A Mormon Converts to the Catholic Faith: My Journey

By Professor Richard Sherlock
5/12/2011
Why I'm Catholic (www.whyimcatholic.com )

All true roads do lead to Rome.

When I was a professor of moral theology at Fordham University in the mid-1980's I happily defended the view that artificial birth control is morally wrong. This was at a time when many, if not most, actually Catholic moral theologians wouldn't do so, or wouldn't do so strongly. I have not left religion or Christianity. But I have left Mormonism. I have become a deeper, more intellectual, more spiritual and truer Christian than I have ever been, literally. I am converting to the Roman Catholic Church. All true roads do lead to Rome.

Professor Richard Sherlock

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LOGAN, Utah (Why I'm Catholic ) - (I am aware that this article is very long for a Catholic Online piece. However, it is such an important story I did not want to break it up. Also, it is the first of what I hope will be many such stories from "Why I'm Catholic". For those who take the time to read it in its entirety, it will be well worth your while. Editor in Chief)

One should never leave the religion in which one was born or raised for anything but the most serious of reasons. Warm feelings, family, friends, a social ethos, should never be the reason for joining or leaving a religion. The fact that you do not like the priest, pastor or parishioners should never be a reason for staying or leaving. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have never been a person to "go with the flow" or seek popularity. I was a conscientious objector in the Vietnam War and I have a 1-0 draft card to prove it. I have been an absolute opponent of abortion, euthanasia, and capital punishment my whole adult life.

Though I grew up in a "Mormon" household my family was not the typical Mormon family. My mother was a member who was semi-active. My father was not a member until late in life. Neither my brother nor I went on missions when Mormon boys are supposed to at 19. I did not think I could bear witness to Mormonism. I was not active in college and I had my doubts. My brother is now a Rabbi. That leaves only my sister in the Mormon fold.

In my journey to Catholicism I have in some ways been the last to know that this is where I truly belong. On the first weekend of October 2010 my brother closed off the side street in downtown Salt Lake where he lives and had a great Oktoberfest party. At the party I pulled my brother aside and said, "we need to talk." He was the first person I told of my decision to leave Mormonism and become a Catholic. He looked at me and said straightforwardly: "Rick, you haven't believed in Mormonism in decades." As we talked he said that he knew when I was a graduate student at Harvard in the 1970's that I was essentially a Catholic theologian. After all, I wrote my dissertation using the resources of Catholic moral theology.

When I showed up to Harvard in the fall of 1970 I roomed in Divinity Hall with a budding Catholic patristic scholar from Notre Dame, Michael Hollerich. We have been friends for 40 years. 20 plus years ago he was teaching at the University of Santa Clara. I was presenting a paper at a conference in San Francisco. My family and I went down together and stayed with one of my brothers in law who has a big house in the bay area. I went down for part of a day to see Mike. After we talked for quite a while and he showed me around his campus, he turned to me and in all seriousness said " Richard, from the way you talk and think, you should be a Catholic." Even then something inside of me knew he was right. But life intervened.

A third example is another old friend and also Harvard graduate who is senior vice-president for academic affairs at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. He is a devout Catholic. About 15 years ago we were at a small discussion conference I was running. The format allows for about 2 1/2 hours each afternoon for breaks, informal discussions, or walks. We went on a long walk together and talked animatedly. When I told him recently of my conversion he said that after our first long discussion he thought for sure that I was a conservative Catholic, until I told him I was not.

Finally, this last summer I was a speaker at a summer honors program for really talented undergraduates run by his organization. Two other faculty members, Jonathan Yonan from Eastern University and Paige Hochscheid from Mount Saint Mary's University became friends. Jonathan is an Oxford trained church historian and protestant. Paige is an Augustine scholar and like her husband a convert to Catholicism. Until I told them at the end of the week, they also both thought I was a conservative Catholic.

Enough of the "I am the last person to know" stories. What you want to know is "why."

Conversion must be a matter of both the head and the heart, both the intellect and the spirit. But it must be a whole reorientation of one's life, a whole that transcends just the sum of the parts. Two further points I must make. First, conversion in the Catholic faith is never ...

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1 - 10 of 14 Comments

mgm.
2 years ago
Philip Smithson.I do,nt blame you I would'nt want to discuss the book of mormon the gold tablets .Joeseth Smith's seer-stone ,his hat or the youtube videos posted by the LDS cult showing Christ desending form Heaven and enligthing on the steps of a ancient Mayan pyramid temple under construction by a mix of native Americans and the lost tribes of Israel using Iron and steel tools in central-America or the star Kolbo near the planet were Heavenly father lives with his wife.should i go on?
Sal " The Boricua "
2 years ago
Dear Brother in CHRIST
Welcome!!! For sure You and your family are Always in our prayers
In every Holy Communion When we pray At THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
When we pray The Holy Rosary
And Always walking with Our Loving Virgen Mother Mary
Again Bienvenido!!!
Sal
Jon Matthew Greenier
2 years ago
To Philip, no total apostasy is possible because of the promise of Christ to His Church Matthew 16:18 I also say to you that you are (A)Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of (B)Hades will not overpower it.. To claim that a total apostasy has occurred is unbiblical, no historical evidence in support of and makes Christ into a liar.
The gates of hell shall not prevail and I trust, hope and have faith in my Lords promise and words.

Peace Be With You.
Jon Matthew Greenier
Bulbajer
2 years ago
Speaking of whether or not Mormons are Christians, I'm wondering what the criteria for inclusion in "Christianity" are. I had always that you just had to accept Jesus as the Savior to be included in the group of Christian sects, but it appears some people use acceptance of the Trinity as the boundary. To me, that doesn't make sense. Arians were heretics because they denied the Trinity. But if Arians weren't Christians, wouldn't they be called "apostates" instead of "heretics"?
Nathan
2 years ago
A comment on some quotes from the article:

"Job must trust in God, even when reason fails."

"I do not think that any Christian faith can be accepted as true if it requires us not to believe something very established science shows to be true."

The problem with this second quote is it puts the understanding of men above faith in God.

Early in His ministry, Christ asked an uneducated Peter who He was, and Peter replied, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." All the secular and philosophical leaders of his time denied that claim, and even tried to use their logic to show that Jesus was a fraud. Jesus taught Peter "Blessed art thou... for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in Heaven."

God will tell us what is true, and we must act against our own reason if necessary. God saved Abraham from being sacrificed on an altar, then later commanded Abraham to sacrifice his own son on an altar. If we believe logic should trump faith in God, we will never have the faith that Abraham did.
David
2 years ago
’Twas a sheep not a lamb
That strayed away in the parable Jesus told,
A grown-up sheep that strayed away
From the ninety and nine in the fold.
And why for the sheep should we seek
And earnestly hope and pray?
Because there is danger when sheep go wrong:
They lead the lambs astray.
Lambs will follow the sheep, you know,
Wherever the sheep may stray.
When sheep go wrong,
It won’t take long till the lambs are as wrong as they.
And so with the sheep we earnestly plead
For the sake of the lambs today,
For when the sheep are lost
What a terrible cost
The lambs will have to pay.

Richard, you are always welcome to return. Sorry your mother went astray when you were but a lamb.
vance
2 years ago
Great inspiring story. I welcome all back to Holy Mother Church.
Andrew
2 years ago
Elisabeth--when you say you can't believe in a God who is both man and creator, do you also reject Jesus as both man and creator/God? It seems you can't have it both ways to me.
Elisabeth
2 years ago
I found this article uplifting and inspiring. My husband was converting from Mormonism to the Catholic faith when I met him. I am a "cradle Catholic" and have never understood how the Mormon church could look at God as both man and creator. It is my prayer that my mother-in-law will come to see the truth and understand the majesty of the One Triune God.
God bless you, Mr. Sherlock. Thank you for sharing this inspirational story.
Philip Smithson
2 years ago
As a lifelong Mormon in England I read this article with interest having known and read of many conversions from Catholic to Mormonism but never the other way round. I have visited Rome and absolutely loved the experience, the spirituality of the place, the inspired architecture, etc. However the overall experience only strengthened my testimony that there had indeed been an apostasy, a falling away from the Gospel that Jesus Christ taught along with the loss of Priesthood authority. As such there was a need for a restoration, not just a reformation. Not appropriate to go into a long theological debate on these matters and I wish this good brother well. The more people on this good earth living good Christian principles the better, irrespective of theological differences, . Regards Philip Smithson.

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