Modern Commentaries: Why I'm Catholic

I’ve talked pretty openly about my conversion story, but here it is again you’re unfamiliar with it. I was baptized and raised WELS Lutheran. I was confirmed in the WELS church when I was in 8th grade. Up until high school I went to services pretty regularly with my father, a life-long Lutheran, but I’d also attended Mass with my mother, a life-long Catholic. My brother and I were baptized Lutheran because my father was the regular church-goer. When I got into high school and college, my church attendance waned. I did, briefly, consider converting to Catholicism in high school but didn’t want to hurt my father’s feelings on the subject, so I put it on the backburner. I also stopped attending services at the church in which I grew up.

In college, like most 18, 19, 20-somethings, I became pretty liberal both religiously and politically. I bought what my professors said about conservatives and Christians, and especially Catholics. They were backward, oppressive, stupid and unwilling to change, thus perpetuating a cycle of oppression and ignorance among followers. I think the low point was when I wrote a letter to USAToday blasting the Church for refusing to change the matter of the Eucharist to accomodate those with gluten intolerance (teaching says the Host used for consecration must be made of water and wheat flour, anything else renders it invalid).

Then I met Dave. In our initial discussions, he described himself as a “Papist”, which I learned meant Catholic. Well, I was okay with that because my mom was Catholic. But our discussions on faith and politics soon revealed a gulf between us – he was pretty conservative and orthodox; I was pretty liberal and heterodox. I was pro-choice, pro-contraception, feminist, in favor of gay marriage, and a believer in AGW and the platforms of the Democratic party.

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