The Shortest Conversion Story

Okay folks, here's the Reader's Digest version:

I am the daughter and former wife of Protestant ministers. When Dad was a Wesleyan minister, I was "born again". When he became a Presbyterian minister, I was baptized. When my first husband decided to become a minister (1988), he enrolled in the same seminary my dad had attended. I taught in a Catholic school to help pay bills (1989-91). I never considered converting.


In the 1990s, one marriage ended and a new one began. In December of 2003, my father passed away after a long illness. Suddenly, the question of human suffering had my full attention.


After much seeking, I found answers in writings of St. John of the Cross. By July 2004, I had read numerous books, works by St. Augustine, St. John of the Cross, and St. Teresa of Avila. I found the nearest Catholic Church and asked the secretary, "How does one become Catholic?" She introduced me to the parish priest.


My new priest said I needed an annulment and that the process would bring healing. I decided he was extremely naïve and threw the paperwork in a drawer. Maybe I wouldn’t become Catholic, but John 17 began to haunt me. Jesus’ prayer for unity just didn’t square with Protestant denominationalism. This thought propelled me forward when I encountered Marian Dogma, Apostolic Succession, and the Papacy.


In December 2004, I made my first petition to the Blessed Mother, which she answered within 24 hours. The sheer improbability of answered prayer sent me running to my desk. I completed the paperwork, and the annulment was granted. I was received into the arms of Mother Church on August 14, 2005.