Evangelical Convert

Renée Lin

Renée Lin joined the Catholic Church in 2003 after a lifetime in Evangelical Protestant. Renée currently works in research at a medical practice in central Virginia.

“The Bible says it…. I believe it…. that settles it!”

If Thomas Road Baptist Church had an unofficial mantra back in the 1990s, that probably would have been it. Dr. Jerry Falwell was fond of saying that, and I enjoyed hearing it. I took the Bible seriously, very seriously, and if Scripture made a pronouncement on an issue, it seemed only reasonable to me to take those verses as literally as possible and to act upon them. If a Christian couldn’t base his life on the Word of God, then what else was there?

One Sunday morning when Dr. Falwell proclaimed that “everything we believe and do here at Thomas Road comes straight from Scripture,” I took that seriously, too. Everything we believe and do…. Everything?

Pagan Convert

Libby Edwards

Libby Edwards is a former neopagan witch of fifteen years. She is happily married and has one eleven year old son.

I am often asked by friends and family why I converted to the Catholic Church. They don't want a simple answer; they want to know how and why the Church "sucked me in." For most of my family, the response is usually one of surprise, but they are so thankful I am at least Christian now that there's little argument against it. But for my friends, people who have known me since at least college (and sometimes longer than that), the response is often some combination of anger and bewilderment. You see, before my conversion, I was neither Protestant, or Christian, or Jewish. I was a Neopagan Witch.

But! I didn't start out that way.