What is going on? Why are people reverting to Catholicism? Is that even a thing?
Indeed it is. And I think there are some key reasons as to why.
Disclaimer: I am not a theologian or a bible scholar. What I have to offer you is my lived experience. I myself reverted to Catholicism. I have hours of intense personal research behind me (as well as being raised in the faith). Mind you, I am NO expert. I’m not here to wop you upside the head with bible verses or to deconstruct your theology. Not now. My game is just having the REAL conversation – sitting down and chatting like friends over coffee. At the end of the day, if you are like me and you’re grasping at straws to try and figure out what in the heck is driving people (or you) to investigate Catholicism (and even REVERT *gasp*) I just hope to be a friend to sit and have coffee with and chat about all the things you might be questioning. Because I know it is a LOT.
So while I don’t have all the numbers and data charts to display to you how many people have left the Church and returned to it and double blind studies on reasons as to why, I do have my personal witness, and inspiring conversations had with priests, lifelong devout Catholics, and fellow reverts and converts. There are so many amazing people on YouTube who have shared their testimonies and many of them helped me immensely on my journey. I plan to share many of them in future posts. You can find a link to one of my favorite testimonies in my blog post What is a Catholic Revert? The truth is, people have been coming into the Catholic Church in droves, and it’s not all that big a mystery if you’re really willing to listen and learn.
What is drawing people to Catholicism?
Here are what I think to be the biggest “culprits” for people being drawn to revert to Catholicism.
The Church Fathers
If you are very new to Catholicism or church history, there is a good chance you have never even heard of these guys. If that’s the case, please allow me to put you at ease a bit. (Also, while there are many Church Fathers, I am not going to mention all of them here for the sake of time and space, but mostly the ones we recognize are from the earliest days of the church, like the first 500 years.) Polycarp for example, he was literally taught by John the beloved disciple and he was martyred for the faith – VERY close to Jesus without having met him. There are literal letters that you can read of Polycarp explaining the practices of the early christians, how they did church and stuff. Others fathers to note are Augustine, Ambrose, Iranaeus, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Clement of Rome. Catholic Answers is a great resource with so much information to be learned on these guys. Trent Horn and Jimmy Akin are two of my favorite Catholic apologists that do a great job of representing the faith and the significance of the Fathers. Joshua Charles is also a great resource, a Catholic convert from evangelical christianity. He’ll tell you everything you might not want to know about how the Fathers are all Catholic. If you are freaked out about the idea of referencing early church writings from anything other than the bible, I want to encourage you to google “christian fundamentalism”, and then perhaps return to my blog in the future when I cover said topic more in depth. You are not going to be entered by a demon if you read writings of holy men from the earliest times of christianity. Just trust me on this.
The Church’s Teachings on Contraception
This was a big one for me. It was actually my first “tip off” that something wasn’t right about the protestant churches we had been in for years. To put it simply, the Catholic Church is the only christian church that explicitly teaches and holds true to not condoning contraception. Natural Family Planning or another natural method such as the Marquette Method are condoned for helping families healthily space pregnancies, but artificial chemical and barrier methods are not. This is a touchy subject for many people, I get it. But it is worth looking into to understand WHY the Catholic Church teaches this. This a hard one for many people, but Jesus never said the truth is easy.
The Eucharist
There are so many testimonies to be heard of people coming back to the Catholic Church after realizing it is where the true, real presence of Jesus resides in the Eucharist. Google “eucharistic miracles”, they are amazing! If you are someone who doubts the reality of Jesus being truly present body soul and divinity in the Eucharist, or you outright reject it, may I encourage you? If you are questioning these things AT ALL, even if you ultimately choose not to believe it, it is still worth your time and effort to research WHY Catholics believe in what they do. Research WHY Catholics believe in the real presence. Research WHY Catholic Mass is offered as a “remembrance of His sacrifice”.
One of the saddest arguments I have ever heard against the Eucharist included literally no historical teaching or tradition whatsoever. The pastor basically flipped open their bible and said “the word Eucharist isn’t in here so therefore it is a false teaching”. It would almost be funny if it didn’t really happen. That isn’t how this works, friends. This is fundamentalism at its worst. Please, if you want to understand something that you don’t understand, in life in general or in investigating religion, you need to go to the source. Seek out a priest, a devout Catholic who actively practices their faith, or the thousands of Catholic resources online. How would you feel if someone only ever believed lies that people spread about you, and they never once asked you for the truth? Pretty crummy. Don’t be that guy. Go to the source.
I hope that you found some nuggets that get you thinking. If you have any questions, please leave a comment! Why do you think so many people are coming into Catholicism? Are you considering it yourself? I would love to know why you’re here. You might just think I’m deceived and that’s cool too. I’m still glad you’re here!
Peace be with you!