Shane’s Reviews > Why I Am Catholic > Status Update

Hey, if you have any questions or need help translating between Catholicism and Protestantism, I converted to Catholicism 5 years ago and am happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thanks so much! I will let you know. My wife was raised Catholic, and the vast majority of her family are Catholics. So in our 8 years of marriage a lot of my surface-level Protestant misconceptions were modified or dispelled. We often attend Mass with family and I enjoy the emphasis on truth, goodness and beauty. In 2022 the Lord unexpectedly brought Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross and St. Benedict onto my radar. I've become a Benedictine Oblate Novice at my local Benedictine monastery and my spirituality has really benefited from having a monastic lens. I've also become a big Thomas Merton fan - maybe one day I can be an amateur Merton scholar, lol. I've developed a love for monasteries and the Catholic approach to beauty.

Areas I struggle with are the papacy, indulgences, and why certain things are dogmatized (I can get behind all of the Marian dogmas but the Immaculate Conception, and I also wonder why purgatory has to be dogma). Also learning more about transubstantiation - I believe in the Real Presence, but I would say that Anglicans and Orthodox believe in at as well, but they leave it a mystery as to how. Anyways, that's where I'm currently at! I may be more conservative Anglican than Catholic but we'll see where the Lord leads. Hard to be in a season of ecclesial anxiety, lol.

What were the things that led to you crossing the Tiber?