Joyful Searching

One year ago, I was in India.
One year ago, my grandmother was alive.
And one year ago, I was still a Protestant.

What am I getting at you may ask? Well my point might be that "alot can happen in a year," or the nifty observation that "things change."

Actually, I wanted to point out that I fully believe that God has a plan for our lives and although we may not know what it is - He does - and that's all that matters.

Sometimes life takes us beautiful (or scary) places , where we meet interesting (or disturbing) people, and somehow that changes us for the better (or worse). The bottom line is that we all have a personal journey that we make- so no matter where you are coming from - true joy will come when one listens to God in the little things and then begins searching His will out.

We don't need to know exactly what God's plan for our life is, but obedience to Christ is a good place to start.

Last summer, one year ago, I was in India studying Hindi in Jaipur. While there, I probably called my (current) parish 3 times via Skype trying to decipher which day the RCIA classes would start in the fall (I was a bit enthusiatic) - but I could not get Catholicism out of my system or the question of "Is this God's will for me to become a Catholic?" out of my mind.

Luckily, I had brought 5 books with me, and quickly went through all of them. I turned to the wonders of the internet to quench my thirst for knowledge of the Catholic Church (which I was beginning to believe held the fullness of the Christian faith), and for solace in the testimonies of former Protestants that had made the same leap I was considering...to become a Catholic.

This blog exists to highlight some of those wonderful resources (see sidebar) - but I also want to say how humbled I have been to see all types of different people and different countries (Singapore, Nigeria, Mexico, England, Malta, France, Indonesia, China, Brazil, Phillipines, New Zealand, India, Sri Lanka, Canada, Germany and etc) whom have made contact with this website.

It has been a blessing to witness the search terms used by those that arrive here. I imagine those are some of the same Google searches that I made myself - a year ago, while I was trying to understand why there was such this intense desire to learn about Catholicism going on inside of me. It is fantastic that this website has been coming up on the first page of google for searches such as:

• becoming catholic my journey
• how does a protestant become a catholic
• protestants becoming catholic
• why do protestants become catholic
• RCIA classes

and my FAVORITE search goes to someone from Cincinnati, OHIO who searched for:

• how to explain why im becoming catholic

EXACTLY!  It's not a simple thing to explain to others, but it is important. Further, I have done very little to promote this website - but it has definitely been a blessing to me - and I hope to you. For those whom have contacted me - thank you so much. It is wonderful to be able to hear from you. If you visit the site - and have something to say - please feel free to comment 0R email me at dcmeolsen@gmail.com.

Thanks! And joyful searching to you...

"It's Official" & Happy Easter

Or rather I should say - I'm official. Officially a Roman Catholic that is. A busy Holy Week culminated in a beautiful cermony and mass - at yesterday's Easter Vigil service. My RCIA class was privileged to have Bishop Holley from the Archdiocese of Washington, DC to preside over the event along with the other parish staff at St. Stephen's. Also, one of my friends, author Dawn Eden (The Thrill of the Chaste), was a reader during the service. Another treat was that the Missionaries of Charity sisters (Mother Theresa's order) were in attendance. I had met them while preparing boxed meals at their Convent house in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of DC. I heard through the grapevine that they were praying for me, after a friend from St. Stephen's told them about the Miraculous Medal I had recieved over three years ago when visiting the Mother House in Kolkata, India fall of 2005. They gave me a beautiful card and gift. The event was exciting and everything I expected it to be!

Prior to the event, I held a Confirmation Party at my house. I was surprised by a gift that arrived in the mail earlier that day - a package from the Sisters of St. Birgitta from Darien, CT - whose order was founded by Mother Maria Elisabeth Hesselblad. I had been in contact with the sisters, letting them know that I was becoming Catholic and planned to take the name "Maria Elisabeth" for confirmation. They have been very kind and communicated regularly and let me know that I was in their prayers. They sent me some prayer cards, a beautiful white rosary, and lapel pins, and a key chain that feature Bl. Maria Elisabeth. It was very nice. And I got to wear "Maria Elisabeth" pinned to my collar during the Confirmation!!!

I wanted to also highlight an article, that just ran in the Wall Street Journal on Good Friday, written by my friend (and fellow RCIA-er / former PCUSA-er/ and Catholic Convert) Ashley Samelson entitled "The Freedom to Chose a New Faith." It's a great piece on religious persecution tied into the story of Esther, which Ashley took as her confirmation name.

I wish all of you a blessed Easter! He is risen!

Why Bother to Blog?

"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."-1 Peter 3:15

To blog or not to blog? I wrestled with this question for awhile. I wanted to make sure that it was the right thing to do, that I was 110% indeed becoming Catholic, and that I had something relevant to say.

I have had a desire to get down in "writing" the issues, ideas, and experiences I have had before, during, and through this journey into the Catholic Church. Why? Well, for starters, I have alot of friends and family that are not Catholic - and thought this might be an efficient format "to give the reason for the hope that" I have - and how Catholicism play it's important part. Also, I plan to document my thinking on some of the differences (and similarities) found between Protestants and Catholics (sharing some interesting tidbits that I have discovered from the Bible - that as a Protestant held little to no meaning for me). Also, I wanted to have a semi-chronicled account of my journey.

But probably one of the most compelling reasons to share my experience- is to be able to give props to the different books/blogs/websites/podcasts/videos/conversion stories that I came across during the midst of my own journey. These things fed my ravenous desire to understand and learn more about the Catholic faith, as well as feel less isolated by recognizing a similiar path that had been paved by many, many before me.

I strongly believe that this is a time, where many are being prepared to come into full communion with the Catholic Church. I am delighted and honored to be able to enter during The Year of St. Paul - as St. Paul is such an awesome example of conversion.

Riding the Wave

Over this last year, my experience of becoming a Catholic would definitely qualify as a continuing conversion experience. It is interesting that I use those words, as one main difference between Protestants and Catholics, has to do with the idea of "continuing conversion."

This experience of "becoming Catholic" - has also been such a multifaceted process (posing difficulty to precisely define the starting point and proving equally difficult to identify an ending point - which is a good thing), both literally and spiritually.

Literally, as an adult considering Catholicism, there is an established practice of beginning a class (RCIA) in the fall that continues to - and through Easter Sunday. There have been many steps along the RCIA path as well, many which I took even before beginning the class (such as really studying and examining why I would have any desire to become Catholic - thankfully I came to realize there were many serious reasons why I should desire to become Catholic!)

Spiritually, the reasons why I am "becoming Catholic" have continued to spring forth. Whatever the initial reason to begin this process was, it has now, joined in with all the other reasons that have emerged as I have moved along this continuum. Recently, I have likened my conversion to experiencing a Tsunami.  I characterize it as this, because it seems that day after day, a new wave of TRUTH clobers me over the head.

Another analogy that could describe my experience would be that of the "diagram". In most advanced fields of study such as Engineering, Biology, etc - complex charts have been created to explain how certain phenomena takes place. Although I can imagine how a chart explaining my path to Catholicism might look, at this moment it would seem impossible to "chart" this complicated, yet wonderfully surprising experience. Recently, as I continue to share with others my story, the starting point continues to shift, as different people and circumstances, bring out different aspects of my personal conversion experience.

It is here that I hope to share as many of those aspects as possible :)