My path to traditional Catholicism is miraculous, I believe.  I know, without a doubt, that I would not be here without the grace of the God and the Holy Ghost really working in my life.  My story is horribly long, but I will find the relevant details.

I did not grow up in a religious home.  My mother's family was Southern Baptist.  My father's family was United Methodist.  (I learned in 1996 that my father's father had been a Catholic and that my father and 2 of his 3 brothers had been baptized Catholic.  My father left the Church in 1959 to marry my mother because his priest would not marry them)  

My parents divorced in 1976.  I went to live permanently with my father in 1977 at which time he began attending the UMC where his brother attended and where his new girlfriend attended.  We continued to attend services at one UMC church or another until I graduated high school in 1985.

I went to private school in those years that was attended by mostly Catholics and Jews.  (Our school had both Christian and Jєωιѕн holidays)  I attended Mass a lot, CYO, and youth camp.  My first exposure to Catholicism was in JPII hey-day.  I also went to temple with some of my Jєωιѕн friends. (My maiden name is rather Jєωιѕн)

In the years while I was in college I went to mostly Pentecostal or Holiness churches.  But by 1990, I was burned out and decidedly agnostic.

I met and married my husband in 1991 and we never attended any religious service until I was pregnant with our 2nd son in 1994.  We "experimented" but settled on a Unitarian "church" and and Episcopal one.  

After some soul searching, my husband eventually decided that if we were going to be serious about God then we must go to a Catholic church, the church of his youth.  (He was baptized.  His mother is Calvinist.  His father Catholic, but left in the 1970s.)  That is what we did.  In 1996 we went through RCIA together.  It was a fairly progressive NO church.  We were in and out of church over the next few years.  IN--when it agreed with our secular way of thinking, OUT--when it didn't suit our purposes.  Cafeteria Catholics, I suppose.

After our ins and outs, we found ourselves with a "conservative and traditional minded" priest.  He wore a cassock and biretta.  He brought out the Latin hymns.  He gave sermons on the evils of contraception, feminism, communism, etc.

But in 2004, we moved to the liberal Northeast.  In the 6 years were attended NO here we experienced every liturgical abuse known to man.  Perhaps it was God's will because it nauseated me and sent me doing my own research.  During that time, there was one family who garnered nothing but sneers every Sunday, but became my models.  They had 10 children.  The girls wore mantillas.  The children sat perfectly quiet during Mass and after Mass they all knelt and prayed for 5 or 10 minutes.  They carried Missals (which I didn't know what they were).

We discovered an FSSP Mass in our diocese and went but it was a 4 hour round-trip drive.  Too far.  We then found an indult Mass not far from here, but they kept moving from location to location.  We found a haven on the internet.

We knew NOTHING about tradition, Vatican II, modernism, etc. before this time.  Nothing.  But the sickening experiences in our Church reminded me of my youth in the Methodist church.  I wanted to leave again, but my husband said no.  Because we just couldn't go back to NO, we stayed home for 2 months.  It was a really sad time.

Finally, we found an SSPX chapel.  We didn't even know what that was.  We just went to Mass and immediately KNEW we were in a holy place.  I can't explain it.  We KNEW.  Our children KNEW.

That was May of 2010.  That is when I found this site.  I have been truly grateful because it has helped me in so many ways.  I get a lot of information and inspiration from here.

I am a product of a divorced family.  I was deprived of both my parents.  I never knew my mother.  Our relationship is difficult.  That is how I relate my experience as a Catholic.  I am a product of a divorced Church.  I was deprived of the richness and truth.  I never knew my Mother.  Now that I am reunited, it is difficult.  I am glad to be home, though.  

InfiniteFaith, that is an exaggeration of Papal Infallibility. Not everything the Pope says or does is Infallible.

I agree with what you are saying, but there are things that the Pope has published in the newer Catechisms that people are saying is heresy. I guess at this point i'm just not sure what to believe. I will continue reading stuff on this website, and looking into it further.

Given that what sedevacanists are saying about the papacy...and given that what they are saying is true...is it possible that this is all a part of the tribulation or something? I just can't imagine the Church without a true Pope for so long.

Quote from: Anna1959

I was raised as a Jew, by a born-Jєωιѕн father and a mother who was raised Italian Catholic but converted to Orthodox Judaism in 1944 when she married my father. However, I was much closer to my mom's family, and discovered traditional Catholicism through them (they all left the Church in 1970 after the changes, and I grew up as a kid hearing them complain about and discuss the changes. Their discussions made me curious, and so as a teen, I began investigating to find the True Church.)

I first became a Catholic in the mid-1970s, via the traditionalist movement in existence at that time. I've only been to one, maybe two novus ordos in my life, so I consider myself blessed in that regard (one wedding, one funeral, if memory serves). Everything I know of the novus ordo religion, I know from fellow Catholics who were involved in it.

However, the group I was involved with was sede, and so was/am I. When they disbanded due to the death of their priest, I had noplace to go...I drifted into the Eastern Rite but because they accept the modern "popes", that again left me out in the cold.

I sort of became a home aloner for a long time, and unfortunately because of that I came to believe the gates of hell had indeed prevailed. It was only within the last few months that I decided that they did not, because I have missed my Catholic Faith so very much, and have always been on the periphery, wanting back in, but not knowing where or how (where I live now the closest sede TLM is about 2 hours away by car, and I am unable to drive...though I am trying to find out if anyone local to me goes to them and maybe I can share gas expenses if they take me.)

I have looked over this forum.....I cannot believe how starved I have been all these years! So many issues we all think alike on, apart from TradCatholicism! Vaccines, survivalism, Masonry, zionism....I thank God this forum is here, and thank you to Matthew for being so kind in helping this older lady who is not very computer savvy get signed up (my registration was messed up at first).

I have contented myself with watching videos of TLMs on YouTube; thank God my son told me about that!

I am so happy to be home, and to be here! Deo gratias!

We should not listen to Popes anymore? I thought whatever the Pope says is bound in heaven.

He has to be a legitimate Pope. I do accept the office of the Papacy, and every legitimate Pope (from Pius XII on back). Its the modernistic claimants to the office that some have questions about, including me.

As some of you know, I left the modern Church after the canon of the mass was changed in 1968.  Back then, the few of us that were around did not believe that the "Pope" in the Vatican was the true pope.  The imposter at the time was Paul V1, who was responsible for the destruction of the mass.  At that time the term sedevacantist had not come into existance, and there was no SSPX.
All of us then knew that the papacy had been ursurped.  Things were not confusing  for those who had the courage to accept the truth.   It was a frightening time.  Its interesting to note that the few traditional catholics  at the time were of one accord.  
 

Emerentiana,
 I'm very interested in this time period right after Vat2. I know that the "heresies of Paul VI" have been enumerated many times on this forum and others, but could you please tell me specifically what was it that made you and the other dissenters at that time decide that Paul was not the Pope? What exactly did he do that made you sure that he was an impostor? Was there anything else besides the promulgation of the Novus Ordo?

I appreciate your taking the time to reply, or if any other "old-timer" Trads want to opine, I would love to hear it.

Ora,
That was my story exactly!  I didnt know you went that far back.  However, the priest that was in our parish went along willingly with the changes, and didnt care much for the few of us that left.  
Juse,
I had a whole page typed the other night and went to post it.  It disappeared!  Didnt feel like writing another whole page.  I have been attending the 51st annual Fatima Conference in Spokane.  Long hours, but such an inspiring event!
For those of you who would like to buy the CDS, Im sure they will be available on the CMRI website soon.
Well, I can say, Jude, that if Paul the VI was responsible for destroying the mass.what other evidence do we need that he was an antipope?
The papal election was interfered with.  
A good book to read is Judaism and the Vatican (Poncins). You can get the book on Amazon.com and buy it thru the link on this site so Matthew can get the credit for it.

The CMRI started in 1968, I believe.

I had read about tradition for many years but was very depressed and not going to mass until I went to Eucharistic adoration at the old seminary in Cincinnati, the Holy Spirit Center.  Then I went to mass the next week.