“Non-Denominational Christian” to Catholic By: Anneliese Tate
August 06, 2019
For the last 23 years, I have grown up with a strong foundation in the Christian faith. From an early age, my parents taught me the “Our Father” prayer and took my sisters and me to church every Sunday. We prayed before every meal and always listened to our dad read the Bible to us on Christmas Day before opening any presents. Our parents raised us well and raised us with the awareness that God is very real.
I have always been very grounded in my faith and believed that no one would ever be able to persuade me differently until I met Eric. Eric had a different reverence than I did. He crossed himself before every meal and truly meant it. Even if it was before drinking coffee or eating a cookie! At first, it was a little peculiar to me, but, observing his actions ever so slightly I could tell he genuinely meant it. We discussed religion together, God and the Bible and had many common beliefs; but, one thing we did not have in common was the Church. He believed to the depth of his core that the Catholic Church was the only and first church founded by Jesus Christ. Period. This came to be a bit alarming to me. How could he be so confident? How could he think he is right? Where and what in history backs any of that up?
I soon found myself doubting my faith and my beliefs for the first time in my life. No one had ever shaken the ground like that beneath my feet before. I was always the one with the answers. I was always the one persuading or making my point known to everyone else who would ask, not the other way around. I recall in one of our last conversations on religion him asking me directly, “Tate, what are you?” I responded, “I am a Christian. I believe in God.” He replied, “Yes, there are a lot of Christians. But, which one are you?” I began to reply in frustration, “I told you, I am a Christian. A non-denomination Christian.” He began to press me further and I irritably replied, “I don’t know what I am!” In reply to my irritable tone, he calmly concluded, “It matters what you are Tate. When people ask you what you believe, you need to know.”
This statement bothered me for weeks which turned into months. I had never felt so shaken in my life. I had never felt as if my legs were wobbling on shaky ground. I felt very scared, very unsure of myself, very bothered. For the next several months I prayed to God to guide me. I was scared that there might be a slight possibility that I may be very wrong.
On a warm Saturday morning, Eric asked me if I’d like to go to confession with him and I told him that I wanted to go. Leading up to this, we had already discussed confession, and I was already preparing myself to confess my sins. Mind you, I wasn’t Catholic. I even had my sins written down in my notebook, ready and prepared to tell the priest my sins and to walk out of the confessional if he rejected me. I waited in the confessional line nervously. My palms are sweating. I was kind of scared, nervous in fact. What if the priest turns me away? Why am I here anyway? I'm not Catholic; I know I'm not technically supposed to be here. So why am I here? My turn approached and I walked into the confessional.
Nervously, I opened with, “Hi Father, I’d like to confess my sins.” Quickly, I hear the hesitation in the father’s voice, “Wait, are you Catholic?” Already prepared for this answer, I respond, “No Father, I am not. But, with all due respect, if you’d like me to go, I will.” To my shock and surprise, he responds eagerly, “No, no. Please stay. I am interested as to why you are here.”
This beautiful patient invitation opens the doorway for the next part of my journey with the Lord. In summary, we spoke in the confessional for at least 45 minutes. Everything I prayed to God about and all the questions I had praying about to the Lord the priest brought up and answered clearly. And the crazy part is that before I was able to even ask the priest one of my questions I had been praying to the Lord, he answered all of them without me even having to open my mouth. Chills flooded my body after our conversation and an intense fear of the Lord came over me as I left the confessional. I had never felt a reverence or fear of the Lord like that before and it scared me. Has everything I’ve ever been taught been wrong? I felt so deceived. How could the priest had known to bring up all the questions I’ve been asking God privately about. I had never disclosed this information to anyone, not even Eric! This was an act of the Lord and I knew it! It was an act of truth I could not deny.
Upon finding my friend Eric by the exit in the Church, he told me quietly, “ More than several people left the confessional line while you were in there.” I felt bad but in the back of my mind I told myself, “Well, they must of not really wanted to confess that bad.” I laugh now thinking about it, even though I took up a lot of time that could have been given to another member of the Body of Christ.
To make this story shorter, although I have made it quite long… the priest invited me to take Confirmation Classes for adults and told me that I did not have to commit to anything. All I had to do was learn more about the Faith and I could decide from there. I was confirmed the night before Easter Sunday and have had a beautiful new experience with God in a deeper way than I have before. Especially, with the Blessed Virgin Mary. There is much much more to this story. Becoming Catholic was not an easy journey for me. I had a lot of resistance and persecution from my father, but thankfully better support from my mother. The beautiful part of this story is that both my mother and father, although they are divorced, both attended my Confirmation and were proud of the choice that I made.
I ask that you share the Word of Christ with others. Do not hide your faith under a basket. Do not hide the light and the truth that God has given you to share with the world. If it was not for my friend Eric, I truly do not know when I would have converted. I strongly believe God used him as a witness to Christ in my life and for that, I am truly grateful.
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