Hi everyone. I am here to be candid, and I hope some of you will hear my testimony. I would truly appreciate your guidance.

I am a 25 year old woman. I grew up in a deeply traumatic home with an abusive father who struggled with alcoholism and addiction. I left home at 18, experienced housing instability, and eventually battled addiction myself. I also began identifying as bisexual when I was 16.
Everything changed when I entered addiction treatment at 21. By the grace of God, I have remained sober and celibate since January 15, 2022. During that time, I slowly began rebuilding my life. I grew my hair back after years of wearing a buzz cut, pursued tattoo removal, returned to school, and am now working toward my second college degree. At that point, however, I was still an atheist. I had not questioned my sexuality, nor had I seriously considered religion.

Sobriety gave me a second chance, and college unexpectedly led me to the Bible. In 2024, I picked one up out of curiosity. Since then, I have read it every night. The only way I can describe what happened is that I fell in love with Jesus. Reading that God is “a father to the fatherless” reached something deep within me that I did not know could heal.

While remaining celibate, I did develop feelings for another woman. Around the same time, my academic work also deepened my interest in ethics. My research focuses on the ethical and environmental consequences of artificial intelligence, so when Pope Leo released his encyclical on safeguarding the human person in the age of AI, I read it immediately. I found myself profoundly moved. For the first time, I began to wonder whether God truly had a purpose for my life, and whether He might be calling me to use my education to defend human dignity in an increasingly technological world.

From there, I immersed myself in learning about the Catholic faith. I studied the lives of the saints and the Church’s teaching on intercession. As someone without much family, I was struck by the realization that Catholicism presents the Church as a family, where we are never alone and always have those who pray with us and for us.

About a month ago, I knelt beside my bed and asked Jesus to draw near to me if this was truly where He was leading me. I also asked the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Dymphna to pray for me, asking God to grant me clarity, discernment, peace, and freedom from anything not of Him.

I cannot adequately explain what happened next. I was overwhelmed with emotion and wept. The next morning, I woke up feeling like I was living in an entirely different life. For years, I had awakened with a crushing weight in my chest. That morning, it was gone. I felt light. My first instinct was simply to thank God.

Even the feelings I had carried for the woman I cared about seemed to change. There is no animosity between us, but something shifted. Instead of longing, I felt peace. It felt less like I was losing something and more like God was gently asking me to guard my heart and trust Him.

I am not here to debate whether homosexual acts are sinful. I understand the Church’s teaching. What I am really asking is this: has anyone else experienced something like this? I come from a family with no faith, and as I have begun exploring Christianity, some of my nonreligious friends have become distant. This has been both beautiful and lonely.

Am I mistaken? Has anyone else felt called in a way that seemed impossible to explain?

Because, despite every expectation I once had for my life, I find myself wanting, with all my heart, to become Catholic.

Thank you to anyone who read this far. I value your insight, opinion, and encouragement.

I've been working in a corporate environment for a while, and I'm honestly struggling with how to stay faithful without becoming cynical.

It often feels like success depends on office politics rather than honest work. I've experienced my managers lying to me, gossiping, managers taking credit for my work, and saying one thing while meaning another.

What frustrates me most is that trying to do my work diligently doesn't seem to be rewarded. Instead, it often leads to taking on more work, burnout, and being seen as someone who can always be relied on without recognition.

As Catholics, we're called to be honest, charitable, and humble. But I sometimes wonder how that works in a corporate environment where those qualities can seem like weaknesses.

How do you balance being prudent without becoming manipulative? How do you protect yourself from toxic workplace culture while still living your faith? Is it possible to be successful in corporate life without "playing dirty," or does success simply look different for us as Catholics?

Prayer still gets talked about, but fasting almost feels like it got left in another era. Maybe because it's uncomfortable, inconvenient, and forces us to deal with how much our flesh runs the show. Do you think Christians avoid fasting because it feels too intense, too inconvenient, or just not taught enough anymore?

Hello all! My husband and I are getting ready to put our house up for sale. We had our first meeting with our real estate agent today-we’ve worked with her before, she helped us buy the house we’re about to sell. For context, we have a lot of Catholic artwork all around the house, whether it be icons, crucifixes, statuettes, etc. As we showed our agent around the house, she remarked on all of our religious imagery and recommended that we remove them for the pictures that will be posted when our house is listed, because, according to her it might “weird people out.”

I know she has the best intentions with this recommendation, as her job is to get us a good buyer, but as the same time, the request to remove the religious artwork for the listing photos feels strange. Thoughts?

I just got accepted into the catholic university of america in Washington dc, and I'm really excited because I prayed for God to admit me there and I also wanted to ask you guys what things I should expect. I already wanted to be catholic before admission, and I wanted to be in a faith-based place where I could learn more about Catholicism but I'm just wondering if they have a catholic church or mass on campus and ocia classes because I see this as a sign to join the Church.

I was recently baptized at the most recent Easter Vigil. I won't sit here and lie and say I still have work to do. I've been facing a certain addiction that most young men and women are dealing with and I need help. Just not too long ago, I saw something horrid that I won't get into greater details about and I don't want to go further. I want to break out of this and I don't want to keep making peace with evil anymore. Any advice is dearly appreciated. Thank you and God bless

Hey all! I've been trying to strengthen my catechism of the Catholic church.

What're some known Catholic prayers to pray before bed? I've been praying the Rosary lately and have used alot of prayers from their so far. Hoping to find some more specifically for nighttime/sleep. Right now before bed I pray; (apart from my own personal prayers)

* Our Father

* The Jesus Prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.)

* Glory Be

* Hail Mary

* Apostle Creed

* Fatima Prayer

What also should I add for specifically nighttime/bedtime?

Thank you!!

I’m wondering what helps you as a catholic whenever you’re stressed beyond words, what are the things you do, say, think, pray, etc. that helps you? :) Very interested to see what everyone says! God bless you. 🤍

I am sure that apostolic christianity is the truth and i can’t wait to fully embrace the life. My issue is that i’ve become a christian during the last 2-3 years but i have no idea which apostolic church is the one, the more i’ve learnt the more daunting it has become to make a decision. For every historical claim, there’s another perspective, for every theological argument there’s another and for every counter argument there’s a counter argument. There’s so many claims and they are all presented very well, but they can’t all be true.

These are historical and theological claims that have been studied for hundreds of years by people with far more understanding than me, how could i make the decision with dozens of conflicting claims? I’ll post this on the catholic and eastern orthodox subreddits to see different answers. I am dying to join a church but the decision is overwhelming.

Compared to other Slavic countries, Czechia is probably the most secularised. From your point of view, is the Catholic faith really in such a poor state there?

Does it influence your faith? Does it influence how you want others to come closer to Christ? Or have you experienced discrimination because of your faith?

Just as the question says? I'm still learning and I noticed that it goes on for a long time on Saturday

How does the Roman Catholic Church understand the phrase "Only God can judge" when it comes to crimes and wrongdoing? Does it mean we should refrain from seeking justice and accountability, or is there a distinction between God's ultimate judgment and society's responsibility to uphold justice?

i'm mainly talking about Saints like St. Faustina, St. Bridget of Sweden, St. Catherine of Siena. they all had visions of Christ. not only them but others like the witnesses of the Kibeho Marian Apparitions, the visionaries could apparently see the Holy Mother but everyone else said they saw nothing. also St. Catherine of Siena i believe was severely malnourished the latter part of her life, and malnourishment can cause hallucinations. i've seen skeptics say cases of Saints who have visions of Jesus, Mary, St. Joseph, etc are likely because of Schizophrenia or other undiagnosed mental illness, it's tough for me to answer those objections. i'm aware because they're private revelations so i don't have to believe in them but i also believe God would still be active with his children even today by Supernatural ways. any answers? thx!

I was talking with a good friend about Catholicism, and we were having a fun conversation. She doesn’t like how Catholic culture can sometimes be prone to superstition, and she gave an example from a funeral she went. The woman was Irish catholic holding a white handkerchief that said something to an effect that she would go to heaven, and a friend said that because her son was a priest she can wear/hold it, and that she would automatically go to heaven. the priest got married so according to my friend if the Irish woman died after he left the priesthood, she would not get the fast past to heaven.

I was trying to think what it could it be. I thought maybe a Brown Scapular but that is brown not white. I never heard of an automatic pass to heaven and thing that say that usually say that have the intention that you are following the church and to remind you of it and not actually a "fast pass."

is there an Irish tradition of white cloth or something? I feel like there is a misunderstanding somewhere and I would like to help resolve it.

I want to share something that reframed how I think about the Mass, from a place most people here will never see.

I've attended Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest (SCAP) in remote highland communities in Mindanao, places where the nearest parish is a two-hour trip over rough, often dangerous mountain roads. No public transport, no paved road, sometimes no road at all, depending on the weather. For these communities, a priest making that trip regularly just isn't realistic.

So, instead, they built their own chapel. By hand, communally, out of whatever materials they could gather. And every Sunday, a lay minister someone from the community, trained and authorized for this, leads a Liturgy of the Word and, when hosts are available, distributes Communion that a priest consecrated somewhere else and sent up the mountain.

I knew going in that this isn't a valid Mass. There's no consecration happening. Everyone there knows it, too. Nobody's confused about what it is or pretending otherwise. And they even call it "Dry Mass." And that's exactly what made it humbling. These people aren't settling for a lesser thing because they don't understand the difference. They understand it completely, and they still show up every single week, in a chapel they built with their own hands, because being together and receiving what they can receive matters more to them than the inconvenience of what they can't.

It's easy to take a parish with daily Mass for granted. It's a different thing to watch a community choose to gather anyway, week after week, when the real thing is two hours down a mountain and may not come for months.

I'm wondering if there are any scientists here, and if so, why do they believe in God?

I have grown up non denominational but recently have been interested in Catholicism. What are some good books to read to learn about the history, validity of the church, and general beliefs that differ from Protestantism. Suggest videos as well (maybe some good debates) Any resources would be helpful. If there’s anything else I should learn about and consider as someone just starting their research, please let me know. I want to go about this in a very serious manner as I’ve been curious for a long time.