Not Why I'm Catholic

Here are various things that don't explain why I'm Catholic:

1) My husband. Once people realise I'm a convert, many ask if i converted because of my husband. While I must admit that dating him was the impetus for me examining Catholicism, I did not convert for him. He never asked me to convert and didn't even know I was considering it. Converting for a person just wouldn't be worth it, in my opinion.

2) The people. As anywhere, the Church is full of all sorts, since She is a "hospital for sinners" - and I thank God for that. Fellowship with other parishioners has varied from one parish to another, but that's tue anywhere, too.

3) The music. Ok, I'm being a bit facetious, but music by Haugen certainly didn't make me run to the Church. Neither did Gregorian chant, for that matter, though I love chant. If I were choosing based solely on aesthetics I might choose high church Anglican. Or maybe I'd go with Byzantine Catholic. I love being Latin Rite Catholic, and I love the Latin, the chant, etc, but aesthetics aren't enough reason to convert.

4) The food. What can I say, Baptists have great potluck dinners. ;)

5) Family. I do have one aunt who is Catholic, which means I also have 5 cousins, her children, who are Catholic. While I grew up playing with them and was exposed to the Rosary through them, I really didn't examine their beliefs or consider becoming Catholic because of them. My immediate family was Southern Baptist, so that certainly didn't contribute to my conversion.

No, the reason I converted has nothing to do with those things and everything to do with the Eucharist. Once I came to realise the truth of that, nothing else mattered. I ran to the Church and I've never looked back. To quote St Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life." (John 6:68).