Catholic to LDS: Why Did you Leave?

[Jason_J]

I'm about to get ready for work, but I thought I'd quickly post a question that I've thought about posting for awhile but haven't.

At times it seems really easy to leave the Catholic Church for the LDS Church due to certain restored beliefs that I find are clearly restored (creation from pre-existing matter, pre-mortal existence, corporeal God, etc), while at other times I find things that I would miss in Catholicism (liturgy, candles, incense, etc). Obviously I tell my self, if Truth is Truth, it shouldn't matter whether there are candles, incense, etc.

So, I'd love to hear the conversion stories of any LDS that were Catholic before, and if they dealt with those feelings. I know that there are those here that came from other faiths, however as a Catholic, I'd really like to hear from ex-Catholics (especially those that were practicing).

This thread isn't to judge anyone, but only to share testimonies/conversion stories.

Thanks!

[rameumptom]

The Catholic church's liturgy is filled with symbolism, and can be quite awe-inspiring. We have much symbolism, but it is primarily in the temple, not in our weekly services which focus on teaching doctrine.

[prisonchaplain]

Why do I, as a Protestant, feel like a bridge, on this thread? :-)

[Guest]

I married an LDS guy with complete confidence that he will become Catholic. I was THAT sure of my religion. Of course before we got married, we both agreed that we are to respect each other's religion but that we will have to agree on which religion our "house" is going to be so that when we have children, that is the religion they're going to be raised in. I was confident my house will be Catholic and that my husband (who was attending Catholic mass out of respect for me) will eventually become Catholic. I was a devout Catholic.

I had no problems having missionaries over. I wanted to learn more about my husband's religion just so I can understand him better. And of course, the lessons get stuck in the apostasy because I believed it never happened. So, even if I don't agree with the Rosary or the practice of paying "homage" to images, I still believed 100% that the Catholic church is the true church and that all protestant churches do not have the authority based on apostolic succession.

One time, I asked my husband, "You must think I'm going to hell because I'm not LDS". And he said semi-jokingly, "Nope. You have to be LDS to burn in the fires of hell." That got my curiosity up a notch.

There were a lot of other spiritual experiences my husband and I experienced but the following moments were the "milestones":

1.) Somebody gave me the book The Great Apostasy. I would read the first paragraph and it was just greek to me. I don't understand a thing it was saying. I know it sounds stupid but it was the same as me reading a book on Advanced Electromagnetic Calculations or something. I understand the words but I don't understand what it was trying to say. One time, my husband said, maybe you should try fasting and praying about it. I figured, it was a Friday, so instead of just abstaining from meat, I would abstain from food and drink period. Then I sat on the sand on the beach and said a quick prayer (I'm still not comfortable praying without a prayer book at this time) and opened the book. I read that book from cover to cover without stopping right there on the sand with tons of people playing on the beach and it felt like I was alone there. And my heart was beating fast and images from my personal experiences started flashing in my brain and the general impression I can explain here is that it felt like I already know all this. I mean - I'm Filipino - I grew up with Jose Rizal's El Filibusterismo outlining the abuses of the Spanish Catholic Friars! After I closed the book, my brain was screaming, It is true!

2.) A few months later (I was married to my husband 4 years before I joined the LDS church), it was Good Friday and Catholic tradition is to fall in line to kiss the foot of an image of Jesus on the Cross. I made it to the front of the line and there were tons of people waiting for their turn. I looked at the image and I can't bring myself to kiss it. I just can't. The priest was urging me on because the line was long and I ran in embarassment out of the church because I just couldn't do it. The LDS church was right across the parking lot and my husband was there attending an Easter Cantata so I ran and sat right next to him and caught half of the cantata and the feeling of peace was just so strong in me.

But, as I'm a stubborn woman, that was not enough to get me to convert. I have to know that the LDS church is true, otherwise, the Catholic Church is still the true church.

Several experiences led me to gain a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and missionary work - an experience that is just short of God actually saying to me in His own voice, yes, this is My Church. Finally, I asked to be baptized just out of the blue, very scared because I know my family will disown me. But when the truth is staring me in the face, I can't make excuses. I have to face the music. And here I am.

I love the Catholic Church. Still do. It is my foundation. Without it, I wouldn't be LDS either. It is my stepping stone and I will forever be grateful to my parents, the priests and nuns, who taught me that Jesus is the Christ.

[prisonchaplain]

Anatess, I've met many former Catholics who are far less generous than you about the RCC. As I said to the priest I work with, just yesterday, for me to despise the Catholic church would be to cut off my nose to spite my face. It surely was God's vessel, at least for a season that was centuries long.

[Dravin]

Why do I, as a Protestant, feel like a bridge, on this thread? :-)

Are you saying there is a troll lurking underneath?

[prisonchaplain]

Are you saying there is a troll lurking underneath?

No...nothing so :::cough::: childlike. I was very subtley suggesting that Protestantism is the theological "tennis net" between the LDS and Catholic players.

[WmLee]

I grew up Russian Orthodox and I always loved to go to mass (I still love the old mass services). I felt like I was in the right place as I grew up. Then I started to have questions and the I wanted to understand more. The answers I received seem incomplete. I visited Lutheran and Baptist churches and listened to what they had to say. Even went to Calvary for a bit. None of them seemed to have the answers and the Calvary seemed to only want to tell me what was wrong with everyone else, (I found that a weak way to promote a religion).

I felt good about the LDS Church. I felt like there were answers that simply made sense. Not smoke and mirror, no “trust me, you’ll understand later”, no one said, “Well, that’s just the way it is”.

And then, how can you read the Book of Mormon and not know it wasn’t . . . that it didn’t come from something or someplace that had anything to do with a farm boy. That book is, or of, something very special! I’ve had my conversion reaffirmed so many times; it’s as if I have been converted over and over again. I found truths and answers for every question and things simply make sense. No smoke, no mirror!

[adobo44]

I'm about to get ready for work, but I thought I'd quickly post a question that I've thought about posting for awhile but haven't.

At times it seems really easy to leave the Catholic Church for the LDS Church due to certain restored beliefs that I find are clearly restored (creation from pre-existing matter, pre-mortal existence, corporeal God, etc), while at other times I find things that I would miss in Catholicism (liturgy, candles, incense, etc). Obviously I tell my self, if Truth is Truth, it shouldn't matter whether there are candles, incense, etc.

So, I'd love to hear the conversion stories of any LDS that were Catholic before, and if they dealt with those feelings. I know that there are those here that came from other faiths, however as a Catholic, I'd really like to hear from ex-Catholics (especially those that were practicing).

This thread isn't to judge anyone, but only to share testimonies/conversion stories.

Thanks!

I was a catholic before( for 26 years), until 20 years ago i became LDS,i never looked back to the catholic church,because i received a firm testimony that the church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints is true, and so there was no desire of my part to mingle with the catholic church anymore.

[Hemidakota]

I'm about to get ready for work, but I thought I'd quickly post a question that I've thought about posting for awhile but haven't.

At times it seems really easy to leave the Catholic Church for the LDS Church due to certain restored beliefs that I find are clearly restored (creation from pre-existing matter, pre-mortal existence, corporeal God, etc), while at other times I find things that I would miss in Catholicism (liturgy, candles, incense, etc). Obviously I tell my self, if Truth is Truth, it shouldn't matter whether there are candles, incense, etc.

So, I'd love to hear the conversion stories of any LDS that were Catholic before, and if they dealt with those feelings. I know that there are those here that came from other faiths, however as a Catholic, I'd really like to hear from ex-Catholics (especially those that were practicing).

This thread isn't to judge anyone, but only to share testimonies/conversion stories.

Thanks!

Ask the Lord...He saw it fit to make those personal changes.

[MormonMama]

My mother and her family are Roman Catholic. My father's family is Southern Baptist, though my dad has never really affiliated with any church. So I kind of grew up with a mixed religious background and not too in-depth on either one. I was christened Catholic so that's what I always said I was if people asked.

But I just didn't feel comfortable in the Catholic church. It's not that anyone made me feel that way, I just felt I belonged elsewhere. I ended up attending and investigating a variety of faiths and praying like crazy before I realized (and accepted, because I fought it for a long time) that the LDS church is the one true church of God upon the earth and that I belong here.