Why the Catholic Church?

One question I’ve heard from friends – and pondered myself a couple of times – is now that I’ve finally found my faith in God, why convert to Catholicism?  Wouldn’t I be just as happy in a Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, or some other denomination of Christianity?  The simple answer is no, I wouldn’t. 

I’ve been there before.  Granted, I haven’t tried every branch of Christianity out there,  But none of them quite range true with me.  I’d go to various churches, and never particularly enjoy it, no matter how much I tried.  And I’m not putting down any of those other branches, or anyone who follows them – they just didn’t work for me.

Basically, I feel like my faith has been a huge jigsaw puzzle.  Trying to work in before, in these churches that follow only the Bible, I only had maybe a third of the pieces.  But with Catholicism being so deeply rooted in the traditions that Jesus Christ and his Apostles began when they founded the church, I feel like I have most of the pieces now.  The rest are being filled in by my own belief and relationship with God, and that’s growing stronger every week.

The moment God revealed himself to me

I've been searching for God for years.  I don't know how long.  I had no doubt in the existence of God as a child, but as I got older, and realized the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus weren't real, I wondered if God and Jesus were also just constructs of my parents to keep me in line.

Neither of my parents were every particulary strong in faith.  Mom, every now and then, would decide we needed to be "good Christians" and go, and she and I went to a small independent bible based church.  Dad would go every now and then, but overall wasn't a fan.  I had no real religious compass to follow.  As I grew older and turned into a jaded teenager, I began to doubt the existence of God.  When I hit my 20s, I was positive God didn't exist.  I lived for myself today, rather than gambling that there was a Heaven.

Love for God is a gift, not a given

I was brought up in a non-denominational Bible based church, and it never felt right to me.  I tried branching out by going to Methodist and Baptist services, but they never worked either.  And the thing is, I really wanted it to.  I loved the ideas behind Christianity, but my skeptical mind wouldn't allow me to fully accept Jesus Christ into my heart.  But for some reason, it just didn't seem right to me.  Church was a hollow experience - I place I went to Sunday mornings for an hour or so.  I told myself I believed in God, but I really didn't.  At least, not in the true sense, which I'll explain in more detail later.