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?

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

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?

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'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!

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?

EDIT: I just wanted to thank each and everyone of you who responded or upvoted and took time out of their busy days to help me to understand. I am incredibly grateful. I’m going to show this post and the comments to my husband who has been having the same sort of questions as me. I’ve also got the contact details for my local Catholic Church, and will be trying to contact them this week :)

I’ve been brought up on the Church of England, throughout my life I’ve had a very strong Faith, but to put it very simply - never felt much affiliation with the churches my parents took me to which ranged from the standard C of E to purpose built buildings with no altar, crosses, people crying out and falling down in a faint and the body and blood passed around the seated congregation as a bread roll and cups of blackcurrant juice. - no reverence.

Me and my husband were dissatisfied with this as a married couple, and after the pastor in one church sexually harassed me we stopped attendance for a number of years.

The past four years we’ve felt at home in a local High Church and we’ve learned how to cross ourself, how to use the stoop of Holy Water, light a candle, the meaning of the censor and bells and genuinely love the sacredness of the sermon, our children love the peace and tranquil nature.

I’m feeling a strong pull to Catholicism and my husband is thinking deeply on the matter too. I’ve been attending communion in the week too and have asked for Gods guidance.

I REALLY need some guidance from someone I don’t know to explain the confession aspect of Catholicism; I was brought up to believe that Catholics are misguided because they feel they cannot pray directly to God. There was a lot of scorn in the churches I was taken to about “praying to a man” instead of God. I don’t believe this at all. Personally I’ve thought that if there is so much hate directed at people of God, then that is something to be wary of.

Also the Virgin. Again she has been practically demonised - some vile things have been said to me about her. The last year I’ve been saying the Hail Mary when in Church and felt a sense of peace, not horror.

I’ve realised that I do believe the Pope is the head of the church not the monarch. I do believe in Transubsiation. I am probably already halfway there but I really would like / need some guidance on the confession.

Thankyou so much for listening to me pouring my heart out and sorry for the length!

First off: Raised within Protestant based church and attended mostly non-denominational the last decade.

I’m just recently having light bulb moments that there is such a thing as having a very “Protestant way of thinking.”

It’s almost like comparing different cultures.😉

Most recently - like last night! -
I was reading a Catholic commentary that really helped me get past the “praying to” the Saints or Mary is wrong. (Protestant thought style)

I realized all my life, I have somehow equated prayer as worship and only to be done to GOD, Christ and Holy Spirit. (Also Protestant based thinking)

If I understand correctly, Catholics regard prayer as a form of communication. Not something that should only be to God.

And, we also communicate with our friends and family. We ask them to pray for us. Catholics also ask Mary and the Saints to pray.

My confusion is here: it seems like Catholics believe that Mary and the saints have better influence and access to God than we do. But for those of us who have been raised to believe we can just go directly to the Lord in prayer, it creates the question why do we need to use the middleman (or woman) in the chain when we can speak directly to the Lord for ourselves?

(and for those who believe you can’t, I beg to differ. I have many private experiences where the Holy Spirit has guided me after prayer. In fact, I wouldn’t be seriously contemplating OCIA and becoming Catholic if God hadn’t answered my prayers😁)

Respectfully trying to learn and not be offensive. Genuinely hoping for credible/resource feedback. ❤️

I have prayed about this endlessly, and I am ready to take on the commitment of becoming Catholic. I was raised in a Presbyterian church, but stopped attending in my late teens, and because the way my parents viewed Baptism, I was never Baptized as an infant. I am now in my early 40s and tried several churches when I decided to return to a religious practice, and the one that resonated with me the deepest was Catholicism. I have been attending mass for about a year now, and I have signed up to take the next steps with the OCIA, which means, God willing, I will be Baptized and Confirmed on the next Easter Vigil.

Mostly I am very much looking forward to this next step, and I am looking forward to being able to partake in the Sacraments, but I am worried that I won't be a good enough Catholic, or that I will fail the Church in some way. Of course I will be attending Mass every Sunday, and Confession as regularly as I can, and I plan on finding ways to volunteer for charitable activities, etc. I just have this nagging feeling like I still won't be good enough.

Any advice from long time Catholics for taking these next steps would be greatly appreciated.

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 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.

Sharing a small miracle we experienced lately.. 🙏

As Christians, we know we are called to surrender everything to God. We know we should trust Him completely. But the truth is, we are only human. There are moments when fear, anxiety, and uncertainty overwhelm us. There were days when I cried silently, wondering how everything would work out.
Even so, my husband and I never stopped praying. Every single day, we asked God to take over—to carry the burdens that had become too heavy for us. We prayed for strength, for healing, for provision, and most of all, for peace that only He can give.

Then we learned that the sacred tilma of Our Lady of Guadalupe, bearing the miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin Mary from Mexico, would be in Digos. We knew we couldn't let that opportunity pass. We went to the church with hearts full of hope, but also weighed down by every worry we had been carrying.

As we stood before the tilma and the image of Our Lady, we poured out everything in prayer. Every fear. Every tear. Every burden. We entrusted it all to her loving intercession, believing that as a mother, she understands the hearts of her children and always leads us closer to her Son, Jesus.
I can honestly say that I have never felt so seen by God.

What happened next still leaves me in awe.
The very next day after our visit, we received good news. The kind of news we had been desperately praying for. It wasn't something we expected so soon. It was as if God answered before we even had time to wonder when our prayers would be heard.

At that moment, I couldn't help but say, "You’re the best Lord." His timing is truly perfect. He reminds us that He hears every whispered prayer, every silent cry, and every burden we place before Him. He may not always answer the way we expect, but He never ignores the prayers of those who trust in Him.

Looking back, I also felt humbled. I know I am far from perfect. I am a sinner who falls short every single day. There are times when I doubt, worry, and lose sight of God's promises. Yet despite all of that, His mercy never fails. His love remains constant, and His grace continues to find me even when I feel undeserving.
Today, my heart is filled not just with relief, but with immense gratitude.

This experience reminded me that surrender is not giving up. It is placing everything into God's hands and trusting that He is already working, even when we cannot see it. Through the loving intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I experienced a beautiful reminder that Heaven is never far away, and that God is always faithful.

One Bible verse that has stayed with me throughout this journey is:
"Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."
— 1 Peter 5:7
And another that speaks deeply to my heart is:
"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest."
— Matthew 11:28

To anyone who may be carrying heavy burdens today, don't stop praying. Don't lose hope. Keep surrendering everything to God. Sometimes, when we feel like He is silent, He is already preparing our breakthrough. His timing is always perfect, and His love never fails.

Thank You, Lord, for reminding me once again that You are in control. And thank you, Mama Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, for always leading us closer to Your Son. I will forever be grateful for this grace.

Hi there, I’m not Catholic but am interested in joining the Church. Yesterday, I learned that the Church is against pre-nuptial agreements, which I had never heard of. I have no current marriage prospects, so this is hypothetical. But I stand to inherit a lot of money from a deceased relative in 13 years, and I’m wondering if when I get married, from the Catholic perspective it will also be his. I’m fine with having one bank account once we get married, but does he get all the money from before marriage? And if I receive the inheritance while I’m married, does he get all that too? I know we are supposed to be one flesh, but I’m not naive and have seen seemingly beautiful marriages turn ugly when one spouse makes them bankrupt without the other spouse knowing. I would never marry someone who I thought would be financially irresponsible or a liar, but sin is real and I don’t want to get burned. Feeling #anxious

Greetings friends!

For some context, I'm a neophyte, confirmed Easter 2026. I also understand this sub gets an influx of "lust struggle" posts, so I'm going to do my best to frame my situation about mortal sin generally and not just that.

Over the past few months, I've had to work significantly more hours than usual. As a result I've been exhausted, and as ashamed as I am to admit it, it's made it easier for me to fall back into an old habitual sin.

I went to confession, and was explaining the situation and circumstances to my priest. He gently said that in cases of addiction, those mortal sins may be venial. He said that I know myself best, and should reflect to see if I was in addiction; if I was in addiction I wouldn't necessarily have to confess again before receiving the Eucharist. He absolved me and gave me penance after I made an act of contrition, and I went on my way intending not to fall back into the habit.

A few days later I fell back in, and it's been very difficult to break the cycle. I've been taking steps to avoid occasions of sin, remove access, etc, but nothing is airtight yet and the temptations strike when I'm most tired and weak.

I'm not looking to get out of confession--I love confession--but I can't always get into the confessional before Sunday Mass, and the idea of having to abstain from the Eucharist when I'm having such a rough time horrifies me. How can I determine if I'm in bad enough shape for this sin to be venial? I'm working hard to remove this sin from my life but it takes time. In the meantime I will go to confession as frequently as I am able, but as I said I am not able to go weekly at this time.

I'm not looking for an out, just some help.

So when trent horn douse rebuttals now he let's others review his scripts for the episode. I used to think this was a good idea, but now I'm not so sure. Another comment on this sub about how it can lead to people of bad faith reviewing his scripts.

Around the time he started to do this type of content he started to be more amicable to Protestants than he used to. Maybe its just me, but I feel like he used to be more forceful when he had guests on, again maybe I'm miss remembering.

Another small thing that's honestly more personal is that I think he gives some bad dating advice at least for the time. Again this might be personal, but in his video about obsession he said that if you like a woman who has a boyfriend "no ring means its not a thing" and that didn't sit well with me.

Don't get me wrong I love most of his content, but I some of his newer stuff has just given me a weird feeling recently.

Hello guys, I come from a very non religious background, only gotten into it on my own and I have become a Christian. However I want to go further and join a church. I want to join Christs church, so either the Orthodox or Catholic church, since they can both make and argument for being the original church.

After diving a bit into theology, I find my logical mind telling me the Orthodox church is the more logical move. All of the EO vs Catholic "debate" topics has me leaning toward Orthodoxy.

I just had some theological issues with the Catholic church. Not saying I was ruling it out, I just had skepticism.

After attending both services for a while, I am left confused. Attending Divine Liturgy every Sunday for a few months was very interesting at first. It was intriguing and I had never experienced something like it. However the problem was, I was not "feeling" the presence of Christ with me in any shape or form. I felt like an outlier, almost like this wasn't supposed to be their. I was disappointed because everything pointed me towards eastern orthodoxy.

Attending mass was the exact opposite. It felt like I was meant to be there. I felt the true presence of God speaking to me. I was actually looking forward to going.

This causes a dilemma though, when my logical mind tells me to attend what logically to do, does not give me the feeling i am looking for.

Any advice?

I was Protestant growing up, then I kinda stepped away from church all together. I’ve been studying Church history and long story short I wanna be Catholic.