A Brief History of My Life as a Christian

I was baptized on October 8, 1961, Thanksgiving Sunday, by the Reverend Preston McLeod, at Knox United Church, at the age of about 5 months. Thus began my ever-growing relationship with Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord. I was taught from an early age to pray frequently, and to ask God for the things I needed, and to give Him thanks for the blessings He gives to us. I was also taught to sing His praises with simple little children's songs, to be obedient to His commands, and to attend Church regularly.

I was a faithful attender at Sunday School, and won many Perfect Attendance Awards and Memory Verse cards. At the age of 8 years old, I earned my first Bible by memorizing several short passages of Scripture, including the Ten Commandments and The Beatitudes.

I became a full member of the Church on Palm Sunday, 1976, at the age of 14. From that point on, I became involved in many committees of the Church, taught Sunday School, and assisted with the many projects that were initiated by the congregation.

I first encountered the Catholic Church in 1983, and while at first, and for many years, I thought that I could incorporate Catholic spirituality into my Protestant lifestyle, eventually I realized that I had to become Catholic. I did so, after much reflection and study, on April 14 at the Easter Vigil, in 2001.

Take a look at my new Rosary Book, HERE.


Christian Links

My Catholic Pages My Apologetics Page - My answers to frequently asked questions about the Catholic Faith. (with pictures from St. Mary's Cathedral by photographer Monique Achtman)

Logical Butterflies in Cosmic Time - My online magazine for teenagers has gone totally Catholic. Ave Maria Artworks - I recently built this web site for founder Scott Kelly of Ave Maria Artworks

My Story The story of how I came to know and love the Catholic Church, and of how hard it was to leave my Protestant roots.

The Religious Humour Page

Resources

Institute of Applied Biblical Studies Scott Hahn's home page.

One Voice in The New Evangelization Mark Shea's home page, which includes articles, books and more Bible studies.

Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas, widely considered to be the greatest Christian theologian in the history of the world.

... and if you thought that one was hard to read ...

The Code of Canon Law For use when in doubt about Church law on a particular issue. You have to scroll down to get to the actual laws. Lay people don't usually worry too much about these unless they are directly affected for some reason. (Your priest will let you know.)

The Catechism Everything you need to know.

The Apostolic Letters Letters from the Pope on a variety of interesting subjects.

St. Teresa of Avila My patron Saint. "Teach us to pray."

Meeting Christ in the Liturgy Father Kevin Cusack's Lectionary Bible Study Pages.

The Lord's Prayer in 1128 languages (and counting ... )

The Ecumenical Councils of the Church - Want to know what they said at Nicea in 325 AD? Or at Trent? This link has the notes from all of the Church Councils that ever took place.

Nova Vulgata - St. Jerome's Bible; "Nova" (new) because punctuation has been added by later scholars, and also verse and chapter numbers, so that you can find things in it more easily. This is the official Bible of the Church.

Where I fit in

Roman Catholic Diocese of Calgary - This is where I live.

Sacred Heart Church - This is my parish!

Fun Links

The Mark Shea Blog - Motto: "Catholic and loving it!" - Author and Catholic evangelist Mark Shea's unedited opinions on the issues of today.

My City Was Gone - a sadly humorous look at heresy in the modern North American RCIA, by "Jimbo" and "Legatus". (They explain in excruciating detail what a "neeple" is.)

Moloch's Blog - Blogs are so cool that even the demons of Hell are getting in on the act. Moloch is the demon who drinks the blood of sacrificed infants. He'd been nearly starved into nothing during the Christian Era, when child sacrifice was just totally uncool, not to mention a criminal offence in all but the most backward locales, but now that the post-Christian age of "choice" is upon us, he's back up to full strength again. Quotable: "I remember being pretty proud of the Aztecs and their child sacrifices. I thought that they were the very cats meow that is until the 20th century came along and made them look like amateurs. "

Protestant Links Knox United Church This is the church where I was baptised, raised, married, and served for most of my adult life. I joined in 1976, and left in January, 2001 to become Catholic. I created a web site while I was a member of Knox, but this isn't it - the one I did is gone, now. Things have really changed over there - looks like I got out just in time.

Presbyterian Creedal Standards A thorough documentation of the Reformation in Scotland, including resources such as the Heidlberg Catechism and the Scots Confession, the ancestors of modern Protestant faith.

The General Council of the United Church of Canada


E-mail dead link reports, bug reports, good recipes, jokes, chain letters, your stories, and your questions or comments to Judith at jrlmcrae@shaw.ca (Please put a title on your message to keep it from ending up in the "junk mail" folder.)

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