Christie Martin
Christie is a convert to Catholicism from the New Age and Neopaganism.
She is a homeschooling former schoolteacher and an adoptive, foster,
and birth mom of five (and counting).
My family was Church of Christ. While it was never spoken of from the pulpit
growing up, the handouts available on the tables in the vestibule often held
tracts that spouted things like the Catholic Church was the ***** of Babylon
and the Pope was the Anti-Christ. A few people in the church had family
members convert to Catholicism. This news was greeted in the same manner
as people whose family members had come down with cancer: with condolences,
disbelief, and shocked horror. Although my mother and father made it clear they
did not approve of the tracts, neither did they approve of Catholics and their
beliefs. I grew up with the impression that they were a strange cult,
like the Moonies.
My friends were another matter entirely. They loathed Christians, Catholics
especially. One had told the story of her son accompanying her to visit her
mother at a senior facility. Some little old ladies in the lobby had made
semi-rude gossipy comments about them as they walked past. The little
boy got on the elevator, rolled his eyes and said, "Probably Christians."
His mother laughed as she told that story, so did everyone present.
I didn't. As far from Christian as I was, I thought she was
training up a bigot. That's never funny.
My conversion to the Catholic Church took about three seconds. I was an
arrogant fool sitting in on my very first Mass and watching it like I'd watch
a National Geographic nature film. I was analyzing away, "Those pews are
so phallic, who are they kidding that this isn't all about a patriarchy?"
when I heard something Jewish. A cantor sang the Psalm. It caught my
attention and stopped the haughty drift of my thoughts. I began to be interested.
What else might they have stolen from the Jews?
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