10 Things that Drew Me, a Protestant, to the Roman Catholic Church

A few days ago, I announced on X that I will be confirmed into the Catholic Church this coming Easter Sunday. While I received plenty of support from the Catholic community, some of my followers either feigned concern about this decision or expressed interest as to what my reasons were, as they were looking into the faith themselves.

As a lifelong Protestant who has attended many different churches throughout my life, ranging from Baptist to Anglican to non-denominational evangelical, I would have never predicted that I would one day convert to Catholicism. While I wasn't ignorant of or opposed to Catholicism, as some non-Catholics are, I had an entirely different view of the faith than I do now.

I used to think that Catholicism was just 'boring Christianity.' I assumed that while some Catholics were sincere in their faith, the majority of practicing Catholics were following empty traditions and had no personal relationship with God. Although I never accused my Catholic friends of being pagans, I thought the 'worship' of Mary was weird, and I didn't understand the emphasis on saints or the repetitive prayers.

As I dove into learning about Catholicism over this past year, I started to gain a wholly new perspective on the faith. I'm not by any means a theologian, and my knowledge of Catholic doctrine is far from deep. But I'd like to share my own personal testimony of the things that brought me, as a lifelong practicing protestant, to Rome.

1. Rich Church History

One of the coolest things about Catholicism is that instead of belonging to one of thousands of denominations that are less than five hundred years old, I get to belong to a Church that has been around for over two thousand years. It was incredible to learn about the miracles that have been recorded in the Church, which have all been verified by a rigorous process. Instead of only getting to read about the miracles recorded in scripture, I got to learn about how God has worked on earth many years after the ascension. When I watched a documentary about Our Lady of Fatima, my mind was blown. How could I have missed out on learning about this giant, well-documented miracle that happened less than a hundred years ago?

2. Clarity on Key Issues

One of the things that always bothered me as a protestant was that sometimes, I had very specific questions about theology that no one seemed to have a solid answer to. When your only source of authority is the Bible, which is up to interpretation from just anyone, it's hard to answer questions about issues like: "Is smoking a cigarette or getting a tattoo a sin?" or, "Is it wrong to use contraception within marriage?" Even worse, some modern churches refuse to give moral clarity on even bigger issues, such as abortion or transgenderism.

The great thing about the catechism is that there is a solid doctrine on a wide range of moral issues. The moment when I realized the value in this was when I received a pamphlet for 'examination of conscience.' I realized that the Catholic Church not only provided clarity on what deeds are considered 'sins,' but also on how serious those sins are, and the specific conditions required for a sin to be considered mortal.

3. Jesus Established the Church

A question that someone asked me back when I had my doubts about Catholicism was, "Do you really think that the early Christians, who literally knew Jesus, were practicing the faith completely wrong, and then we happened to finally get it right 1,500 years later?" When I started to dig into the history, I soon realized that the twelve apostles were all Catholics, and Peter was the first Pope. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus tells Peter, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against it." Through apostolic succession, every priest alive today has been blessed by Jesus.

Not only that, but the word Catholic, which just means 'universal,' had its first recorded use by St. Ignatius of Antioch in only 110 A.D. We have plenty of historical records of the early church that prove that they believed in transubstantiation and the veneration of Mary. It became clear to me that the faith I was practicing was very different from the one that the earliest Christians did, and I realized that their authority and interpretation of the Bible probably held more weight than mine.

4. Discipline is Good for Me

It's common sense that practicing spiritual disciplines such as reading scripture, spending time in prayer, and fasting would bring you closer to God and deepen your faith. Throughout my walk with God, I've realized that it's very easy to lose sight of my beliefs and fall into sin unless I'm regularly incorporating these spiritual disciplines in my life. However, because of a strong emphasis on faith over works in protestant circles, I was never given the social pressure or requirement to do these things, and any spiritual habits had to be done by sheer force of will.

In the Catholic Church, confessing your sins isn't an option, it's a requirement. The same is true of fasting on specific days and attending Mass on the sabbath. Knowing myself and that it's difficult for me to keep up a routine without feeling like I have to do so, the requirement to practice these disciplines was a huge appeal.

5. Transcendence and Beauty

It's stereotypical to say, but many modern protestant churches do in fact feel like a rock concert. Don't get me wrong, the songs can be fun and catchy, and the pastors are very entertaining, but it can seem a little bit unserious. When I attend mass, there is an air of solemnity and reverence that helps me to remember to put all my focus on God. The music doesn't sound like something I would hear on the radio or in a shopping mall, but like something that angels would sing. Instead of holding services in a gym or a movie theater, Catholic parishes are their own buildings, set apart wholly for worshiping Christ.

Although there is a wide range in Catholic Church architecture, with some parishes being more beautiful than others, there is something to be said about the aesthetics of Catholic churches and how they aim to reflect the beauty of the Creator while also affirming the truth that beauty in itself is an objective good. Now that I have attended Catholic mass, stepping into a protestant Church feels much less like Church and more like a fun Bible Study/concert.

6. Unity and Community

It's embarrassing to admit, but I was attending mass for a few months before I learned that every single Catholic church reads the same Bible passage every Sunday. This blew my mind, it was so cool to realize that every Catholic in the world had all heard the same verses as me that week. It felt like I was suddenly a part of a giant, unified community of believers.

When I started to look into the faith a year ago, it felt as though God was nudging me by placing so many Catholics in my path. While I hardly knew any Catholics before, suddenly, many of the people I was closest to were all practicing ones, as were many acquaintances who were happy to talk about their faith with me and let me know that they would be praying for my conversion. None of the Catholics that I met were judgmental, and all were happy to answer any questions that I had.

7. Rationality and Truth

Last year, I took a political philosophy class, which led me to read the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. I'm a very logically minded person, so what really attracted me to these philosophers was the claim that Christianity is inherently rational. I learned that Catholics believe that faith and reason go hand in hand and that God gave us our rational minds so that we can know him. I also enjoyed reading writings from the early church fathers in a book called The Fathers Know Best because I found their rebuttals of certain heresies and beliefs like astrology to be not only consistent with scripture but fully logical. Another benefit to the Catholic Church that appealed to my reason was the claim of objective truth.

In some Christian circles I had been in before, answers to difficult questions often amounted to, "We can't know anything for sure because humans are fallible." This often felt like a cop-out answer to me. While it's true that our knowledge as humans is finite, there are plenty of things that we can know for sure by using the rationality that God gave us. Stating the Apostles' Creed every Sunday is affirming that there are certain truths that we can be sure of.

8. Veneration of Mary

Journeying into Catholicism has felt in some ways like I'm rediscovering Christianity by once again seeing it how I did as a child. When I was a kid, I remember thinking of Mary as a 'main character' in the Bible, only second to Jesus in importance. This felt obvious to me, as she carried him in her womb and was present at his crucifixion. Mary was the most sought-after part to play in the annual Christmas pageant, and I knew that because of her proximity to Christ, she was someone special. Remembering this helped make asking for intercession from Mary feel much more natural than I thought it would.

When I let go of some protestant prejudices I had towards her and dug into the scripture-fueled Catholic explanations for her intercession, it felt as though I had been missing out on something big for my entire faith life. Praying the rosary was not 'boring' like I thought it would be, but deeply spiritually fulfilling and meditative. It also brought discipline to my prayer life, as it ensured that I prayed for a specific amount of time without distraction.

9. Hierarchy is Important

As many have pointed out, the problem with 'Sola Scriptura' is that everyone has a different interpretation of what scripture means. The benefit of the magisterium is that there is consistency in the interpretation of scripture, which ensures the unity of the church. The pope serving as the visual head of the Church also helps maintain that unity. I've noticed that there is even a level of respect given to priests that isn't attributed to pastors.

Protestantism has deep ties with liberalism and individualism, which results in the belief that everyone is the same. This starts with things like "everyone is equally good at interpreting scripture" and ends with "of course women can be pastors!" It's freeing to know that it's not my job to come up with Christian doctrine by myself and that I can instead learn from men much wiser and smarter than me, who were placed in authority by God and have pieced together the truth through strict methodology over two thousand years.

10. The Union of the Physical and Spiritual

A pattern that I've noticed in protestant circles is that anything material is often discarded as either meaningless or inherently bad, a belief that borders on the heresy of Gnosticism. This is seen in attitudes regarding icons, statues, rosaries, holy water, and, of course, the Eucharist. However, Catholic theology affirms that both the material and the spiritual realms are real and are deeply intertwined. Just like humans are both physical and spiritual beings, physical objects can have spiritual significance as well.

The Catholic belief that baptism, the Eucharist, and the anointing of the sick are not symbolic but are ways for God to reach us spiritually deeply resonated with me. While I used to think that Catholic traditions and sacraments were boring and pointless, I now see them as mystical and transcendent. Knowing that consecrated bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Christ has opened my eyes to what true worship is: not singing Christian pop songs, but partaking in the sacrifice Jesus made for us.

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