By Paul Dion, STL
There is a question that has been presented on a couple of serious Catholic blogs that the editors of ParishWorld.net fits into the spirit of this week's readings, Acts, chapter 2, verses 14 to 41 and the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verses 1 to 10.
The question addresses the state of mind of people who come to the Catholic Faith from other religions or from no religion at all. It is also related to the saying that we have all heard often, "There's nothing like a convert!"
It is rather true in many ways. It seems that converts are better catechized than cradle Catholics, they appear to know more of the details of our Catholicism than we do and they seem to be better "adjusted" to the ways and dictates of the Church than we are.
So the question is, "Are Converts Happier than Cradle Catholics?" Since there is no "right" answer to this, only conjecture, ParishWorld.net leaves it up to the readers to share and learn from the answers that you may have developed over the years about this question.
If you wish to see what some other Catholics have said about this, you may click here for a few opinions from the Deacon's Blog.
So let us know what you think.
I cannot say whether converts are happier than cradle Catholics but as a convert of 5 years, I can say that I've never been happier. I am on fire for the Catholic church and it has become my life. I absolutely love everything about the faith. I accept the church with all its teachings as well as it's failures. Because my connection is with Jesus, I am able to get beyond the failings of the individual people that make up the church. What keeps me on fire is daily mass and an hour with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteAs a re-vert, I would say that one possible reason that converts seem happier than cradle Catholics is because even if cradle Catholics can be just as much in the darkness as any pagan, the convert or revert used to believe the darkness was the light... when they realized the truth, that their light was actually darkness, then what a glorious day it is to step into the true light, the true Church.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
-Laurence Gonzaga