Saint John Henry Newman’s influence on my faith: A personal reflection (Conversion Stories 1)

In the following article Theresa Stiles, a new member of the church of Our Lady of Fatima in Bala, reflects on the background influences that led her to embrace the Catholic religion.

 

In the next article Alan Lorimer Riley, pastor of the Snowdonia Christian Fellowship, will describe his journey from a Roman Catholic youth to an adult faith, centred on the person of Christ and the witness of Scripture. 

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Saint John Henry Newman, whose was canonised in 2019, and whose feast day falls on 9th October, [1], was granted the title ‘Doctor of the Church’ [2] by our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV on 31st July 2025.

Thoughts on 'Water Baptism'

In his latest contribution to the Forum Ray Caldwell sets out to clarify the place of baptism in the Christian life and the criteria for passing through water baptism. 

True, firm belief in Jesus Christ is an essential condition for receiving Christian baptism, he argues, and those who are reborn in Christ commit themselves to maintaining and deepening their faith in a world where they will be confronted with many arguments seeking to undermine it. 

When I am reading texts that interest me, mostly the four gospels, the book of Acts and select works of contemporary positive psychology, I often enjoy particularly affirming moments when brief verses or phrases 'speak to me'. This was my experience when I read an article about 'Water Baptism' at the Church Junction website: