I discovered I am an introvert as an adult. I enjoy deep conversations with people. I do not like to be completely alone, and never have. I would drive my little sister crazy wanting to be with her all the time. But put me in a group of more than three others, and I am completely drained and likely to return home with a staggering headache. I think this is a large reason why I find online interaction easier.
So I tend to be selective and purposeful with joining communities. It’s led me to contemplate quite a bit what the human need for community is. “It’s not good for man to be alone.” (Gen 2:18) Our communities can help us find direction, support us in our goals, or can do the opposite, pulling us away from what we have learned to be right and true. Most people are far less intentional about communities, but I think this is one commonality among converts. We recognized that the communities in which we originated did not hold the same goals, or provide a determined path by which to achieve common goals, or we simply decided that following truth was more important than remaining a member of our current community.
For my experience, a priest at a neighboring parish shared a relevant illustration. If you want to make a certain kind of cake, you need to follow a recipe, step by step. You can be sure that the recipe will make the kind of cake you seek by seeing and tasting the results of others who have followed the recipe. Introverts like me often would rather just do it ourselves. But if you really want to reach the goal, you follow the tried and true recipe (the road well-traveled).
In my original community, I didn’t feel that I was being challenged to become the disciple of Christ that I saw and read about in the Bible. I didn’t feel I was being called into obedience, or taught to shape my conscience in accordance with absolute truth and righteousness. There was plenty of exterior conformity, but little interior development of the soul. I have discovered a deep appreciation for the Communion of Saints. From ancient history into modernity, I can trace the results of the Catholic recipe, knowing the faith of the people by the works of love they have displayed consistently through millenia. Transitioning into the Catholic Church from my previous community was eased since we’d just experienced a family move, however the significance of leaving so much of what I had shared with my family growing up still caused some interior conflict.
For those converts who read here, how did your interactions with your original community impact your decision to convert? What drew you to the community in which you are currently engaged? Has your experience of community since converting supported your spiritual growth?
Check this related post in Saintos’ comic diary today.
Also, be sure to join us in remembering those within the Communion of Saints who are residing in purgatory during the next month — 30 Days for the Souls in Purgatory. You can add names for those you would like to be remembered particularly in the comment section of any post there.




