The Role of Church History in Conversion by Fr. McCloskey

Father John McCloskey has been involved in many "high-profile" and "low-file" conversions as well. As a result he has researched and written extensively on the topic of conversion to Catholicism.  He has an excellent piece here regarding the role of Church History in conversion. In my own life, the realization that the early Christians believed what the modern Catholic Christians still believe and practice was chilling for me. The reading of  Church history for the first time from an unbiased source was revelatory. For most of my life, I had been seeking a closer walk with Jesus, but He had been here all the time, physically, substantially present in the Eucharist for 2000 years in the Catholic Church down the street in every town I had ever lived in.  Here's Fr. McCloskey:

"No doubt, the historical argument was powerful in these conversions. Some of the better known converts have already told their story in print or tape, others will, I trust, do the same in the future. I always required that they read several books on the history of the Church because I do believe the argument, at least rationally, is unassailable—the Catholic Church is true, and no other has ever made a credible claim to be the one that was founded by Him. Either the Lord of History established a church with a visible structure on this earth until He comes again or there is simply no authority that guides and must be obeyed. From the time of the great Schism and the Protestant revolution, the principle of private judgment has given rise to thousands of Christian sects and denominations. That is hardly what was intended when He asked His Father "that all may be one."