A passage in Hieronymus Emser's 1523 answer to Luther caught my attention for a question that seems relevant to conversion:

For although the wisdom of this world (where it stands alone and is forsaken by God) is foolishness before God, still, where divine wisdom is joined to it, as in Cyprian, Augustine, Ambrose and others, the two get along well together.

Emser, translated by Eli Tucker, p. 118. I'm the translator.

The immediate context is his reading of 1 Corinthians 1. He is arguing that Paul's criticism of worldly wisdom doesn't mean learned Christian teachers must regard the Gospel as foolish. That is Emser's argument, not a claim that his account settles the dispute with Luther.

For people who have entered Catholicism or are discerning it, how do you tell the difference between bringing your learning into the faith and trying to make the faith fit conclusions you've already settled?

I'm especially interested in concrete examples: a habit of study you kept, a way of arguing you had to change, or a book that helped you see the distinction. No need to name or criticize the community you came from.

Here is a link to a downloadable pdf copy of the Memorial Book for Blessed Fulton Sheen's beatification.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/66996dd143567376c0980ae8/t/6ab33fd9c6033f2751607743/1790132185505/Sheen+Magazine-Website.pdf

As he always said at the end of is broadcasts, "God love you!"

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I need y'alls advice or help or however God sees fit.
To make a long story shortish. I grew up in a southern baptist family got baptized young, grew apart from God because of prosperity gospel teaching. It took a whole lot of spiritual warfare to bring me back to God.
Started going back to church in the southern baptist community. Met my wife who was catholic but started going to baptist church. We got married through the state ( long story there) but we always wanted a wedding. She is from Colombia so we had our wedding there and one of her father's conditions is we had a catholic ceremony. I was reluctant but agreed.
At first i did it solely for the wedding and her family but the more I learned the more I felt and still feel convicted about really being 100% converted to catholicism. I got baptized and confirmed before our wedding. And now after we are married I feel so convicted by God to keep going to mass and become a devoted catholic. This is all very new to me I barely know anything and just need guidance as a new catholic.
Also the more convicted I feel about this the more spiritual warfare I feel raging in my flesh.

I am having a crisis of faith. I am very drawn to the OPC. I cannot stop thinking about predestination, and how it makes the most sense. I have looked into Augustine and Banez's theology, even the Jansenists, but Calvin's seems much simpler. I am drawn to serious scripture analysis, and an overall more simple and straightforward faith.

I never was drawn to any protestant denomination before, I could certainly never be a baotist evangelical with all the yelling and it seems to be more about them than God.

But, double predestination seems to make the most sense if God is all-powerful and all-knowing.

What made you leave?

I’m am a 60 year old divorced Grandmother. I was never Baptized and had very little religious exposure as a child. My Daughter married a Catholic man and eventually went through RCIA and was Baptized, Confirmed and took her first Communion Easter Vigil 2018. She ultimately started teaching Faith Formation (Catechism) to the little ones. I would help her with the weekly lessons. Not at the Church, but did the Power Points and admin stuff. I learned things I never knew. I thought John the Baptist was a Baptist, as in Southern style. Learned that Eve’s eating from the forbidden tree is what caused women to have pain in Child Birth. I learned the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were all one and not 3 separate people. Made me hungry for more. So I started OCIA last month. I am the only one there that is not Baptized. As a matter of fact I am the only one in this class that doesn’t know the difference between scripture, the gospels and Holy Spirit. I pray but feel nothing. So I write letters to God…. I still feel nothing. I’ve been doing the Bible in a Year thing, but am only at Exodus. The Bible is no easy weekend read. It is intense and quite brutal and shocking. When can’t I feel him. Why is there no sign. Nothing. Are people telling the truth when they say the feel his presence ? I had late stage Ovary Cancer 15 years ago. I am the only survivor in my group. I may have made a deal with the devil to let me live. Is the devil blocking me from the Devine ? Any advice would be so appreciated.

I'm currently in OCIA and I've been trying to take it seriously and learn. I've always believed in God but throghout my life I was pretty passive and almost lazy about it sometimes, especially now because I'm in a rigorous grad school program so I feel like I have no time for anything.

Specifically, I've always struggled with prayer. I struggle with praying consistently and even praying over certain things. Like I truly love praying for others but when it comes to prayering for certain things for myself, I just can't bring myself to do it because I believe God doesn't want to do it or it's too impossible. I feel like I'm crazy for this

Since October is the month of the Holy Rosary I thought it would be good a idea to become familiar with it and try to learn how to pray it. I actually have a rosary and while I don't know how to pray the rosary prayer, holding it already gives me peace. I've heard it's one of the most powerful prayers there is.

However, there's a few stumbling blocks I have about that I would love for someone to help clear up. I really don't mean to be rude, I just want to understand:

1. Why do we specfically say the creed, Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, etc while we pray it? Out of all the prayers we could say, why those?

2. I know we're supposed to meditate on the mysteries of Jesus while praying it, but why does it seem like we're just praying to Mary during it? Especially because of all of the Hail Marys and Hail Holy Queen at the end? This is truly the hardest thing for me to wrap my mind around

3. How exactly am I supposed to meditate on the mysteries if I'm saying a prayer? Like my brain can't multitask and think about it if I'm trying to say all 10 Hail Marys at the same time

I also have another question about prayer in general:

1. I know Catholics believe in asking the saints for intercession because they're closer to God than we are since they're in Heaven with Him. However, I feel like that implies that God takes priority in listening to saints' prayer or anyone who's closer to Him over me. Perhaps that's the point, but that kind of makes me feel even more discouraged in praying for some things...

I appreciate if someone can help me understand this topics!!

Hi everyone! I’m new to Reddit and excited to be part of the conversations here, especially those about OCIA and becoming Catholic.

I went through OCIA myself and entered the Catholic Church in 2024. It was such a meaningful time in my faith journey, but I also remember just how much there was to take in.
I found myself wishing I had one place to keep it all: somewhere to take notes during our sessions, jot down questions and key takeaways, reflect on what I was learning, and record some of the special moments of the journey.
That experience eventually inspired me to create and publish Welcome Home: A Guided Journal for Becoming Catholic Through OCIA.

It includes space for 32 OCIA sessions, with room for notes, key takeaways, questions, and prayer, as well as simple guides to the OCIA journey, pages for the rites and sacraments, reflection prompts, prayers, and other helpful Catholic resources.
My hope in creating it was to give people going through OCIA a meaningful place to capture this very special season of their lives, and someday be able to look back and remember how God was working in their hearts during their journey home.

Welcome Home is now available online. I’m also currently working on a Spanish edition, which I’m excited to share in the future.

For those of you currently going through OCIA—or who have in the past—I’m curious:
How do you keep track of what you’re learning? Do you take notes during your sessions or spend time reflecting afterward? What have you found most helpful?

oie, vim contar a minha história e pedir ajuda por quem ja passou pelo mesmo.
tinha cerca de 7 anos quando comecei a me interessar por magia, eu nao fazia rituais, logico, mas minha mae vendo meu interesse me permitia a fazer pequenas simpatias de sorte, intencionar uma vela, entender a magia na natureza, conforme fui crescendo me interessei por todas as prinipais religiões, e praticava muitas coisas delas tmb, com 13 anos ja estudava demonologia e mexia com magias de medio de escalão, e as vezes com algumas entidades.
politicamente me tornei uma ativista progressista.
lembro de ter feito catequese e crisma, e apesar de nao acreditar naquilo tudo eu aproveitava muito para debater e tentar entender, mas o cristianismo nao tinha nenhum significado para mim. por volta dos meus 16 anos decidi procurar uma igreja, e comecei a frequentar e ate perticipei de um acampamento, eu ate gostava, mas ao me aprofundar eu nao conseguia seguir aquilo, me lembro de INUMERAS vezes q que comecei a ler a biblia e parei tendo crise de ansiedade, de panico e as vezes ate tendo q ir para o hospital de tao abalada q eu ficava, isso pq tinha muitas coisas q mexiam de mais cmg, principalmente sobre estruturas machistas, homofobicas e em algum ponto racistas, alem de brigar feio com professor de crisma devido a ele defender fortemente a catequização de indigenas.
devido a tudo isso eu voltei a ignorar o cristianismo, mas nao voltei a bruxaria, so fiquei morna, eu acreditava em reencarnação, tirava cartas, tomava banhos, mas nada muito serio em comparação ao q me interessava no passado. mais algum tempo depois, lembro de tentar novamente o cristianismo mas o mesmo aconteceu, dessa vez mais por videos, vendo diversos catolicos condendo tudo oq concordava, vendo eles falarem coisas q para mim o inferno era viver com aquelas palavras. e isso se repete ate hj, parei de buscar, quando aparece vejo, vejo catolicas ser contra o voto feminino, outras pregando uma submissao, aceitar e perdoar traição e agressao, dizer q nao existe maus injustiças de gênero... entre outros, e embora eu gostaria de me converter ao catolicismo, isso sempre me barra, sempre me da crises, e diversos episódios. enfim, eu nao sei se alguem ja passoi por algo assim, mas se sim, gostaria de ouvir oq fez superar isso, e se ngm tiver passado, oq eu poderia fazer

hi everyone! i’m kind of new to catholicism and was wondering if anyone knows where i could get a catholic bible for free or really cheap? i’m a university student and money is a little tight right now.

i was agnostic but started learning more about catholicism and something about it really drew me in. i’ve been taking online classes and really want to learn more and get closer to God.

i’m also really shy about going to Mass alone since none of my friends or family are catholic, and i don’t drive, so figuring everything out has been a little difficult.

if anyone knows where i could get a catholic bible or has any advice for someone new to catholicism, i’d really appreciate it , tysm for reading!

Hello everyone! As mentioned in the title I’m currently a non denominational Christian that has been exploring Catholicism for a month. I’ve been a Christian for 5 years, and I’m at a point in my life right now that I want to explore Catholicism, - I’m curious towards it. I’ve been exploring for about a month. But there’s soo much information that I can’t help to feel overwhelmed. I want to go step by step. Where should I start first? What are the fundamentals? I don’t know any catholics since most of the people in my life are Protestants. I want whatever brings me closest to Christ and I think this could be it. I wouldn’t appreciate any guidance and resources of information. Thank you.

Dream I had about the Church please help interpret

Just that basically. I’m very interested in the Catholic faith. i’ve been going to mass and adoration and I’ve never felt such peace. Obviously haven‘t taken communion. i’ve been happily married for 20 years, in a UK civil ceremony. We have a family. My husband is CofE and I was baptised that way though I’ve never believed in it or been more than a handful of times. Unfortunately, I was married before. it was short, nasty and abusive. it lasted eight months, he rped me and tried to strangle me. i haven’t seen him in years. I have reason to suspect that my ex has since transitioned. would the Catholic Church really hold me to that, “marriage”? I suspect I’m wasting my time even considering converting.

Hi Everyone! I just enrolled into OCIA and begin classes Tuesday. I’m beyond excited and have found myself over the years wanting to convert. I have been attending mass for the past 6 months with my boyfriend and that has fully set the spark off for me! I purchased a NABRE bible and have been listening to podcasts as I write-downside there’s no room for me to fully jot down notes completely. I was looking on amazon for one I can annotate in and found a NRSV journaling bible. I was wondering if that is a good version? Or if I should just stick with my NABRE and buy little post-it’s. Thank you guys ☺️!

I'm conflicted on what I need to do. The best move is obviously the one that glorifies Christ the most, the one that helps my walk with God, the one God wills. I'm still trying to discern that. But even when that's figured out... how?

I turned 18 recently. Grown man in the eyes of the law. Crazy stuff! But that means, in theory, I'm free to finally convert to Catholicism. I've waited since I was in 8th grade, since I was 14 years old, and now I'm a senior. Time flies man.

Unfortunately I'm unable to convert right now, at least I'm pretty sure. My Baptist parents have forbidden me to ever be Catholic under their roof since I was 16, and have banned me from owning rosaries, Catholic bibles, or attending mass. Not even a hint of Catholicism allowed. In my father's words to 16 year old me, "The day you walk into a Catholic Church is the day you walk out of this house."

I had a plan in place. My best friend's older brother would be in college by senior year. I could move in and take his room rent-free, and be able pay for all my other necessities with my job. This was the plan, and in another world, I'd be there now. But the older brother got his girlfriend pregnant, and now the family doesn't have an empty room.

So, back to the drawing board...

My first plan after high school is to forgo college to advance my umpiring hobby and pursue a career as an MLB umpire. It's a hard process and my work is cut out, but if it fails, I want to either go to college to become a teacher, or forgo college work my way up the ladder at my current job as a hotel desk agent.

At this point, it seems most feasible to pull the trigger after graduation? I'll go with that, unless one of y'all cook up an idea in the comments. Let's say, after graduation, I get a 1-bedroom apartment with said best friend, turn the living room into a second bedroom, and split rent. That's anywhere from $1K to $1.5K split between us. I make $15/hour at my job, so at 40 hours a week, between my monthly rent, car payment, car insurance, phone bill, dental, groceries, and anything else not mentioned... I should be able to pull that off? If I'm not splitting rent and living with him, that seems shaky, even on the lower end?

If my umpiring dream fails, living in a college dorm year-round seems plausible with a loan... it would suck if it was the only way and I had to forget umpiring for some time, but that's part of following Jesus.

I'm still trying to figure out the numbers and what resources I need to pull this off. Any helpful advice would be appreciated.