{"id":653,"date":"2012-07-27T09:51:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T09:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/former-atheist-poet-reveals-details-of-her-catholic-conversion\/"},"modified":"2012-07-27T09:51:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-27T09:51:00","slug":"former-atheist-poet-reveals-details-of-her-catholic-conversion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/07\/former-atheist-poet-reveals-details-of-her-catholic-conversion\/","title":{"rendered":"Former atheist poet reveals details of her Catholic conversion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Rome, Italy, Jul 27, 2012 \/ 03:51 am (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- \u201cUntil two years ago, I was a really committed atheist and I really hated the Catholic Church,\u201d said poet Sally Read, as she explained how all that dramatically changed during nine months in 2010.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe whole process took from March to December, and I was received into the Catholic Church at the Vatican in December, so it was a bit of a lightning flash,\u201d she told CNA\u00a0on July 24.<\/p>\n

\tA 41-year-old Englishwoman, Sally Read is regarded as a rising star within the world of poetry. Her publisher describes the former psychiatric nurse as \u201cone of a new generation of younger poets shaping the future of British poetry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tShe now lives in the Italian seaside town of Santa Marinella with her husband and their daughter. It was there that her conversion story began two years ago while she was writing an anthology based on her experiences with psychiatric patients.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAs I was writing this book, I became very aware that I didn\u2019t know where the soul was and I didn\u2019t know if the soul existed. And it was really driving me crazy.\u201d Her frustration led her into discussion, and often heated debate, with a Canadian priest who was based in the coastal resort town.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cSo, while I was talking to this priest about, well, is there a God and all of that kind of stuff, I kind of had this feeling as a poet that God was the ultimate poet and the ultimate Creator, and I was simply being used as an instrument,\u201d she recalled.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tIt was at that point that she phoned the priest to say, \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m an atheist after all.\u201d But she refused to make the intellectual leap to Christianity, insisting to her priest friend that he would never convert her.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cHe was very patient and very good.\u201d He said, \u2018Christ will convert you, I\u2019m not going to convert you \u2026 .\u201d<\/p>\n

\tRead was raised in a strictly anti-religious household and, so, she now felt like \u201ceverything I had ever believed in (was) being turned upside down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt was very, very difficult. I mean, I wasn\u2019t sleeping at all. I was very emotionally traumatized,\u201d she said, describing those months in 2010 as \u201cthe most disrupted period in my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHer turmoil ended abruptly one afternoon when she stepped into a local Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cJust one day, I was in tears and said to this icon of Christ, \u2018If you\u2019re there, then you have to help me.\u2019 And, this thing happened which is very hard to explain, but I felt as if I was being physically lifted up and my tears stopped, and I felt this presence.\u201d
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tShe described the sensation as \u201cutterly tangible,\u201d so much so that from then on she \u201cknew that life was devoted to Christ. There was nothing else.\u201d
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tHer journey into the Catholic Church quickly followed.
\n\t\u00a0
\n\t\u201cI realized that there was only one Church and the way to be closest to Christ was to be a Catholic, because it\u2019s the Eucharist and taking Communion.\u201d
\n\t\u00a0
\n\tSince then she has faced opposition from family members and shock from a socially-liberal artistic establishment. And, yet, \u201cI\u2019m still happier than I\u2019ve ever been,\u201d she said with a broad grin on her face.<\/p>\n

\tAs for writing, her third anthology of poetry will be released this year. But the philosophical\u00a0outlook of\u00a0her work has now changed dramatically.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cSo, I don\u2019t know where it\u2019s going to go with poetry, but I think it\u2019s going to be interesting,\u201d Read said.<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rome, Italy, Jul 27, 2012 \/ 03:51 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- “Until two years ago, I was a really committed atheist and I really hated the Catholic Church,” said poet Sally Read, as she explained how all that dramatically changed during nine mont…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-europe"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer atheist poet reveals details of her Catholic conversion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rome, Italy, Jul 27, 2012 \/ 03:51 am (CNA\/EWTN News).- “Until two years ago, I was a really committed atheist and I really hated the Catholic Church,” said poet Sally Read, as she explained how all that dramatically changed during nine mont...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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