I Hate Converts

[Kenny]

Is it just me, or do I find this article a little obnoxious and stereotypical?

Maybe I am overreacting or a little oversensitive, but I just fail to see any good in this article, or how it could be beneficial to anyone. Some points in there actually make me slightly angry, for some reason, and I don't exactly know why.

Sorry, just needed to get it off my chest.

[marykaty]

Kenny, I'm not sure what bothered you the most in that article.  My take on it was that the author put all converts in one barrel and labeled them the same.

 

Of course we all know the extreme converts who question everything.  My own personal pet peeve is the EWTN converts who are new to the Church, telling us what is and isn't Catholic.  But there are also plenty of Catholic converts, generally in less extreme Traditional chapels (may I say SSPX?) who are just delighted to have found the Faith and are anxious to learn and to help in any way they can.  I know a lot of these people. 

 

Of course there are extremists in every organization.  We have some N.O. 'reverts' in our chapel who know nothing ot the Traditional church but want to be in charge of everything.  Unfortunately, many of these people also have the money to 'assist' them.

 

So, what is your main complaint about that article?

 

God bless!

[Philomena]

I expected to like this article. I too find converts really annoying, because many of them do assume leadership roles in the Church without knowing any more about Catholicism than what they were taught in RCIA. And we all know the problems inherent in that: a liberalized doctrine, a Protestantized liturgy, a marginalization of Mary and the saints, and a deep suspicion of traditional Catholic culture. I rarely encounter converts like the ones described in this article, who go to weekly confession, know Latin, and want a "glorious liturgy". Who is this guy? Where does he attend mass? Who runs his RCIA? Oh wait! He's a convert himself! Maybe his RCIA teacher didn't give him enough grounding in the Faith to distinguish traditional Catholic piety from modernist laxity?     

[Kenny]

It is not so much the content that I am unhappy with, as is the general overtone, since I do know converts who are somewhat like that. Maybe I just don't like the way the author stereotyped all converts. Maybe I don't like the overtone of the article that to me insinuates that the convert mentality (which he stereotyped) is intrinsically/inherently wrong. After all, enthusiasm is not necessarily a bad thing.

So perhaps it is a myriad of little complaints about that article that make up my general unhappiness with it. I suppose the most I can say is I don't think it is a particularly well-written article.

[Philomena]

What I found offensive was the general implication that strong devotion is not authentically Catholic.

[Kenny]

While I recognise that too many converts are far too eager to share everything they just learnt about the Faith (when in fact they know so little, and what little they know is not always correct), the author forgets those converts who were more or less volunteered by his fellow parishioners to assume certain roles of leadership a year or two after they convert, maybe even sooner. Not every convert is as pushy as the author's image of them are in the article.

My experience is the latter, but I have left my parish anyway. And I am so glad I am a convert, because if it was otherwise, I may never have discovered Tradition, and introduce friends to it.

[Kenny]

What I found offensive was the general implication that strong devotion is not authentically Catholic.

That's another of my complaints.

[QuisUtDeus]

I dunno.  I'm kinda happy that they converted and are excited about the faith.

 

ADDENDUM / PS:  I'm thinking the author of that piece styles himself a "rant humorist" except there's no humor in what he's saying.

[marykaty]

Kenny and all----you explained the problem with that article so well.  The author has an arogance that makes me suspect a guilty conscience.  My closest friends at my SSPX chapel are a convert and a returned, fallen-away Catholic.  Our best Catechism teacher for many years was a pioneer in the home-schooling movement, and she attends Mass every Sunday despite her extreme age and disability.

 

I am especially impressed with converts who quickly recognize what so many cradle Catholics do not: that the Catholic Church is the Church of the past 2000 years, not the last 40.

 

God bless, and thanks!

[Kenny]

I am especially impressed with converts who quickly recognize what so many cradle Catholics do not: that the Catholic Church is the Church of the past 2000 years, not the last 40.

Verily!

Such succinct, wise words.