Glorious News, Can't Keep It Hidden

DobryKatarzyna · #1 Jun 11, '12, 2:30 pm

I came out to my agnostic father as a Catholic.

Some of you might remember a thread I posted about keeping my faith a secret and I was afraid that they would abuse me, kick me out, etc.

Well, I finally told my father today. Some months ago, I decided to take time off of school to work and do some other things, but primarily to focus on healing from trauma and mental health issues. I also want to spend serious time on my faith life. My mother and I went to war over my choice to take time off in which she screamed at, lectured, and insulted me in more ways than I can count. She brought up every thing I ever did wrong, every thing I ever did that she thought was disrespectful to her, etc. My mother is the type of person that will remember you looking at her wrong 35 years ago, but will deny that she viciously insulted you 35 seconds ago.

So I talked to my father about it and if you've ever been in a situation like that, you know you tend to get a explosive case of verbal diarrhea and spill EVERYTHING out in the open. And somewhere in that endless stream of verbiage, I confessed. I'm Catholic now and that was the major reason I decided to take time off.

Not only is my dad happy with me, but he is proud of me, wants to come to the Easter Vigil, and wants to come to church with me sometime. My father hates religion, doesn't believe much in God, and now...he wants to come to church with me.

That just made my day. Someone in my family knows my secret. It's not a secret anymore. I can share the most important part of my life with someone close to me and not feeling like I'm leading a double life.

After that conversation was done, I called everyone I knew and announced it.

I guess it just proves that God will take anything and make good come of it. If I had not had that fight with my mother, I might not have talked to my father and had that conversation.

Wow...

catholicanne · #2 Jun 11, '12, 2:39 pm

Congratulations!!!

twk001 · #3 Jun 11, '12, 2:52 pm

the best evangelization is HOW you live, not what you say. just by living your faith and taking dad to mass when he's comfortable going, the Holy Spirit just may work wonders on his heart! congrats!

DobryKatarzyna · #4 Jun 11, '12, 3:11 pm

Agreed, but if I had not been moved to have that conversation, the door would have never been opened to begin with because I would still be in the closet. Other than that, I agree. The more we talk and the more time she spends with me, the more he will see the difference in me and hopefully want a slice of the pie.

TheRealJuliane · #5 Jun 11, '12, 3:16 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by DobryKatarzyna

Agreed, but if I had not been moved to have that conversation, the door would have never been opened to begin with because I would still be in the closet. Other than that, I agree. The more we talk and the more time she spends with me, the more he will see the difference in me and hopefully want a slice of the pie.

Reading your post brought tears to my eyes. Praise God who always sees farther than we can. Welcome Home!

jawgee · #6 Jun 11, '12, 3:16 pm

What a relief!!! I'm so glad it went well.

**the phoenix** · #7 Jun 11, '12, 3:34 pm

.

SecretaryMonday · #8 Jun 11, '12, 3:39 pm

DobryKatarzyna · #9 Jun 11, '12, 3:50 pm

What's ironic about my family, actually, is that they were both raised Catholic and fell away long before I was born and were very anti-religious. They promised the priest that married them that they would raise their children Catholic and didn't. Well, I converted on my own and am bringing one of them back.

God had a plan, I guess...

**JRKH** · #10 Jun 11, '12, 3:54 pm

TRULY AWESOME!!!!

Peace
James

maltmom · #11 Jun 11, '12, 4:08 pm

I don't know you and I'm sitting here with tears of joy!!!! That's wonderful news.

God Bless!!!

Ysara · #12 Jun 11, '12, 4:13 pm

AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!! Well done !!!!!!!!

Great news!!!!!!!!!!

triumphguy · #13 Jun 11, '12, 5:24 pm

Well done!

chococat · #14 Jun 11, '12, 5:29 pm

WOW!!!! That is so great! So glad for you. I pray God will bring your Father back to the church, too.

:s ignofcross:

:hear t:

wow

DobryKatarzyna · #15 Jun 12, '12, 5:32 am

Thanks for the well wishes, everyone.

The first step is to tell him about my friends in my parish and maybe introduce him to them. He's not readt for church yet but I would like him to know the people that influenced me on my journey.

Then I might show him some of the books and CDs I have about Catholicism. He might not be ready to come back, but he is very much an autodidact and I hope he will just enjoy learning more about the history and rituals of the Church as a learning experience.

We'll see.