Tuesday, 15 November 2011 01:27

Agnostic Convert: Chad Torgerson

Agnostic Convert

Chad Torgerson

Once cynical of Catholicism, Chad's journey to the Catholic faith was difficult, but it led to intense study and deep personal reflection which brought him home to the Catholic Church. He now hopes to share the lessons he learned and the beauty of the Catholic Tradition with those around him.

Solid Foundations

Growing up in a suburb of Chicago, my parents raised me in the Lutheran faith. My parents were not the most spiritual of people, but they wanted to make sure that my siblings and I were "exposed" to faith. Basically, the concept was to introduce us to Christianity but allow us to make our own decisions. After being confirmed, I never went back.

For years, I was agnostic at best. Based on what I was learning in school, religion did not make any sense to me. Science had become my religion of sorts, and science seemed completely opposed to what I had learned in Sunday school. My analytic mind led me closer to science, and further from faith. To believe in God, I needed proof that he existed. Not finding it, by the time I left high school, I went from agnostic to full-blown cynic.

Published in Agnostic
Wednesday, 13 April 2011 01:41

Atheist Convert: Devin Rose

Atheist Convert

Devin Rose

Devin Rose is a software engineer and former Atheist. This is his story from Atheist to Baptist to Catholic.

I believe and profess all that the Holy Catholic Church teaches and proclaims to be revealed by God.

But it was not always so. I grew up secularly. My mother was brought up in a particularly legalistic branch of the churches of Christ denomination, and my father, in the Episcopal Church. But the only church I remember going to as a child was a Unitarian Universalist one, and we went there for just a short time. The sole Unitarian sermon I recall having to sit through included a joke about (then Vice President) Dan Quayle that got big laughs from the congregation. I was taught at home and at school that humans evolved without purpose from primordial ooze, so unsurprisingly, when I became old enough to reason about such things, I proudly declared that I did not believe in God.

Published in Atheist
Tuesday, 15 March 2011 23:08

Lutheran Convert: Nicole Motsch-DeMille

Lutheran Convert

Nicole Motsch-DeMille

Nicole Motsch-DeMille was a graduate of Lutheran schools and an active member of her Lutheran parish until some casual research led her and her family into a major life change . . . and into the Catholic Church.

I am a forty-one year old wife and mother, former high school English teacher and native New Yorker who converted to Roman Catholicism after living my entire life up to that point as a devout and active Lutheran.  I attended private Lutheran schools from Kindergarten to twelfth grade.  I served Communion at my Lutheran parish.  I wrote and taught Confirmation curriculum.  I married in the Lutheran Church and baptized both of my children there.  I cannot say I was unhappy as a Lutheran, but I did have questions and unresolved issues, Scriptures that didn’t square with what my pastors and religious instructors taught, and a longing for something “more.”  

Published in Lutheran
Tuesday, 01 February 2011 12:20

Jewish Convert: Myron Moskowitz

Jewish Convert

Myron Moskowitz

Myron is a convert from Judaism. Becoming Catholic has been one of Myron's greatest joys in life. Myron is in his last semester of formation for the Permanent Diaconate preparing for Ordination in June. He was blessed to recently visit the Holy Land which helped prepare him even more for Ordination.

When I first received an inquiry asking if I would like to submit my conversion story I thought, “Sure”.  For me, answering why I am Catholic is a no-brainer; I read the New Testament and saw the Truth, the Light, and the Way.  The journey that led to reading the New Testament for the first time at age forty-eight was nothing short of incredible. 

Published in Jewish
Tuesday, 08 February 2011 02:43

Lutheran Convert: George Sipe

Lutheran Convert

George M. Sipe

George is a husband of 30 years and father of one daughter. A life-long, single denomination Protestant he was as surprised as anybody to find himself becoming Catholic. Since 2006, he runs his own company creating and managing the web presence of small businesses.

How I Became an Ex-Lutheran

I have many fond memories growing up in my Lutheran LCA church. Our congregation was small but tight-knit. Our church building was of an older, majestic style located in a small city that once saw greater numbers on Sunday. My parents were married there. My brother and I were baptized there.

While no one would have called us "bible thumpers," we were quietly religious.

Published in Lutheran
Tuesday, 25 January 2011 02:11

Catholic Revert: John Pridmore

Catholic Revert

John Pridmore

John is a former East End Gangster turned Christian who now travels internationally speaking to others about how his life changed.

My name is John Pridmore and this is my story.

I was born in the East End of London at the Salvation Army Hospital. Though I was baptised as a Catholic I never went to a Catholic school or to church. At the age of ten I came home on a normal night and my parents told me I had to choose who I wanted to live with because they were getting divorced. I loved my parents so much and I couldn’t choose because the two people I loved the most had just crushed me. It was then that deep down inside I made a choice not to love anymore because I thought if I don’t love I won’t get hurt.

Published in Catholic Reverts