GREAT POST! THANK YOU! I AM A VERY RECENT CONVERT AND VERY PLEASED TO SEE A VIEWPOINT THAT I JUST HAPPEN TO SHARE. THANK YOU AGAIN!
HEATHER | 04.29.06 - 6:28 am | #

Elana:
What a great post. Your telling about your grandparents reminded me about my mother's parents, my grandmother a cradle Irish-Scotch Catholic and my grandfather a convert(after about 12 years of marriage). Dada, my grandfather was a very involed Catholic who served as a fine example to his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Mary | 01.04.05 - 11:10 pm | #

Hi!

I enjoyed your comments and the input in the comments box. I just celebrated my first anniversary of coming into the Church. It has been a very interesting year! I have already gotten a reputation of being somewhat of a walking encyclopedia of Catholicism, but there is so much more to learn, and I am sure that no one could exhaust the riches of the Church even if they lived to be 500 years old!

It is interesting about the cultural Catholicism vs. converts. I really felt the culture shock! For me RCIA was purgatorial, full of wishy-washy theology and platitudes about how Martin Luther was a good old boy. We converts wanted to learn practical things about how to be Catholic. It is confusing to be a convert at first, because--one example--people throw around all these saint's names and I had no clue what they were talking about!

I will admit to being very enthusiastic, and feeling some frustration about how some "cradle Catholics" take things for granted. It shocks me whenever some Catholic says that they try to make it to mass once a month or so. It makes me think that they don't really believe in what happens at mass.

I am very happy and grateful to be in The Church.

+JMJ+
Amanda Catherine | 01.03.05 - 11:39 am | #

Thank you, Elena, from another convert, who HOPES she is one of those enthusiastic ones!
MamaT | Homepage | 01.03.05 - 10:12 am | #

I totally agree that the enthusiasm of converts is an inspiration and a prodding for me in my own journey rather than an annoyance. We cradle Catholics really do need to delve into the faith as converts do. I know some cradle Catholics who have gone to RCIA classes for this purpose.
Philothea Rose | Homepage | 12.31.04 - 10:21 pm | #

The enthusiasm many converts to the Faith bring with them really astounds me. I love reading of their spiritual journeys. They remind this cradle Catholic that he takes far too much for granted.

Another great essay Elena. May GBU in the new year.
JimK | 12.31.04 - 7:39 am | #

I have a few things to say about the Catholic faith that puzzle the heck outta me. First off, I am a 26 year old married male with a 3 year old son and a little girl on the way. I go to church at a small newly planted Calvary Chapel. Lately my neighbor (who is Catholic) has been really on me about converting to Catholism. Sometimes I feel as though he is trying to save me from Hell because I am a Protestant. I know many Catholics in the pro-life movement that treat me the same way. I am a fairly easy goin' kinda guy and I don't let it bother me much but it has got me thinking a lot. In Anne's post above she said that she has noticed Protestants being hostile to Catholic convert and truly in my experience I have never seen this. The believers I know refer to Catholics and Protestants alike as "CHRISTians." I am a very conservative young man but I believe we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. I just though I should share these thoughts.
JJ | Homepage | 12.31.04 - 2:16 am | #

my mom is a cradle catholic, and my dad converted when i was six, so i've grown up noticing the difference between the questions mom can answer and the ones dad can answer. it's interesting. it's also interesting to see why the people who keep going to church in college do - a lot of my friends from church at home laugh when they realize i still go without my parents to make me. it's fun to see what it is that keeps people coming back or sends them away.
abby | Homepage | 12.30.04 - 11:47 pm | #

I'm still a little surprised at the hostility I recieved from protestant family members when I joined the Catholic church. My mother for instance (when we began talking about my son making his first communion) said "Well, I knew you were joining, but I didn't think you were taking the children with you!". I had to laugh. I reminded her that when our next door neighbors daughter (who's my age) made her first communion, my parents bought her a card and a gift! And I told them it was their fault. My Godmother (I was raised Episcopalian) was a Catholic!

I do envy you cradle Catholics, though. I envy you for all of the traditions that you know so well. I'd never heard of a Jesse tree at Christmas, and I know so little about traditions for feast days. My children and I are learning together. I guess that's actually a nice thing.

One other thought is that the Catholics who don't like converts because of the lack of understanding of "cultural" Catholicism are some of the same Catholics who are parts of groups that support abortion, women as priests, and other such issues. Some cradle Catholics think of the church as their birthright, and not a priviledge. I think one of our advantages (as converts) is that we feel blessed every day for the priveledge of being part of the Body of Christ.

Great post!
Anne | Homepage | 12.30.04 - 7:40 pm | #

Elena:

What a great post.

I toofind converted Catholics to be in general more informed and more enthusiastic about their faith. But, that is what happes when a person is open to conversion and the gifts of the Holy Spirit!

I also agree with you that we often become complacent as cradle Catholics and don't realize what a gift we have in our Catholicism. All of the tradition, history and organized hierarchy in the Church only benefits us as Catholics, for the most part. These are all gifts of the Spirit that most other Christian sects enjoy only singularly, usually not all wrapped up in one neat gift. And the Holy Spirit is still alive and well in the Catholic Church, as is our faith; sometimes we just don't see it, and it is right in front of our noses!
John B. | Homepage | 12.30.04 - 4:11 pm | #

Great post, Elena - and timely, since we just got the news that my application for an annulment of my first marriage has been accepted and Curt and I should be able to fully enter the Church sometime in the New Year. And yes, I agree that we do come across as more enthusiastic. I look at it this way - it's like we've been eating nothing but vanilla ice cream our whole lives, and someone's come along and introduced us to chocolate, strawberry, rocky road, etc. Our priest compares the differences between Protestantism and Catholicism as having pieces of pie - Catholics have the whole pie, while the Protestant splinter groups may have some or most of the pie, but not all. I want the whole pie!
Rebecca | Homepage | 12.30.04 - 4:00 pm | #

As with most things in life something that is taken for granted has a tendency towards complacency. Sometimes it is the story of an immigrant made good that reminds us what citizenship is all about and the reality of the opportunities available.

Sometimes we need to look at thinks upside-down or in some cases see them for the first time. A zealous convert can help ignite that fire. Or there is also the case of the cradle Catholic who starts to really discover their faith for the first time. Either way we always need to be reminded and thankful for the grace God has given us.
Jeff Miller | Homepage | 12.30.04 - 2:35 pm | #

As one of those nutty, enthusiastic converts, I thank you!
Julie D. | Homepage | 12.30.04 - 2:29 pm | #

I grew up a raging methodist in a town that - until about when I was born - didn't have a Catholic church. i am the youngest of eight children. When my mother named her second son, Michael Stephen, my grandmother came in and sniffed her nose and reprimanded my mother. She said the name was awful because it sounded "Catholic". (my grandma was generally a great person, and she had terrible taste in names, as her kids were named Betty Lurene, Emmons Frederick, Bertha Augusta, Fannie Cecelia, and Shirley Jane). So you can see, the picking on catholics thing was not at all rare.

Of course, four of my brothers married catholic girls (including Mike), so it all came out okay in the end.

(*)>
bird woman | Homepage | 12.30.04 - 1:40 pm | #