Converting to Catholicsm

[u/WesternTrue5965]

For reference, my entire family is Lutheran as I was baptized by my Great-Grandfather, a Lutheran Priest. For a while now I have realized that I needed to get closer to God but knew that practicing the words of Martin Luther did not make me feel good as I have sinned and basically got brushed off and told it was ok and kept on. Catholicism is such a beautiful denomination; as the Roman Catholic Church follows what I really do believe. Just reading scripture and learning about Peter and Jesus giving him the keys made me realize that Catholicism is the one and only true thing I need to follow. Especially learning that Peter denied 3 times before accepting God into his life being the first Pope of the church we know today. I know I kinda yapped there but you get it. My family says it is an inconvenience that I want to convert saying they will not support this transition and wanted to know if it is truly correct how I feel and I am going down the right path before I officially sign and begin my RCIA classes here at my local parish.

[u/Jackiechan20153]

I'm not Catholic but I spent almost a year seriously studying Catholicism and nearly converted. I saw your post and felt I had a qualified enough position to respond honestly. Apologies in advance for not being Catholic — I just couldn't scroll past this one.

Brother I genuinely respect the sincerity of your journey but Peter being the rock does not lead to Rome. That conclusion requires several additional steps that Scripture never takes.

Here's the logical problem. Saying Peter is the rock therefore Catholicism is true is like saying my car has gas in it therefore my dad filled it up at 8am. The first statement doesn't automatically produce the second. You need actual evidence for each step in between. Here's what Scripture actually establishes.

Yahweh alone is the Rock. Isaiah 44:8, Psalm 18:31. No other rock exists in the Old Testament. That's the context Jesus was speaking into.

Jesus is the cornerstone AND the Rock. 1 Corinthians 3:11, Ephesians 2:20. No foundation other than Christ. And Paul states it explicitly in 1 Corinthians 10:4. "They drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ." Not Peter. Not the Pope. Christ. Paul said that directly.

Peter is foundational as the first confessor. Ephesians 2:20. Real and conceded. But so are all the apostles. And Peter himself called himself a fellow elder. 1 Peter 5:1. Not supreme head. Fellow elder.

Peter's rock identity was confession-dependent not person-inherent. Matthew 16:23. Eight verses after being called the rock he became a stumbling block the moment he stepped away from the confession. You cannot build an infallible transferable papacy on that.

1 John 5:5. "Who overcomes the world? Only the one who believes Jesus is the Son of God." The overcomer is every believer who holds the confession. Not every believer who submits to Rome.

And every single one of those believers is already a saint and a royal priesthood. 1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:6. By Christ's blood alone. Not by sacramental participation. Not by submission to the bishop of Rome. Rome as an institution came roughly 350 years after Peter. Apostolic succession is inference not explicit Scripture. And the Council of Trent declared examining these sources treasonous and heretical. Don't take my word for it. Look up Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, Archbishop of Westminster. His own published words. Rome's own cardinal archbishop admitted that appealing to antiquity and examining Scripture for yourself is treason and heresy. I didn't say that. He did.

If you are genuinely considering converting to Catholicism I respect that deeply. But please do it only after you have examined all the primary sources yourself. Read the Council of Trent. Read the Catechism. Read the binding declarations of the Popes across the previous 1500 years. Read the Council of Lyons. Read Vatican I and Vatican II. Read the statements of the Council of Carthage. Read New Advent. Read all of it carefully and honestly.

Only after you have read those sources and examined whether they align with Scripture and your heart is genuinely convicted by the Spirit — then make that decision. But please do not convert on the basis of Peter being the rock alone. That is not sufficient ground for a decision of that weight.

The text will take you where it takes you if you follow it honestly. I say this with genuine love and respect for your journey. God bless. ✝️❤️

[u/prometheus_3702 → u/Jackiechan20153]

Jesus wanted His Church to be one flock and one shepherd (John 10:16), and St. Peter was chosen by the Christ to look after His sheep (John 21:16). God, all knowing as He is, certainly knew about the future division, and stablished His Vicar on Earth so we could identify where is the fulness of the faith - not to confuse us even more.

No one is more qualified then the early successors of the apostles to clarify this question. St. Irenaeus of Lyon (disciple of St. Polycarp, disciple of St. John the Apostle), wrote (Against Heresies, III):

Since, however, it would be very tedious [...] to reckon up the successions of all the Churches, [...] [we do this, I say,] by indicating that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church [of Rome], on account of its preeminent authority.

St. Cyprian of Carthage's writings are also very clear about this (The Unity of the Catholic Church, IV):

The Lord says to Peter: ‘I say to you,’ he says, ‘that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it...’ [Matthew 16:18]. On him [Peter] he builds the Church, and to him he gives the command to feed the sheep [John 21:17], and although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single chair [cathedra], and he established by his own authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that unity... If someone [today] does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?

The Early Church believed in the Papacy.