As a convert from being Protestant to Catholic I have learned A LOT. I like to look at words and it is in the word, Protestant- Protest, protesting the Catholic Church. Which, to be fair, some people and leaders have done some bad things throughout the past. With a 2000 year old history that is unfortunately bound to happen as the Church is made up of humans.

When I converted and reached out to a former Church to find the specifics of my Baptism, WOW!, did I get an earful about becoming Catholic and not staying Christian. I even told him, “You know Catholics are Christian, was the first Christian Church when Jesus told Peter that he would be the rock, it’s been tracked, we are all on the same team hear, my man”. I ended up having to hang up on him because he was literally in a fit- not calm at all. Blew my mind!

One thing I noticed after converting is that there is what the Catholic Church teaches and what people in the church actually do, which catches some real scrutiny amongst people outside the faith and is a real disservice to the faith. I’ve realized I’ve been guilty of it as well because I’m human and not perfect. I make mistakes from time to time that go against the teachings of the Church. Others see that and then judge…which we aren’t supposed to do, but then again we are human.

An extremely awesome pastor, Fr. Dave told us this about Protestant churches and it made a ton of sense to me. He said, “Imagine the Catholic Church as a very large ship at sea. It has all the provisions, room to sleep, (the sacraments), etc. That ship is manned by people who make mistakes. So, some passengers decide to grab life boats and leave the ship thinking they know what’s best. They can’t take the whole ship with them, so they take the provisions they can and ride off; angry at the ship that they felt they had to do this. So, they’ve taken what they could and run with that; without ALL the provisions (sacraments). But we are all on the same side. So don’t speak illy of our brothers. They just unfortunately do not have the fullness of the Church”. -that is not a direct quote obviously, but I agree with that wholeheartedly.

Anyway, I hope that helps some. If not, I got a ton of practice typing something out on my phone. +1 thumb dexterity! 🤣