Conversion of Elsie Briggs

Mission Church ~ Roxbury, Massachusetts

Elsie Briggs submitted this story of her conversion to the Boston Pilot:

“There is nothing brilliant or scholarly that attracted me to the Roman Catholic Church.  What attracted me to Catholicism was love.

It all goes back about ten years when beaten and disillusioned I crept into the rear of the Mission Church in Roxbury to rest.  I didn't go in because I was attracted to the church, or because I sought spiritual refreshment; it was only a place to sit down and get off my feet and find, if possible, a few moments of forgetfulness.

How long I sat there, I don't know, but I suddenly became aware of something living.  There was an actual presence all around that seemed to emanate from the altar.  It was pleasing and restful to feel.  And without half realizing what I was doing I moved up front until I was sitting in the first pew.

The weariness and strain all fell away and a great sense of peace and love came over me, combined with an intense desire to sleep…

And right here and now I want to explain that at that time I knew absolutely nothing about the Catholic teachings.  No one had ever told me of the Host or of the ever-present living God on the altar…

For the first time I learned how wrong the average Protestant is in his supposed knowledge of the Catholic Faith. There certainly is nothing more ignorant than nine Protestants out of ten, when it comes to the teachings of the Church of Rome.

All the old wives’ tales, all the lies I had heard from childhood about Catholics were exposed by the light of truth. What a pity there should be such ignorance of God’s truth and how many Protestants, such as I was then, would gladly and eagerly accept the church and her teachings if they only knew the truth that sets one free…”