Many will wonder why I chose to become Roman Catholic. I grew up in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (not the Utah LDS but the Missouri RLDS). Anyone who knows anything about the RLDS church would realize that being Catholic is one of the oddest choices considering the beliefs I grew up with. I found myself at a crossroads, I had left the intentional religious community, where I had spent 8 years and was trying to find my way. 13 years after leaving the group, I found myself not liking where I was in my life. I needed to recommit myself to God and His church. I went looking for that church and found the Catholic faith.
The first aspect that drew me to the church was sin. I had sin in my life that I knew was detrimental. To help me understand where my thinking was, God directed me to John 8:1-11. This was the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. The church I was part of (RLDS rebranded to the Community of Christ) had become enmeshed in modern protestant views on sin. These views looked at issues in people’s life not so much as sin, but as idiosyncrasies to be worked with and around. I viewed this as similar to Jesus responding to the woman by saying:
“I get it, being alone is hard. Better to be with someone than all alone. Marry that guy you’re with and let’s hope your life gets better.”
This kind of response would not help me with dealing with my sin struggles and was not the response to sin I needed.
The second response was to be full of condemnation. I did not need a faith that wanted to tar and feather me for sin. Ostracization due to my sin was not what I was looking for. This would be like Jesus responding to the woman like so:
“What! You did what? Let me grab a stone real quick.”
The response I needed was an admission that I sinned. That sin was terrible and detrimental to my life. That the sin needed to be addressed but the church had the means to do so. I had sinned but I was loved and we could work through the sin together. This was Jesus’s response:
“Neither do I accuse you, go and sin no more.”
The only faith I found that not only looked at sin as the horror it is but also had a means to address the sin was the Roman Catholic church through confession. It will sound strange but the availability of the rite of confession was what drew me to the church to start with.
The second aspect I began to see as I started attending Mass. Throughout the Christian world churches are dying. The RLDS/CofC church in my town has a membership of one person. If four members showed up it was a large turnout. As I attended other Christian options, I found many churches either dying and empty, or country clubs/concert halls with a religious emphasis.
When I started attending Mass, I saw something different. Even though there are three parishes within a close distance, all of them are over half full on any given Sunday. More people attend weekday morning masses than some faiths I tried have on Sundays. The best part of the congregations is the makeup of the attendees. In many Christian churches most of the congregation are above the age of 60. Young families, adolescents, and young adults are very sparse in these churches.
However, mass attendance is much more diverse. At any given mass I see young families, teens, young adults, middle age, and older congregants. The Catholic church family is diverse and wonderful. This diversity brings a sense of life and family to the parish.
As I attended Mass on Holy Thursday in 2025, I had the most critical experience of my life thus far. As I was contemplating the Consecrated Host during the mass, I experienced the life of the church leave when the host was removed. This connected me to Christ in the Host. The Host is Christ physical presence and the life of the church. Since the Catholic church is the only church I know that fully embraces transubstantiation, they are the only source of the life I felt. This was a major factor in my embrace of Catholicism.
The third aspect of the Church that cemented my decision is its structure. For many Christians the Bible alone is enough. A personal relationship with God is all that is needed. The idea of church structure is unnecessary for their walk in faith. I am not one of those kinds. I need help to focus and move down the road of salvation. I find it too easy to veer off and get lost in the weeds when left to only my own devices.
The first church I grew up in was the RLDS church. The church as it was at that time had a very definite way and means to get to perfection. It provided guard rails and methods to assist its members towards heavenly goals.
When I joined the religious community I stayed in for eight years, I combined the structure and guardrails of the RLDS with the idea of element. Element is the idea that the physical world can be used to affect our spiritual life if used in the proper way. At the religious group I tied the idea of the right element, used in the right way, by the right person to my spiritual growth and maturity. Both these groups in the end came up short of the fullness. Since men had been instrumental in the creation of these faiths, my time and dedication to them came up empty.
The Catholic church is the blending of element and spirit, with God as the originator. The structure of the church gives me the guardrails I need, plus so many methods to perfect myself. Along with this they blend element into the sacraments and rites. Since the only man who was part of the Church’s creation was Jesus Christ, I can also believe that my faith, time, and dedication will bear fruit.
These three aspects sum up my current reasons for becoming Catholic. I fully expect as I enmesh myself more firmly in a tradition over 2000 years old, I will find even more reasons to have made this decision. I thank the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the blessing of the Church.
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