I was baptized as a baby in the Roman Catholic Church, however I was never raised in the Church.  My parent’s divorced when I was very young and I had little or no religious training. 

When I was 14 years old, after reading tracts and talking to some relatives who were Christians, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior.

During my high school years and while I was in the Navy I went to Pentecostal Churches.  In high school I was a member of a Pentecostal Church of God and later became involved with the “Faith” movement.
In the Navy I began attending a United Pentecostal Church.  Although I associated with mainly Pentecostal Churches I did not mind going to other Churches and claimed no particular denomination.

After I was discharged I began college.  It was during college that I was exposed to other ideas and philosophies.  At the same time I was becoming disillusioned with the whole emotional aspect of Christianity that I had been exposed to.   I thought there had to be more to Christianity that a self centered desire for good feelings, prosperity and gaining heaven.  I explored Taoism and read about radical Christian groups like the Hutterites.  Although I thought I was losing my faith, I was actually growing closer to an authentic faith.  In the midst of my own doubts I still believed in the resurrection.

It was at this time that a friend sent me a book written by an ex pastor with Campus Crusade for Christ who, along with many of his friends, converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church.  His book explored the claims of ancient Christianity and his own journey eastward.  It was compelling and was the catalyst for my own exploration of ancient Christianity. 

I had been to so many Churches that claimed to be like the early Church that I decided to find out what the early Church was really like.  I found copies of The Church Fathers and read the seven letters of St. Ignatius.  Ignatius was the bishop of Antioch  and around the year 110 AD (about 10 years after the death of John) he was sentenced to death by the Roman Empire for being a Christian.  On his way to Rome to be torn apart by wild animals he wrote seven letters.  In his letters I discovered a Church that practiced apostolic succession and that believed that the bread and wine of communion are actually changed into the real Body and Blood of Jesus. Things that I was told were simply Catholic inventions or later corruptions were here in the early Church.  And when I compared what St. Ignatius said to what was written in the New Testament, I began to see a Church I had missed for so long. 

I continued to read and to study the early Church until I became convinced that although I had accepted Jesus Christ so many years ago, I had passed up His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.  I returned to the Catholic Church and have grown in ways that only God’s grace can cause.

If you have questions or comments about the Catholic Church, please email me at maryscapular@yahoo.com
Or you can check out my web page at  http://www.geocities.com/maryscapular/My_Testimony.html