younger of my two sisters took care of me.

Taking flight

Without much guidance, I was a collage freshman dropout from the American University of Beirut (AUB). During my freshman year (1956-57), my physics class was at the School of Agriculture building and I was by the window overlooking the beautiful football field. Planes, including jet fighters, would pass over the radio beacon situated at the AUB swimming beach on their final approach to land at Beirut International Airport. That did it. From that point on, I wanted to become a pilot.

I could not afford to pursue training abroad, so it was a long, pioneering endeavor, waiting for the ground school to open and for the Aero Club of Lebanon (ACL) to commence operations. I started flying in 1961 and was the first made-in-Lebanon, private and commercial pilot; all other pilots studied abroad.

I borrowed on my life policy and got my Assistant Instructor’s Rating from the UK. I later passed my Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) written and flying exams through the American Embassy in Beirut and got all my FAA licenses and eventually took over ACL operations. The ACL was a dead end. By then, I had trained one of my students as a flight instructor and he succeeded me when I joined Middles East Airlines (MEA), next door, as an airline pilot. It was a 27-year rewarding career. I flew Sud Aviation Caravelle 6N, Boeing 707, and 720 and Airbus A310 jet aircraft. I was a Route Training Captain for Trainee First Officers and for Trainee Captains.

I joined MEA in 1972 and married my charming wife, Therese, in 1975. She is a Maronite Catholic. There are twenty-three rites in the Catholic Church; one Roman rite and twenty-two Eastern rite churches. The Maronite Church never split with Rome. [For more information on the different rites in the Catholic Church we suggest you go to EWTN Catholic Rites and churches —Ed.]

Caught in a religious triangle

I started reading the Bible in a serious manner some five years before my mandatory retirement at age sixty. Looking back now, all along, the Holy Spirit has been preparing me. First, I had Mr. Yorkie, a talented American for an English teacher during high school. I turned out to be good at English. I read American books extensively. Then again, my experience as an instructor and the resumption of the reading of Scripture all contributed to what was to come and helped me to reformulate my sense of justice. Philippians 1:6 was being applied in my life: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus” (I am quoting from the New American Bible for best rendering). Anyway, I could not remember where things were in the Bible, so I gradually developed an 18-page, selected Bible readings index that is unlike any other around.

Circumstances of war and work requirements gradually squeezed us out of Lebanon, and we ended up in America. My family left ten years before I retired, while I left just weeks after retiring in 1999. My second conversion took place in those last weeks. It was the Sunday after Easter, as I attended my first confession ever, during which, without crying, tears came streaming down my face at the thought of lost time away from God. (My first conversion was a pledge I wrote on a Protestant pamphlet a year earlier.)

In the United States, we would attend Sunday Mass at the Roman Catholic Church near our place in Los Angeles or at Our Lady of Mt. Lebanon Maronite Church. Weekdays, I would listen to Protestant pastors on the radio while waiting to pick up one of our three daughters from college. I saw inconsistency in their preaching and, when I realized that there were 33,000+ denominations/churches — to borrow from my training as a pilot — I applied full brakes, like there was not enough runway left! Matthew 16:18-19 figured prominently as the main factor, especially, since Jesus uttered the word “church” in the singular. In my simplicity, I believed Him. Did I do wrong? No way (Matthew 10:16)!

My father was Orthodox, my mother Protestant, and my wife a Catholic. I was in the middle of a religious triangle, and I did not like it one bit. Now, where in the name of heaven was God’s Church? I started a serious search for Her.

Searching for the one Church

The process was time consuming. The hurdle was the stagnation that followed after realizing that there wasn’t enough time in this life to experience all 33,000 Protestant/evangelical/non-denominational entities. After a (Holy Spirit) while, the Catholic Church became my target for investigation, since Peter was in the middle of things there. Of course, no entity can survive without a visible head and an organization to support it. Imagine two first officers flying a jetliner on a regular basis! I reasoned that if we need a head to institute an entity, then we do need a head to keep it going. And Jesus had already chosen to appoint Peter with authority over the Church.

I stumbled on typology (a study that examines the way in which Christian beliefs are prefigured or symbolized by people, places, events, or things in the Old Testament). Jesus employed typology: the “keys” in Matthew 16:19 which refer back to Isaiah 22:22; and Peter also: “let another take his position of overseer” (Acts 1:20 and Psalm 109:8). Next was Apostolic Succession through the laying on of hands: (Numbers 27:18-23; Deuteronomy 34:9; and Hebrews 6:1-2; 1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6).

I read the works of St. Ignatius of Antioch. He was the first on record to have called the Church, the “catholic Church.” So, how was this man connected to the Church that Jesus Christ instituted? The answer was that he was the disciple of the Apostle John and was ordained by Peter. That was the connection that cannot be repudiated, considering that he lived for some 30 to 35 years concurrently with John.

When I perceived that Peter did not write about his travels, nor did John, I saw how God wanted Paul’s endeavors to stand out, but only as a sampling of what was going on. The other Apostles were doing the same. Therefore, I could not expect St. Ignatius to be mentioned in the Bible, nor his colleague in the “School of John,” St. Polycarp. St. Ignatius was the equivalent of Timothy and Titus, an apostolic man whose words help us discover the truth. By God’s providence, we have his writings here with us; his seven letters. [To read these letters, you may do a simple Internet search for “seven letters of St. Ignatius” or purchase a copy of Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp of Symrna: A New Translation and Theological Commentary by Dr. Kenneth Howell, available at www.chresources.com—Ed.]

The Eucharist is present in his early writings (Letter to the Smyrnians 8:1-2); the position of the priest is also present — the Bible mentions the bishop, the deacon, and presbyters (Letter to the Smyrnians 7:1); the Blessed Virgin Mary is present (Letter to the Ephesians 19:1; and Tralles 3:1); the status of the bishop is present (Letter to Trallians 3:1); and, words concerning schisms and reverts are present (Letter to the Philadelphians 3:2).

Again, that did it. When I converted, I had to get my baptismal certificate, because the Catholic Church, in conformity with the Scriptures, recognizes only one baptism and accepts Orthodox and Protestant baptisms if performed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:5). I had no one except my (now deceased) sister in Lebanon to secure a copy of my baptismal certificate. She was much older than I am and would be very upset to know that I was converting. In the Middle East, this thing was just not done. I told her I wanted to be under the Pope. She misunderstood me. The word Baba in Arabic means Pope or father.

The Maronite Catholic Church

I chose to be a Maronite because I considered that the Maronites saved Lebanese Christianity by coming from Northern Syria and evangelizing the rugged Lebanese mountains, thus, eradicating the well entrenched organized pagan worship there, left over by the Christians who had only evangelized the coastline. With access to their ships, the Phoenicians could have spread their religion far and wide. Lebanon meant a lot to the Maronites, and I am of Lebanese descent. It was only natural for me to want to choose the Maronite Church.

Then again, the Maronite liturgy is very rich. There are prayers in a poetic setting, shedding light on the Scriptures from a different angle. The liturgy requires continuous active participation by the faithful. The Liturgy (the Mass) is part of the sacred oral Word (which was there plenty before the written Word). Thus, one gets insights into the revelations of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles. If one pays attention, one comes to realize, for example, that Mary, not just Joseph, is from the House of David; and that Jesus actually laid hands on the Apostles, minutes before His Ascension and did not just raise His hands to bless them, as we may imagine referring to Luke 24:50.

Here in America, I found myself engaged in Catholic apologetics, trying to convert my Protestant cousins back home, in England, in Australia, and here in America. Not succeeding there, I ended up evangelizing Catholics. I wrote numerous apologetics articles in our quarterly magazine and I now give a monthly, 5-minute apologetics presentation to members of our Knights of Columbus council at the Roman Catholic Church near our home in Los Angeles, where I am the sacristan for the Vigil Mass. I also attend daily Mass (Liturgy) at Our Lady of Mt. Lebanon Church.

Protestanteng Historian Nadiskubre ang Tunay ng Iglesia ni Cristo

A Protestant Historian Discovers the Catholic Church

(Source: Coming Home Network)

by A. David Anders, Ph.D.

I grew up an Evangelical Protestant in Birmingham, Alabama. My parents were loving and devoted, sincere in their faith, and deeply involved in our church. They instilled in me a respect for the Bible as the Word of God, and a desire for a living faith in Christ. Missionaries frequented our home and brought their enthusiasm for their work. Bookshelves in our house were filled with theology and apologetics. From an early age, I absorbed the notion that the highest possible calling was to teach the Christian faith. I suppose it is no surprise that I became a Church historian, but becoming a Catholic was the last thing I expected.

My family’s church was nominally Presbyterian, but denominational differences meant very little to us. I frequently heard that disagreements over baptism, the Lord’s Supper, or church government were unimportant as long as one believed the Gospel. By this we meant that one should be “born again,” that salvation is by faith alone, and that the Bible is the sole authority for Christian faith. Our church supported the ministries of many different Protestant denominations, but the one group we certainly opposed was the Catholic Church.

The myth of a Protestant “recovery” of the Gospel was strong in our church. I learned very early to idolize the Protestant Reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin, because they supposedly had rescued Christianity from the darkness of medieval Catholicism. Catholics were those who trusted in “good works” to get them to heaven, who yielded to tradition instead of Scripture, and who worshipped Mary and the saints instead of God. Their obsession with the sacraments also created an enormous impediment to true faith and a personal relationship with Jesus. There was no doubt. Catholics were not real Christians.

Dr. Scott Hahn: Kwento ng kanyang pagbabalik-loob sa Iglesia ni Cristo

Dating Calvinist ngayo'y kaanib na ng Iglesia ni Cristo

Isa na namang kwento ng pagbabalik-loob ng isang Protestante sa pagiging Katoliko. Mula sa Coming Home Network

From Calvin to Catholicism

by Brian Besong

My father was raised a Roman Catholic but attended Houston Baptist University on a scholarship; my mother was raised in a Protestant household and baptized as a Protestant in her youth. She also attended Houston Baptist, where she met my father. Prior to the wedding, my mother “converted” to Catholicism, but her conversion was superficial at best. The priest who conducted her initiation classes swept her serious reservations about points of the Catholic Faith aside and hastened her toward Confirmation. She was confirmed, though she was never told to make a first Confession. Her weak adoption of Catholicism was short-lived and by the time I was born, both of my parents had abandoned Catholicism and had begun attending a Disciples of Christ church. This was where my mother’s family went to church and it bore a liturgical style similar enough to the Catholic Mass for my father not to feel too strong a discomfort in making the switch. The main thing I remember about this church concerned my desire to be baptized. Although I believed what was told to me about Jesus and knew that people who believed those things were supposed to be baptized, the church refused to allow me to be baptized because they thought I was not yet old enough to make a more serious act of faith.

Seminarista ng Southern Baptist naging Kaanib ng Iglesia ni Cristo

Maraming mga Protestante ang lumilipat na sa Iglesia Katolika at isa na rito ang isang seminarista. Narito ang kanyang kwento mula sa blog ni Devin Rose:

My name is Anthony and I am becoming Catholic. Writing this sentence would have made me cry two months ago. As an aspiring evangelical missionary studying at a Southern Baptist seminary, I knew that most Catholics were not “believers,” true Christians, yet now . . . things are different. I begged God for six months to let me remain in evangelicalism. He didn’t. My hope is that this story will encourage fellow Catholics and lead many of my evangelical friends to, at the very least, have a more charitable view of the Roman Catholic Church.

The beginning

One year ago I came home to visit my family. My dad, a worship and preaching pastor from when I was in fourth grade on, had resigned his position a year prior and was finishing his Masters in Theological Studies. He had grown up in the Catholic Church and one of his graduate courses caused him to reexamine some of the teaching. I found a silly-looking book titled Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic on his desk. Maybe I picked it up because I had brought nothing else home to read, or maybe my curiosity was peaked after spending a summer as a missionary to Catholics in Poland. For whatever reason, reading the testimony was the start of my confusing and reluctant journey to Rome.

David Currie’s 1996 memoir of leaving behind his fundamentalist upbringing, Trinity Evangelical education and ministries was bothersome. Currie’s unapologetic defense of controversial doctrines like Mary and the Pope were most shocking, as I had never seriously considered that Catholics would have sensible, scriptural defenses to these beliefs.

As I grew in my evangelical faith at a midwestern liberal arts college and listened to over two hundred hours of evangelical sermons by popular Reformed preachers like Mark Driscoll and John Piper, my assumption was hardened that the Roman Catholic Church didn’t adhere to the Bible. When I asked one pastor friend of mine during my junior year why Catholics thought Mary remained a virgin after Jesus’ birth when the Bible clearly said Jesus had “brothers,” he simply grimaced: “They don’t read the Bible.”

If Currie’s book bothered me, slipping nervously into Mass that weekend didn’t help the situation. I was shocked that the lyrics sung were derived directly from the Scriptures, a quality lacking in many Protestant songs. Three times as many Bible passages were read than was typical at my non-denominational and Baptist services I attended, and the priest spoke on the Great Commission and the need for evangelization. Many Catholics will not be able to appreciate my shock.