John:

Nice to read your story. I was in Manhattan last week, Went to the 8:30 Divine Liturgy at St. George’s Ukranian Catholic Cathedral (Lower East Side) on Sunday and then the 11 AM Latin Mass at St. Agnes, (One of Abp. Sheen’s first parishes, as a priest) daily Mass at Holy Innocents on W 37th between Broadway and 7th Ave. It was so nice to be in NY and fly home just as the snow began to fall.

As a convert to the Catholic Faith over 30 years ago, I continue to learn about the Faith each day. For me two things prompted me to investigate the Faith, first, my family was saved from the Shoah by the intervention of Pope Pius XII, and Cardinal Rancolli, (Later Pope John XXIII) while no pressure was put on my family or other jews to convert, as Pope Pius felt the love of Christ would shine through the actions of Catholics who did what was needed to save the lives of Jews, (and in the case of my family I was the first of many to convert). The second factor was when I entered Medical School at a SDA school. While I had to drop out because of health issues, I heard quite a few false accusations about the Catholic Church which did not sync with what I knew about the people who saved my family, I investigated these claims by going to Catholic sources, and learn what the Church really taught. This was before Dr. Hahn, Patrick Madrid and the rest. So I read the same books as they did, Cardinal Newman, Msgr. Ronald Knox and Msgr. Philip Hughes All converts to the Catholic Church. I read anti-Catholic writers too, and when I compaired what they said about the Catholic Church to what the Catholic Church actually taught, I learned that the Claims of the Catholic Church were valid, and that the statements of the Anti-Catholics were a perverted Catholic Faith that did not resemble the truth taught by the Church. One false teacher Louis Bottiner taught that Catholics all believed that only Catholics would be saved, and all Protestants were living in sin, making them all fornicators, because the Catholic Church claimed the power to invalidate all Protestant Marriages. So you may understand why I hope to present the Catholic viewpoint on the subject.

Well enough about me, and a hearty welcome to you. I’ve enjoyed your postings thus far, and hope to see more.