How many people have converted non-catholics to our faith?

[mistman]

I want to know this because I have always wanted to convert people I like who aren't Catholic. It has caused me some problems with people but I explain to them that it is natural to want people in your life to be on the same page with you morally. One of the things that puzzles me is that Protestants do all the talking. They expect to convert me and are surprised when I give them a dose of their own medicine.  Does anyone here try to convert neighbors, friends and family? Have you been successful? What has worked for you? If I get any good feedback, I'll try it myself.  In general, American Catholics seem to have much in common with white supremacists...I never meet any yet there are allegedly tons of them...according to the papers. In terms of cliquishness and "secretivity" (here's a new one for ya), I give a slight edge to Catholics...but there is a difference in the fact that white supremacists don't do a lot of missionary work in Africa. You'll have to pardon my sarcasm as it is merely the result of mixing a bad temper with a good sense of humor 

[kjvail]

I have tried and spoken to a few people about it but its nearly impossible in an environment that believes one religion is just as good (or as bad) as any other.

It's perfectly acceptable for Americans to be Jews, Hindus, animists, neo-pagans, etc... never mind baptists, methodists or pentacostals. Most could care less if someone is even Christian, they have absolutely no patience for discussing "denominational differences" which they don't understand and regard as completely irrelevant.

 

I can't think of a person, outside of those I've met in my trad parish or on this or similiar boards, that regard the question as the slightest bit relevant.

 

 

[albert]

I've converted two people to Traditional Catholicism.  One brought his immediate family along with him so that one counts as six I suppose.

 

Entering the Church is an exterior step, good as it is, it is not definitive.  I know many seemingly sincere Trad Catholics who are evil.

 

Ultimately, it is not about conversion.  Conversion to Catholicism is a lagging indicator of conversion to the Truth.  Work on that first. 

 

Try to get them to be honest about ANYTHING.  Your Mission Impossible is to show them how hypocritical and irrational they are on virtually all aspects of what passes as their life.  Then and only then might they be sobered up enough to have ears and eyes for religious truths. -- Sincerely, Albert

 

 

[miss_fluffy]

I have a single secular friend who has expressed interest and admiration regarding my own conversion.  But like Kjvail said, she sees all religions as interesting and admirable.  She has expressed interest in attending Mass with me, but we never followed up on it.  Perhaps I will try to go with her as a part of my lent practice.

 

I once took my brother to Mass and the experience was rather heartbreaking, as he acted like a tourist.  He was respectful, but more interested in the "strangeness" of it as a cultural oddity than in the meaning of it, or the real truth behind it.  I feel he no longer sees me as an equal since my conversion, and he speaks with care to not offend my new found Christian sensibilities, or cause argument.

 

As far as my own conversion, I can tell you what worked.  I feel strongly that God granted me the grace necessary for my conversion, but the talks I had with Catholic friends were essential.  A particular dear friend of mine spent alot of time talking about his own journey of faith, and he had no mind to convert me.  I was very wrapped up in a all-are-one, buddhist/pagan mindset, and he honestly was only sharing.  I think it was this approach that won me over.  When he learned of my conversion he was quite shocked, and the news of it increased his faith as well.  So, I think the best bet is to leave the coverting to God, but by all means, talk to your friends about your faith.

[Michael_G]

Here in Ireland it is more a question of bringing back people who think they have "grown out" of the Faith, since almost everyone was brought up as a Catholic.  In Ireland, turning your back on your Catholic upbringing is supposed to be a sign of maturity and sophistication.  Thanks to my mother, who was widowed with five children, of whom I was the eldest at twelve, I have a university education.  I also have fairly high status in the organisation I work for.  (I'm not saying those things to boast, but to explain what comes next.)  I make a point of mentioning in conversation at the coffee break something that I heard at Mass, or contradicting lazy anti-Catholic remarks or jokes, or (as I will tomorrow) coming to work with ashes on my forehead.  Sometimes it challenges people and makes them think again about the comfortable agnostic positions they have relaxed into.

 

Even with practising Catholics I let it be known that I attend a Traditional Mass.  Often they ask why, which creates another opportunity to do a bit of apostolate (my Opus Dei formation obviously coming out in that phrase).

[Marylou]

We have had a conversion in our family lately with my new daughter in law entering the church prior to her marriage to my second son.

It was so lovely as she made the move based on the witness of our family members devotion to their faith.  
It was her desire to go to Mass with Adrian that made him fall in love with her, then when he proposed to her she said she would accept if she was Catholic!!

She is radiant! So am I! Two marriages so far and ALL CATHOLIC.
Praise God.

[learning]

I wanted to be converted all my life, but no one ever tried or spoke to me about it.  I am a shy and passive person by nature, so I secretly hoped someone would come along and make it easy for me.  I admired Catholic friends a saw going to mass every week, abstaining from meat on Fridays, etc.  I would question them about their practices, hoping they would somehow give me the invitation or push I needed, but it never happened.  But their example touched me and contributed later to my eventual conversion.

 

Before I was married, I thought if I married a Catholic man I could finally become Catholic.  Instead a married a Baptist man and became Baptist.  Now my husband is close to converting also.  I have tried to make it easy for him the way I thought it would be easy for me if I married a Catholic.

 

Being a shy person, and not even Catholic myself yet, I do not like to actively try to convert people.  If the subject comes up, I do like to tell people about my church, my priest, and the TLM. I find people, even atheists and some Protestants, are interested to hear about the TLM. No one besides my husband has actually gone yet.

[albert]

I am a shy and passive person by nature, so I secretly hoped someone would come along and make it easy for me.

I found what you wrote and especially that above to be incredibly sad.  Not sad in a bad way.  Sad in a way like how mist forms on moss into a kind of dew.  

 

For being a shy and passive person, you have done and seem to be doing very well.  God bless you on your shy and passive moss-bordered way. – Sincerely, Albert the Aggressor

[DesperatelySeeking]

My wife, a former Baptist, converted.  In all honesty, it might be a little much to say that "I converted her".   Maybe better to say, as Fulton Sheen did, that I was "God's pencil".

 

I prayed privately many years for her conversion.  The credit has to go to the Holy Spirit.

[albert]

The credit has to go to the Holy Spirit.

 

That's a dangerous sentiment, as virtually every Protestant will claim the same. 

 

Rather, why not say that the credit has to go to the Truth.  Jesus said no one gets to the Father except through the Truth, and He was it, not the Holy Ghost. 

 

Catholicism simply is more truthful than any other religion.  Wasn't it that rather than some mysterious burning in the bosom induced by a spirit?  I'd like to think so. -- Sincerely, Albert