Yes, I have. I grew up So. Baptist and joined the Catholic church just out of college. There were many factors, but the biggest one was belief in the real presence and how that is apparent through scripture. I loved how the teachings of the Catholic church made so much sense in relation to the history of Christianity. I could read Exodus and instead of it being a history lesson, it was suddenly applicable to my current belief in the Eucharist. I could read about the tabernacle ark of the covenant and relate it to my mother Mary. Many of the passages that seemed like boring old law that didn't mean anything anymore were suddenly relevant.
Most of all, I didn't have to read any of it and guess what it meant. It never made sense to me that interpreting scripture would be at the opinion of every individual. People would say, pray and trust the holy spirit and he will guide you to truth, but I knew people equally sincere in that who came to vastly different conclusions. It made perfect sense to me that God would have provdided that. Christ established a church to give us a framework for authority here on earth. I can look to the Church and its traditions and trust the authority of the Holy Spirit through the throne of Peter.
I do feel at home. I think that the Eucharist is the reason. I go to my family's church and feel that despite there being a lot of believers attempting to follow Christ, there is a huge vacancy and void. It is so shallow in comparison to the richness and beauty in Christ's ordained church. I still have spiritually dry times and times when it is hard to focus on the mass, etc..., but I never leave feeling "empty." I certainly have come to Rome sweet Home!
I converted to Catholicism about three years ago, and I definitely feel at home in the Church. A couple of years before I converted, my Catholic grandmother passed away, and I found comfort in the anointing of the sick at her hospital bed and in her funeral service. The words of the rites offered no trite, easy-fixes, but instead spoke to me in my sadness and loss and gave me a sense both of hope and closure. In my Methodist upbringing, I had never experienced a service that had such an effect on my entire being: heart, soul, and mind.
There were many other Providential circumstances that lead to my conversion, but I would have to agree with the last post: for me, the beauty of Catholicism is in the completeness of the Catholic faith. The prime example is the Eucharist: it isn’t just a remembrance; Christ is actually present. And the Mass itself is complete in preparing the faithful for communion with Christ. So I feel at home in the Catholic Church because Her liturgy is exactly suited to our human condition.
