Cradle Catholic, Convert, Revert
Common labels for how someone came to the faith — baptized and raised Catholic from infancy; received into the Church from another tradition or none; or returned after years away.
A cradle Catholic was baptized as a baby and raised in the faith. A convert entered the Church from another Christian community or from no faith at all, whether by Baptism or by reception into full communion. A revert is a cradle Catholic who drifted away and came back. None of these is a rank; the Church has only one Baptism and one membership. The words are useful shorthand, and the Catechism's teaching applies to all equally: every Christian, however they arrived, is called to ongoing conversion.
Sources checked 29 September 2026